Hello Forum Users,
I am wondering about the amount of disk space required to purchase for a small WordPress site that will only consist of articles and a few pictures for the articles, with no downloads from visitors or forums.
The WordPress engine itself is approximately 10 megabytes in size, which is not significant. As for pictures, around 50 megabytes should suffice. However, nowadays, most hosting companies offer unlimited disk space, so there's no need to worry about it.
For instance, Smartape offers unlimited access for a very reasonable price. Therefore, you can select any hosting package according to your liking without worrying about storage space.
For a small information site, the simplest hosting with a minimum tariff is quite suitable. For example, DreamHost hosting has a minimum plan of $2.59 per month. This rate includes hosting one site. But you can choose a larger tariff plan, which includes up to 10 sites.
If you plan to develop your site, then the size of the required disk space will certainly grow. Even in the case of simple visits to the site, its volume is increased by logs. It should also be noted that WordPress uses its plugins to create backups.
Installing WordPress without themes ~ 50-60 Mb, images from stocks up to ~ 6-10 Mb, and the same amount from a smartphone. Based on these data, it is easy to estimate the size you need.
To run a WordPress website, you will require an average of 1 GB of free disk space. The space required to install WordPress is around 8.9 MB, but the downloaded files take up about 825 MB, and the installation of plugins adds another 100 MB to the total volume.
The MYSQL database takes up approximately 85 MB of your disk space, while each WordPress template requires about 25 MB. Depending on the nature of your web site, such as whether it's a simple blog, store, corporate enterprise, or multimedia platform, you may need different amounts of free space to implement your plans.
Bandwidth is also crucial when considering the right resources for your web site. Bandwidth refers to the amount of data exchanged between users and the server over the course of a month. Choosing the appropriate bandwidth is vital, particularly for high-performance web sites and download sites exchanging large amounts of data between users and the server.
The monthly bandwidth your WordPress site requires largely depends on the number of visitors to your website and the size of your pages. For instance, if you have a 2 MB page, each visit to that page will consume 2 MB of your bandwidth. However, 90% of sites use only 5 GB of monthly bandwidth. As a result, it's advisable not to overspend on server resources for small websites.
Let's consider the size of the articles. The text content of an article is typically quite small in file size, often ranging from 50KB to 200KB, depending on the length and complexity of the content. For the purpose of our estimate, we can take an average article size of 100KB.
Next, we need to account for the images used within the articles. The size of an image can vary widely based on factors such as dimensions, resolution, and file format. For example, a standard high-resolution JPEG image may have a file size of 1-2MB, while a lower resolution or compressed image may be in the range of 200-500KB.
If we assume that each article contains, on average, three images, we must add an estimated size for these images. Taking a conservative approach, we can allocate 1.5MB for images accompanying each article (3 images at 500KB each).
Given these considerations, let's calculate the space requirements for 100 articles:
100 articles * 100KB (text) + 100 articles * 1.5MB (images) = 10000KB + 150000MB = 15,100MB
So, for 100 articles with 3 images each, the estimated total space required would be approximately 15GB.
It's important to note that this is a rough estimate and may vary based on the specifics of your content. Additionally, it's wise to leave room for growth and account for other files and data associated with the WordPress installation when selecting a hosting plan.
For a small WordPress site with the parameters you've outlined, purchasing a hosting plan with a few gigabytes of disk space would be prudent to allow for expansion while ensuring efficient performance.
When choosing disk space for website hosting, consider your website's content and future growth. Small websites with minimal content may only need 1-2 GB, while more complex sites with multimedia content might require 10-20 GB. E-commerce sites and large blogs with extensive databases might need even more. Regularly monitor your usage and choose a hosting plan that allows for easy upgrades. Always ensure you have sufficient space for backups and additional content as your website evolves.
For articles and images without downloads, estimate under 5GB total: 50MB for WP core, 200MB max for custom plugins and themes, plus media library (say, 500KB per JPEG compressed).
Push for SSD storage to minimize latency spikes, no forums means low query load, so optimize with object caching to evade database bloat. Avoid vendor lock-ins, containerize on Docker for portability.