Introduction
Your website’s success depends on its web hosting type. It makes your website available on the internet using a computer system called the web server. Individuals and businesses can place HTML pages, graphics, and other files on a web server that keeps a consistent internet connection to deliver the website to the user’s browser. Thus, your website’s optimal performance primarily depends on the type of web hosting solution and the features that it provides. Well, this blog focuses on two such web hosting types – shared hosting vs dedicated hosting.
Moreover, the choice among the two would rely on the server resource requirements of your website. When you consider them and understand the differences between shared hosting and dedicated hosting with meaning and the advantages and disadvantages of both, you can make the right selection. This blog covers all the required aspects to help you make the decision.
What Is Shared Hosting?
Shared hosting is one of the most popular methods of web hosting. It is also cost-effective. The reason is that in this type multiple websites share one single physical server. That is, they all share the CPU, disk space, memory, storage, bandwidth, and all the resources of the server.
Moreover, the hosting provider takes care of the backups, and security updates and provides technical support. Thus, the individuals or businesses using the shared hosting need not have the technical expertise to use this hosting type. Their selected plan decides the sharing of the disk space, bandwidth, and other factors as per the resource requirements of the website.
Now, let us consider the pros and cons of shared hosting.
Pros of Shared Hosting
The websites that require limited resources must consider the below advantages of shared hosting:
Affordable
Among the top pros comes the low cost of shared hosting. Along with the resources, it also shares the maintenance costs among the multiple users of the server. Thus, it is highly cheap for businesses or individuals with limited budgets and lesser resource requirements.
Easy and Managed
Shared hosting is simple and convenient. It need not have any technical expertise. Its control panel is highly intuitive and comes with one-click installations. The server maintenance including backups, updates, security patches, and other major tasks is all managed on the hosting provider’s side. Thus, server management is not the user’s concern and they can focus on their website and marketing.
Support
Shared hosting providers offer 24/7 customer support to resolve any queries or technical issues. Thus, users who are new to web hosting or do not have any technical knowledge can easily get the required support through multiple channels that the hosting providers facilitate.
Scalable
Shared hosting is to divide a physical server for required resources but that does not mean that you cannot upgrade or expand your shared hosting plan. You can also migrate to another web hosting type if your website traffic rises or you need more resources. So many hosting providers offer their expert and free support for the same.
Additional Features
You can opt for required add-ons with the shared hosting plans such as email accounts for a professional email setup of your business or platform.
Cons of Shared Hosting
Disadvantages of shared hosting may help you understand its other side to determine if it is right for your application. Considering them is highly important before reaching a decision.
Resource sharing
If you choose shared resources, it can prove to be beneficial due to its resource-sharing feature. However, when the server shares the resources between more than one website, it can also cause performance issues when the traffic or resource usage increases on the other applications hosted on your server. So, you may need to face issues of decreased speed and responsiveness.
Limited Control
If you need custom configuration and software installations, it is among the cons of shared hosting. Due to limited control, you may not have the required server settings access for your custom requirements.
Security
Hosting provider offers optimum security measures. However, one server hosts multiple websites and thus if there are security breaches even in one website, it might be vulnerable to other applications on the shared server.
Limited Scalability
Shared hosting plans offer scalability but they may not be able to meet the very high growth requirements of server resources for your website. In such a case, you will need to upgrade to a more extensive hosting solution.
Who Uses Shared Hosting?
Shared hosting is low on cost and easy. If your website or application allows, it is an effective hosting solution on a low budget. So who uses shared hosting solutions? Below are some of the major cases:
- New websites; especially blogger or personal websites can make great use of shared hosting. It is an accessible option for them as it is affordable and easy to use. If you are new with limited website traffic, this hosting type is an ideal option.
- Small businesses or ecommerce sites with low or moderate traffic looking to establish an online presence look for affordable solutions just like shared hosting. It is reliable for them due to limited resource requirements.
- Startups and Freelancers looking for a simple and managed service choose this hosting solution. They can have an online presence without worrying about the technical aspects.
- Educational websites can host multiple websites or applications on a single server such as for departments, student projects, school level, etc. Thus, they can benefit from the shared expenses.
What Is Dedicated Hosting?
Shared hosting vs Dedicated hosting shares the opposite definition. In shared hosting, the website or application shares the server whereas in dedicated hosting, the entire server resources are dedicated to only one website on it. CPU, RAM, disk space, bandwidth, custom security settings, and configurations are exclusively for that one website. Thus, a website with high traffic and extensive data storage requirements opts for this type of hosting solution to ensure optimal performance.
Dedicated hosting provides complete control over the server’s operations & customization, security protocols, hardware, and software configurations. Due to its specialized features, it costs high. The shared environment is not able to meet the specific technical requirements of such resource-intensive websites.
Read more about What is Dedicated Hosting in our blog.
Pros of Dedicated Hosting
So, what are the advantages of dedicated hosting for your website or application? Review the below points and compare the pros of Shared hosting vs Dedicated hosting.
Optimal Performance
This is one of the most prominent pros of dedicated hosting plans. It gives complete server resources to your single website. This way, your website performance remains consistent offering utmost reliability. It means faster page loading speed, high uptime, no crashes, and withstanding resource-intensive applications.
Control
The complete control of the server settings and configurations including the hardware, operating system, software installations, and security are dedicated to your website. You can customize them as per your requirements with complete access to the control panel features and the managed assistance of the web hosting service provider.
Security
Shared environment security can be affected by even one website’s security breach. There is no such question in dedicated hosting. It reduces the security risks and even specialized security compliances can be implemented as per the website or application requirements. It also gives a unique IP address.
