Storage is the disk space on your hosting account that holds your website’s files and database, and most small business WordPress sites are comfortable with about 5 to 10 GB unless you upload lots of photos, PDFs, or video.
Think of storage like the closet your website lives in. Every page you publish, image you upload, and plugin you install takes up space. Storage is not the same thing as bandwidth (how much data your visitors download) or speed (how fast the site loads), but your storage choices can affect both, especially if your site is packed with oversized images.
What counts toward storage
- Website files: WordPress core files, your theme, and plugins.
- Uploads: images, videos, PDFs, before-and-after galleries, downloadable forms, and other media.
- Database: posts, pages, form entries, product data, and settings.
- Backups and staging sites: these can quietly double your usage if they are kept on the same server.
- Email (sometimes): if your hosting includes mailboxes, attachments can eat storage fast.
- File count limits (often called inodes): thousands of tiny files can trigger limits even when GB storage looks fine.
How much storage do you need?
| Website type | Typical storage range | What usually drives the number up |
|---|---|---|
| Basic brochure site (5 to 15 pages) | 1 to 3 GB | Large hero images, multiple location photos, bulky plugins |
| Service business site with regular blog posts | 3 to 10 GB | Monthly photo uploads, PDF guides, form file uploads |
| Photo-heavy industries (real estate, med spa, dental galleries) | 10 to 25 GB | High-resolution galleries, lots of before-and-after sets |
| eCommerce with many products | 10 to 30+ GB | Multiple product images per SKU, plugin-generated logs, backups |
| Media-heavy sites (courses, podcasts, self-hosted video) | 25 to 100+ GB | Audio/video files stored on hosting instead of a media platform |
A quick way to estimate your needs
If your site already exists, the fastest answer is to check current disk usage in your hosting panel. Then add expected growth: if you upload about 300 MB of images and PDFs per month, that is about 3.6 GB per year, so a 10 GB plan can get tight quickly once you include backups and email.
If you are building a new site, estimate storage by your content habits: how many photos you post monthly, whether you plan to offer downloadable PDFs, and whether staff will upload images from phones (those files are often several MB each before compression).
We keep storage needs down by setting image sizing rules during web design so you are not accidentally uploading 4000-pixel photos for a 1200-pixel page.
Since images are usually the biggest storage and speed culprit, it helps to understand compression and modern formats, which we break down in how images affect website performance.
Common storage mistakes we see in Orlando businesses
Photo-heavy sites are normal here, from real estate listings to dental smile galleries and pest control before-and-after shots. The problem is not “having photos,” it is uploading the originals. A single uncompressed image can be 5 to 15 MB, and a gallery can add up fast. Another common issue is keeping multiple full backups on the same hosting account and forgetting about them.
If you want help choosing the right plan, our WordPress hosting includes a quick check of what is actually using space (uploads, backups, email, logs) so you pay for what you need without running into surprise limits.
If you tell us what you upload each month (photos, PDFs, videos) and whether you host email on the same account, we can give you a practical storage target and a growth buffer that fits how your business operates.
