Shared, VPS or Dedicated Hosting: Which do I need for my website?
Many people have been burdened with determining which hosting service option is their best choice their website(s) or infrastructure. Do I want shared hosting, VPS hosting (virtual private server) or do I need the power of a full dedicated server? This small article may be able to shed some light on the subject to help you make a better decision for your personal or company web site and infrastructure hosting.
I’m not going to include any type of Cloud/CDN hosting comparisons in this article as, let’s be honest; if you’re reading this article you probably don’t require that type of scalability or want to incur the cost involved with it..
Shared Hosting ($)
Shared hosting is the most common option for many. It has the lowest cost; but is normally the slowest and most restrictive option. When you select shared hosting, your website is being hosted on a machine with a web hosting control panel like cPanel and shared with hundreds or even thousands of other websites, databases and email accounts. This means all of that servers CPU, memory (ram), hard drives (speed and space) & network can bottleneck and cause slowness or perhaps even downtime. This isn’t the case most of the time; as long as the company doesn’t oversell and properly maintains their network and servers. Shared hosting is the perfect choice if you’re looking to start a personal website, small blog or to simply produce an internet presence for your small business.
Virtual Private Server (VPS) ($$)
A VPS is the preferred method of hosting for many for several reasons. A VPS follows the same shared resources concept as shared hosting, however a typical VPS node hosts much fewer accounts and offers dedicated resources (CPU, memory and hard drive). A VPS permits you to run just about any operating system you desire (unlike shared hosting); CentOS, Fedora, Ubuntu, Windows Server 2003/2008 and offers much better customization, scalability and speed. This is the best option if you’re not comfortable with sharing a server with many others or if you just need more power. If you don’t have the experience running a server; be sure to use a managed VPS hosting solution.
Dedicated Server ($$$+)
A dedicated server is just as it sounds. It’s a computer that’s usually inside a server chassis and racked inside of a data center. It’s the most powerful and scalable option reviewed here today. Like a VPS your dedicated server can run any operating system and can be customized to cater to any of your hosting requirements. Unlike the other two options, a dedicated server offers 100% dedicated resources and carries the highest cost. This option is typically used for very large infrastructures and websites.
I hope this article helps you to determine the best hosting solution for your website and/or infrastructure. If you have any questions, concerns or comments please leave them below or contact us
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