If you are planning to launch a new website, choosing the correct web host can be a tedious task. It becomes a very arduous job to choose from the overwhelming number of hosting companies available and the offer & services they propose to provide. Before choosing the web host, it is important for you to understand what kind of hosting you need.
In this article, we will survey the 3 main types of hosting: Shared, VPS and Dedicated hosting. Each of these web hosting has its pros and cons which you need to understand so you can determine which solution best matches for your website. If you’ve planned to take your website to a significant level or you already have established website than VPS hosting is generally the most feasible option available. However, if your requirements and ambitions are too specific than it’s worth a read to check out this article and verify yourself that which web hosting your website needs.
Shared hosting is perhaps the most popular option for someone building their first website. Companies who are offering shared hosting services will put your website along with hundreds or even thousands of other websites on a server. Although shared hosting is the cheapest and most economical option as far as hosting goes, it comes with strict limitations and also you might find the server quite slow at times because you have to share space and resources on the server with other customers including disk space and CPU time.
Another issue that plagues shared hosting is security since the security depends on the vendor shared hosting is more vulnerable to security threats compared to VPS or Dedicated web hosting. Another major drawback is the lack of server control. If the server becomes overcrowded and another website eats up more resources then the performance can drop and it becomes difficult to scale due to the limited storage.
Dedicated Web Hosting
In dedicated web hosting the entire server belongs to you, whether you rent it or purchase it. If your website needs to generate a lot of traffic or if you are developing a large e-commerce store or an online multi-vendor market place and you feel that due to your aggressive digital marketing you can drive huge traffic on daily basis then this kind of hosting is ideal for your requirement.
Since you do not have to share bandwidth & resources with other websites, dedicated serves can be faster and you can host multiple websites. Dedicated web hosting gives you the same level of autonomy as traditional dedicated servers. Another benefit that you can avail from dedicated hosting is the privacy and security that comes with dedicated hosting. Your file system and the database remains inaccessible to other clients irrespective of their rights on the server. The drawback, however, is that it is far too expensive. A dedicated server will also require you to keep technical staffs to maintain and optimize the server. You will be responsible for your server in case anything goes wrong. Along with the expensive price maintain a dedicated technical staff can be a nagging onus that you might have to carry.
VPS Hosting
VPS server is somewhat similar to a shared server but is more effective. In this case, your website shares the server with fewer sites and resources. A VPS server is portioned out into different virtual server environments. VPS server provides basic resources that you are guaranteed and also you can scale up to avail additional resources in case your site experiences an increase in traffic.
The biggest benefit of using a VPS server is that you can get customized resources and pay only for what you use. VPS serves are easily scalable so you can add or remove resources depending upon your growing business needs. VPS servers are more affordable than a dedicated server and are more secure than shared servers. VPS servers are faster than shared servers because they are allocated more resources and bandwidth compared to shared servers. Moreover, security, support and most of the heavy work is still managed by your hosting company so you don’t need to put your time, efforts or money into this.
As the server gives you the root access you can make customizations to suit the needs of your business which provides you with more control over your hosting requirements. VPS server is the winner if you compare it with the expensive dedicated servers and the slow and vulnerable shared servers. If shared servers are too basic for your hosting needs and you are searching for dedicated resources and more control over your hosting requirements then VPS server is the ideal choice.
Conclusion
Before choosing a web host, it is therefore very critical to find out what type of server will work for you. This article has provided you with a synopsis of the different web hosting options available. As you’ve gone through the article, you might have an overview of what kind of server you might need for your business. Now, Your next step is to choose an appropriate hosting plan from a good web hosting company. Scan through all the relevant information regarding the hosting companies including what they are offering before you consider to purchase the hosting services.
