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Finding the right hosting for your small business isn’t always easy. Make sure you choose a reliable, fast, and affordable company.
This means choosing between shared and virtual private server (VPS) hosting for many businesses. Learn the differences between these two popular hosting technologies to determine which is best for your situation.
Key takeaways:
- Shared hosting involves several users on a single server.
- VPS hosting is the least popular choice due to the cost and limited features.
- You must consider your budget when deciding between shared and VPS hosting.
Shared hosting allows multiple customers to access a single web server. Each customer is set up with their account to see and change files in their environment. But all websites that run off the one server share the system resources.
In most cases, a shared web server is robust, with much disk space, central processing units (CPUs), memory, and other resources so that dozens or hundreds of websites can run off it.
When things are set up correctly, all the sites can run smoothly since none use all of the system resources simultaneously. Shared hosting is generally used for smaller sites that don’t get much traffic.
What are the advantages of shared hosting?
- Affordable: Since many sites use one server, the hosting company can offer this service for a low monthly fee.
- Rapid setup: A new hosting account can be created in minutes to set up a new website and have it online immediately.
- Advanced servers: Reputable shared hosting companies use advanced servers for shared environments. This allows entry-level sites to take advantage of premium servers without paying the full costs.
What are the disadvantages of shared hosting?
- Shared resources: You are splitting all the system resources. So if several servers have a lot of traffic at a given time, all the servers may experience slow response times.
- Vulnerable to attacks: If one site on your server experiences a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, and the hosting company doesn’t provide effective DDoS mitigation services, it could also take your site offline.
- Limited growth: Your site can only have limited growth before the hosting company cannot upgrade you further. When this happens, it often migrates you to a VPS hosting solution.
What Is VPS Hosting?
VPS hosting is where one server is divided into multiple virtual environments, similar to a shared hosting server. The difference is that each virtual environment is assigned system resources for exclusive use.
VPS hosting is popular with small to midsize businesses (SMBs). In most cases, there are far fewer sites on a physical server than you would find on a shared hosting account.
What are the advantages of VPS hosting?
- Dedicated resources: Your website has dedicated resources on the server, so you don’t need to share them with other sites. This minimizes the impact other sites on the server can have on your site.
- Greater control: Most VPS hosting companies allow you to configure your virtual environment however you want. You can choose operating systems, versions of software, and much more.
- Affordable: While VPS hosting is generally more expensive than shared hosting, you can still get it at affordable rates based on the server resources you need.
What are the disadvantages of VPS hosting?
- Limited growth: VPS hosting companies can assign you more system resources to accommodate growth. However, there are limits based on your server and how many other customers use. If your site gets too large, migrate to a powerful dedicated server or look into the best cloud hosting solutions.
- Cost: VPS hosting is affordable compared to dedicated servers, but it’s usually more expensive than a shared hosting environment. If your biggest concern is cost, VPS may not suit you.
- Still shared: While VPS hosting gives you dedicated resources and your unique virtual environment, you still share a physical server with other websites. In some rare situations, another website could impact your site’s performance.
How Do You Choose the Best Hosting for Your Business?
To set up your business website, ensure you get the right hosting package. Shared hosting and VPS accounts can serve you quite well, so you will probably be happy with either.
When deciding between shared and VPS hosting, price and reliability are the main things to consider. If keeping your costs low is more important than getting the most reliable hosting, opt for a shared environment. VPS is the best choice if you don’t mind paying extra for a more stable website.
Read our reviews of the best shared hosting services and top VPS hosting services.