With so many hosting solutions available in the market, selecting a web hosting plan can get confusing, especially for beginners. Many people consider cost as the primary factor which determines their choice of hosting. With Shared Hosting being the cheapest option in the market, it remains a lucrative alternative, especially among new website owners. However, rather than basing the decision solely on the price of the hosting, it would be more prudent to analyze your needs more holistically. The two hosting options which are popular and also, in a way, lie at opposite ends of the spectrum are Shared Hosting and Dedicated Hosting.
Shared Hosting remains the preferred choice among new website owners – people who are starting with their first blog or a small business website. However, Dedicated Server is better suited for resource-intensive websites such as an e-commerce website or a website that experiences a high volume of traffic daily.
In this article, we will delve deep and analyze the major differences between the two. But first, let us understand the basic architecture of Shared Hosting and Dedicated Hosting.
What is Shared Hosting?
Shared Hosting is the most basic type of hosting solution. A single physical server is shared by multiple website owners. This means all the resources of the server like CPU, disk space, RAM, and bandwidth are shared by many websites. This brings down the cost per user drastically and makes it a lucrative option for users on a tight budget.
What is Dedicated Hosting?
In contrast to a Shared Hosting plan, a Dedicated Hosting allocates an entire server to a single client. That means all the resources of the server are allocated for one website. As a website starts experiencing growth in the inflow of traffic, it may outdo the benefits of Shared Hosting. The resource requirements of a website change with expansion and this is the time when one starts looking towards Dedicated Hosting. Although it may sound like a good idea to have all the resources at your disposal, this may be expensive and may not be affordable or necessary for many people.
Shared Hosting vs. Dedicated Hosting
- Sites hosted on the server: This is the major difference between the two. With Shared Hosting, multiple websites are hosted on a single server. It is solely dependent on the hosting provider as to how many clients they are going to host on the server. However, good hosting providers ensure a fair usage policy for each website so that they do not exceed the allocated bandwidth. On the other hand, as the name goes, Dedicated Hosting implies that the server is dedicated to a single client with all the resources being allocated to them.
- Resources allocation: With Shared Hosting, you need to share the resources with other websites. Modern hosting providers pool up multiple server resources together to host many clients. The amount of disk space and bandwidth is limited, and the client may be charged for exceeding beyond their limit. In contrast, with Dedicated Hosting, all the resources such as CPU, RAM, disk space and bandwidth are dedicated entirely to your organization.
- Server reliability: Server reliability is usually measured by a parameter called the uptime score, which denotes the percentage of time for which the server is available for the website, as opposed to being down. Server reliability is considered the most important factor as it has the potential to make or break any business. The shared resources of a Shared Hosting plan may fall short in case there is a sudden traffic spike. However, with most hosting providers managing and streamlining the consumption of resources, this may not be an issue. A Dedicated Server offers the best reliability in the business as the resources are not shared by other websites. It is better equipped to handle the traffic surge.
- Security: Websites hosted on a single server share the same IP address and are thus more vulnerable to cyber threats. If the security of one website is compromised, then all other websites on the same server also face the risk of data loss. However, since there are so many websites hosted on the same server, the hosting provider takes all the necessary steps to make sure that the security is optimized. On the other hand, the Dedicated Server is only accessible to you or to whom you choose. This ensures complete privacy and high level of security for your website. However, managing a server requires technical knowledge, and usually one would need the help of professionals to optimize the security features of the server,
- Technical knowledge requirements: Shared Hosting is best suited for people who have no prior technical knowledge of managing a server, or for those who are not looking to spend time in getting the technicalities of website management from the backend and rather focus on different aspects of the business. On the other hand, you would require a technical person to handle your Dedicated Server. However, many hosting providers offer Managed Dedicated Server plans wherein the provider can take care of all the major responsibilities in the backend.
- Costs: Shared Hosting is the least expensive option available in the market. As the resources are shared between multiple websites, the cost is also significantly reduced per website. On the other hand, Dedicated Hosting is costly as you purchase the entire server for yourself. Further costs may add up in the process of management of the server.
Conclusion
The debate on Shared Hosting vs Dedicated Hosting can go on. It is not to decide which is good and which is bad. Rather it comes down to the specific requirements of the users. Shared Hosting remains lucrative to new website owners. Alternatively, Dedicated Servers are perfect for large organizations that need complete privacy, high volume of hosting resources, dedicated control and advanced security.
At HostGator India, we provide one of the best Shared Hosting and Dedicated Server solutions. Our web hosting plans offer enhanced security features and an easy-to-use control panel that would accord you a smooth website management experience.
To know more about Shared Hosting and SSD Dedicated Servers offered by us, kindly leave a comment below or contact us.
To know more about the other web hosting categories and to choose the right option for your business, visit our Hosting Blogs Category.
