Approaching or Reaching Your Fair Use Limit
Reaching your fair use limit doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong — it’s simply a sign your website is growing or behaving differently than usual. This guide explains why fair use limits exist, what happens when you approach them, and how we help you stay within them without stress or disruption.
Why Do We Apply Fair Use Limits?
When you’re on shared hosting, you’re sharing server resources — such as disk space, bandwidth, and processing power — with other websites. Even though we have strong protections in place, one account using more than its fair share can affect everyone else on the same server.
That’s why fair usage policies are so important. They make sure everyone gets their fair slice of the pie — and that someone on a Value Plan doesn’t consume resources intended for users on higher plans like Ultimate, who have paid for a larger share.
Fair use = fairness + performance + stability. It keeps the hosting environment fast, fair, and reliable for everyone.
It’s No One’s Fault
Sometimes, websites simply grow faster than expected. A post might go viral, a marketing campaign might take off, or an automated backup might start saving large files in the wrong place. Any of these can push you closer to your limits without you even noticing.
That’s why we always warn you well before you exceed your fair usage. We’ll never shut your site down or restrict access — we don’t think that’s fair, especially if it’s your livelihood. Instead, if overuse continues, we may apply a small Fair Use charge to cover the additional bandwidth or data storage costs (which aren’t free to us either).
We can also help you optimise your website to bring it back within limits — improving performance and reducing costs at the same time.
Fair Use Metrics — What We Measure
We look at three key metrics when calculating fair use:
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Disk Space Used
This is the amount of data stored in your hosting space. Your webspace should only contain files required for your website to run — not archives, personal storage, or large backups.
Storing backups directly on your website isn’t a good idea. They consume space, slow down performance, and duplicate data unnecessarily. Every Hipposerve plan includes a basic off-site backup, and you can extend this if needed. Large images can also consume space — see our separate article on image optimisation for guidance. -
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the total amount of data sent from your site to its visitors. A spike in bandwidth is usually a good thing — it means your site is getting more traffic!
However, if it becomes a regular pattern, it might indicate that your plan is no longer suitable for your level of activity. The quickest and most efficient solution is often to upgrade to the next tier.
Remember that large, unoptimised images or hosting videos directly on your site can quickly eat up bandwidth. Consider using optimised images (see our guide) or hosting videos on YouTube or similar platforms, which are designed for this purpose. -
Database Size
A bloated database can slow down your entire site. The server has to work much harder to fetch data, which impacts performance. If you’re nearing your database limit, it’s time to optimise or upgrade.
Our Hipposerve Support Team can assist you with cleaning up and optimising your database to help it run efficiently.
Key Takeaways
- Fair use limits exist to ensure fairness across shared hosting users.
- We’ll always notify you before applying any charges.
- Your site won’t be shut down — instead, we’ll help you resolve the issue.
- Optimisation can often solve usage problems without needing an upgrade.
Think of fair use not as a penalty, but as a way to keep hosting fair, reliable, and sustainable for everyone — while ensuring your own site runs smoothly and efficiently.
