Hosting can be an intimidating subject. If you’re not overly tech savvy, it’s difficult to even fully understand what hosting is, let alone know what the different types are!
There are many different types of hosting, but we’re going to focus on two of them: Shared hosting and Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting:
Shared hosting
Shared hosting is a type of hosting plan which can house thousands of websites on a single server. It is known to be the most affordable web hosting option on the market. Shared hosting is similar to living in an apartment. It is similar in the notion that there are a lot of people sharing limited resources.
When you rent an apartment, you agree to share the pool, the parking lot, the gym and so much more. When you purchase a shared hosting plan, you agree to share bandwidth and storage space with all the other tenants of the server. This also means that you are directly affected by the actions of other tenants on your server. In an apartment, if your neighbor is being too loud at night, you can hear them through the walls. In a hosting environment, if another tenant of your server is occupying too much of the server’s storage then you might find the speed of your site slowing down.
VPS hosting
VPS hosting is a hosting service which houses websites in dedicated sections on the server. It is very similar to owning a condo. There are still several amenities which are shared, but you are responsible for the property maintenance and repairs. but at Geeky Webmaster we manage that for you.
With owning and living in a condo, there are generally fewer people. This allows more breathing room. VPS hosting is very similar as there are fewer people on each server. It allows you to customize your dedicated section of the server to your website requirements. You still share some of the amenities with other neighbors, but you are not as restricted. This allows you to have more power and flexibility.
Conclusion
Speed
Most shared hosting servers can host thousands of websites on one server. This negatively affects the overall speed of your website. If you receive a huge traffic spike or your website goes viral.
Security
Security is a concern with shared hosting. Since your website is on a server with possibly thousands of other websites, there is no way to confirm that all security updates and maintenance tasks have been completed across each individual website. This can lead to a security risk as it is not possible to manage every CMS or the security of every website on the same server.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to perform server customization on shared hosting due to the ramifications that it could have on other customer websites. Due to this, you are required to use the standard server configuration.
One major advantage of VPS hosting is higher performance with increased bandwidth and resources. This allows your website to load at superfast speeds and for your viewers to experience optimal performance. VPS hosting is also great if you’re looking to grow your site.
Think of it as an investment – you want to pick a plan that matches your ambitions, not just one for the here-and-now.
This is the main reason why we use VPS Server at Geeky Webmaster.