Choosing hosting
What should website hosting support include?
Key takeaway
Good hosting support makes responsibility clear: who checks the server, who maintains website software and who helps with changes or recovery. Lightning Web Hosting assesses those needs before setup. The Lightning plan includes supported everyday Arc updates, while complex separate work is scoped and quoted before it starts.
In this guide
Ask about a real problem
Before choosing a host, ask something concrete: “If our enquiry form stops working, what would you check?” The answer should explain whether the provider handles the hosting, the website code, an outside form service or a combination.
Cloud infrastructure and the website running on it have different responsibilities. The useful support arrangement names the work and who owns it. “Support included” needs enough detail for you to know what happens next.
What managed hosting takes responsibility for
Sources: AWS: the distinction between infrastructure and customer responsibilities (opens in a new tab)
Everyday changes should have an easy route
On the Lightning plan, sign into the private portal, select the website and page, and tell Arc what you want changed. You can type, speak or add your own picture or screenshot to explain. Supported requests become a private proof for your review.
Text edits, uploaded image changes and simple layout moves are everyday inclusions, subject to fair use. If our team helps prepare an included change, it stays included. Approval of the ready revision starts publication immediately.
Send useful details rather than a shared password
Include the page address, what you expected and what actually happened. A screenshot and the approximate time can help explain an intermittent problem. Tell us if it affects a booking, an enquiry or another important action.
Use your own portal account. Individual company and website access makes responsibility clearer than passing around one administrator login. Access or transfer credentials need an agreed private handover, not a public chat message.
Agree complex work before paying for it
A new integration, a plugin conflict or a substantial redesign can be different from an everyday edit. We assess the feature and agree the scope and estimate before separate manual work begins. Complex manual work is NZ$120 + GST per hour.
Modernisation is overseen by humans and quoted as a separate project: NZ$999 + GST for up to 10 pages or NZ$1,199 + GST for up to 30 pages. The brief confirms content, page count and any special functions first.
The modernisation process and scopeLarger website and app projects at Lightning Developments
Keep email and recovery in the conversation
Tell us which provider handles your email before moving the website. Both hosting plans include domain registration and DNS, but that does not turn the plan into a replacement for every existing mailbox service.
Daily AWS website backups are included. Recovery still needs the right copy and an agreed process, particularly where a site takes orders or bookings. Explain the important functions during assessment so their responsibilities are understood.
Keep email with the right providerUnderstand the recovery arrangements
Choose the help your website needs
Thunder provides hosting at NZ$55 + GST per website a month. Lightning adds everyday Arc updates at NZ$99 + GST. Both include AWS hosting, CDN, SSL, platform security, daily AWS website backups, domain registration and DNS.
Your website and supplied content remain yours, with access to download the files and content we hold. Create a free account if you are still deciding. Hosting billing starts when the website is live with us, after the setup and any separate work are agreed.