How much storage do I need for my website?
Last updated: 31 December 2025
How much storage do I need for my website?
One of the first questions when choosing hosting is: how much disk space do I actually need? This guide helps you make a realistic estimate.
Average sizes per website type
Small website or blog
1-5 GB usually sufficient
- About 10-50 pages
- 50-100 images (optimized)
- Some PDFs or downloads
- WordPress with 5-10 plugins
Business website
5-10 GB recommended
- 50-200 pages
- 200-500 images
- Portfolio/gallery
- Contact forms
- WordPress with 15-20 plugins
- Email storage (1-2 GB extra)
Webshop (small)
10-20 GB recommended
- 50-200 products
- 500-1000 product images
- WooCommerce or other shop software
- Database for orders
- Customer accounts and reviews
- Email storage (2-3 GB extra)
Webshop (large)
20-50 GB or more
- 200+ products
- 2000+ product images
- Multiple product videos
- Large database
- Backup storage
- Email storage (5+ GB)
Portfolio/Photography website
15-50 GB recommended
- High resolution images
- Possibly RAW previews
- Video content
- Downloads for clients
What takes up space?
Images (biggest factor)
- Optimized image: 50-200 KB
- Unoptimized photo: 2-8 MB
- RAW file: 20-50 MB
Tip: Always use WebP or optimized JPGs for web!
Videos
- Short video (30 sec, 1080p): 50-100 MB
- Long video (5 min, 1080p): 500 MB - 1 GB
Tip: Host videos on YouTube, Vimeo or Bunny.net to save storage!
Database
- Small WordPress site: 10-50 MB
- Large blog (1000+ articles): 100-500 MB
- Webshop: 500 MB - 5 GB
Plugins & Themes
- WordPress core: ~70 MB
- Average theme: 5-20 MB
- Average plugin: 1-10 MB
- Total with 20 plugins: 200-500 MB
Email storage
- Average per mailbox: 500 MB - 2 GB
- With 5 mailboxes: 2.5-10 GB
How much should you reserve?
Rule of thumb: Take at least 2-3x your current usage
So using 3 GB now? Choose at least 6-10 GB hosting. This provides room for:
- Website growth
- Backups
- Visitor uploads
- Email storage
- Caching files
Common mistakes
❌ Uploading unoptimized images
Uploading a 5 MB photo that could be 200 KB = waste
❌ Keeping backups on same hosting
Backups can quickly take up 2-5 GB
❌ Not removing expired plugin/theme versions
Old versions often remain
❌ Hosting videos directly
Host videos externally via YouTube or Vimeo
Tips for saving space
- Compress images - Use tools like TinyPNG or ShortPixel
- Use WebP format - 25-35% smaller than JPG
- Remove old backups - Keep max 3-5 recent backups
- Clean up database - Remove spam comments, old drafts
- Host videos externally - Save 80-90% space
- Lazy load images - Loads only what's needed
Choosing a hosting package
Most hosting providers offer:
- Budget packages: 1-10 GB (€2-7/month)
- Standard packages: 10-50 GB (€5-15/month)
- Premium packages: 50-100+ GB (€10-30/month)
For 90% of websites, 10-25 GB is more than enough.
Can I upgrade later?
Yes! Almost all hosting providers let you upgrade to more space. So feel free to start with a smaller package and upgrade when needed.
View our comparison
Want to know which hosting providers offer the best price-space ratio? Check our hosting comparison.
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