6 Types of Web Hosting to Consider

When it comes to web hosting, you’ll find that there are plenty of options out there. However, each of these has its own pros and cons. Usually, they’re all tailored for the specific needs of the website owner. And while all of them are basically storage space you rent for your website, there are plenty of differences between them; ranging from the required technical knowledge to reliability and server speeds. With that in mind, here are the six basic kinds of web hosting you should consider!

Shared Hosting

If you’re building an entry-level website, shared hosting will fit the bill perfectly. With this kind of hosting, you’ll store your website on a server that’s also shared by other websites. A plan for shared hosting entails a couple of different domains sharing combined server resources; like CPU power and RAM. For those who are just starting out with their website, this is an ideal plan because it entails low costs.

Most beginners find that this is the easiest method of getting their website online; it doesn’t matter whether you’re a soccer mom starting her blog, a community page, or the owner of a small business - you’ll be able to get your website up and running without large costs. Plus, many shared hosting plans also provide a lot of useful tools like WordPress hosting, website builders, etc.

As you might imagine, however - there is a trade-off here. Sure, you get the simplest possible way of getting a website online. But remember - in shared web hosting, the emphasis is on ‘shared’. So, if other websites that use the same server resources get a usage surge, you could be faced with deteriorating performance. Basically, this kind of hosting is good for the beginning stages of a website, when you’re not that worried about traffic.

Virtual Private Server Hosting

Next up, we’ve got virtual private server hosting. To put it simply - this is something of a midway solution between sharing a server with others and getting a dedicated server of your own. This kind of plan is great for website owners that look for more control over their website, but not enough to warrant a dedicated server.

This is a pretty unique form of hosting because the website itself will be hosted on a separate part of the server. However, it still has a physical server that it shares with other users. This is a type of hosting that will allow you more storage space and a wider span of customization options. However, you still won’t be able to deal with usage spikes or very large amounts of traffic; the other websites that are found on the same server will still have an effect on you.

In most situations, VPS hosting is used by a very specific type of website users. Namely, those who want the options given by dedicated hosting, but don’t yet have the required technical knowledge. Basically, you get the cheapness of shared hosting but with a level of control that’s usually found on dedicated servers. However - your website is still not physically independent.

Dedicated Server Hosting

Thirdly, we arrive at the type of hosting that gives you the biggest amount of control over your website - dedicated server hosting. With this type of hosting, you’re exclusively renting a server, and your website won’t be sharing it with anyone else. You’ll have full admin and root access, and you’re able to control every single aspect of your website; especially important in terms of website security. Unfortunately, there’s a price to be paid for that level of control.

In this case, literally - as dedicated servers present one of the most costly options for web hosting out there. Mostly, these are used by websites that handle a lot of traffic on a daily basis and require the most complete level of control over their servers. Apart from the expenses, there’s also the fact that dedicated servers need a lot of technical expertise in order to be maintained properly.

Cloud Hosting

If you’re someone who follows that latest going-ons in the world of tech, you may have realized that “cloud” is the latest buzzword this past couple of years. Basically, this means that a lot of computers use their computing resources together, allowing them to run applications that they otherwise couldn’t on their own. This is a network-based hosting solution that allows companies easier management of computing resources.

In other words, users of cloud hosting can use as many computing resources as they require, but without the need to maintain and build a computing infrastructure of their own. These resources are found on the spread of different servers, which means that problems with individual servers are less likely to result in significant downtime.

One of the best things about cloud-based hosting is the fact that it’s scalable; allowing your website to naturally grow without making significant changes to the server infrastructure. Plus, the website owner usually pays only for the resources they’ve used.

Managed Hosting

Many of the hosting packages you’ll come across online are managed. The hosting companies that provide these packages give you a lot of different services and features that come with them. Depending on whether you’ll opt for free website hosting services or paid ones, you’ll find a host of different features, like software and hardware configuration and setup, maintenance, tech support, patching, monitoring, updating, etc.

Though, bear in mind that free hosting does not necessarily mean that it’s devoid of managed hosting features. If you find the right free providers, you’ll be able to get all of the benefits of paid hosting without overpaying for the service. Bearing that in mind, here’s a collection of such quality services; many of them have managed hosting options. Basically, what you get with proper managed hosting is a provider that will deal with all of the daily hardware management, while also giving you some standardized applications to work with.

Colocation

Instead of renting server space in data centers or having in-house servers, you can also make use of colocation hosting. In other words, you rent a certain amount of space, and keep your equipment there. The center itself will provide you with the cooling systems you need, as well as the bandwidth, power, and IP address.

Colocation is great because it gives you a higher amount of bandwidth than your basic in-house office server, at a fraction of the cost. On the other hand, you’re literally left to tend to your own devices. You will deal with the hardware maintenance, as well as any accompanying services and software.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are more than a few options when it comes to website hosting. And while all of them can vary wildly, you’ll find that each one has a purpose, tailored to the specific needs of their users. So, consider what you need out of your website before picking your hosting provider!