Which Type of Web Hosting Is Best for My Site? A Complete Guide

Deciding on which web hosting option is best for you is as important as having a compelling and engaging website design. As there are several types of web hosting available, it is best to choose a type only after knowing what it is and whether it is the right choice for your needs. To help you with that, in this post, we will shed light on what exactly web hosting means and different types of web hosting available out there. Once you get a grasp of this, we will also talk about their pros and cons and who they are beneficial for. So, let’s begin the quest.

First Things First, Let’s Introduce You to Web Hosting.

Before choosing which type of web hosting is best for you, first, you should have a clear idea of what web hosting really means.

Web hosting is simply a service that allows your website or web page to be viewed online. When a website is hosted, it basically means that it is stored on special computers called servers so that when internet users want to view your website, they can do it by typing your website address or domain into their browser.

Servers are like computers or laptops as they are also made of CPU, memory and other components. They even have operating systems generally Linux based but are more powerful as they have the capacity to manage many users accessing the website simultaneously.

These servers are rented to the owner of the website along with various services such as server management, support, malware scanning, backups, etc.

The whole process of providing this infrastructure for others is called web hosting and the party who provides it is called a hosting provider.

As you have got an idea what web hosting means, it’s time to help you understand which web hosting is the best choice for you by digging into deeper details.

Web Hosting Types – Important Insights of the Web Hosting World 

When you contact a hosting provider, you will be surprised by multiple server packages which may seem to be a whole lot different in terms of price and what you will get from them. Though there are several ways to differentiate packages on the basis of features and level of management, the easiest way is to pay attention to the technology being used for the server. This also covers other factors including performance, scalability, security, and level of effort required from your side.

Therefore, before scouring the Internet for different web hosting companies and the best prices, it is better to focus on which of the available web hosting types is the best one for you. After figuring out this, your search for companies and best prices will get easier.

So, let’s examine the most common types of web hosting, their pros and cons, and who they are best suited for.

Shared Hosting – Perfect for Entry Level Website Owners

As the name implies, with shared hosting, your website is stored on the same server as a stack of other websites. How many websites are there in a stack? It depends on the setup and hosting provider. It is common for a website to share resources such as RAM and CPU with hundreds or even thousands of other sites.

Pros 

One feature that makes it a viable option is that you share the cost of using a server with many other website owners. As hosting provider can distribute the operating cost among several hundred or thousand clients, shared hosting is the most affordable option. So, if you have limited funds and just trying to make a presence in the digital world, you can try shared hosting.

Another biggest advantage you enjoy with shared hosting is that you don’t have to indulge into specifics. There is no need to worry about setup and there is very little to configure. So, you can put all the focus on building your website.

Cons

The concept of sharing resources is more like a trade-off. While you benefit in terms of cost, you also lose it because it results in reduced performance of website. The resources are limited.

Since every website needs resources, your website can be in trouble if one of them is hogging all the processing power due to faulty code or increased traffic. This means your website may not be reachable at that time. This phenomenon is called “bad neighbor effect”.

This is why shared hosting is also the most problematic and many hosts mainly try to avoid this scenario. In fact, using this particular setup is a risk.

Who should choose Shared Hosting?

It is a good option for beginners as it is the simplest way to host a website and the cost of shared hosting packages is relatively low. So, no matter, whether you are a startup owner, a community group or a housewife with a dream to own a personal blogging website, this way you can easily make your website visible online at a much lower cost without having to indulge into technicalities.

VPS Hosting – An Advanced and Better Version of Shared Hosting

VPS – an acronym for Virtual Private Server. This type of hosting is considered as the most balanced among various types of web hosting. However, what you get in it is still a shared environment but the way it is set up is completely different.

Though all VPS sites share one physical server, VPS hosting is based on the concept of utilizing multiple, separate virtual machines. This means it draws the best of both worlds – shared hosting and dedicated hosting.

Pros

When compared to shared hosting, VPS hosting is a lot more credible and stable option as it has a limit of 10 to 20 websites on each server. This means reduced pressure on the server itself.

The major improvement is that all resources are distributed evenly and no website is allowed to cross the barrier. Once a website reaches the limit of what it is assigned, it may go down but others will remain stable. This way, the bad neighbor effect is also mitigated. All credit goes to the use of virtual machines that enables to achieve separation within server.

