There are two main reasons why you want to create your own proxy site: first, you have safety concerns about using public proxies, such as getting virus or spyware; second, you want to start your proxy business and make some money. So, you did some research, downloaded a free proxy script, installed it on your local test server. Everything looked fine! Now it comes to the question - where to host your first proxy site?

Proxy hosting seems like a challenge, especially for beginners. After all, you need to deal with things like Server Types, Bandwidth, and Price. So in this article, I'd like to give you a simple guide on how to pick up the right proxy hosting for you.

Proxy Hosing Plans

Based on server types, you will have 3 different hosting plans:

• Shared hosting means one web server hosts multiple websites.
• VPS provides a virtual private server with guaranteed system resources.
• Dedicated hosting let you own the whole server box.

Obviously, the price of those 3 hosting plans is totally different. While a cheap shared plan may cost you $5/Month, a decent dedicated server often charge you over $200/Month.

For beginners, your best choice is to start with a shared proxy hosting. Doing so, you not only save some money but also avoid the hassle to set up the server environment by yourself.

Select Your Hosting Company

There are hundreds of companies provide shared hosting service. However, many of them won't accept proxy because running a proxy site takes too much memory space, CPU time, and network bandwidth. Therefore, to find hosting companies, you should use the keyword "Proxy Hosting" rather than "Web Hosting" on the search engines.

Once you get some candidates, you need to evaluate them based on some important aspects as follows:

• Customer Reviews - How well existing customers think about this host, such as Server Uptime & Reliability, Technical Support, and Customer Support.
• Bandwidth - How much network traffic is allowed per month? For a new proxy site with 100 - 300 daily visits, you may need at least 50GB. If you want to host multiple proxy sites under one plan, 200GB is a good number to start with.
• Price -You need to compare not only the hosting fee but also the server setup cost, domain registration fee, and add-on service charge. On the other hand, check if there are any coupon codes or promotion programs that you can apply.
• Policy - How long is the Money Back Guarantee? Can you cancel the service any time? Is there any minimum contract period? How much dose it cost for the traffic over use?
• Features - How powerful is the web server (e.g. Memory, CPU, and Space)? What platform is it based on (Linux, Windows)? Does it have everything your proxy script requires (e.g. PHP, cURL)?

In Conclusion, for anyone new to proxy hosting, you may start with a shared plan. Once you carefully evaluate hosting companies based on their customer reviews, bandwidth, price, policy and features, you will find a right host for your proxy site.