Web hosting is the basic need to make your website live on the Internet. There is a number of web hosting types in the market from which you can choose the best which suits your website’s needs. If you are a beginner and do not have any technical knowledge then you must choose between the Shared and VPS Hosting. Both web hosting solutions offer excellent features and benefits and both are user-friendly too. But now the problem is that which suit you the best or Which is the best option for you? Today in this article I’m going to compare VPS VS Shared Hosting. This would help you to know what’s the difference between VPS Hosting and Shared Hosting & which hosting you should choose.
Shared Hosting VS VPS Hosting | Which Is Better?
Which is Better- Shared Or VPS Hosting? This is the most common questions that come in your mind and can create confusions. We can’t say any hosting service good or bad, actually, it depends on a lot of factors. Let me clear this with an example, a person with a high budget has purchased a luxury car. On the other hand, a person with a limited budget has purchased an economy car. Both have cars but the difference is in the features, comfort, status & price. The same concept applies in hosting plans, a user with high traffic with enough budgets can go to VPS hosting.
Both the hosting services are good but it depends upon the user’s need & requirements. Based on some of the factors I’ve compared both these hosting services which might help you to choose accordingly.
| Factors | VPS Hosting | Shared Hosting |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Other websites with great traffic can’t affect your website speed | Other websites on the same server with certain traffic can affect your website speed. |
| Performance | The performance is good in this hosting server as you’ve private server. | The performance can hit you as other websites can eat more bandwidth. |
| Control | You have root access to the server | There’s only limited control over your server |
| Security | Relatively high security & you won’t get affected with other website’s errors. | Security is stable, but you might face some issues if there’s an error with other websites |
| Scalability | You can easily add & buy more resources if your website demands to | You have switch different hosting plan if your site creates some issues regarding resources |
| Price | The price is relatively higher | The price is pocket friendly |
What is Shared Hosting?
As the name suggests that it’s something related to sharing, which means a server is being shared with others. A type of hosting service where many websites are sharing the same server is known as shared hosting. Imagine you’re sitting in metro, you don’t wish to have any other passengers next to your seat. Suddenly at the next stop, a big fat guy sits next to you, you’ve to compromise with his extra space. In this hosting, your website is sharing the same resources like CPU, RAM, Disk Space & bandwidth with other users.
Shared Hosting is the most basic & is the most economical option for beginners. As you’re sharing the same resources with other websites you may face some issues like speed, space & some others.
Let’s have a look at Some Pros & Cons of Shared Hosting:
Pros-
- Most Economical Option
- Requires Less Technical Knowledge
- Beginner-Friendly
- Ideal for the blog, small startups & personal websites
Cons-
- Resources are shared with others
- Creates issues when there’s high traffic on other websites on the same server
- Limited access
What is VPS Hosting?
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server, which means you get your own private server although there’re other users. In this, the parent server is split into different servers and each user gets their own virtual server & resources. Imagine you’ve booked 1st class seat in a place where you get private space & resources with no sharing. In this hosting service, each user has their own private resources like CPU, RAM, disk space & bandwidth.
It’s the next option that comes after shared hosting, as it has many benefits that shared hosting doesn’t have. However, the price is a bit expensive but the benefits in this hosting plan are not less & its value for money.
Let’s have a look at some Pros & Cons:
Pros-
- Private server without sharing
- Maximum control over the server
- Dedicated resources with no sharing
- Can purchase more resources if needed
- Less expensive with great features
Cons-
- Requires more technical knowledge
- Not have full control over the server
- More expensive than shared hosting
What are the types of VPS Hosting?
There’re certain queries asked by the user related to the types of VPS & shared hosting. Shared hosting and Virtual Private Server are 2 different types of hosting services, you can’t mix them with each other. They’re the types of the hosting plans but shared hosting has no other types of hosting. However, there are some other types of Virtual Private Server hosting which is discussed below.
4 Types of Virtual Private Hosting:
- Managed VPS: It is often known as fully-managed, where the hosting provider will manage your server in a professional way. This type is basically for those who don’t have enough time & relevant skills to manage a server.
- Unmanaged VPS: This type is also known as self-managed, where the user has the responsibility to manage & monitor the allotted server. This is basically for those users who’ve enough time & relevant skills to manage their own server.
- Windows VPS: It refers to those hosting software that uses windows technology. Good for those who need to install & run some of the most common Windows application like Microsoft SQL & accesses databases etc.
- Linux VPS: It is based on Linux platform, they support web features like MySQL, PHP & POP3.
Do I Need Shared Hosting or VPS Hosting?
There are so many options of hosting services in the market that can blow your mind. The answer to this question can’t be on a specific hosting plan, it depends upon the user’s need & requirements.
Who Should Choose Shared Hosting?
- Usually for beginners
- Websites with less traffic
- Websites having limited & not so confidential data
- Users with less technical knowledge
- Small & personal websites
Who Should Choose VPS Hosting?
- Users want their personal server & resources
- Websites with good traffic that shared hosting can’t handle
- Websites with having important data
- Users want more security & no sharing of resources
- Usually for users having big websites like online stores or big blog websites
VPS Hosting VS Shared Hosting- Conclusion
The overall conclusion of this article as simple as it is. If your website is new with small data & less traffic then you should definitely consider shared hosting. It will save you money plus your website will be on the internet. On the other hand, if your websites grow over a time that shared hosting can’t handle and creates issues then you can consider VPS. As you’ve your own private server with no interference of other websites. Also, you can easily request to add more resources if you want to have more. All hosting plan is good depending upon the type of website. However, it would be a bad choice if you choose shared hosting for a big website. So both these hosting plans are best but it all depends upon the type of websites you want to host.