Without an iota doubt, selecting the best web hosting package for your website is just as important as your whole site, if not more. When you get the basics wrong, you either end up paying for something you don’t need or end up with an underperforming service.
This piece will compare two of the common types of web hosting: Shared hosting and dedicated hosting. With this, you can have an insight into the package that suits your site more before committing to it.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting involves hosting multiple sites on a single server. These sites can be hundreds or even thousands co-existing on the central server. This implies that your website will have to share resources with various other websites on a single server, if you subscribe to shared hosting.
This hosting package is suitable for sites with modest traffic. Small-scale businesses and websites that only need online presence without so much activity can make do with this package. However, like when you live in a rented apartment with multiple neighbors, your neighboring websites can be your undoing on shared hosting. More on that later.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting requires having a whole server dedicated to your site alone. There is no case of sharing, giving you close to full autonomy over the server.
Dedicated hosting is for large sites and businesses that have very high traffic. With the cost of setting up and maintaining this package, it is the befitting option for companies with an established online presence.
HOW THEY COMPARE
After the brief introduction into these two web hosting types, let’s compare them using basic web hosting parameters.
Control and Customization
Dedicated web hosting gives you total control over the server. You can make changes to the backend, select any operating system of your choice, and make changes to any software. There is also the option to customize the environments for some applications, select memory storage that suits you, and optimize your bandwidth. Your website will be in a world of its own. This flexibility is not possible with shared hosting, and if possible, it is very restricted. This is because any changes made to the server’s integral part, for example, backend changes, will affect all
websites on the server. Hence, you have to live with what you have, even if it is not what you want.
Scalability
Scalability is the ability of your hosting to cope with the growth of your site. This feature is one of the strongholds of dedicated hosting.
Scalability is very much possible on dedicated hosting because there is no limitation for you on your server. In short, you are the only one that can limit your growth with dedicated hosting. Unsurprisingly, this is not the case with most shared hosting package. This is because you have limited resources from the server you are sharing, and there is a limit to the space available on it. However, hosting with web hosts like Teqporte cloud enables you to have a fully scalable package irrespective of your plan.
Performance and Reliability
With uptime and page loading speed, the common determinants for performance shared hosting sometimes suffer from this critical parameter. This is mostly caused by “bad neighbors “i.e., websites sharing the same server with you. If they often experience a spike in traffic, your performance will be affected as more of the processor’s processing power will be focused on them, causing shortages to your website. Consequently, you experience slow page loading and sometimes downtime.
However, with dedicated hosting, you get peak performance from your server at all times, provided you take care of the maintenance. This makes dedicated hosting the best option for sites with very high traffic.
Cost
Shared hosting is the clear choice when it comes to price. It is the cheapest of all hosting types and has that affordability edge over dedicated hosting. This is one of the main reasons why it is suitable for beginners’ sites.
Apart from the high starting price of dedicated hosting, which can be almost ten times that of shared hosting, there is the additional cost of server maintenance and repair cost when needed.
Security
Dedicated hosting is the preferred choice in terms of security as you have your unique IP address, and you can manage your exposure to security threats well.
There is no such security privilege and guarantee for shared hosting. This is because your site is not alone on the server; consequently, a bad neighbor can get the server’s IP address in trouble. Thankfully, security issues can be reduced by hosting companies that take the physical security of the servers seriously.
Lastly, your IP address and the server can be blacklisted by Google and other search engines with shared hosting. This happens when a “bad neighbor” is involved in fraudulent activities with your server’s IP address. Note that a blacklisted IP address makes your website invincible. Technical skills
With the total server control of the dedicated hosting comes the need for technical knowledge. You might need to employ an expert for the operation, maintenance, and repair of the server. However, if hiring a professional is daunting for you or your firm – you can subscribe to a fully managed dedicated web hosting package. As expected, this comes at an additional cost. Shared hosting, on the other hand, needs almost no technical know-how. It is the easiest to manage of all web hosting types because the web host takes responsibility for the maintenance, security, and administration of the server.
Final Words
The two hosting plans are excellent options depending on your need and resources. Shared hosting is the go-to option for sites with modest traffic. Also, it is the preferred option in terms of cost and technical knowledge requirements. In comparison, dedicated hosting is the best for sites with high traffic rate. It is also the best in terms of security, efficiency, and reliability. However, these features come at a steep price.
Lastly, if your site falls somewhere in the middle, i.e., moderately high traffic and healthy finances, you can try the VPS hosting. Better still, if you want a package that suits all types of sites, especially those with rapidly growing traffic, cloud hosting at the Teqporte cloud is your best option.