With
a plethora of feature-rich web hosting services to choose from, it can often be
perplexing to zero in on one particular web hosting service. Need expert help
to decide if you should opt for a shared hosting plan or a dedicated hosting
plan? Here’s all the information that will aid you in selecting the ideal web
hosting plan for your specific requirements, when the choice is in between
shared hosting and dedicated hosting.
Is Shared Hosting the Right Hosting
Option for You?
Shared
hosting is one of the types of web hosting services provided by web hosting
companies. This type of web hosting, like any other type of web hosting
service, serves the purpose of making websites accessible online and also ensures
that the sites are up and running without any interruption. Shared hosting can
be Linux Shared Hosting or Windows Shared Hosting and is provided
through the various shared hosting plans of web hosting companies.
How
does the service of web hosting function? In this service, server space is
provided to host the files of websites. These files contain the content of the
websites. The necessary technologies and services are also provided to deliver
these files over the Internet to the browser that requests for these files from
the web server. This function is similar to all the web hosting services, which
can be either shared hosting or dedicated hosting or any other type of hosting
such as reseller, VPS (Virtual Private Server) or WordPress Hosting. The
difference among the various types of hosting services, primarily between
shared and dedicated hosting, stems from the way in which the files are stored
on the web server. Let us touch upon it in the context of shared web hosting.
In
shared hosting, multiple websites are hosted on a single server. The server
space along with the server resources get shared among these sites that are
hosted on the same server. This sharing of server space and resources among
multiple sites results in two things. The individual cost of shared hosting
goes down for a single website as the cost gets divided among the hosted sites.
This is one of the major benefits of availing shared hosting, as shared hosting
is known to be the most economical web hosting solution. The flip side of
sharing server resources can often be experienced as limited resource
availability, slow speed and security issues.
Now
if you have budget constraints which limit your web hosting options, then you
should opt for shared hosting which will always be cheaper than the other forms
of web hosting solutions. Those with low budget can easily avail the service of
web hosting through the service of shared hosting. Moreover, if you have a site
that is not resource-intensive and can function optimally in a shared server
environment, then you do not need to spend extra money on any other type of web hosting service. A shared hosting plan will serve your hosting requirements
perfectly well. The websites that do not require a lot of server resources or
dedicated server resources are those sites which receive very less traffic as
well as small and simple websites. For such sites, the server resources
delivered through a shared hosting plan are adequate. If you are a blogger,
then once again your site does not need the resources of an entire server and
can function properly in a shared hosting environment, which will prove
economical for you without there being any compromise on the performance of
your blogging site. The same is true for the sites of businesses that are small
to medium-sized. If you own such a business site then it is recommended that
you opt for a shared hosting plan, where you won’t have to spend substantially
to bring your small to medium-sized business online.
To
recapitulate, shared hosting, where server resources get shared among multiple
sites, would suffice as a web hosting solution for bloggers and for those with
low budget, simple websites and websites that do not receive a lot of traffic
and for the sites of small to medium-sized businesses. Apart from a matter of
personal choice, if you are one of these, then shared hosting can prove to be
the perfect web hosting option for you.
Should You Opt for Dedicated Hosting?
Unlike
shared hosting, in dedicated hosting the server resources are not shared among
multiple sites. This is due to the fact that in dedicated hosting a single
server hosts a single website. Since there is no sharing of server resources in
dedicated hosting, it delivers enhanced performance, speed and security when
compared to shared hosting. Dedicated hosting also offers greater flexibility
with regard to server customization. Hence, if you have a website with strict
requirements in terms of its security and performance, then dedicated hosting
is what you need. The entire resources of a dedicated server will function
exclusively for your site to provide augmented speed, security and performance.
The plans in dedicated hosting can either be Linux Dedicated Hosting plans or Windows Dedicated Hosting plans and are provided by web hosting
companies.
If
you have an application that is business critical, then you need the dedicated
resources of a server that are not shared. In this case also a dedicated server
will meet efficiently your hosting requirements. Dedicated hosting should be
your preferred choice if you own a revenue-generating online store. Such a site
will require heightened security and speed to ensure the best user experience
of the site. This requirement is catered to perfectly by a dedicated hosting
plan. Then there are websites that get a lot of web traffic. Such sites won’t
perform well in a shared hosting environment, where the shared server resources
can slow down the site and impact its performance adversely. If you own such a
site then you will benefit by availing a dedicated hosting plan instead of a
shared hosting one. Last but not least, the site of an enterprise definitely needs
a dedicated server, owing to its requirement for dedicated server resources.
In
a nutshell, dedicated hosting, wherein a single website is hosted on a single
server and benefits from the dedicated resources of that server, should be your
choice if your site gets heavy traffic or if you are hosting business critical
applications or revenue generating sites or own the site of an enterprise.
Now
that you know which hosting option between shared and dedicated, will best suit
your specific hosting requirements, all you need is to look for a plan that is
within your budget and offers high uptime, fast speed, powerful security and
24*7 technical support. All of this and much more are part of our shared and
dedicated hosting plans that cater to every budget and deliver top-tier
performance.
