Web hosting – we’ve all heard of it, we all know what it is and we know how important it is. That being said, the matter of truly understanding web hosting is a different one entirely – most prematurely conclude it’s a super technical and complicated subject and summarily never give it a second thought.
But here’s the thing – all 21st century businesses need web hosting and the key to securing the very best hosting for any given business lies in understanding at least the basics. Ignorance is never bliss but can prove to be rather expensive, which is why it’s crucial to understand the key differences between the various web hosting packages on offer today.
Hosting Service Types
The 4 Basic Types of Web Hosting Packages
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that a website chalking up no more than 100 visitors each week has very different requirements than one attracting 10,000 per hour. Just as there are high-end business websites suffering due to not having a sufficient hosting service package in place, thousands more are paying for services they’ll never use.
So what are the main differences between the standard packages on offer?
Shared Hosting
A shared hosting package can be picked up these days for no more than about $10 per month – some even give their most basic services away for free. The principle of shared hosting is relatively simple – you share a server with any number of other businesses and thus may be limited by the capacity of the server in accordance with the demands of the other businesses using it. The biggest advantage of all is the very low cost, though limited control makes basic shared hosting unsuitable for more demanding sites.
The ideal choice for small businesses and hobbyists.
VPS – Virtual Private Servers
A virtual private server (VPS) bridges the gap between shared and private server hosting, offering most of the benefits of a private server for a lower price. The physical server is still technically shared, but virtual section is allocated to each of the websites it hosts.
Medium-sizes businesses often opt for VPS packages in order to curb costs while taking greater control of their sites.
Dedicated Servers
Dedicated servers offer total control and near infallible reliability – the business pays for what’s essentially the rental of a private server used by their business exclusively. Costs vary considerably in accordance with the size and nature of the server and the accompanying service package, though in most cases dedicated servers are seen as the only realistic option for the biggest businesses and corporations.
Cloud Hosting
Last up, cloud hosting is another example of a virtual hosting service that comes with the advantage of being massively scalable – you only ever pay for what you need and can expand at any time. Costs vary and control over the server is minimal, but for businesses that cannot accurately predict their website traffic or find it necessary to adjust on a regular basis could benefit greatly from cloud hosting services.