A few things I check before choosing hosting for a client

When selecting hosting for a client, it's crucial to consider factors beyond just the advertised RAM or storage capacity. The actual cost, including renewal price, control-panel license, backups, and transfer allowance, should be thoroughly evaluated. It's essential to understand what support entails; merely having DirectAdmin installed doesn't guarantee server maintenance or application troubleshooting.

To assess a site's performance without relying on cached content, I recommend running a test using the command: curl -sS -o /dev/null -w HTTP: %{http_code}\nTTFB: %{time_starttransfer}s\nTotal: %{time_total}s\n https://your-domain.com/. This method measures the request response time rather than the full browser experience. Repeat the test at different times to get a comprehensive understanding.

Determining who manages updates and recovery is also vital. For VPS hosting, clarify who is responsible for security updates, monitoring, and backups according to the management agreement. Keep an additional backup outside the server and test its restoration before fully relying on it. Discovering incomplete backups during an outage is a situation to be avoided.

My practical experience is limited to InterServer VPS and DirectAdmin hosting, so InterServer forms one potential option to discuss. For a new project, I would also compare Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Akamai Cloud (Linode). Although I don't claim personal experience with those services, I would evaluate their current plans, available locations, and support terms based on the client's requirements.

It's important to remember that a one-size-fits-all approach does not apply to all clients. The hosting setup should align with the specific needs of the website - be it a small business, a busy shop, or an application with background workers. The opening question should be: what does this client require to run, and who will maintain it? This approach simplifies the hosting decision.