Shared vs VPS vs Dedicated Hosting
We all know that dedicated hosting is better than VPS while VPS hosting is better than shared. However, why shared hosting being an outsider remains to be one of the most popular web hosting solutions today? It is not only about price. It is also about the things that are better for you. For your project and your needs. Sometimes dedicated hosting can be just a waste of resources and money. Your goal is to determine which hosting plan suits you the most.
Everything depends on the size of your project and the aims you want to achieve. For a static website with articles shared hosting will be enough. Your site will be hosted with several other sites located on the same server. You will have Limited options to appreciate such as disk space and bandwidth. However, it won’t influence your static website greatly.
The other thing is if you want to create a large website with community that will grow. In this case you need to choose dedicated server hosting. Thus, you won’t worry about the limitations and have absolute control over the server.
VPS hosting is just a solution for the projects when shared hosting plan features are not enough but dedicated hosting seems to be superfluous. Such type of hosting provides you with your own virtual server. It means that your site is located on the same server with other sites like in shared hosting, but in this case the server is separated into independent parts that work like standalone servers. It makes VPS hosting similar to dedicated web hosting. They both give you the full control over the server and provide you with a fixed amount of server resources. However, there are some differences to consider.
Top 20 Main Differences
Let’s look through the main features offered by shared, VPS and dedicated hosting plans that make them unique. Compare and choose the best options to choose host and manage your web site easily for appropriate price.
| Features | Shared | VPS | Dedicated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domains | Limited/UnLimited | UnLimited | UnLimited |
| Bandwidth | Limited/UnLimited | Limited | Limited |
| Disk Sace | Limited/UnLimited | Limited | Limited |
| MySQL Databases | Limited/UnLimited | UnLimited | UnLimited |
| CPU Limitations |  |
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| RAM Limitation | |
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| Custom Configuration | |
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| Bad Neighbourhood | |
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| Dedicated IP | Extra Fee | |
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| Private SSL | Extra Fee | Extra Fee | |
| Site Builder | |
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| 24×7 Support | |
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| Instant Backups | |
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| CPanel | |
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| Anonymous FTP | Extra Fee | |
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| Email Accounts | Limited/UnLimited | UnLimited | UnLimited |
| Fully Managed by Host | |
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| FULL Root Access | |
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| Price | $4/mo – $15/mo | $20/mo – $200/mo | $80/mo – $374/mo |
| Complete Control | |
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What Type of Hosting to Buy
The main disadvantage of shared hosting is that your site can be influenced by other sites hosted on the same server. Downtime and security issues are the main things you need to consider choosing this type of hosting. However, shared hosting is the best solution for small websites. In this case, with UnLimited hosting plan you won’t be influenced by any of the above mentioned things.
Unless you want to maintain a grandiose email campaign, security problems also should not bother you. To switch to a dedicated server or VPS hosting is a necessity only when your site expands or you are going to build a large community portal with plenty of visitors and various data added all the time.
When You Need UnLimited Shared Hosting Plan
Talking about UnLimited shared hosting plans that offer you such options as UnLimited disk space or UnLimited bandwidth, you need to consider that such plans still have limitations depending on the server, number and size of other sites hosted. Such plans just allow you not to count how much disk space you need in particular and rely on your host to provide you with the best service. Of course, the more websites you are going to host with shared hosting solution the more problems can occur (e.g. downtime).
Best VPS Hosting Solutions
When your site becomes something bigger when shared hosting options are not enough you can choose VPS hosting. It is cheaper than dedicated server hosting and provides you with quite the same features to take advantage of. The main difference between dedicated and VPS hosting is that VPS hosting offer you smaller amount of resources. The reason is simple.
When you choose dedicated hosting the whole server is yours. With VPS hosting you have only a part of physical server when the resources are split between its virtual parts. So, choosing this type of web hosting you need to pay attention to the resources provided. Usually, VPS hosting offers you about 512 MB of RAM. On the whole, most middle-sized websites need VPS hosting plans that provide you with flexibility, scalability and security for affordable price.
Dedicated Hosting – Is It Time to Buy It?
Dedicated hosting offers you wider bandwidth, faster internet connection, UnLimited data transfer and bigger memory. On the whole, dedicated server hosting is the best if we are talking about the features provided. It is the best except the price. That’s why it is so important to consider that all its benefits are worth the money you will pay monthly.
When your site becomes really profitable project or you intend to create something breathtaking with plenty of videos, pics, with numerous visitors who create your community and bring you profits. In this case you need dedicated web hosting. Thus, you will be sure in your site performance and security.
Of course, sometimes it is not so easy to switch from $10 per month to $120 per month. However, the benefits are obvious if you really have a large project with email campaigns and shopping carts. With up to 2GB of RAM, several dedicated IP addresses, plenty of disk space you can host several domains forgetting about downtime issues.
You also have complete control with root access to manage your site, set cron jobs and change configuration. There are also special offers for those who have no vast experience in web site programming. In this case you can choose managed dedicated hosting when you should not worry about configuration and monitoring of various services.