When businesses go online, they rent space on the host's server to build their website and make it live. It is just similar to a virtual rent agreement. However, with so many options out there, you might feel lost. Let's start with the two primary and most popular web hosting services: shared hosting and dedicated server hosting.
What is shared hosting?
As the name suggests, shared hosting is a web hosting service in which multiple websites share a physical or single bare-metal server and its resources, such as CPU, storage, memory, and bandwidth. With this, multiple websites can share the costs of maintaining a server by sharing the resources, making it an affordable and apt option for small businesses.
Instead of investing in an entire server, shared hosting allows smaller companies to rent out the needed server resources. The hosting provider manages the server, including backups, security updates, and technical issues.
Benefits of shared hosting:
Cost-effective: It is typically the most affordable hosting option, as the cost of running, maintaining, and updating a single server is shared with multiple users.
Easy to use: Shared hosting is user-friendly and offers easy-to-navigate control panels. Additionally, since you don't have control over the server, the provider maintains it. They oversee performance, updates, and security.
No technical expertise required: Since the user doesn't control the server, they need no technical knowledge.
Customer support: Hosting providers offer robust customer support to address any issues or concerns you might face.
Eco-friendly: If your business promotes sustainability, shared hosting is perfect for you because it requires fewer physical servers for infrastructure maintenance. This results in lower energy consumption and lesser greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to a lesser carbon footprint.
However, shared hosting does come with its shortcomings:
Less control but more security risks: Users have minimal control over the server as the provider looks after all the server's needs - maintenance, updates, and software. Since there are multiple other websites on the same server, the performance of your site might be affected, and there is a lot of space for security breaches.
Who should opt for shared hosting?
Small businesses, freelancers, small e-commerce sites, and bloggers who are just starting, choose shared hosting because it is cost-efficient.
What is dedicated server hosting?
As the name suggests, in dedicated server hosting (often called bare-metal servers), a dedicated server is issued to the user. Unlike shared hosting, you get an entire server exclusively for your website. It also gives you complete control over the server and its resources. With dedicated hosting, you don't have to worry about other websites affecting your site's performance.
Benefits of dedicated server hosting:
High performance: Since all the resources work for a single website, your website can use them to their maximum capabilities. This results in increased response time, low latency, and higher processing levels, ultimately leading to high performance.
Enhanced security: A dedicated server isolates data, programs, resources, and applications to provide better security and privacy. Since you control the server, you can customize and implement robust security to keep your business safe.
Customization and control: You can customize server resources, including the operating system, hardware specifications, and applications, according to your needs.
Bare-metal servers also have some disadvantages:
Greater resources mean greater costs! Because of its exclusivity, bare-metal servers are pricier than shared hosting. Since you manage the entire server, technical expertise is required. Dedicated hosting can also demand extra time and effort for server maintenance, updates, monitoring, installs, and troubleshooting issues that may arise.
Who should opt for dedicated server hosting?
Large websites with high traffic and massive user bases, businesses hosting sensitive data (like finance and healthcare institutions), and multiplayer online gaming businesses use dedicated server hosting.
Conclusion
While dedicated hosting seems more reliable and secure than shared hosting, every business has its own needs. Before you make any decision, it is important to map your business requirements, budget, security expectations, and website traffic. Remember, your business's online success will depend a lot on the decision you make about your web hosting. Plan and choose smartly.
