Tips to Choose the Best Web Hosting for your SaaS Product
What Is SaaS Hosting?
Short for software-as-a-service, SaaS is an application distribution model wherein software is hosted on a third-party server. The applications are accessible remotely via the web.
Below are the most popular examples of SaaS:
- G Suite (Google Docs, Sheets, and MS)
- Email client apps (Gmail)
- Fire storage (OneDrive, Dropbox, GDrive)
- CRM software such as Salesforce and Bitrix24
- Ticketing apps (Zendesk)
Hosting Options:
Shared Hosting – In this type of hosting, you’re basically sharing server space with other anonymous users. That’s why any problem that one user faces is likely to impact the performance of all the other users. Shared hosting is the least expensive but also the least secure.
Dedicated hosting – Under this, an organization uses a private physical server to host a single client application. Because the hosting is private, the performance is optimal and security is also great. Additional services include managed services, top-notch hardware, and 24-hour customer support. Dedicated hosting is the most expensive option.
Cloud hosting – Cloud hosting uses multiple servers. Because of its flexibility, it deploys public, hybrid, managed, and private cloud. The option of cloud hosting acts as a middle ground between the first two.
How to Pick the Best Web Hosting for Your SaaS Product:
Define your business needs
SaaS hosting comes with a wide variety of services. That’s why it’s important that you begin with identifying your personal needs and business goals. This will help you find a SaaS hosting company and service plan that best fits your company.
Find out what all resources you need to keep your SaaS app running. This includes figuring out the expected traffic amount and the estimated bandwidth and storage for the product.
Before sticking with one SaaS hosting option, you must figure out the number of users who will be using your application. Without this estimation, you could end up getting an over-powerful server or a server that’s not powerful enough to sustain the traffic you get every day.
Some of the services provided by hosting companies are:
- Web hosting
- Automated server backups
- VPN
- DDoS Protection
- Content Management
- Security
- Cloud storage space
And many others…
Scalability & Performance
Two of the most critical factors for you to consider while picking a SaaS hosting solution are – scalability and performance. This is especially important if you are working on the SaaS SEO strategy and need a fast and reliable website. The speed of the network is reliant mostly on these two factors. So, you must consider these.
Because of this, it’s important that your preferred hosting company has data centers all across the planet. Having these centers all over the globe means you will get direct access to these exchanges and will thus enjoy high speed and performance.
Here’s an example – If your business tends to generate high traffic on a monthly or daily basis, you will need a server with enough processing power that is scalable and has the capacity to handle the data all within the minimal cost. The user review of Site 5 WordPress hosting says it all. Instead of Site 5 WordPress hosting server, find a better hosting server for improved performance.
For this to be possible, your service provider must have the required storage capacity. It’s important that you have scalable SaaS resources to meet your growing business needs. For this reason, it’s better if you pick a cloud-based on hybrid approach. The hybrid approach ensures maximum flexibility and you can create solutions that are most customized for your company.
A Clearly Outlined Service Agreement
Make sure that you read the service agreement carefully. If yours is a business that needs uninterrupted service and a quick response time in case of emergency, then you should rethink about drawing a service contract. One of the downsides of working with a third party is that their responsiveness may affect your business. This can be a problem for many SaaS providers whose USP is offering 24-hour service.
It’s important that you invest in a company that offers disaster recovery and ensures uninterrupted services. It pays to know that your service provider will always be there for you.
Look Into Security
What do your security goals look like? You must take into account your project-specific and universal goals. It’s important to think about the kind of information you store and what industry you belong to. Sometimes, based on the nature of business and information they store, cloud hosting may not always offer adequate levels of security and privacy.
Different SaaS hosting companies offer different kinds of security measures. Some of those most important measures are:
- Certifications like PCI, HIPAA, SSL, TLS
- Malware scanning
- Network monitoring
- Firewalls
- User authorization
- Disaster recovery
- Spam filter
- SFTP
- DDoS, phishing prevention, SQL injection
How Good Is the Network?
Is the server likely to experience a lot of downtimes? If so, you might want to explore your options. Downtimes can translate into lost productivity and frustrated clients. Especially in the case of SaaS products that offer 24-hour service, downtime is one of the worst things.
Therefore, you should read a lot of client testimonials and do proper research before committing to one service provider.
The Best SaaS Hosting Services
1. Google Cloud
GCP or Google Cloud Platform offers a huge range of PaaS and IaaS solutions. One of the highlights of web hosting solutions by Google Cloud is users can remain confident that whatever they create, store or build will remain safe and protected. Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, Container Engine, and App Engine are some of the most popular GCP tools.
GCP is also a highly flexible system that provides amazing scalability without any need for upgrades or migrations.
2. AWS
The cloud-based program by ADS provides integrated IaaS and Paas services like RDS, S3, and EC2. Users get to enjoy a fully-customized SaaS hosting environment. It’s also much more affordable than any other on-premise technology.
An estimated 76% of companies around the globe run their apps using AWS cloud hosting servers.
3. DigitalOcean
The cloud hosting solutions by DigitalOcean are developer-friendly and come with affordable price plans. That’s the reason most SaaS companies go with DigitalOcean as their preferred hosting company. DigitalOcean has a simpler structure than GSP or AWS.
Bottom Line
SaaS cloud hosting is a highly competitive market. That’s why it pays to know exactly what your requirements are. Always go with an option that combines performance, affordability, uptime, and scalability.
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