Windows Hosting with ASP.NET and MSSQL Support

Windows Hosting Guide: Choosing a Plan and Going Live

This guide explains which projects Windows hosting suits, what to look at when choosing a plan and how to publish an ASP.NET Core application step by step.

Which Projects Is It Right For?

Windows-based hosting is built for projects developed in the Microsoft ecosystem. If your project needs ASP.NET hosting, it runs on Windows servers without any workarounds. It is the right platform for you if any of the following applies:

• Applications built with ASP.NET Web Forms or ASP.NET MVC 5 that run on .NET Framework 4.7 / 4.8
• Modern web applications and web services written in ASP.NET Core
• Projects that rely on Microsoft SQL Server and therefore need MSSQL hosting
• Business websites written in Classic ASP that are still in use
• Projects whose settings are managed through web.config, IIS URL Rewrite and application pools

If your site runs only on PHP (for example WordPress, Joomla or Laravel), you do not need a Windows server. Such sites run with more common tooling and fewer adjustments on our Linux-based web hosting plans, and for a WordPress site you can explore our hosting plans built for WordPress sites.

Windows vs. Linux Hosting: Key Differences

The main difference between the two platforms is the web server they use and the technologies they support. Linux servers usually run PHP applications with Apache, Nginx or LiteSpeed, while Windows servers use IIS and support .NET applications natively. Server settings live in web.config instead of .htaccess, file names are not case-sensitive, and alongside MySQL and MariaDB you can also use MSSQL. ASP.NET Core is cross-platform and can also run on Linux, but .NET Framework applications run only on Windows, and for projects that rely on IIS, web.config or MSSQL, Windows hosting is the most direct option. From a visitor's point of view both platforms can be fast and secure; what matters is the platform your application was written for.

What to Check When Choosing a Plan

• Framework version: confirm that your project's target version (for example net8.0 or .NET Framework 4.8) is among the versions supported on the server.
• Database type: decide whether you will use MSSQL or MySQL / MariaDB, and check version compatibility if you are moving an existing database.
• Number of sites: work out how many websites you will host on the same account, as plans differ by the number of sites they allow.
• Disk space and traffic: account for uploaded images, log files and data that grows over time, not just your application files.
• SSL and backups: every plan includes free SSL and weekly automatic backups; if you need an organisation-validated (OV/EV) certificate, plan for it separately.

If you are not sure which plan suits you, try our hosting selection wizard or ask our live support team.

Steps to Publish Your ASP.NET Core Application

1. Publish your project in Release mode from Visual Studio or with the dotnet publish command.
2. Upload the publish folder to your site's root directory with the Plesk file manager, FTP or Git integration.
3. Make sure the folder contains a web.config that uses the AspNetCoreModuleV2 module; the publish step usually generates it for you.
4. Create your MSSQL database and user in Plesk, then update the connection string in appsettings.json.
5. Enable the free SSL certificate for your domain and redirect HTTP requests to HTTPS.
6. Test the site; if you hit an error, temporarily enable stdout logging to find the cause and switch it off again once it is fixed.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• .htaccess redirect rules from sites moved off a Linux server do not work on IIS; they need to be converted into URL Rewrite rules in web.config.
• The application pool may be recycled at set intervals or after a period without requests, so keeping session and cache data only in memory can lead to data loss at those moments.
• Stdout logging left switched on in production can quickly fill your disk space.
• Missing write permissions on upload folders is one of the most common causes of errors in ASP.NET applications; check folder permissions in Plesk.
• Never commit connection strings or API keys to public code repositories.

When Should You Move to a Virtual Server?

Shared Windows hosting is a practical, easy-to-manage solution for business websites, small and medium-sized web applications and web services. However, for projects that need always-on background services, Windows Service installations, server-level IIS or SQL Server settings, or administrator access, a VDS virtual server with dedicated resources is the better choice.