The verdict in three sentences
For a Central African corporate website with 30,000 monthly visits and a light intranet, cheap shared hosting at 5 to 10 USD per month looks cheaper on paper but exposes the subsidiary to outages, missing backups and slow mobile loading. Managed hosting at 50 to 200 USD per month includes daily backups, CDN, 24/7 monitoring and incident response. With an estimated cost of about 500 USD per day of downtime for a mid-sized subsidiary, a single avoided outage per year more than pays for the difference.
Shared, VPS or managed: what you are really buying
The listed price does not tell you who steps in when the site goes down on a Friday night in Brazzaville, which is 5 hours ahead of Atlanta. That is the real question for a group IT director managing African subsidiaries from the US.
| Criterion | Low-end shared hosting | Unmanaged VPS | Managed hosting (Kolonell) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price 2026 | 3 to 10 USD | 15 to 40 USD | 25,000 to 75,000 FCFA (about 40 to 110 EUR, 45 to 125 USD) |
| Backups | Weekly, not guaranteed | Configure yourself | Daily, 30-day retention |
| CDN (Central Africa acceleration) | No | Optional, to configure | Included |
| Monitoring | None | None | 24/7, alert within 5 min |
| Security updates | Partial | Your responsibility | Included |
| Recovery after incident | Ticket, 24 to 72 h | Your team | Handled, target under 4 h |
| SSL certificate and web application firewall | Basic SSL | To install | SSL + firewall included |
US managed hosting providers typically charge 50 to 200 USD per month for a comparable level, often without points of presence close to Central Africa. The low tier suits a corporate brochure site; the high tier covers an intranet, document area and traffic peaks around results or tender announcements.
The real cost of an outage for an African subsidiary
The estimate of about 500 USD (300,000 FCFA) per day of downtime is a 2026 order of magnitude for a mid-sized subsidiary: lost inbound leads, staff cut off from the intranet, damaged credibility with partners and hours of local IT time.
| Annual scenario | Days of downtime | Outage cost (USD) | Annual hosting cost (USD) | Total (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared, quiet year | 1 | 500 | 80 | 580 |
| Shared, typical year | 3 | 1,500 | 80 | 1,580 |
| Shared, hack + recovery | 6 | 3,000 | 80 | 3,080 |
| Managed, low tier | 0.2 | 100 | 540 | 640 |
| Managed, high tier | 0.2 | 100 | 1,500 | 1,600 |
A quiet year favours shared hosting, but one bad year wipes out three years of savings. The main risk factor is an outdated CMS: obsolete plugins are the leading cause of hacks seen on corporate websites in the region.
Hosting and maintenance: two complementary contracts
Managed hosting keeps the server alive. Maintenance keeps the website healthy: application updates, small changes, content fixes. Kolonell offers three maintenance plans: Basic at 35,000 FCFA per month (50 EUR), Standard at 75,000 FCFA (110 EUR) and Premium at 120,000 FCFA (180 EUR).
| IT director need | Managed hosting | Basic maintenance | Standard maintenance | Premium maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Server available and monitored | Yes | No | No | No |
| CMS and plugin updates | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Content changes per month | No | 1 hour | 3 hours | 6 hours |
| Response time | Server incident | 72 h | 48 h | 24 h |
| Monthly report | Uptime | Simple | Detailed | Detailed + recommendations |
For a corporate site with a light intranet, the most common combination is managed hosting at 50,000 FCFA plus Standard maintenance at 75,000 FCFA, so 125,000 FCFA per month (190 EUR, about 210 USD).
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Mini case study
Michael, IT director of an Atlanta-based energy services group with a 220-employee subsidiary in Brazzaville, pays 6 USD per month for the subsidiary's shared hosting. In 2025 the site suffered 4 days of outage, 3 of them after a hack through an outdated plugin. At about 500 USD per day, the loss is 2,000 USD, plus 15 hours of local IT time. Moving to managed hosting at 50,000 FCFA (about 85 USD) per month costs roughly 950 USD more per year. If availability reaches 99.9%, under 9 hours of downtime per year, the estimated net gain exceeds 900 USD in year one. This scenario is illustrative and must be recalculated with your own data.
FAQ
Is a CDN useful for a site visited mostly from Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire?
Yes, it caches images and files close to visitors and cuts load time by 30 to 60% on 3G and 4G mobile. It also absorbs traffic peaks during major announcements.
Can the subsidiary keep its current .cg domain?
Yes, the domain remains your property and only DNS records change. The switch usually takes less than 2 hours, with no downtime if prepared.
What happens if the site is hacked anyway?
It is restored from the latest clean daily backup, with a target of being back online within 4 hours. The vulnerability is then fixed to prevent a repeat.
How much does migration from the current host cost?
For a standard corporate site, migration runs around 50,000 to 150,000 FCFA (80 to 250 USD) depending on data volume and the intranet. It takes 2 to 5 business days, testing included.
Is managed hosting enough without a maintenance contract?
For a site that rarely changes, yes for a few months. Beyond that, outdated plugins create vulnerabilities: Basic maintenance at 35,000 FCFA per month covers this risk.
Let's scope your project. Share your monthly traffic, CMS and uptime requirements: we will recommend the right hosting and maintenance tier, migration included. Detailed quote within 48 h. 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.
