Save money on hosting by paying in advance

Web hosting is cheap enough as it is, but if you’re willing to pay for as little as three months up front, you could save a good deal of money.

Many dedicated and shared hosts will offer promotions where you might get a month free for paying for six, a 10% discount for paying for three, waive the setup fee after paying for four months, etc. Providers will do this because it gives them the money immediately (a no-interest loan of sorts) and also guarantees your business for an extended period of time.

I once had a host who gave me a month free for every three months I paid in advance. Doing this for a year, I was able to save £600 on my £150/month server. That’s a 25% discount.

If paying a large amount up front, such as in the case of a dedicated server, make sure you read the terms of the agreement and think things over. You don’t want to shell out £1200 for a year of server hosting only to outgrow the system two months later or discover the host’s terrible customer service.

Then again, if a web host has a great track record and you know your needs won’t change, don’t hesitate to pay up front. You won’t have to worry about paying your bill in the future and will get a great discount to boot.