We all heard about the importance of hosting for every business or personal website, there is no doubt about that. A good provider acts as a host for all of your files and pretty much helps your website to operate the way that it should.
However, you might find it difficult to find the right package for you. After all, there are so many different hosting types to choose from. If you’re not that tech savvy, you might find yourself overwhelmed with different offers from hosting providers.
In this case, we will talk about the main differences between shared web hosting and cloud hosting which are arguably the most popular packages out there.
First things first, what are the definitions for these hosting types?
In this section we will compare these two types of hosting to see the similarities and differences between them.
Cloud hosting
Cloud hosting is a type of hosting which allows a website to use the resources from multiple servers and also means your website is hosted on an entirely virtual server. They are one of the most popular types of hosting and there are many reasons why.
There’s plenty of resources for smaller and even a bit bigger websites looking for a simple and safe choice for their hosting. Moreover, the scalability is just phenomenal in this case. Let’s say you start a small business website. As you grow, you’ll need more resources for your website.
With cloud hosting it’s very easy, as you’ll need to do is inform the host and it will be done in seconds.
Main features of cloud hosting:
- Scalability – as we said already, a website can be scaled very easily. In fact, it can be scaled infinitely with this hosting type, since cloud servers are made from multiple others. There’s much more flexibility in terms of resources.
- Good for business websites – commercial websites are much more likely to use more resources, which means you’ll need to look for a package suited just for that. With shared hosting, you’re much more limited.
- Better security – with cloud hosting your website is scattered among different servers to create your unique space. There’s practically zero risk of you getting hacked or your website going down. Because of a server malfunction, since you don’t have one specific place.
Shared hosting
Shared hosting is a type of hosting which means that your website shares resources with other websites on the same server. You can have tens of even hundreds of neighbors in the same space, you can’t really tell, as it all depends on the provider.
Naturally, this means that you don’t get as many resources as with other hosting types. Since all of the websites on the server get the same limited amount. However, there’s also a huge monetary advantage to this.
Shared hosting is without a doubt the cheapest hosting solution out there, so you can save money here. Moreover, providers usually allow you to host multiple websites on your space if you wish to. Meaning that sometimes servers can host even thousands of websites.
Main features of shared website hosting:
- Cheapest option – as we said before, it is by far the cheapest option you can go for. If you’re not interested in many resources at your disposal. You can go with this option for sometimes as low as 3 dollars per month, making the best way to save money on hosting.
- Simple setup – with shared hosting pretty much everything is taken care of for you, and you can launch your website with a few clicks of a button. If you’re not that tech savvy, this can be the ideal option for you.
- Ideal for small scale websites – if you’re planning on launching a simple blog website or your online portfolio. You certainly won’t need all the resources and excessive non-sense that comes with more expensive plans, making shared hosting the ideal option for a simple launch of a website.
Should you choose Shared web hosting or Cloud hosting?
Both shared web hosting as well as cloud hosting options are good in their own regard. However, if you’re looking for the ideal choice for your website you might be a bit lost when it comes to the final choice.
Cloud hosting is largely considered to be the better option for larger scale websites basically. It can offer much more resources as well as far better security, allowing ecommerce websites to operate without any hassle.
This however, means that is also a more expensive option since it offers more for your bucks. If you’re unwilling to spend more money on your hosting plans and simply want to launch your small website as it is, then definitely think about shared web hosting.
Arguably, this is the best way to start out and later on as you grow, you can change your plans to fit your bill better.
All in all
We’ve discussed the main features of shared and cloud hosting. Each of these hosting types is good in their own right, so pick one which best fits your needs and you should be good to go.