What are the different types of hosting?

Before choosing any hosting plan to power your web site it is best if you become familiar with the different types of web hosting available. Knowing the demands of your web site and understanding how the various hosting options work will ensure you are finding the perfect match. This will save you from spending too much on web hosting when your blog requires very little resources. Or it could prevent you from choosing a plan that would severely limit your eCommerce site's potential.

Shared Web Hosting

Shared hosting allows for multiple web sites on the same server. These web sites share the system resources available on the server such as CPU processes, RAM, hard drive space and data transfer. It is the responsibility of the provider to manage and maintain the servers. The number of web sites allowed on a server is also up to the provider and not the user. Shared web hosting is widely used by many individuals because of its affordable pricing, easy setup, simple one click application installers, and abundant features, which make it the most popular type of hosting around the world.

Dedicated Web Hosting

Dedicated hosting is having your own server that only you have access to. Unlike shared hosting where server resources are shared by everyone on that server, a dedicated server belongs to you and only your websites will be hosted on it. There are no limitations. You can have unlimited databases, emails, FTP users and whatever else limiting the other other hosting types. Dedicated servers are most often housed in the provider's data center and can come with their own system administrator to manage the server for you. Dedicated servers give you complete control and flexibility of the server, as you have the final say to what operating system and applications are installed. Dedicated web hosting is more expensive then the other types of hosting, but it also more reliable, more secure and better performing. In other words, you get what you pay for with a dedicated server. Dedicated web hosting is not for everyone, so make sure you know what your web site's needs are and if dedicated hosting is right for you before signing up.

VPS Web Hosting

A virtual privating server (VPS, or virtual dedicated server) is a newer method coming into practice. You can think of VPS hosting as a combination of shared web hosting and a dedicated server. VPS hosting takes a single server and slices it into several virtual servers, which each act as their own private server. This slice is your own private environment for your web site. VPS hosting provides you with much better security and better performance than shared hosting at a cost far less then a dedicated server. VPS hosting is considered by professionals as the perfect compromise between shared hosting and having your own dedicated server.

Cloud Web Hosting

Cloud hosting is a newer concept that is gaining momentum in the computer world. With shared hosting and a dedicated server your web site is on a single server. You can think of cloud hosting as taking multiple dedicated servers and combining them into one giant virtualized server, or cloud. In a cloud setup you now have the CPU power and RAM of all of those connected servers. With other hosting types you need to be concerned about the hardware your web server is using and how it will scale as your web site grows. You no longer have to worry about hardware limitations and scaling with cloud hosting. Cloud hosting provides on demand computer power when you need it. As your web site grows, so does your cloud. Clouds grow by adding new servers to the cloud which is managed by the provider. In a cloud hosting environment you only pay for the amount of CPU used.

Free Web Hosting

Free web hosting was once the popular choice of hosting before shared hosting became cost effective. Free hosting is the most basic form of web hosting you can find. Most free hosting providers offer next to no additional features such as email, databases, and server side scripting. In addition to the lack of features, there also exist limits on bandwidth and disk storage. Free web hosting can also come with pop-up ads which you have little control over and are likely to annoy your visitors.