Assessing Shared Hosting as a Smart Option
WEB HOST | PRICE | RATING | REVIEWS | VIEW PLANS |
---|---|---|---|---|
iPage | $1.99/mo | Review | View Plans | |
Hostgator | $2.75/mo | Review | View Plans | |
Bluehost | $2.95/mo | Review | View Plans | |
Godaddy | $3.99/mo | Review | View Plans | |
FatCow | $4.08/mo | Review | View Plans | |
Green Geeks | $2.95/mo | Review | View Plans |
Once you have made your website, the next step is to choose a hosting plan. The two main types of hosting are:
1) Shared hosting
2) Virtual Private Server Hosting
Each type has its pros and cons. Shared hosting is the more popular of the two types because it allows the early starters to save money. Shared hosting works best for website operating on a small scale but it offers a wide range of features. The demands increase when your website grows thereby requiring you to obtain an extensive hosting plan.
Shared Hosting
This refers to more than one websites residing on a particular hosting server. This is done by hosting company that divides the drives’ space amongst multiple clients. This is continually maintained and also updated. The time saving aspect is quite remarkable as otherwise keeping a web server running smoothly is a daunting task.
Advantages: Time Saving
As a website owner, you are not required to handle server administration. This saves you enough time since continually keeping the web server running smoothly and always updated requires much time. This also includes operating system updates for security and safety. That’s why this shared hosting plan is a perfect choice for those who are not really familiar with running as well as maintaining the server.
No Requirement to Pay License Fee
You are not required to pay any license fee because such fee is paid by the hosting company. This saves enough money that comes upon you in the form of add up over time for running the server.
Disadvantages
Considering the downside of this hosting plan is very important. Though this plan is offering many advantages, such popular solution does come with the disadvantages.
Slow Speed
Since the server resources are shared among multiple clients, this tends to slower down the speed and hence affects the overall performance. When a lot of traffic is drawn to your website, the website may start running slowly or begin to lag. If the scenario goes to the extent of consistent traffic generated towards your website, you as the owner would have to make a decision and shift to dedicated hosting or virtual private server.
Restrictions to Making Server Changes:
Shared hosting totally restricts you to making any changes to the server. As a user, you do not have the freedom or rights to perform any sort of server customization. Because not a single client has access to server on shared hosting, this delineates that hosting company has to be involved in all changes pertaining to server configuration. The frequency and the duration of changes vary. i.e. this may occur from a few hours to as long as a few weeks. However when this happens, the functionality of your website is negatively impacted in the long run.
The above essential elements give enough idea to understand the features shared hosting has to offer in running your website. The biggest freedom is core focus on website instead of server.