Introduction
Every hosting plan lists a few numbers: memory, processor, processes and disk space. Together they decide how much work your website can do at the same time.
This guide explains what each number means in plain words, which plan has what, and what happens when your site reaches a limit.
What Each Limit Means
- Memory (RAM). The working space your website’s programs use while they run. Every page view, worker and cache uses some. Shown in MB or GB.
- Processor (vCPU). How much processor time your website can use.
1vCPU is the time of one processor core.0.5is half of one. - Processes. How many programs can run on your website at the same moment. Each PHP request, worker, scheduled task and SSH session is a process.
- Disk space. How much your files and email can take up in storage.
- Disk speed (IOPS). How many read and write operations your website can make on the disk each second. Most sites never come close.
- Files. Every plan allows up to
1,000,000files and folders. This only matters for sites with huge caches or many copies of an app.
Shared Server, Your Own Limits
Your website runs on a shared server, together with other customers’ websites. The numbers on your plan are maximums for your website. They are not hardware set aside only for you.
Each website runs in its own container. A container is a closed space with its own limits, so one busy website cannot take all of the server’s memory or processor.
Plan Limits
Linux Hosting
| Plan | Memory | vCPU | Processes | Disk | Disk speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premium | 512 MB | 0.5 | 50 | 10 GB | 5,000 IOPS |
| Business | 1 GB | 1 | 80 | 20 GB | 10,000 IOPS |
| Cloud Enterprise | 2 GB | 2 | 120 | 50 GB | 15,000 IOPS |
WordPress Hosting
| Plan | Memory | vCPU | Processes | Disk | Disk speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress Premium | 1 GB | 1 | 60 | 20 GB | 5,000 IOPS |
| WordPress Business | 2 GB | 2 | 100 | 30 GB | 10,000 IOPS |
| WordPress Cloud Enterprise | 3 GB | 2 | 150 | 50 GB | 15,000 IOPS |
Laravel Hosting
| Plan | Memory | vCPU | Processes | Disk | Disk speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laravel Premium | 2 GB | 2 | 80 | 30 GB | 10,000 IOPS |
| Laravel Business | 4 GB | 3 | 120 | 40 GB | 15,000 IOPS |
| Laravel Cloud Enterprise | 6 GB | 4 | 180 | 60 GB | 15,000 IOPS |
Node.js Hosting
| Plan | Memory | vCPU | Processes | Disk | Disk speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Node.js Premium | 1.5 GB | 2 | 70 | 25 GB | 10,000 IOPS |
| Node.js Business | 3 GB | 3 | 110 | 35 GB | 15,000 IOPS |
| Node.js Cloud Enterprise | 5 GB | 4 | 160 | 55 GB | 20,000 IOPS |
What Shares the Memory and Processor
Everything that runs on your website uses the same memory, processor and process limits. That includes:
- PHP, which builds your pages.
- Worker processes, the programs that keep running in the background, such as Laravel queue workers or a Node.js app.
- Redis, if you switch it on. Redis is a fast in memory store that apps use for cache, sessions and queues.
- Scheduled tasks and SSH sessions.
So if a plan has 2 GB of memory and Redis uses 300 MB, PHP and your workers share the remaining 1.7 GB.
Note: Addon domains on your website share these limits too. Five sites on one plan split one plan’s memory and processor.
What Shares the Disk Space
Your website files and your mailboxes share your plan’s disk space. A mailbox that keeps years of attachments uses the same space as your site’s uploads.
Old backups, logs and copies of your site that you keep in your files also count. Delete what you no longer need.
Databases, Redis and PostgreSQL
| Family | MySQL databases | PostgreSQL databases | Redis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | No set limit | Business 2, Cloud Enterprise 5 | Business and Cloud Enterprise |
| WordPress | No set limit | Business 2, Cloud Enterprise 5 | Business and Cloud Enterprise |
| Laravel | No set limit | 5, 10 and 20 | Every plan |
| Node.js | No set limit | 2, 5 and 10 | Every plan |
The Premium plans on Linux and WordPress do not include PostgreSQL or Redis.
The plans do not set a size limit for each database. If your app needs a very large database or many database connections at the same time, open a ticket and tell us what it needs. The MySQL guide covers creating and connecting databases.
Websites and Addon Domains
Every plan includes one website. You can add more domains to that website as addon domains:
| Plan tier | Addon domains |
|---|---|
| Premium | 5 |
| Business | 10 |
| Cloud Enterprise | 20 |
The addon domain guide explains how they work.
What Happens When You Reach a Limit
Your site does not get switched off. What happens depends on the limit:
- Memory. When your site needs more memory than its limit, the program that asked for it is stopped. Visitors may see an error for that request.
- Processor. Your site is slowed down. Pages take longer, but they still load.
- Processes. New requests wait or fail until running ones finish. Visitors may see an error.
- Disk space. New files cannot be saved. Uploads, updates and new email can fail until you free up space.
Checking Your Usage
The panel shows how much disk space and bandwidth your website uses.
Memory and processor use are not shown in the panel. To see them, connect with SSH and run:
toptop lists what is running, with the memory and processor each program uses. Press q to quit. To list every process with its memory use, run:
ps auxThe SSH guide shows how to connect.
Moving to a Bigger Plan
If your site regularly reaches a limit, move to the next tier in the same family:
- Log in to the client area at client.getlitehost.com.
- Open your hosting service.
- Choose Change Plan and pick the bigger plan.
Your website, files, databases and email stay where they are. The new limits apply to your site.
Note: Change Plan moves you between tiers of the same family, for example Linux Premium to Linux Business. Moving between families, such as Linux to Laravel, means a new plan. Open a ticket at client.getlitehost.com/support and we will help you move.
