Five Technologies any Web Host Should Support

What should you look for when looking for the perfect web host? Speed, bandwidth and uptime are all important metrics to judge a potential host, but the host you’re ultimately going to choose has to support a few critical technologies that have become the norm nowadays. In this article, we’re going to give you five crucial technologies every host provider should support.

cPanel Control Panel

cPanel is the industry standard for control panels for hosting accounts. It not only provides easy access to the most used features, but it also allows advanced customization of server settings. The user interface is clutter free and contains several automation tools that allow people who are not tech savvy to use the panel.

There are many more control panels available but what makes cPanel the better option is its universal nature. Most hosting companies use it so even if you have to move your account to a different host you don't have to worry about learning to use the panel again. Features like automatic backup and restore are also useful for switching between hosts.

Softaculous Script Installer

Softaculous is one of the best script installer out there. It provides the option to install web applications with a single click. It supports 431 scripts, which include all of the popular applications such as WordPress and several lesser known scripts. Most website hosting providers will provide softaculous free of cost, but some charge separately for providing the service.

MySQL Database

MySQL is the database of choice for most people. It's very secure, amazingly fast and requires a lot less resources to run than its competitors. It runs on both Linux and Windows so you won't have to worry about host compatibility. MSSQL is an alternative to MySQL, but it lacks the open standards of MySQL. MySQL is a lot more affordable than any other database software and should be more than sufficient for websites that are not database extensive.

SSL Certificate

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, which is a protocol that provides encryption. If you ever plan on allowing users to make transactions on your website make sure your host provides SSL certificates. When users share sensitive information on your website you should make sure the connection is secure and encrypted. An SSL certificate is used to create a strong 256 bit encrypted connection between the website and the user’s browser. This assures the user that the site is secure and trustworthy.

PHP Support

PHP has become the most popular scripting language and hosts must insure that they support the latest version of PHP. PHP scripts runs server side and generates dynamic web pages, which are served to the users. Most of the popular applications like WordPress require the latest version of PHP installed to work properly. Since PHP is so important, most hosts provide PHP support in even the most basic packages, but it's still recommended that you check with your host before buying a hosting plan.

These five technologies must be supported by any decent hosting provider, as they are essential to run a modern website. While services like Softaculous can be easily substituted, you should run away from any provider who doesn’t support cPanel, PHP, SSL and MySQL, as they have become almost essential in this day and age.