Besides, a VPS provides more flexibility as it allows you to customize the environment to suit your needs without affecting others.

Last but not least, VPS offers scalability. As you are using a virtual machine that utilizes only some percentage of the resources, increasing what is available to you is not an issue.

Cons

VPS hosting doesn’t come with too many downsides. The one thing that you can consider as a disadvantage is that it costs more than lower-tier solutions. However, once you hit the higher levels, you would be making enough money that will help you recover the costs.

The second – it comes with more configuration requirements. If you don’t have any idea what you are up to, you may end up removing crucial files or software without realizing it. So, to use this option, you need to get a bit of education on how to configure it.

Who should choose VPS Hosting?

If you are willing to spend a bit extra but still using shared hosting plan, we would suggest you to upgrade to VPS hosting after checking the details including setup fees, CPU power, storage space, memory, and bandwidth. For businesses who are expecting their sites to grow and flourish, VPS hosting is an ideal choice.

Dedicated Hosting – An Ace for the Big Players

Dedicated hosting is like a luxury as you will have a server all for yourself. Therefore, this hosting option comes with a host of benefits. However, it has some downsides too.

Pros

The most important benefit is that it nullifies all bad neighbor issues as there is no neighbor with this setup to steal your resources, pose security risks and other problems. This is the main distinction that makes dedicated hosting unique from other web hosting types.

As you get a whole server for your website, you can expect to introduce heavy customizations. To be specific, you can choose the OS, the memory size and type, and various other elements. This means you will also enjoy a lot of flexibility.

Cons

The biggest catch with this option is that dedicated hosting plans are expensive. However, at the time when your business needs a dedicated server, you can easily accommodate this cost in your budget.

Additionally, you need to upgrade your knowledge about server technology. Even when there are managed dedicated hosting solutions, you will still need to learn some skills to do some things on your own.

You can route to completely unmanaged service if you are good at know-how of server technology or you can choose to hire a server admin, who of course will come with additional cost.

Another thing to note with this option is that if its hardware fails, your website will be down. In case you have other arrangements, other modules can take over the responsibility in case of failure.

Who should choose dedicated hosting?

To be honest, in today’s world where technology is advancing at a higher pace, the need for having your own server is considerably decreasing. Though it is much better than a traditional VPS, it doesn’t stand when compared with cloud hosting in terms of scalability. Don’t get fooled by thinking that it is a more advanced option.

This one is the least likely you need these days. It is best to choose this option in only two scenarios:

• when a company has highly specialized needs in terms of hardware
• when a company wishes to gain more control over data privacy than anywhere else

Cloud Hosting – The Most Promising Option at Present

It is similar to VPS hosting except that your site is a part of a whole network of servers to fulfill its all demands dynamically, rather than a single physical server. In today’s world, it is becoming more natural choice for companies.

Pros

As mentioned earlier, scalability is the top benefit of this hosting. While a VPS has limits on its scalability, there is no limit with this option as it combines several servers into a powerful virtual server that can scale as and when required. No matter, how much you need, it can cater to your needs.

Moreover, you are charged only for what you are using. So, cloud hosting also sounds better than paying a fixed amount for a dedicated server of which you never use the full capacity.

In addition to this, cloud hosting also wins the race in terms of security, especially in case of DDoS attacks. In such attacks, a server is overwhelmed by a huge number of parallel requests until it crashes. The good thing is that you can split these requests among several computers and mitigate the effect.

Cons

The main problem is that costs for cloud hosting are not always fully predictable. Many hosting providers work with a mix of fixed pricing and pay-as-you-use fees. In case of traffic spikes, the cost may increase significantly but that also means you are earning better.

Who should choose Cloud Hosting?

It is the best choice if you want to benefit from its scalable feature. Most companies are replacing their traditional systems with cloud based VPS as it offers numerous benefits. So, even if you go for traditional VPS, you may be using cloud hosting without knowing.

I hope, after reading this, you can easily make up your mind on which type of web hosting you should choose for your website. Once you make the decision, we highly recommend you to take a good look at the details of each plan and compare the RAM, disk space, CDN usage, bandwidth and other measurable resources. Remember that choosing the right web hosting plan is what you must take seriously if you want your site to perform better, especially in terms of fetching speed.