Choose the right level of separation.
Shared hosting can suit straightforward sites where the hosting environment is managed centrally and individual accounts have defined limits. A VPS provides a separate virtual server and more control over its operating system and software. The useful decision is how much control, isolation and operational work your website requires.
Describe the sites, administrators and business processes involved. A brochure site with cached pages may need a different arrangement from a customer portal, membership service or application handling regular transactions. Separate production and development access where mistakes could affect customers.
Match hosting to the application.
Share your content management system, runtime, database and required extensions. For Drupal or another PHP application, include the supported software versions and any scheduled jobs. Static websites need a clear publishing process, HTTPS and appropriate caching; they may not need a database or a general-purpose server.
Include email delivery, forms, payment services and third-party connections in the brief. Confirm whether hosting covers mailboxes, outbound application email or neither, so the website launch does not leave an important dependency unresolved.
Plan for real traffic patterns.
Provide ordinary traffic, expected campaign peaks, media sizes and any current slow pages. Ask how CPU, memory, database usage, storage and transfer limits are applied. A monthly visit count alone does not explain the demand created by uncached searches, uploads or checkout requests.
For high-traffic sites, assess caching, content delivery and application efficiency alongside the hosting allocation. Agree which measurements would trigger a move to a larger service or a VPS, and what that move would involve.
Make the operating scope clear.
Your proposal should identify the hosting location, account access, update responsibilities, backup coverage, restore process and support route. Ask for setup, recurring, licence and migration costs to be separated. Retention, capacity and transfer allowances should be stated in terms you can compare.
Before moving a live site, verify the content, forms, redirects and external integrations on the destination. Agree the cutover window and who approves the result. This makes the hosting choice part of a controlled website handover.