How much bandwidth do I need for my web hosting plan?

Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer allowed to and from a web server. This depends on number of people who visit your website per day, the number of pages they visit, and the average web page size. It includes both FTP and HTTP downloads and uploads. Hence, bandwidth required for a web hosting plan depends on the website hosted, the kind of features it has and popularity. For large businesses, which expect a lot of traffic and have a higher web page size, more bandwidth will be required.

For individuals, the requirements are low. An ideal web page size would be 50-60KB, including flash and images. If 20,000 visitors are expected per month, with 5 pages visited on an average by each of them, 5GB of bandwidth would be required. The formula for calculating bandwidth requirements is – Average Page Size*Average Page Views*Average Daily Visitors*31*Fudge Factor. If download from the website is allowed and expected, the modified formula is – [(Average Page Size* Average Page Size*Average Daily Visitors + (Average Daily File Downloads*Average File Size)] *31*Fudge Factor When the fudge factor is taken to be 1.5, it is assumed that your estimate is off by 50%. When unsure, a fudge factor of 2 or 3 can be taken.