Do you know what the differences are between shared hosting , virtual private server hosting and dedicated server hosting? The first thing you might notice between each type of hosting arrangement that varies is the cost of each. Depending on your website's individual needs, you should consider which web hosting setup is best for you.
In order to best explain how hosting plans work, think of them as you would think of different types of residences. So, do you know where your website lives?
Shared hosting is like an apartment complex. The walls are thin, you can hear every bit of noise that your neighbor makes. For example, your neighbor's parties would be equivalent to sudden surges in traffic that consume shared resources, which can end up clogging up the entire building. This in turn would be like another website getting a lot of traffic and using up all the bandwidth in the shared server, which then affects your website.
Shared hosting typically has hundreds of accounts on a single server. The good thing about this type of hosting is that it's the most affordable, which means it's good for new webmasters or those with low amounts of traffic. This type of hosting is where most websites live.
Virtual private servers (VPSs) are like a set of townhouses next to each other. You have control over just about everything and you can furnish it whichever way you like so long as you're comfortable with sharing some utilities (services, in this case) with the rest of the building. Plus, the walls are a lot thicker, and if one building has a surge of traffic, it likely won't affect your website as much.
A VPS is like having a copy of your own machine remotely. One VPS server is shared by a smaller amount of people and thus this is a better option for those experiencing medium traffic. It's also more costly than shared hosting, but much less than a dedicated server.
Dedicated servers are like private houses where there's one building per property. The entire house is dedicated to you and you won't be bothered by anyone else. You can essentially build whatever you want as long as it complies with the local law.
A dedicated server is just that, it's dedicated just to you. There's no worries that a traffic surge on someone else's website who shares hosting with you will inadvertently take down your website nor the other way around. A dedicated server typically has the most powerful set of available resources, which makes it great for high traffic websites.
You can download the full "Where Does Your Website Live?" infographic here.
Dedicated Web Host Guide
Juliana is a systems admin for all your dedicated server needs. You can find her @InMotionHosting, a Web Hosting provider based in Los Angeles @JulianaP16.
