Web hosting has become more diversified and complex. Many web hosts use different configurations to make the process simpler but more comprehensive. When choosing a web hosting service provider, there are things you must always look out for. Authenticity for that matter cannot be overemphasized. As a website administrator, you want a host that is fast, affordable, extensive, and powerful. There are several types of hosting you could choose from such as shared, dedicated, cloud, and VPS.
In this post, we shall compare VPS and Shared web hosting with relation to their meaning, pros, cons, and general comparison.
Shared Web Hosting
Shared hosting is a common web hosting plan. If you are a website administrator and are looking for a low cost or trial hosting package, then you will more often come across shared web hosting.
Who should opt for shared web hosting?
A shared web hosting plan is recommended for the following groups;
Websites that expect only a small number of initial visitors, for instance, 500 guests per day.
Those who are working on borrowed capital or self-raised capital to run a startup enterprise
Blog related websites for individuals only
If you have a limited number of workers and you want to set up a similar number of emails.
Pros
- Shared web hosting is easy to maintain especially for small websites and websites running a minimal number of blogs.
- Economical
- No technical server maintenance, hence cutting down on maintenance costs.
- Extra storage space can be demanded for
- Supports the installation of any software
Cons
- Shared web hosting also has a number of downsides, which is perhaps the reason why developed websites may not consider it for web hosting. Among the disadvantages of shared web hosting that you need to be aware of include;
- Limited resources
- The shared server hosts several websites that can deteriorate the performance of your website.
- Security and privacy concerns due to the shared server
- Due to the security concerns, you may be forced to install extensive firewalls to protect certain applications
- Long term scalability and backup problems
- Shared web hosting provides limited customer support only.
Virtual Private Hosting (VPS) Hosting
A VPS hosting is mostly used by those corporations which deal with heavy resource applications and require to secure their data.
Who should use VPS web hosting?
VPS web hosting varies significantly from other web hosting and as such you might need to re-evaluate your website requirements before choosing any web hosting plan. Accordingly, the following groups will find VPS hosting suitable to their needs;
- Those looking to expand their business beyond the level of shared hosting
- You expect your traffic to increase significantly in the next few months
- If you are planning to work with secured data for your business
- If you are planning to host several sites and massive blogs
- If your company has a larger workforce and you want a plan to host all the employees’ emails
Pros of VPS Hosting
VPS hosting boats several advantages which makes it preferable to some businesses. Among the advantages of Virtual Private Hosting include;
- Large bandwidth and space to accommodate everything you would like to store
- Ability to upgrade and downgrade the subscription
- VPS hosting enables you to configure lots of stuff according to your preferences
- Using shell access, VPS hosting allows you to run batch files that create multiple services inside the server.
- VPS hosting plan eliminates the backup and scalability problems experienced on Shared web hosting.
- You can customize the firewall configurations by making use of user partitioning
- The customer support on VPS hosting plans is available 24/7 and offers comprehensive assistance.
Cons
Although the VPS hosting plan has numerous advantages, there are areas that need rectification. If you have a small business, you may find the VPS server unsuitable for your needs. VPS hosting can be avoided for the following reasons;
- Dedicated system administrators are a compulsory requirement.
- These system admins manage your server
- Costly
- Requires you to have detailed knowledge of some application which may develop issues working in a virtualized environment.
In conclusion, VPS and Shared hosting provide different advantages while each of them possesses some undesirable characteristic. It all depends on your website requirements. While on one hand shared hosting has access to limited resources, VPS hosting provides users with greater availability of resources due to the support for private disk space. Not forgetting, VPS hosting is more secured compared to shared hosting.
As a tip for those of you considering web hosting and VPS, use a fully managed service for web hosting and VPS Cloud Servers such as those at CharityHost.org. It might cost a little more but you get all the support you need.
