Hosting providers are not always generous.
True, many of them offer free plans, but with certain limitations. Even unlimited plans have them, most notably in the inode department. In most cases, you get between 150,000 and 250,000 inodes, which might not be enough.
Inode limits could be restrictive, especially if you plan to grow your website and business. You need unlimited inodes hosting for any bigger website or several smaller ones.
Because unlimited storage doesn’t mean the same thing as unlimited inodes, you can quickly get stuck in a hosting plan that’s too small for your needs.
We’ve dissected hosting plans from 50+ popular providers to ensure you see what you’ll get. Here’s what we came up with.
Top 4 most popular providers for hosting unlimited inodes
These four providers will give you unlimited growth space without compromising your website’s performance.
- Kinsta Best value overall
- DreamHost The only shared hosting with unlimited Inodes
- WP Engine Best managed to host with unlimited inodes
- Bluehost VPS Best VPS hosting with (shy of) unlimited inodes
Kinsta — Best value overall
Kinsta is a top-tier managed hosting service known for delivering reliable performance and providing its users with the broadest options. With as many as nine plans, Kinsta is a good fit for all websites and businesses of all sizes.
Key features
- The number of sites and storage – depending on the plan, you can add up to 150 WordPress installs and get between 10 GB (Starter) and 250 GB (Enterprise 4) of storage space (in total).
- Speed and bandwidth – 25+ Google-run server locations worldwide and an average loading speed of 1.2 seconds. Bandwidth starts at 25k visitors and comes with automatic scaling.
- Notable mentions – free migration, excellent customer support, automatic daily backup, and a money-back guarantee.
Pricing and plans
Kinsta offers unmatched variety with no less than nine pricing plans.
Starter plan
- $35 per month
- $350 per year
Starting at one install, 25k visits, 10GB storage, one premium migration, and 14 days of backup retention, Kinsta’s Starter plan is best for blogs or SMB websites.
Pro plan
- $70 per month
- $700 per year
The Pro plan upgrades you to 2 installs, 50k visits, 20GB storage, and 2 premium migrations. It’s still best for small operations and only sufficient for medium.
Business 1
- $115 per month
- $1,150 per year
Kinsta’s most popular plan allows 5 installs with 100k visits, 30GB storage, and 3 premium migrations – all solid numbers for a smaller online shop.
Business 2
- $225 per month
- $2,250 per year
Business 2 is slightly better than Business 1. You get 10 installs, 250k visits, 40GB storage, and 3 premium migrations.
Business 3
- $340 per month
- $3,400 per year
Like Business 1 and 2, this plan has 3 premium migrations but is more substantial in terms of installs and bandwidth – it offers 20 installs, 400k visits, and 50GB, as well as 20 days of backup.
Business 4
- $450 per month
- $4,500 per year
Kinsta’s most extensive business plan will give you 40 installs, 600k visits, 60GB storage, 4 premium migrations, and 20 days of backup retention.
Enterprise 1
- $675 per month
- $6,750 per year
A small enterprise will make do with this plan’s 60 installs, 1M visits, 100GB storage, 5 premium migration, and 30 days of backup retention.
Enterprise 2
- $1,000 per month
- $10,000 per year
Suitable for growing enterprises, this plan offers a minor upgrade of Enterprise 1. It provides 80 installs, 1,5M visits, and 150GB storage.
Enterprise 3
- $1,350 per month
- $13,500 per year
Packing 120 installs, 2M visits, and 200GB storage, this plan is an excellent choice for medium to large enterprises.
Enterprise 4
- $1,650 per month
- $16,500 per year
Kinsta’s most comprehensive plan can support up to 150 installs, 2,5M visits, and 250GB storage, in addition to 5 premium migrations and 30 days of backup retention.
DreamHost — The only shared hosting with unlimited Inodes
Although it offers different hosting services, DreamHost is synonymous with shared hosting because it is the only shared hosting provider with unlimited inodes. Besides that, it’s applauded for its speed, security, ease of use, and affordable pricing.
Key features
- The number of sites and storage – host one or an unlimited number of websites with unlimited storage.
- Speed and bandwidth – enjoy unmetered bandwidth and SSDs for better speed.
- Notable mentions – free domain for a year, migration for WordPress, daily backups, automated malware scans (paid), and a money-back guarantee for 97 days.
Pricing and plans
DreamHost users can choose between two pricing plans – Starter and Unlimited.
