What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the term “Web Hosting”?

GoDaddy? Cheap Hosting? Shared or VPS?

Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not of one word. Yes, unlike universal truths, penning down a web hosting plan is a process that is cumbersome and one which seeks reliance.

People are confused when it comes to choosing the right web hosting specifically if it is your first website. A lot of website owners suffer and bear the pain of losing a lot of money on the table due to the poor selection of hosting provider. One of the reasons for this misselection is the confusion among developers owing to the plethora of hosting options available on the internet. Number of choices is not the problem, choosing hosting based on a single parameter is.

Some go for budget, few go for popularity, others choose what their partners say. 

Choosing a wrong hosting is a business decision gone wrong. So to guide you through this problem I have curated this blog post which will help you understand your hosting requirements. And, thereby the best web hosting plan for your business website.

Hosting Plan for Humans

Below I have listed some of the popular and widely used web hosting plans used by web professionals.

1. Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most basic and budget-friendly web-hosting which is perfectly suitable for new or entry-level websites. In the shared hosting model your website shares server resources with other websites placed on your server.

The major drawback with shared hosting is that whenever there is a traffic spike on another website, it can potentially cause performance issues on your website.

So this is a great option for those who are on a stringent budget and for sites that have low traffic volume.

Best Suited For

• Static Websites
• Startups and Local Businesses
• Low Traffic Websites
• Budget Hosting
• Server Uptime is Good

2. Wordpress Hosting

Wordpress powers about 1 out of 5 websites in the world. Therefore, Wordpress hosting is another great option for websites that use the PHP powered CMS. In general it’s a web hosting that is super optimized for Wordpress.

The added advantage of WordPress hosting is that it comes with an added layer of security to your websites.

New users generally go with GoDaddy or Digitalocean as their preferred web space provider but if you’re looking for better overall performance then we’d suggest you to try any of these Digitalocean Alternatives. 

Best For

• Personal Blog Website
• Small Business or Startups
• Wordpress Website
• Budget Hosting
• Server Uptime is Good

3. VPS Hosting

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server, under VPS you are provided a hosting plan that is more powerful, fast and stable than a shared one.

However, you will be still sharing your server with other websites but the number of websites with whom you the server will be shared is significantly low.

The best part that I feel about these servers is that they can be customized for a single site or a group of websites. VPS hosting is suitable for small or medium-sized businesses. 

Best For

• Established Businesses
• E-commerce Websites
• Group of Websites
• High Traffic Websites
• Expensive & Powerful Hosting
• Server Uptime is Great

4. Dedicated Server

Dedicated Server is considered as one of the best web hosting plan you can have. You have a separate dedicated server that belongs to you and only you, you don’t have to share web hosting with any other website. This implies your sites load faster, can handle more traffic and have an uptime of about 99.9%. 

This type of hosting is best for websites that have high traffic volume (> 1 Million Visitors per month).

Though Dedicated Server falls on the expensive side of the hosting chart it provides the best user experience. Dedicated hosting is best for large e-commerce websites and enterprises.

Best For

• E-commerce Websites
• Established Businesses
• Group of Websites
• High Traffic Websites
• Very Expensive & Very Powerful Hosting
• Server Uptime is Great

5. Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is the type of web hosting that uses a cluster of servers running on the cloud. The best part about cloud hosting is that you don’t have to worry about the downtime as there is always a server present in the cluster that serves the purpose of the website’s visitor.

Cloud hosting is best for medium and large websites that are growing in a fast-paced market. Many people get confuse over Cloud and VPS hosting but they are not the same thing as discussed in this Quora thread.

If a website has more than 1 Million page views per month from different geographical locations then such websites can consider using cloud hosting.

Best For 

• Global Businesses
• E-commerce Websites
• Websites that need to run 24*7
• High Traffic Websites
• Expensive & Powerful Hosting
• Server Uptime is Best

Linux Vs Windows

Oh God, we’ve come down to this again.

Linux vs Windows debate is never ending. The situation sits comfortably correlated with the “Messi vs Ronaldo Saga”.

From the standpoint of technology, it all depends upon the development framework you choose. 

Linux Hosting works well with Content Management System (CMS) or Open Source Development Frameworks including Wordpress, Drupal or PHP powered websites.

Windows Hosting on the other hand is considered suitable for Microsoft’s Active Server Page (ASP.Net) development framework.   

Conclusion

In this article I’ve tried to cover all the major hosting plans. Make sure you choose the best web hosting plan as per your budget and requirements. To enjoy the uninterrupted hosting experience away buy plans keeping in mind your target audience and traffic volume.