Web hosting is a fast-growing sector with several companies entering the foray on a daily basis. The main purpose of web hosting is to establish a presence for your website. Without a stable web hosting, your website will not be able to attract visitors.
To create your own website, you need to purchase a domain name from reputed domain registrars. After that, you need to buy a suitable web hosting package from a service provider of your choice. You should be very careful while buying a web hosting plan because there are several small companies who dupe customers by offering bogus claims.
You will be able to buy a web hosting package starting at$1 per year and up to $150 per month. Moreover, you have an option to choose either shared hosting or VPS hosting depending upon your requirements. In this article, we will compare the advantages and disadvantages of shared hosting and VPS hosting in detail.
Shared Hosting
In the case of shared hosting, you will buy a relevant package depending upon the disk space and storage at a fixed price per month or year. You need not have to worry about software installation and other complicated jobs.
The server will be shared by many users. For example, the server in which your site will be hosted will have 200+ other sites running simultaneously. Hence, you should not overload the server.
You will get a control panel to work upon. Some providers will e-mail the account information immediately after you complete the checkout. You will be provided with a control panel URL along with the username and password. You will view several options, which will perform a wide range of functions.
If you opt for Linux, you will likely get CPanel control panel where you will view several icons. If you purchase Windows hosting, you will work with Websitepanel control panel. If you had to host a few years back, you could know about the green-colored HELM control panel.
You will be able to create domains, emails, database backup and restoration and other related activities from the control panel. If you are migrating from one Windows hosting provider to another, you should opt for Websitepanel since you can easily backup your database.
If you are a beginner, you should opt for shared hosting. Moreover, if you are running a high traffic site, you should not opt for shared hosting. Even if you opt for unlimited shared hosting, if your limit exceeds the virtual and physical memory your account will be suspended without notice. Moreover, if the provider finds any presence of virus files inside your folder then your account will be suspended.
VPS hosting
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. The purpose of VPS hosting is to isolate your site separately. Imagine, a server with 2TB of disk space is divided into small clusters of 20GB each. Your site will be hosting a cluster along with other sites. However, your site will be separate and consume all the resources including RAM.
The advantage of VPS hosting is that you will get remote access to the server, which is not possible in shared hosting. You can login to the remote desktop and install software such as MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server (Windows).
The main problem with VPS hosting is the kind of support you will get. If you are an experienced user, you can purchase unmanaged hosting, where you will perform the required software installation work.
If you are a beginner, you should purchase a managed VPS hosting. In such a case, the service provider will install all the required software such as control panel. The provider will help you as long as you continue with them. The disadvantage of VPS hosting is the cost. When compared to shared hosting, the VPS hosting will cost more.
You can host anything that is suitable if you want to host a high traffic blog or website provided you has experience and the ability to manage a site on your own.
Verdict
If you are a beginner with minimal experience, the shared hosting is the best option. With simple user interface, you can manage all aspects of your site. The VPS hosting will be suitable for sites which get a huge number of organic traffic per month. Please share your feedback as to which hosting you will prefer.