Which Type of Web Hosting Service Do I Need For My Website?
The process of choosing a suitable web hosting service begins with understanding the kind of service you need. This means reviewing the site you will be hosting, your specific needs and the features the site requires for it to function properly. Once you know exactly what you need, you have the option to choose from four main types of web hosting service.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is perhaps the most basic and affordable type of web hosting service available today. As the name suggests, you are sharing one server with hundreds of other websites. In return, shared hosting plans offer immense, almost unrivalled affordability.
A standard shared hosting plan could cost anything from £0.99 to £9.95 per month, depending on the hosting space, monthly bandwidth and other features the plan includes. As a trade-off, you may see your site’s performance decreasing when the server is under heavy load.
Reseller Hosting
Reseller hosting is very similar to shared hosting. You are basically sharing a server with several other resellers. However, the number of sites hosted on the same server is usually fewer than that of a shared hosting plan.
One advantage of using a reseller hosting service is easy management of multiple websites. When you are running several websites at once and you want to enjoy a nice balance between performance and affordability, reseller hosting can be the solution for you.
On top of that, reseller hosting plans come with additional features that shared hosting users don’t get. For starters, you can separate each website into its own hosting account, allowing you to have multiple site administrators without giving them access to all of your sites.
You also get a lot of bonuses, including domain reseller accounts, advertising credits and a much larger hosting and storage space. These bonuses make reseller hosting very appealing nonetheless.
VPS Hosting
VPS or Virtual Private Server is the next type of hosting to look into, particularly if you want to host a resource-intensive or high-traffic site. Instead of sharing a server with a lot of other users, you are basically sharing the physical server with 4 to 8 other VPS users.
VPS hosting comes with virtually assigned server resources and guaranteed server performance. You will see a nice boost in page speed and overall site performance when switching from a shared hosting plan to a VPS hosting service.
Dedicated Server
The last type of web hosting service is dedicated server or dedicated hosting. You basically get an entire server to yourself, allowing you to have complete control over it. Root access, control over server software and add-ons and flexibility are among the benefits offered by dedicated servers. However, you will be spending a lot more money on the service.
Those of you with no prior experience in managing a server can opt for a managed dedicated server. The hosting company is in charge of maintaining the server, performing updates and giving you the best performance possible from the hardware, while you focus on developing your site and other more important things.
