Quick answer: Bandwidth is speed, traffic is volume. Bandwidth (e.g. 1 Gbps) is the maximum rate your connection can move data at any instant; traffic (e.g. 10 TB/month) is the total amount actually transferred over a period. A fast port can move enormous volumes: 1 Gbps flat-out is roughly 10 TB per day.
Overview
The two get confused because both are "how much network you get". Think of a road: bandwidth is the number of lanes (how many cars can pass per minute), traffic is the odometer total at the end of the month. Hosting plans may specify either or both, so knowing which limit you'll hit first matters when choosing.
Before you start
- Basic units: 1 byte = 8 bits; ports are sold in bits/s (Mbps, Gbps), downloads display bytes/s (MB/s).
- 1 Gbps ≈ 125 MB/s theoretical, ~118 MB/s in practice after overhead.
How to work with the numbers
- Port to daily volume: 1 Gbps × 86 400 s ≈ 10.5 TB/day at 100% utilisation (real servers average far less).
- Monthly volume to average rate: 10 TB/month ÷ 2.6M s ≈ 30 Mbps average — tiny compared to a 1G port, which is why peaks, not totals, size your plan.
- Check your own profile:
vnstat -h # hourly rates (peaks) vnstat -m # monthly volume (traffic) - Pick the plan by peak bandwidth need; verify any traffic allowance covers your monthly volume.
Common issues
- "I need 10G because I move 5 TB/month" — no: 5 TB/month is ~15 Mbps average; you need fast ports for peaks, not totals.
- Mbps vs MB/s mix-ups — a "slow" 40 MB/s download is actually 320 Mbps.
- Ignoring direction — a backup server receives (ingress) heavily; a content server sends (egress). Profile both.
When to contact support
Unsure whether your workload is peak-bound or volume-bound, or what your plan includes? Ask support with a short description of the use case — we'll size it with you.
Frequently asked questions
Is 1 Gbps the same as 1 GB per second?
No — 1 Gbps is 1 gigabit per second, which is only about 125 megabytes per second. Network links are sold in bits; divide by 8 to get the bytes-per-second you see in downloads.
How much traffic can a 1G port move per month?
Running flat-out, roughly 300 TB per month (about 10.5 TB per day) — in practice real servers average far below 100% utilisation, so peaks matter more than totals.
Related articles
- How to estimate bandwidth needs
- What does a 1G / 10G / 20G port mean?
- Basic terminology: VPS, VDS, bandwidth, IP, traffic
- How to test network speed
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