A lot of web hosts now offer both Shared (which is also called virtual) hosting and/or dedicated hosting. There are benefits and drawbacks to both. There are also reasons why you should choose one or the other. Selecting whether to have dedicated or shared hosting is an important decision. Let's explore the benefits and drawbacks of both and then I will give you some concluding remarks to help you choose what is right for you. Shared Hosting:
Shared, or virtual, hosting is when your website shares the space on a web host's server with other websites. Each server has its own IP address which means if you choose shared hosting not only are you sharing the space, but you are also sharing the IP address with every other site on that server.
Benefits:
Price- One of the biggest benefits of shared hosting is the price. Shared hosting is cheap running anywhere from $4.00-$20.00 per month.
Ease of use- Shared hosting is good for those just getting into web hosting because most web hosts make it very easy to set up and do a lot of work for you.
Drawbacks:
Slow Server Response- if your site is on web hosts server that has a ton of high traffic websites this will cause yours to load a lot slower. Think of it like the line at the bank if your 2 nd in line you'll be served a lot faster, but if your number 12 in line it is going to take a lot longer for you to get served. One thing to do before selecting a host is to ask them what types of sites are allowed on their servers and also how many sites are allowed per server. When you get a hosting account try to find out what the other websites are like that are sharing a server with you.
Server Crashes- Most web hosts only allows certain types of CGI scripts on their servers. This is done with good reason because a poorly written one could crash a server and take all the websites it was sharing it with down.
Who you are sharing with- If your site is on the same server as a known spam site this can cause problems for you as well. Your site may share the same IP address as the spam site which will cause problems with search engines and could even get you banned from them. This is bad for all types of websites.
Dedicated:
Having dedicated web hosting is when you have your own server in the host's datacenter. There is no sharing the server space, IP address, or CPU usage. You control everything that happens on the server.
Benefits:
Control/Security- There is no one else sharing this server. Everything that happens on it is something related to your site. You can choose how the server is configured. You can host unlimited domains, with unlimited space, unlimited bandwidth, etc. Another great advantage is the fact you get SSH access which allows you to control the server. The whole server is yours.
Fast Response with High Traffic- Since you are not sharing anything with anyone else your users don't have to be in the bank line. They are always the first in line to be served and this makes for a lot faster load time.
No penalties- With shared hosting if you use too much of the host's resources (such as CPU, bandwidth, or space) there are penalties you have to pay. This is not the case with dedicated hosting because it all belongs to you.
Drawbacks:
Price- Price is about the only drawback to dedicated hosting. All the great features and security of dedicated hosting cost a decent amount of money starting anywhere from $75/month to a couple of hundred dollars per month. You have to make sure that dedicated hosting is the right thing for you before you select it.
So, what's the conclusion? Well that's really up to you. The majority of people choose to go with shared hosting because it is a lot cheaper. If you are planning on opening a small business, a personal website, or blog you are probably better off going with shared hosting. If you are going to have a lot of traffic or your site will need the security of dedicated hosting than you need to make sure to go with dedicated hosting to prevent a lot of trouble in the future. Either way do the research necessary to make the right choice before you choose which type to go with. Good Luck and Get Started!
Steve Quatrani is a co-owner of www.RebateRabbit.com. RebateRabbit provides reliable rebates to make hosting as cheap as possible for it's customers. RebateRabbit also gives host reviews, articles, and tutorials to allow customers to make their own educated decision about web hosting.
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