Choosing between shared, VPS and dedicated hosting is a major decision for any new website owner. No business can ever reach its full potential without an online presence. In fact, a website can be a viable business model on its own. You can always switch between hosting types later, but it’s far better to choose the right type of hosting for your needs in the beginning. We’re here to help.
Difference Between VPS And Dedicated Server
Overview:
- VPS hosting typically has a medium cost. You share server resources with a few other customers.
- Dedicated hosting typically has a high cost. You share no server resources with other customers.
When considering whether you should purchase VPS or dedicated server hosting, the first thing you should know is that dedicated hosting is the only type of web hosting that gives you full access to actual hardware. When you pay for dedicated hosting, you’re paying for one physical server that no one but you will use.
Imagine that you had the ability to divide the key resources of a physical server — the processor and memory — and sell those resources to a few different customers. That’s what you get when you buy virtual private server hosting. For example, you might buy a VPS server with a 1 GHz processor and 512 MB of RAM — but you’re not paying for a physical server. Instead, you’re paying for a software-based virtual server environment that runs on much more powerful hardware. The server itself might have two multi-core processors and 16 GB of RAM, but you’ll never have access to more computing muscle than what’s specified in your plan. The hosting company will sell the rest of the server’s resources to other customers.
So, how do you compare a dedicated server vs VPS hosting? It comes down to:
- The level of access you require
- The number of users you expect to serve
- Your budge
Whether you choose a dedicated server or VPS hosting, you’ll enjoy much higher server performance than you’d get with shared hosting. With either choice, you won’t have to worry about other customers’ websites decreasing the speed of your website because no one else will have access to the resources allocated to you. Of the two options, though, only dedicated hosting gives you complete access to a physical server. If you want to develop your own web-based application — or install the software of your choice from any vendor — you need a dedicated server. Dedicated servers can be costly. If you need a dedicated server, though, it’s likely that your business already earns enough money to justify the expense.
Difference Between VPS And Shared Hosting
Overview:
- VPS hosting typically has a medium cost. You share server resources with a few other customers.
- Shared hosting typically has a low cost. You share server resources with many other customers.
With either VPS or shared hosting, you’ll share the resources of a physical server with other customers. With shared hosting, though, none of those resources are ever exclusively yours. A shared server may host dozens of websites, and the server allocates resources to those websites as needed. With VPS hosting, you’ll share a physical server with only a few other customers. The server will allocate your resources to you even if your website isn’t busy enough to require them.
Today’s web servers are extremely powerful. Even if you’re sharing a server with dozens of other customers, the people who visit your website will experience excellent performance most of the time. Your visitors may occasionally experience poorer performance, though, if many of the websites on your server become busy simultaneously.
To choose between VPS vs shared hosting, consider these questions:
- Will your website receive only a little traffic at first?
- Can you cope with occasional — and slight — dips in performance?
- Are you on a very tight budget?
If you answered “yes” to all three questions, shared hosting is probably the right choice for you. If you can afford the expense and want to ensure that your website never exhibits performance fluctuations, you should probably consider VPS hosting instead.
Difference Between Shared Hosting And Dedicated Hosting
Overview:
- Dedicated hosting typically has a high cost. You share no server resources with other customers.
- Shared hosting typically has a low cost. You share server resources with many other customers.
Choosing shared hosting or dedicated server hosting mainly comes down to cost for most new website owners. While a year of shared hosting often costs less than $100, a dedicated server can easily cost more than $1,000 per year. If you’re on a tight budget, the choice is obvious.
If you can afford the cost of a dedicated server, though, shared hosting may still be the better option if you’ve never owned a website before. Shared hosting often comes with many benefits — automatic software updates, automatic backups and the ability to install most popular software with one click, to name a few examples — that are perfect for new website owners.
To choose between dedicated hosting vs shared hosting, consider these questions:
- Do you want a hosting environment in which someone else worries about managing the server, and you can concentrate entirely on running your website?
- Do you want to learn how to build a website in a safe environment that makes it easy to revert to a previous state if you make an error?
- Are you on a very tight budget?
If you answered “yes” to all three questions, you should choose shared hosting. If you have the budget, want to plan for rapid website growth and don’t mind learning how to manage a server and website simultaneously, dedicated hosting may be the better option for you.
