I’m working on hosting a client’s website related to prayer timing like this, The website includes a schedule that updates dynamically based on user location and time zone. I’m considering using Netlify’s hosting but want to understand the following:
Pricing: Given that the site will likely have moderate traffic, especially during Ramadan, would the free plan suffice, or should we consider upgrading to a paid tier?
Scalability: How well does Netlify handle sudden traffic spikes during peak times?
Features: Are there any specific features in the paid plans that would benefit a site like this (e.g., advanced analytics or priority support)?
Thank you in advance for your insights! If anyone has experience hosting similar types of websites on Netlify, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Hi Clark! Thanks for your questions, I’d be happy to do my best at answering them.
It’s hard to estimate a plan recommendation without knowing precise traffic numbers. You could always start on the Free tier and manually upgrade to Starter or Pro if you notice the traffic requires it. With Starter and Pro, your meters (such as bandwidth) scale to your usage if the allotment is exceeded, but with Free the site will be paused if meters are exceeded.
As for sudden traffic spikes, we handle these very well! Our monitors will trigger if traffic comes at an exceptional rate that mimics patterns of attack, but if your traffic is natural (aka coming from a diverse range of users), you should have no issues with staying live.
Regarding features to recommend: that’s truly up to you and your needs. For example, in our billing page, we include account insights such as traffic and compute used per day. It might be worth it to experiment and see what you desire more of. If you have a Pro account, you have access to our technical support. We generally handle Pro user’s requests within 2 business days, but sometimes up to 4 if we are extremely swamped with tickets!