Websites come in all shapes and sizes, and so does hosting.
What you pay depends on what is being hosted. A small website and a business-critical web application need very different things.
A small website might cost around $25+GST a month on a good locally hosted shared server. Managed hosting with high availability, where the site stays up even if a server fails, can start at more than $150+GST a month. Somewhere between the two is a virtual machine (VM). Primal Media works out your needs, designs a package that meets them, and sets it up with a failure and backup plan.
- Tailored Hosting Solutions: Primal Media designs hosting packages that match your specific requirements, providing a customised experience rather than a one-size-fits-all solution.
- Decades of Hosting Expertise: With over 20 years of experience behind it, Primal Media has a proven track record in hosting applications of varying sizes, from small-scale to large-scale.
- A failure and backup plan with every package, so you know what happens when something breaks.
If you need to stay online... Primal Media Limited is your best choice.
Hosting options
Three ways to host, from simple to highly available
Shared hosting
From about $25+GST a month
Many small websites share one well-managed, locally hosted server. We look after the server, you look after the website.
Suits: brochure sites, small online stores and low-traffic websites.
Virtual machine (VM)
Priced by size and support level
Your own private server, between shared hosting and a highly available setup. Do everything yourself, or have Primal Media act as your systems administrator.
Suits: custom software, mail servers, and anything that needs its own configuration.
Highly available
From more than $150+GST a month
A web application running across several servers, so it stays online if part of it fails. Managed, monitored and backed up.
Suits: web applications, ecommerce and business systems where downtime costs money.
Prices exclude GST and are a guide only. We quote once we know what you need.
Hosting in practice
Real hosting scenarios
A one-page website with an online booking form
A small party-hire business that needs a simple, fast website and a way for customers to book online.
Shared hosting
What we did: A compact site that suits shared hosting: low cost and easy to look after, with the hosting managed by Primal Media.
The result: Affordable, reliable hosting with no server for the owner to manage.
Built with this: kiwifloss.co.nz
An online store joined to a business system
A WooCommerce store that needed to stay in step with the company's Odoo system, with a safe place to test changes first.
Virtual machine
What we did: Hosting on a virtual private server with regular backups, a staging area for testing, and Linux systems administration by Primal Media.
The result: Stock levels are updated regularly without manual work, and changes are tested before they go live.
Built with this: Plyman
A social network that has to stay online
A large-scale social network for sneaker collectors that needs to be available whenever its members are.
Highly available
What we did: A highly available application running in two zones across more than one region, behind Cloudflare.
The result: Built so the site can keep running if part of the infrastructure fails.
Built with this: treads.nz
Running its own mail server without the headaches
A business with its own mail server on a VM, whose outgoing email was being treated as junk.
Virtual machine
What we did: Primal Media took over the systems administration of Postfix and Dovecot, and worked on the server's IP and domain reputation and its security.
The result: Email delivered reliably, and a server that is looked after by someone who knows it.
Hover over a box, or tap it on a phone, to see the story. Want something like this? Tell us what you are hosting and we will recommend a package.
Questions
Web hosting FAQ
Web hosting is the computer, always switched on and connected to the internet, that stores your website, web application or email and delivers it to visitors when they ask for it. Your domain name (such as yourbusiness.co.nz) points visitors to that computer. Hosting can be a small slice of a shared server, a virtual machine of your own, or a group of servers set up so the site stays online if one of them fails.
Shared hosting puts many small websites on one well-managed server, which keeps the cost low. The hosting company looks after the server, updates and backups, and you look after your website. It suits brochure sites, small online stores and low-traffic websites. A good locally hosted shared server can start from around $25+GST a month.
A virtual machine is your own private server, carved out of a larger physical machine. It sits between shared hosting and a highly available setup: you get your own operating system, your own resources, and the freedom to install and configure whatever you need, without paying for a whole physical server.
A VM lets you do everything yourself. If you would rather not, Primal Media can be your systems administrator and look after it for you.
Highly available hosting is built so your website or web application keeps running even when something fails. Instead of one server, the work is spread over several, with load balancing, replicated data and monitoring, so a failed server, disk or network link does not take you offline. It suits web applications, ecommerce stores and business systems where downtime costs money. Managed, highly available hosting can start at more than $150+GST a month, depending on what is being hosted.
Shared hosting is one server shared by many sites: low cost, simple, and fine for small websites, but you share resources and a single server failure takes the site down. A highly available web application runs across several servers with a plan for failure, so it keeps working when a part breaks, at a higher cost and with more to design and manage. A VM sits between the two, giving you your own server and control without the full cost of a highly available setup.
It depends on what is being hosted, how many people use it, and what an hour of downtime would cost you. Primal Media will work out your needs, put together a package that meets them, and set it up with a failure and backup plan. You do not need to know the technical terms to start. Tell us what you are running and we will recommend the simplest option that does the job.
Hosting comes in all shapes and sizes, so there is no single price. As a guide, a small website on a good locally hosted shared server can cost around $25+GST a month, while managed hosting with high availability can start at more than $150+GST a month. Virtual machines are priced by size and by how much of the management you want us to do. All prices exclude GST and are a guide only; we will quote once we know what you need.
It is an agreed answer to the question “what happens when something breaks?” It covers how often your site and data are backed up, where the backups are kept, how quickly they can be restored, and what takes over, or how fast we recover, if a server fails. We build this into every package so you know what to expect before there is a problem.
Yes. If you have a virtual machine and need a systems administrator, we can help with web servers such as Nginx and Apache2, mail with Postfix (SMTP) and Dovecot (IMAP/POP3), updates, backups and security. We can also help manage your server’s IP and domain reputation, which matters if your server sends email. See email hosting for more.
Yes, we offer IMAP, POP3 and SMTP email hosting, including routing filtered mail to your own mail server. See professional email hosting.
Tell us what you are hosting now, or plan to host, and roughly how many visitors or users you expect. Contact us and we will work out your needs and come back with a recommended package.