Trade Counter
Hosting with postgresql — The quote you gave before anybody read the client's stack
Written for whoever has to host one Django, Rails or Laravel application inside a client list that is otherwise entirely cPanel and MySQL.
Straight answer first
Put that application on Business hosting, which stocks PostgreSQL alongside MySQL, and leave the rest of the fleet where it is — one client's engine requirement is not a reason to rebuild everybody else's arrangement or to rent a VPS you would then have to administer.
The commercial point underneath is that this requirement is usually discovered after the quote. Postgres is not standard on shared hosting, and the gap between 'we host websites' and 'we host this application' is where a fixed-price engagement quietly turns into an unpaid infrastructure project.
Written by the Hosting Seller staff · Checked 24 August 2026
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Whether a host stocks PostgreSQL sorts the shared market in two. A host that provides it generally expects developers through the door; one that does not generally tolerates them. That distinction is worth knowing before you promise anything.
For an agency the question is rarely philosophical. It is that one client has an application which expects Postgres, everything else you run is MySQL and cPanel, and you would prefer not to take on a server in order to say yes.
Read the stack before the quote goes out
Ask three questions during scoping and the problem disappears: which database engine does it expect, which runtime and version does it need, and does anything in it require a process running permanently. Those three answers determine whether the job fits shared hosting at all.
The engine question is the one that gets skipped, because the client says 'a website'. A Django or Rails application described that way will still expect Postgres, and finding that out during onboarding rather than during scoping means the difference has to come out of your margin.
Where the answer is Postgres, price the hosting line accordingly rather than absorbing it. This is a straightforward cost, not a favour, and it is far easier to include at quote stage than to explain afterwards.
Where Postgres actually sits on our shelf
On the Business tiers, PostgreSQL sits alongside MySQL on the same account, with Node.js, Python and Ruby on Rails all available and SSH switched on from the start. Business Standard carries 500 GB of disk, a terabyte of bandwidth and 100 addon domains; Business Ultimate carries 1 TB of disk, 5 TB of bandwidth and 500 addon domains with 200 MySQL and FTP accounts.
Both engines together is the arrangement that actually fits an agency. WordPress will still want MySQL, and the client application wants Postgres, and putting them on one account means one login, one backup regime and one invoice rather than a second supplier relationship for one project.
It also avoids the reflex answer, which is a VPS. A VPS solves the engine problem and hands you patching, monitoring and a root password you are now responsible for. That is a reasonable trade when a client is paying for it and an expensive one when they are not.
One odd client on an otherwise cPanel fleet
Keep the exception isolated. A single Business account holding the Postgres application, separate from the reseller arrangement carrying the ordinary client sites, keeps the fleet uniform and the exception legible to whoever inherits your documentation.
Document what makes it different: the engine, the runtime version, the connection details location, and who wrote the application. Exceptions are only dangerous when they are undocumented, and the one non-standard account in a fleet is the one nobody remembers the shape of.
Backups deserve a second look on that account specifically. A daily backup is taken on every plan with restores you run yourself, but confirm what your dump routine covers for the Postgres side rather than assuming the WordPress habit transfers.
What to charge for it
Price the difference, not the plan. The honest line is that this application requires a tier the rest of the client list does not, and the increment is a real cost you are passing on rather than a markup you invented.
Then price the knowledge separately if you are supporting it. An agency that can answer questions about a Postgres-backed application is doing something materially different from an agency that installs WordPress, and the retainer should reflect that rather than quietly absorbing it.
Run the usual supplier checks before you commit a client to any of it: hold the renewal figure against the joining figure, read the refund terms — 30 days on shared, business, WordPress and WooCommerce hosting, 7 days on reseller — and look the company up. Ours is IGI Security Services Ltd, registered in England and Wales.
Our stake in the recommendation
We sell the tier this page recommends, and stating that is more useful than a table that ranks us first for reasons nobody can audit. The specifics are checkable against any other supplier.
Both engines on one account is a deliberate arrangement rather than an accident: it is what lets an agency keep one login, one backup regime and one invoice across a mixed fleet.
- PostgreSQL and MySQL on the same account
- Node.js, Python and Ruby on Rails available
- SSH switched on from account creation
- Daily backups with restores you run yourself
Why Hosting Seller
On every plan, as standard
Both engines, one account
MySQL for the WordPress work and PostgreSQL for the client application, without a second supplier relationship for one project.