Starter Plan
- $4.95 per month for 3 months
- $2.95 per month for 1 year
- $2.59 per month for 3 years
Starter Plan is a single-site offer with 50GB of storage and bandwidth. You get a free domain with an SSL certificate, free WP migrations, and an intuitive website builder, but there’s no email hosting.
Unlimited Plan
- $8.95 per month for 3 months
- $2.95 per month for 1 year
- $3.95 per month for 3 years
On top of everything included in the Starter Plan, DreamHost Unlimited is designed for an unlimited number of sites, so it comes with unlimited storage space. Email hosting is included.
WP Engine — Best managed to host with unlimited inodes
WP Engine is a formidable name in the web hosting industry, primarily due to its high-end pricing. Is it worthy? Well, it’s repeatedly been named the best managed hosting with unlimited inodes, impressive speed, and sizable storage. So, yes.
Key features
- The number of sites and storage – get between 1 and 60 and up to 50GB of storage. Custom plans and the possibility of adding an extra site for $20 monthly are available.
- Speed and bandwidth – WP-optimized caching provides a 40% speed boost for all sites, whether you choose a 50, 125, 200, or 500GB bandwidth plan.
- Notable mentions – free migration, daily backups, real-time threat detection, 96% customer success score, and a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Pricing and plans
WP Engine has four tiers designed for different stages of business growth.
Startup
- $30 per month
- $360 per year
WP Engine’s plans only differ in the number of installs, storage, and bandwidth. The startup is a single-site plan with 10GB storage and 50GB bandwidth.
Professional
- $59 per month
- $708 per year
If a one-site plan is too small for your needs, but you don’t require large space and bandwidth, go for Professional’s 3 sites, 15GB storage, and 125GB bandwidth.
Growth
- $115 per month
- $1,380 per year
WP Engine’s Growth plan is intended for businesses with growing needs, offering 20GB storage and 200GB bandwidth for 10 websites.
Scale
- $290 per month
- $3,408 per year
On top of the complete feature list for website building and increased performance available in all plans, this one provides 50GB storage and 500GB bandwidth for 30 sites.
Bluehost VPS — Best VPS hosting with (shy of) unlimited inodes
Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting has key advantages over shared hosting plans. With Bluehost VPS, you don’t get unlimited inodes per se, but you get 1 million of them (more than enough) on top of rocket speed and outstanding security features.
Key features
- The number of sites and storage – unlimited websites and up to 8GB RAM + 240GB SSD storage.
- Speed and bandwidth – exceptional speed and unmetered bandwidth with all plans.
- Notable mentions – free domains and SSL certificates, 24/7 customer support, and a 30-day money-back guarantee
Pricing and plans
Three pricing plans are available for Bluehost VPS users – Standard, Enhanced, and Ultimate.
Standard
- $39.99 per month for 1 month
- $34.99 per month for 1 year
- $34.99 per month for 2 years
- $29.99 per month for 3 years
Bluehost VPS offers a Standard plan at 2GB RAM + 120GB SSD and 2 core CPUs.
Enhanced
- $69.99 per month for 1 month
- $51.99 per month for 1 year
- $45.99 per month for 2 years
- $39.99 per month for 3 years
The Enhanced plan offers more room to play – 4GB RAM + 165 GB SSD and 2 core CPUs.
Ultimate
- $129.99 per month for 1 month
- $99.82 per month for 1 year
- $81.99 per month for 2 years
- $69.99 per month for 3 years
Bluehost’s most generous VPS plan packs 8GB RAM + 250GB SSD with 4 core CPUs.
How to choose the right unlimited inodes hosting
As often happens with extensive tools and business solutions, our list isn’t conclusive, and many of you might disagree with our best-value pick.
So, how do you choose the right unlimited inodes hosting provider?
Here are several things to consider:
Unlimited nodes
“Unlimited inodes” is often marketing talk for “sufficient.” You need to know how many you need to pick the right unlimited plan.
Storage space
SMB websites and blogs require around 10GB of storage space, but all other website types need more. For example, a typical online shop uses up to 100GB.
Bandwidth
Again, this depends on the type of your business. Websites with higher traffic and downloadable content require a bandwidth of around 50GB – the more, the merrier.
Pricing
You shouldn’t have to pay for more than you need. Unlimited inodes or not, good hosting providers should offer flexible pricing plans with customizable tiers.
Conclusion
When choosing a hosting service, inexperienced businesses often need to pay more attention to the importance of inodes. Go for any of the providers from this list, and you won’t make that mistake – in addition to unlimited inodes, all offer dependable speed and storage galore.
