Before starting out on creating a website, you must be familiar with Web Hosts and Types of Web Hosting as these are the necessary components when running your website for the long run. This blog will provide a concise review of Web Hosting and its types.
What is Web Hosting
A web host is an online service that allows you to publish your website or web application on the internet and make it accessible to people. When you host your website on the internet, it means you’re renting some space on a physical server, and on this rented space, all your website files are stored.
To make it simple, think of it as purchasing a piece of land somewhere, and then building your house onto it. Now here, the piece of land is your web host, which is providing you space, the house that you built is your website where all your files will be stored, and the address of your house is your domain name (that’s how people will find you).
For example, iconprosolutions.com is the address of my house (website).
There are various types of web hosts and with each type, there are specific benefits and trade-offs. Below mentioned are the most popular web hosts discussed with their distinct benefits and trade-offs.
1. Shared Web Hosting:
Shared hosting is the most basic and cheapest type of web hosting which makes it the best-recommended hosting plan for starters who have started off with their first website or such websites with relatively less traffic.
As the name suggests, shared hosting works like a room that is shared between you and your roommate therefore, you both get to enjoy the same services of the room like the TV, water, gas, and electricity while contributing together for the room as well as the services.
The trade-off you get by sharing the room is that, if your roommate is always bringing his friends into the room, you can’t focus or concentrate on what you’re doing.
Similarly, shared hosting works in the same manner. Since you and some other websites are sharing the same physical server, in case of high traffic or spike on your neighboring sites, your website’s performance may slow down and cause problems.
Who can use Shared Hosting?
Shared hosting is perfect for starters who have started off their online business or writers who write blogs on their site. Thus, shared hosting is ideal for people with tight budgets and low-to-medium level traffic.
Pros:
- Shared hosting is affordable (plans as low as 5$/ month)
- No technical knowledge required
- Ideal for small websites
Cons:
- Shared resources cause slower load times
- High traffic on other websites decreases your website’s performance (bad neighbor effect)
- Not scalable (you cannot customize the working environment according to your own needs)
2. Dedicated Web Hosting:
As the name suggests, ‘dedicated’ hosting gets you to access a single server exclusively for your website only. You can even access the server configuration because you’ve paid for it.
In a nutshell, dedicated web hosting is mostly used in websites with high traffic, and you’re provided with incredible flexibility to customize it to your own needs.
Who can use Dedicated Hosting?
Dedicated web hosting is ideal for large online businesses or social media platforms that are in the presence of relatively large traffic however, dedicated hosting comes with a great cost, but you also get a good response time, security, maintenance, and full control
Pros:
- Fast performance
- Full control (full root and admin access)
- No bad neighbor effect (since no other clients are present on the server)
- Secure and reliable
Cons:
- Costly (Dedicated servers come with a great price)
- Technical knowledge (Requires hiring a technical manager if you lack server knowledge)
3. Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting
A virtual private server hosting works in a way that a physical server is separated into several virtual machines known as VPS. As a result, each VPS is virtually acting as a physical server but with limited resources. In other words, you’re renting a virtual server.
Each virtual private machine (VPS) works independently of the other. Therefore, each website is separately hosted on a virtual dedicated server. In this way, a Virtual Private Servers (VPS) combine elements of Shared Hosting and Dedicated Hosting because you’re get a dedicated server space with a limited amount of memory and resources.
Who can use VPS?
A virtual private server works great for medium-sized online businesses that are still growing in traffic. Moreover, It is ideal for users who cannot afford a dedicated server but want to have server access so they can customize it as per their needs.
Pros:
- Dedicated server resources
- Cost-efficient than a Dedicated Host
- High traffic on other websites (or the server) doesn’t affect your performance
- Flexible and customizable
Cons:
- More costly than other types of hosting
- Requires technical knowledge (For server)
4. Cloud Hosting:
Cloud hosting works by hosting your website (resources) into multiple chunks of virtual servers (VPS). This infrastructure makes it more prominent in terms of data availability because in case a server fails, your traffic is routed to another server that is ready to provide you with the requested resources. In other words, It’s like you’re renting these server chunks to run your website.
Furthermore, cloud hosting splits up your data by replicating them into multiple remote servers, whereas, in the previously reviewed hosting infrastructures there was only one physical server.
Who can use Cloud Hosting?
Cloud hosting is best suited for large-scale websites that require high processing power and are growing traffic rapidly. Unlike traditional web hostings, cloud hosting comes with a scalability option in case your website traffic goes beyond control. Thus, you can always scale up and buy more storage to facilitate your visitors.
Pros:
- High availability (in case of traffics surge or server failure)
- Instant scalability
- On-demand resource allocation
- Pay-per-use pricing (you only pay for what you use)
Cons:
- Limited control (cloud servers are managed by the service providers)
- Costs cannot be estimated (hosting plan can become more expensive than expected)
5. Managed WordPress Hosting:
A managed WordPress hosting is a WordPress-specific hosting that provides your WordPress website with all the features including backups, security, and optimization.
With WordPress Hosting you don’t have to visit cPanel or hPanel, your host handles everything for you. thus, It comes in handy for people who don’t like to work with technical things when setting up their host.
Who can use Managed WordPress Hosting?
WordPress Hosting is perfect for WordPress tailored websites as it provides all sorts of convenience without having them worry about a thing.
Pros:
- High-level management
- Optimized for WordPress sites
- Enhanced security
- One-click installations (for plugins, themes)
Cons:
- WordPress specific (WordPress on this hosting)
- More costly than a Shared Hosting
- Less flexibility (because WordPress resources aren’t compatible with some resources)
6. Reseller Hosting:
Reseller hosting is a business-oriented hosting where you purchase some web hosting space from a hosting provider and then resell them.
If you’re into the web development business and have a good number of clients that need hosting services, you can purchase a bulk amount of hosting space at a whole sell rate and then resell them to your customers at a healthy profit.
It is a great way to add additional revenue to your business. Besides, it also comes with great responsibility because you have complete control over your customers’ accounts. As a result, you need to provide them with customer support to assist them with their requests.
Who can use Reseller Hosting:
Web development or designing agencies with a considerable number of clients can go for reseller hosting. By doing so, they can provide additional hosting services/plans along with their design/development services.
Pros:
- Profit
- Uncapped pricing (no limits or restrictions)
- Economical (can host your websites on the reselling hosts)
Cons:
- Maintenance (you must provide high maintenance and security)
Which Web hosting is the best for you?
At this point, you must be familiar with each one of the Web Hosting types reviewed above. Based on their benefits and tradeoffs, you can now decide which types of web hosting will be the best suit for your website. Below mentioned are some of the most popular hosting providers based on their host types:
- Shared Web Hosting → A2Hosting / Bluehost
- Dedicated Web Hosting → Hostgator
- Virtual Private Server Hosting: → Hostinger
- Cloud Hosting: → Cloudways / Dreamhost
- Managed WordPress Hosting: → WPEngine / Bluehost
- Reseller Hosting: → A2Hosting / Hostpapa
If you’ve decided on your website’s hosting but you’re unfamiliar with making a website, you can follow our previous blog that provides a complete guide in making your website.