No server to take on
A shared tier that stocks Postgres avoids the reflex VPS, and with it the patching and monitoring you would have inherited unpaid.
Runtimes already present
Node.js, Python and Ruby on Rails are available on the Business tiers, so the application's runtime is not a second negotiation.
Room for the rest of the fleet
Business Standard carries 100 addon domains and Business Ultimate 500, so an exception account has space to become a home.
SSH from the start
Shell access at creation is what makes dumps, migrations and deployment on this account tractable rather than manual.
A cost you can quote
The renewal figure matches the joining figure, so passing the increment on to the client stays accurate in year two.
Price Tags Compared
How we compare with the household names
Typical sign-up and renewal prices across the market, set next to ours — the second number most comparison charts leave off.
| Line item | Hosting SellerBest seller | Typical big-brand host | Typical budget host | Typical loss-leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price / mo* | $2.42/mo | $4–$6 | $2–$4 | $1–$3 |
| Price at renewal / mo | $2.42/mo | $10–$15 | $8–$12 | $4–$6 |
| Renewal price on the entry plan is unchanged | ||||
| SSL on every plan | ||||
| Site migration included | ||||
| The entry plan uses NVMe storage | ||||
| Entry plan gets a backup daily | ||||
| Live human support, 24/7 |
*The number in our column is the cheapest plan on our shelf, priced on an annual term and pulled live from the very catalogue that feeds the pricing page, so it cannot drift out of date. Other columns show the ranges shared hosting tends to advertise inside each bracket: introductory rates that normally ask for a one-to-four-year commitment, then climb once that term expires. Naming individual competitors and printing their prices is something we have stopped doing. A figure we cannot re-check on the day you read it has no business sitting in front of you. So compare us with whoever you are genuinely weighing up, and read the renewal line first. That line tells you more than the headline ever will.
First Steps
From choosing to live
- 1
Ask the three scoping questions
Which engine, which runtime and version, and does anything need to run permanently. Those three answers decide whether the job fits shared hosting, and asking them before the quote is what keeps the difference off your margin.
- 2
Isolate the exception on its own account
Keep the Postgres application separate from the reseller arrangement carrying ordinary client sites, so the fleet stays uniform and the exception stays legible to whoever comes next.
- 3
Document what makes it different
Engine, runtime version, where the connection details live, who wrote it. The one non-standard account in a fleet is always the one nobody remembers the shape of.
In the Box
Packed with every plan
- PostgreSQL provided on shared tiers, not only on a VPS
- MySQL available alongside it on the same account
- Node.js, Python and Ruby on Rails runtimes present
- SSH switched on at account creation
- 500 GB of disk on Business Standard, 1 TB on Business Ultimate
- 100 addon domains on Standard, 500 on Ultimate
- Daily backups with restores you run yourself
- cPanel, so the rest of the fleet stays uniform
- The renewal figure printed next to the joining figure
- Migration into the account handled by our staff at no charge
Across the Counter
Things people ask us all the time
What should I ask a client before quoting on their application?
Which database engine it expects, which runtime and version it needs, and whether anything has to run permanently. Those three answers decide whether the work fits shared hosting. A client describing a Django application as 'a website' is not being evasive — they simply do not know that the distinction costs money.
Is a VPS the right answer for one Postgres client?
Usually not. A VPS solves the engine problem and hands you patching, monitoring and a root password you are now accountable for. That is a fair trade when the client is paying for the administration and an expensive one when the quote assumed shared hosting. Business tiers stock Postgres alongside MySQL without any of that.
Will WordPress run on PostgreSQL if I standardise everything on it?
Not in any practical sense — WordPress is built around MySQL. The workable arrangement for a mixed fleet is both engines together on one account: MySQL for the WordPress sites and Postgres for the application that needs it. That is precisely what the Business tiers provide.
How should I price the difference?
Pass the tier increment on as the cost it is, and price the support separately. Being able to answer questions about a Postgres-backed application is materially different work from installing WordPress, and a retainer that does not distinguish them is a retainer that quietly subsidises one client with everybody else's fee.
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PostgreSQL alongside MySQL, Node, Python and Ruby runtimes, SSH from creation, and daily backups on the account.
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