The verdict in three sentences
Low-cost hosting with no SLA or tested backup is a false economy: the first long outage costs more than years of managed hosting. The figures that matter are uptime (99.9% vs 99.99%), backup frequency (daily vs hourly) and the RTO/RPO targets (time and data loss you accept). For e-commerce, an hour of downtime quickly runs into hundreds of thousands of FCFA, which makes managed hosting (25,000-75,000 FCFA/month) worth it.
What uptime really means
| Stated uptime | Downtime/year | Downtime/month | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99% | ~3.65 days | ~7.3 h | Unacceptable for e-commerce |
| 99.9% | ~8.7 h | ~43 min | Showcase / blog |
| 99.95% | ~4.4 h | ~22 min | Active SME |
| 99.99% | ~52 min | ~4.3 min | E-commerce / institutional |
| 99.999% | ~5 min | ~26 s | Critical (banking) |
Backup, RTO/RPO and managed pricing
| Criterion | Cheap shared | Reliable managed 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Price/month | 5,000 - 15,000 FCFA | 25,000 - 75,000 FCFA |
| Backup frequency | Weekly (sometimes none) | Daily to hourly |
| RPO (max data loss) | up to 7 days | < 1 h to 24 h |
| RTO (recovery time) | undefined | < 1 h to 4 h |
| Africa CDN | No | Yes (lower latency) |
| Monitoring/on-call | No | Yes |
RPO tells you how much data you accept losing (hourly backup = max 1 h lost); RTO tells you how fast the site returns. A CDN with points of presence near West Africa cuts latency and absorbs traffic spikes, which matters on 3G connections.
Mini case study
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Aïssatou runs a food e-commerce in Dakar generating ~200,000 FCFA/day, i.e. ~8,300 FCFA/hour on average and far more at peak. On cheap shared hosting at 99% (≈7.3 h outage/month) she loses on average ≈60,000 FCFA/month in sales, not counting reputation. Switching to managed 99.99% at 50,000 FCFA/month, outage drops to ~4 min/month: the saved sales cover the subscription and the extra reliability comes free.
FAQ
Are 99.9% and 99.99% really different? Yes: 8.7 hours of outage per year versus 52 minutes. For a showcase, 99.9% is enough; for an e-commerce selling around the clock, target 99.99%.
How often should I back up? Based on acceptable RPO. A blog tolerates daily backups; an e-commerce taking orders constantly should target hourly to avoid losing a day of sales.
Is a CDN essential in Africa? For 3G performance and spikes, yes. It brings content closer to visitors and absorbs load, improving perceived uptime and SEO.
Is managed worth it for a small shop? As soon as the site generates revenue, yes: a single avoided long outage often repays several months of managed hosting (25,000-75,000 FCFA/month).
Let's talk about your project. We size uptime, backups and CDN to your revenue, without overpaying for a banking-grade SLA on a showcase. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
