What are the Different Types of Shared Hosting?
The different types of shared hosting plans you can select can range from starter plans with very limited bandwidth designed for a minimalist website to one with far greater bandwidth, disk space and unlimited domains for business purposes.
Should You Select Shared or Dedicated?
The answer to this will be based on your budget and needs. If you want exclusive hosting for your website and expect a high volume of traffic and need greater security, dedicated might be the better option. Most, however, will likely benefit from a shared hosting plan.
Common Issues Surrounding Shared Hosting
Shared hosting has scores of excellent benefits to it. This is why shared hosting is so popular. While some might think the low cost of shared hosting is the only reason people gravitate towards it, that really is not the case. There are many benefits to signing up with shared hosting.
However, there may be a number of issues (read: troubles) with shared hosting.
One of the most commonly cited issues with shared hosting will be concerns over security. Now, this is not to say the security is terrible. If shared hosting servers were always being hacked or suffered from virus infestations all the time, no one would ever want to use them. While security is not terrible per se, the level of security offered will be lesser than a dedicated hosting service. That means you will be at a greater risk for hacking, spamming and other issues.
You will share an IP with the other memories. (The one exception to this will be when you are involved with e-commerce). Is sharing an IP really all that bad? Generally, it is not but there can be problems that arise. Namely, if one member's IP is traced to activity it should not be involved with, it is possible (but not guaranteed) someone else on the server may take or share the blame. Of course, this can be straightened out but who wants to go through the hassles if they can be avoided?
Shared hosting also comes with lower CPU and memory. The amount of CPU and memory you acquire will be based on your hosting plan and how much you pay for it, but no matter what plan you accept you will be sharing it with others on the server. That means there may be a major drain on the CPU and memory. For those that want reliable bandwidth at all times, there will need to be an understanding that ''all times'' might not be possible.
Are there alternatives to shared hosting you can select? Yes, there are. The most common would be a dedicated server where you will have your own IP and your website will be hosted on its own server will no sharing. Free website hosting is also available but this is little more than shared hosting under a different name and a whole lot of other issues. VPS hosting will offer a division of server resources among virtual servers. Reseller web hosting allows the customer to become his/her own host. Managed hosting is an option for those take charge over their own data with their own tools.
Generally, you will have to closely examine your own situation and needs to determine which alternative to shared hosting is best for you or, for that matter, you are better off with shared hosting.