Live ChatIf you are developing a site and need an effective web hosting solution, the market offers primarily three choices; shared hoisting, VPS or dedicated.
It is not always an easy task to choose the right hosting plan. Companies that value time and money know that by choosing the right cloud, shared and VPS hosting plan and the provider they have won 50% of the battle.
But how do you go about it?
Before making the right choice you must clearly understand how a hosting plan can benefit you, and for that the objectives and the requirements of the website must be planned in advance.
If you are a startup, you would like to choose one from among the cheap web hosting plans.
This is fine, because you are not keen to spend a lot upfront. Plenty of websites and blogs run fine on cost effective web hosting plans.
But remember, with cheap hosting you are likely to get cheap quality service.
And if you want support for PHP & MySQL scripts you may need to open your pockets a bit more. It is however possible that you can get most of the features you need at a low price when a reputable hosting company offers discount or a promo on a standard plan.
Let us come to basics first.
Are you planning to run a blog? Or setup a business site? Or do want a website just for displaying your photos?
Among the server options, Best shared hosting is the most popular hosting plan. It is affordable and the best entry level option. Moreover it is easy to use and setup, and also it is not necessary for the user to be tech savvy.
The good news is if you want to be within a budget and still craft a professional website with the latest web applications, shared hosting may be the way to go.
Simply put, in shared hosting resources from a server are shared among several clients, each having its own domain name.
Is shared hosting the right option for you?
If it is a startup business or a blog, a shared plan may make sense because:
- You are not likely to attract a huge number of visitors
- The images and the content you produce are not likely to require huge space.
In other words in a shared hosting plan you are sharing resources like data, CPU, memory and disk space with other entities.
On a long term basis, if the base situation of either your business or blog does not undergo any major shifts, then shared hosting is your partner for life.
In actuality, this is not the case for many a user.
More often than not, with time, users want a qualitative shift in their hosting needs.
You can be one of them.
Such a situation arises when your site outgrows the power of share hosting.
When business picks up a great deal or when your blog visitors spike, you will want more server resources and better control over the hosting environment.
The answer in such a scenario is to go for VPS Hosting , or Virtual Private Server.
In a VPS environment, a virtualized portion of a server with allocated resources is offered to the client.
What does this mean for you?
With a virtualized compartment allotted dedicatedly to you, other websites on the server will not affect your performance.
In simple terms, with VPS Server, each website resides in an isolated environment with adequate resources to perform various functions. It is the golden mean between shared and dedicated.
One compelling advantage clients get with VPS is root access. Root access is administrative permission to access and edit all files and content on your server, and if necessary install or uninstall programs as per your choice.
But remember, even with VPS Server you are not on a pedestal. You are still getting only part of a server, which means several fine adjustments are not possible. If you want complete control over the server right down to changing components of the core software or hardware , it time to upgrade further.
This means, the next step is dedicated server.
With a dedicated server you get all of the hardware on the server, and all the resources are your own.
This translates into owning a server having very specific configuration as per your needs. You can also install special software and fine tune your hardware to run it with the best possible performance.
But such an arrangement is not without it cons.
- With a dedicated server you must have help or skill at hand that has formidable server skills. Otherwise you have to pay more for managed dedicated server plans.
- A dedicated hosting plan itself is pricier than VPS
Before you hop in to a dedicated server plan, ask yourself the following questions.
- Does my site traffic experience high volumes in excess of say 400, 000 page views a month?
- Do I really need to spend CAPEX on highly specialized hardware?
The fact is VPS suits many business requirements. Go for a dedicated server only if your business is generating enough money to cover the costs of dedicated server.
Interesting Topics To Read: What Is The Difference Between Shared Hosting And VPS?
Sunil is a content analyst in a leading digital agency based in India. He loves to write on various topics including travel & technology.