Atleast the following should be available on your hosting since even free host such as http://www.000webhost.com gives this:

  1. 1500 MB Disk Space, 100 GB Data Transfer - That should give you enough room for your website, emails and databases.
  2. PHP with MySQL Database Support – If possible, you need your web host to support PHP and MySQL with no restrictions. You will want full access to the latest version of PHP and MySQL. The following PHP features are should be fully supported:
    • PHP mail() function and Sendmail
    • Curl, GD2 library, ImageMagick, Zend
    • fopen() and PHP sockets
    • safe_mode is OFF, file uploads ON
    • Zend Optimizer support, Ioncube loader.. and much more features needs to be enabled if your application needs it
    1. cPanel Control Panel - cPanel is the most advanced control panel in industry. It has tons of features and it is easy to use even for newbie. Many web hosts include interactive helps, and video tutorials which will help you to understand how to use cPanel. cPanel is widely most web hosting companies but there are some hosting providers using proprietry Control Panel
    2. Fantastico De Luxe 1-Click Autoinstaller – this is important if you don’t want to go through the hassle of installing web applications via FTP