Thank you,Your post as it is food for thought. (in future terms)
I have just started with two hosts using Moodle, and not yet fully functioned with a lot of students. But I still believe that using a low cost host is the best way for independent starters who cannot afford large fees.
If and when the time comes that there are problems of having too many students on your Moodle site at the same time, will be the time to move on to the next stage of upgrading or using the services of a moodle expert for example. When this time comes, I would assume that due to the amount of income received by these students, we would have a budget to pay for these extra costs.
So, using a webhost is good for a self starter, and also when this time comes , we would have gained a lot of experience using Moodle.
You need a website anyway, to promote your courses as an independent.
I will certainly inform this forum If I do come into problems of using a web host, but $60 a month for example wouldn't be a big deal if you have 1,000 paying students enrolled.
You do have to chose your web host carefully, not all of them support the latest Moodle, and if you use an old moodle, then you have to upgrade earlier than necessary. And you don't have to use the one click install, you can install moodle yourself and I have already given you the youtube tutorial link above on how to do that.