Web hosting is the service using which you will be able to have a website on the internet. Similar to purchasing a piece of land for building a house, web hosting is purchasing a web space for positioning your website. Now, the three main types of web hosting services are shared hosting, VPS and dedicated servers. Each kind of hosting comes with its own set of pros and cons related to costs, management, ease of use, security and other aspects. The choice depends on the requirements of the company who want their website up on the internet. If you are confused regarding the choice among the three kinds of web hosting services, then you should go through the following discussion and find out which is more suitable for you.
Just like the name suggests, shared hosting requires you to share your web space with others. Thus, your data must be limited so that you don’t hinder the functioning of other websites sharing the same space as yours. So, you cannot do something which will create a sudden increase in traffic since it will disrupt the functioning of other websites. Flexibility is limited with shared hosting as you are bound to use only the resources you get from your hosting provider and no more. Though shared hosting is not totally unsecured since the hosting service will provide some sort of security but any malware on one particular website will affect the others sharing the server. In spite of all of this, shared hosting is chosen by many businesses and individuals for its considerably lower expenses. It is good for those who run a small business or want to start off their online presence in a small way, those who do not have the requirements to share data rapidly or are not in need of security layers.
- A VPS is like getting a flat in a building since here a dedicated server is partitioned in multiple spaces. Webspace in a VPS is much more in comparison to a shared hosting and you can change the scale of bandwidth, web space you need. The performance on one website does not have a bearing on the other sharing the server and you will also have the freedom of installing customized features and applications. The security flaws of a shared hosting are also not seen in a VPS and it is in the medium range of expense, that is, between shared hosting and dedicated servers. VPS is best for MSM sector businesses and for ecommerce websites since they experience sudden growths in traffic owing to certain offers and introductions. Security layers are also available with VPS.
- If you have the capital and the resources to manage your own server, then dedicated servers are the best option for you. You can add as much space as your requirement is, install as many and kinds of software, applications and features as you need without the worry of affecting other sharing websites. The security level is also the highest for websites hosted on dedicates servers. However, the costs involved in creating and maintaining a dedicated server is what makes them a choice mostly taken by large enterprises and companies which are likely to have a regular heavy traffic flow on their website. Those who need high CPU storage, and are likely to have rich informative content on their website should opt for dedicated servers if they can afford it.
Thus, it is the issues of data security, privacy, affordability and flexibility which go into making a website good or bad for you.