Highly scalable
Growing websites and high-performance expectations in the future require scalable hosting solutions. Dedicated hosting plans can meet those extensive future requirements. It can easily support performance, storage, and security requirements with customized resource allocations.
Cons of Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting is the most ideal solution for high-traffic websites but it also has a few negative points. Review these disadvantages of dedicated hosting below:
Cost of dedicated hosting
Dedicated hosting plans are high in cost. Due to the extensive server resources just for your website, this lease also costs more. Also, it requires additional management, monitoring, and customized configurations. Also, in some cases, the resources remain underutilized due to fluctuating traffic which may further result in undervalue of resource utilization and poor cost management.
Technical Knowledge
Maintenance of the server, updates, monitoring, security patches, maintenance, hardware management, and troubleshooting need expert technical knowledge so that you get the optimum desired performance and value from the dedicated hosting plan. Thus, the businesses may also incur additional expenses in the case of hiring technical administrators. Alternatively, they may rely on the hosting solution provider.
Moreover, the setup process of dedicated hosting is complex and requires custom configurations, familiarity with server administration, and network setup.
Related: Advantages and Disadvantages of Dedicated Server Hosting
Who Uses Dedicated Hosting?
Below are the dedicated hosting sample cases:
- High website traffic with heavy visitor loads requires optimal performance so it uses a dedicated hosting solution for its website or application.
- Websites or applications with extensive resource needs for processing power, storage, or bandwidth use this hosting solution. Examples are multimedia streaming platforms, large databases, high-level ecommerce websites, or virtualization environments.
- Technical experts, developers, and IT professionals use dedicated hosting to implement customization options, ideal server settings, and specialized software as per their professional requirements.
- Websites with specialized security protocols, compliance, and isolation requirements use dedicated hosting; for example financial institutes, ecommerce websites, or government platforms.
- Websites with fluctuating traffic, increasing seasonal visitors, and future growth requirements choose dedicated hosting’s scalability features to meet its increased demand and performance requirements.
What is the Difference Between Shared and Dedicated Hosting?
Get a side-by-side overview of Shared hosting vs Dedicated hosting alongside its primary features:
However, there are other hosting options that might better suit your needs, such as Virtual Private Server (VPS). If you’re interested in exploring how VPS compares with shared hosting, we recommend checking out our detailed comparison in the article Shared Hosting vs VPS. This will provide you with a broader perspective on the various hosting solutions available and help you make a more informed decision based on your specific requirements.
Make the Right Choice with Cantech Hosting Services
Shared hosting vs Dedicated hosting – what would you choose? As laid out in the above sections on meanings, pros & cons, and comparison of these two hosting types, you need to remember that your hosting service needs to offer reliability, speed, smooth performance, configurations, and required security measures for your website performance. Also, it needs to offer enough scalability as per your website’s growth in terms of traffic and speed. Further, the cost of shared and dedicated hosting would determine the selection based on your budget and the value they provide per your website requirements. With the assistance of the right hosting provider, you will be able to make the right decision as per your website’s needs. Also, the optimization of the advantages of any hosting type would depend on the provider you choose.
Cantech Networks can offer complete assistance and guidance by studying your website requirements. Our experts will offer the right solution with the essential factors for you in mind. Thus, we will give you the clarity and decision on shared hosting vs dedicated hosting. Moreover, we offer reliable and cheap web hosting in India based on your customized requirements. Contact Cantech today!
Conclusion
In conclusion, shared hosting is ideal for small businesses and beginners due to its affordability, ease of use, and shared server resources. Whereas, dedicated hosting is completely opposite. It is specifically for heavy-load websites with high traffic. Applications with performance, heavy storage, and security requirements need to consider dedicated hosting. Understanding the difference between shared hosting and dedicated hosting with Cantech can help you decide what to choose for your website.
FAQ
Is dedicated hosting faster than shared hosting?
Yes, dedicated hosting is faster because it offers a dedicated server with all its resources allocated to a single website. Thus, optimal performance, fast page load, and high uptime are the pros of dedicated hosting.
Is shared hosting safer than dedicated hosting?
Dedicated hosting is safer due to an isolated server environment and dedicated resources. Thus, the users of dedicated hosting can control the server settings and configurations with customized security settings along with other factors.
What are the advantages of shared hosting?
The primary pros of shared hosting are cost-effectiveness and ease of use. The control panel is easy to use too. You need not have technical expertise for the setup and management of the server. Also, the web hosting provider takes care of the maintenance. It is scalable to a certain extent and also offers an add-on for email configuration.
What are the advantages of dedicated hosting?
Dedicated hosting gives you complete server resources for your website along with the control of configuration and customization of the same. Hardware, OS, software installations, security settings, etc depends on your website requirements to ensure its optimal performance. Thus, it is best suited for websites with high traffic, extensive storage, and security or compliance requirements.
What is the main disadvantage of shared hosting?
The main cons of shared hosting include performance issues in case of heavy load on other websites that share the same server environment. Similarly, it can cause security vulnerabilities if any website suffers from a security breach. Apart from that, the control and customization become limited in the shared hosting solution.
Can I upgrade from shared hosting to dedicated server hosting with the same web hosting provider?
Yes, it becomes necessary to upgrade your hosting type with your business growth and increased website performance requirements. With high traffic, extensive storage or security requirements, and the need for complete control of the resources, you may need to upgrade to dedicated server hosting. You can avail of the upgrade hosting solutions from your hosting solution provider.
