The three main types of hosting available to you are the following: Shared, VPS, and Dedicated Server Hosting. It can be confusing which ones to use and which ones are better suit for you and your business.
Here are the basics and differences between these hosting services. Let us compare them to housing comparison.
| Shared Hosting | VPS Hosting | Dedicated Hosting |
| Renting a room | Renting a unit | Renting a house |
Shared hosting is like renting a room in a house. You will have the room to your own, along with other roommates in the house. You are likely to share the main facilities with the other roommates, such as the kitchen, bathroom, and living room.
VPS hosting is like renting a unit/apartment or a building. You will have all control and freedom over your apartment without having to share facilities like your kitchen, bathroom, and living room with other people. However, you are still sharing certain facilities with other people in the building such as electricity and water systems. Also, within this building there are significantly lesser residents per building; each resident will have greater space.
Dedicated Server is like renting a house. You are entitled to all resources available within the house; no one else will be competing for the resources that you own.
Shared Hosting
Shared Hosting also known as Basic Web Hosting is a hosting service where clients like you share a server. The managing of the servers is usually administered by hosting provider, along with all other technical tasks. Server sources will be shared with other users on the same server space. These sources are the processor, memory, storage, bandwidth, software, and many more.
With Shared Servers, the common control panel are cPanel, Plesk, allowing you or your developers manage your website.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Affordable | Limited resources |
| 24/7 Support | Lesser customisability |
| Technical maintenance is handled by provider | Limited install of server modules or software |
| User-friend cPanel | Limited Mail/Recipients per hour |
| Saves time and effort | Limited number of email users per account |
VPS Hosting
Virtual Private Server or VPS Hosting are created on a single server and allows greater control compared to Shared Hosting. Typical hosting provider has numerous VPS in each server and can provide access to clients like you when you purchase it.
VPS is also considered as a dedicated server with limited resources. Root access is provided so that you or your developer can install your preferred operating system, software, and perform root level tasks. It can be more expensive than the Shared Hosting accounts, but it allows you more room to move and function.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Privacy | More expensive than Shared Hosting |
| High level of control | Resources allocated is still controlled by provider |
| Dedicated resources | |
| Ability to customise | |
| Less expensive than having full dedicated server | |
| No limit on outgoing emails | |
| Root access enabled | |
| 24/7 Support |
Dedicated Server Hosting
Dedicated Hosting is a service where you can rent the entire physical server and has full control over it. You can choose the type of operating system and software to be installed on the server and choose required hardware addons suited to your needs. As a sole user, you will enjoy high performance, stability, security, and control.
Most of the hosting provider has two options for you when it comes to Dedicated Servers, they are Managed and Unmanaged with addons available to boost your server’s performance, functionality, and security. If you go with Managed Servers you will be able to enjoy their technical expertise; allowing them to manage your hardware, server and support you to our best abilities as quickly as possible.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Exclusivity | It will cost you more than Shared and VPS Hosting |
| Control over every aspect of your server | |
| Ability to add hardware or install other software | |
| Root access enabled | |
| High performance and stability | |
| 24/7 Support | |
| No limit on outgoing emails |
What Should You Choose
Shared Hosting is perfect for start-ups to small businesses or for personal websites looking for online presence. It is perfect for little to no technical knowledge.
VPS Hosting is perfect for you if you have little IT knowledge, if you require greater resources than Shared Hosting offers. And if your business has high traffic but has not enough technical abilities to manage your own website on a server level.
Dedicated server is perfect for you if you have great technical knowledge and can handle aspects of hosting your website. Large companies or institutions that have huge data and require full control over the server.
Overall, the hosting plan for you will greatly depend on your budget, followed by your server, and website requirements. The level of control required for your servers will set your decision between Shared or VPS/Dedicated Hosting.