Shared Web Hosting vs Dedicated Web Hosting

When you are looking for the perfect web hosting solution for your website, you need to know the differentiators to be able to make an informed decision. Here you can understand the basic differences between shared and dedicated web hosting. Also, you will be able to better judge exactly how a certain web hosting system will affect you and your website.

Server Response

When you have a dedicated server, the speed is quite high because only you are operating on it. Also, the response time is much lower, as you do not have to share space with 100 other websites with their own traffic. When it comes to a shared server, there are multiple other websites with their own steady traffic and requests for files. This can slow down the entire server. A shared server also experiences more crashes than a dedicated one.

Price

On the other hand, having your own dedicated web hosting server can prove to be quite expensive. Since you have more control, more freedom and are directly managing your server, with an exclusive IP address, the cost will obviously be much higher. In a shared server system, the cost is spread out across various users, making it a much more affordable option. The price, in both cases, also depends upon the server configuration and specifications.

Resource Restrictions

Shared hosting comes with a number of limitations, such as:

• Limited number of files;
• Limit on individual database size;
• Limit on the number of email accounts and their individual size;
• It does not allow file storage.

Security

With shared hosting, you run the risk of sharing server space with other websites that are engaged in spam activities. On identifying such activities, the search engines will black-list the IP address, resulting in severe traffic loss for your website.

Flexibility

In a dedicated web hosting plan, you have much higher control in terms of web applications, such as Cold Fusion, ASP and ecommerce. You have the freedom to make changes, you can expand as and when you like, and set the budget on your own. In a shared server system, you do not have this advantage.

Although the above points make it sound as though shared web hosting in not a good option, this is not entirely true. If you are a small or medium sized business, shared web hosting is a good option. Dedicated hosting is best if you have high traffic and mission-critical situations.