A site where people log in with their own account (members area, bookings, courses, a forum) weighs much more than a site that is only read. The reason is a single one: a page that differs for each user cannot come from cache, so every visit makes the server run the code and query the database. The entry plan is enough to start, but the Business line is the safer starting point if the members area is the business.
What changes when there are accounts
| On a site that is only read |
On a site with accounts |
| The page comes from cache, almost effortlessly |
The page is built on every visit, for each person |
| A hundred simultaneous visits cost little |
A hundred people logged in at once cost a hundred runs of code |
| The database is barely queried |
Every click reads from and writes to the database |
| E-mails are rare |
Confirmations, password resets, notices: sending per hour matters. See SPF, DKIM and DMARC: why your e-mail lands in spam. |
How to size it, step by step
| 1 |
Count the people logged in at the same time at your peak, not the registered ones. Ten thousand members of whom three hundred log in at the same hour means three hundred requests in parallel. See how many visitors a hosting plan can handle.
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| 2 |
Know the cost of each request. Long requests keep the plan busy for longer. That is what uses up the simultaneous-process limit: entry processes.
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| 3 |
Put the heavy part elsewhere. Lesson videos on a video service, huge files in storage of their own, and the plan only for the site. See what you can host here.
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Backups on a members area
On a members area the database changes all day long. The daily backup taken before dawn leaves out what was recorded during the day, and a lost sign-up or purchase is hard to recover. Before big changes, also make a copy of your own of the database, and check that you can restore it. See making and keeping your own backup.
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If the plan gets tight, fix the cause before paying more. Plugins that query the database on every request, WordPress scheduled tasks running on every visit and bots hammering the login form are the commonest causes. See what eats CPU on a website.
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The next step is a VPS when you need permanent services (job queues, real-time notifications) or control of the server. Costs and responsibilities change: shared hosting vs VPS.
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Launching a site with user accounts and want to know whether the plan will hold? Tell us the platform and how many people you expect.
Open a support ticket
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