What is shared hosting?
Shared hosting is essentially a single large server that is split into many smaller partitions for users to host their websites on, each account will have a dedicated space on the server usually depending on the package that they have bought, and all of the websites share the resources of the server.
Pros of shared hosting
Cost Effective
The main pro of using shared hosting is that ultimately it’s the cheapest option out there to get your website online. Shared hosting is usually the cheapest based on the fact it is a dedicated server but shared among many users bringing the price down significantly.
Technical Knowledge
Most users start their website journey with shared hosting not only to do with price but also taking into consideration that a small amount of technical knowledge is needed to set things up. Shared hosting is usually accompanied by one-click installers for websites using CMS systems such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla and this can help people set up a website in minutes.
Cons of shared hosting
Security Risks
Much like putting all of your eggs in one basket there comes the associated risk of one of your websites getting hacked and affecting the rest of the websites that are sharing the same space. It’s commonplace to host more than one website on a single server but when you start relying too heavily on shared hosting if something happens to the server such as a service outage this could lead to all of your websites being down until the issue is resolved.
Shared server resources
Sharing server resources among many sites are commonplace in the world of hosting however it does come with its risks. The main negative aspect of sharing the resources is that one of the sites can start to get greedy, whether this is because it is getting an influx of traffic or there are outdated packages and plugins using a lot of resources, this can start to drag your other websites down in the process eventually causing downtime.
What is dedicated hosting?
Much like shared hosting it starts with a single large server, however in the dedicated model, there will be only a single website hosted, it will have dedicated memory and dedicated processing power that isn’t used by anyone else.
Pros of dedicated hosting
High performance and robust
The first and potentially the biggest pro of a dedicated server is performance. Because none of the processing power is being diverted there is a 100% focus on the website that is being hosted meaning you don’t have to worry about running out of space or processing power, there are as always different packages to how big the dedicated server will be but the entire system will be more robust purely from it being dedicated.
Security
Another aspect of the dedicated server is the security perks that come with a website being in its own space, when a website is isolated from others it has a decreased risk of being hacked or being affected by other websites being hacked or the victim of a DOS(denial of service) attack.
Cons to dedicated hosting
Cost
The main downside to a dedicated server is the cost, compared to shared hosting solutions you could be paying more than double the price so it is always good to weigh up what is being hosted on there.
Difficulty to set up
Dedicated servers would usually be used by IT professionals and would be considered difficult for a standard user to set up, while there are many tutorials out there to take you through the process step by step it is definitely a difficult task compared to the shared hosting solution.
Conclusion
Although the dedicated server is generally seen as the best solution it is always good to consider what kind of website you are hosting to make sure it is worth the extra security and resources. If you are looking to host something like a personal portfolio it will more than likely have a small amount of traffic and need small amounts of resources at a time making it redundant to use a dedicated server. If you are looking to host something like an eCommerce website that would have thousands of visitors this would make good use of the extra power and security for the users.
If you would like to know more about how we could help with your business, contact us today for more information.
