Different types of web hosting you should know about
Web Hosting is one of the most important elements of a website. They provide the required services and technologies for a web page to exist on the internet. If you’re planning to start a business online or anything else on the internet, it’s important that you know all the different types of web hosting, and whether your London web design company can provide hosting for you. But before that, let’s try to understand what web hosting really is.
What is web hosting?
In the simplest term, web hosting is like your rented apartment where you store all your stuff. When you sign up for web hosting, your website and all of its contents like images, text, videos, and everything else are stored on a server.
These servers are located in several data centers and are looked after by the web hosting companies. The companies provide technology. This is essential for the websites to be visited by users around the world through the internet.
Type of Web Hosting
All web hosting is not the same. Each one is different from the other in terms of their purpose and the service they provide. Some hosts can be shared by more than one website while others are meant for only one website.
With the basic information out of the way, here are the different types of web hosting you should know about
Shared Hosting
Shared Hosting is the simplest and most basic of all the different types of web hosting. It is much cheaper, and as such, shared hosting is the best option for small websites and business owners.
From the name itself, we can understand that websites using this type of web hosting will be sharing their server with other online websites. This is one of the main reasons why it is so much cheaper than another web hosting.
In shared hosting, the companies will provide only a limited resource for each website since they are sharing a single server. The amount of resources that a particular website gets depends on the agreement between the two parties.
However, sharing a server with other websites can have several downsides. An issue affecting another website can potentially affect yours as well. For example, if a website that is on your same server suddenly experiences a traffic spike, then your website can also suffer from a performance issue. You will not have any control over it.
Thus shared hosting can be a great choice for small websites that are just starting. But don’t expect to get a high-quality hosting for your website. It is only for people with a tight budget.
Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting
The next type of web hosting is the VPS hosting, which stands for Virtual Private Server. VPS is usually considered as the next level web hosting of Shared Hosting. Normally when a website starts to grow and becomes too big for a Shared Hosting, they upgrade to VPS.
Even in a VPS web hosting, the server is still shared among different websites. However, the difference between a Shared and VPS Hosting is that a VPS has a much lower number of websites in a single server.
In VPS hosting, the main server is divided into several virtual servers. Each website is then provided with a virtual server which they are allowed to customize by themselves. Though the websites will be sharing one server, they will have their own dedicated resource in a VPS. Hence websites perform much better compared to a Shared Hosting.
Websites using VPS enjoy the benefits of high uptimes and fast loading pages. You can have a dedicated hosting like a server at a much cheaper cost. Issues of another website should not cause any problem with a VPS.
The only downside to a VPS is that you’ll be sharing some parts of a server and its resources with other websites. And as such, there will be some limitations for you.
Dedicated Hosting
If the different types of web hosting are levels of a video game, then the Dedicated Hosting will be the boss level. It is the top level of web hosting. The benefit of using dedicated hosting is that you won’t be sharing the main server with any other website. You’ll get a dedicated server that is made for your website alone.
However, it is the most expensive web hosting. But if you can afford it for your website, it is definitely worth the price.
When your website does not share the server with any other websites, you’ll find that it performs at its peak. You’ll have all the control over the settings of your server. You can also choose the configurations and everything else.
One of the best benefits of a dedicated server is the fast loading speed of your website. The speed provided by a dedicated hosting is unmatched by any other hosting out there. You’ll also get high uptime, so you can expect your website to be online almost 24/7.
Cloud Hosting
The fourth type of Web Hosting is Cloud Hosting. It is usually described as the hybrid version of Virtual Private Server, but it is much cheaper.
Cloud Hosting operates with the help of multiple servers that take over if or when a server in use is compromised. The different servers are given their own responsibilities.
The main benefit of using a cloud hosting is high uptime rate. Websites remain fluid and keep on running even when there are unexpected errors with the server. This is what makes cloud hosting very appealing.
Besides this, cloud hosting also allows you to pay for only what you use. When it comes to traditional hosting services, there are times when you overpay for the resources that you don’t even use. And at times, your website exceeds the resource that is being provided and negatively affects your website’s performance. But with cloud hosting, you can pay based on the amount of resource used.
This makes Cloud Hosting extremely cost-effective, and it is certainly a great option for your website’s web hosting.
Conclusion
There are several other Web Hosting that is available. However, these four web hostings are the most important ones that you should know about. Once you assess your website and its required server, you can easily choose between one of these web hostings that best fits your website.
