The first step to start an online business is to build a website. However, it is just the beginning. A company needs to think beyond it to keep its business website operational for itself as well as its clients. For this to happen, it is necessary to have a proper backup plan for hosting the website.

Hosting allows the storage of files that add up to constitute a website. Every operational website needs a virtual space to store images, code, and other important files of a website. In other words, every website needs a virtual space for hosting its files. The two ways of hosting a website include dedicated hosting and shared hosting; both have some pluses and minuses.

Read to know how they differ from one another and the advantages they bring to the table for a business organization.

Shared Hosting: what is it all about?

The term “shared” means using something in collaboration with others. Thus, shared hosting refers to a hosting service in which several websites utilize the resources of a single server to remain operational. These resources include RAM, disk space, and storage. All the sites that use a server share the resources equally.

In layman’s language, it resembles an apartment of a building. Despite a dedicated space, it shares the facilities, including elevators and supplies, with all the other apartments that are located in a building.

From a business standpoint, a shared hosting service has a different meaning for a company. A website that operates by shared hosting gets its space but shares files and RAM space along with security features. While it comes across as a cost-effective hosting solution, it is not above security risks.

Vulnerabilities relating to the security of one of the sites pose risks to other websites that share hosting services on the same server. That said, it offers a viable option to companies that look for a hosting solution without spending a hefty amount of money. Plus, shared hosting also offers an acceptable level of performance.

Dedicated Hosting: what is it all about?

Many people believe dedicated hosting is opposite to shared hosting and there’s a good reason why they feel that way. The majority of the features of dedicated hosting are diagonally opposite of shared hosting.

In line with the meaning of the word “dedicated”, the dedicated hosting service offers exclusivity. Unlike shared hosting, wherein many websites share a single server, dedicated hosting provides a dedicated server that caters to the needs of a single website.

If shared hosting resembles the apartments in a building, dedicated hosting resembles a private bungalow. The latter offers resources that are exclusively meant to meet the needs of a business site. That is to say, a website on this form of hosting service exercises control over the resources and security features. Because it does not share its security features with any other site on the same server, it remains protected from security risks or vulnerabilities.

A dedicated hosting service also has other positives. For instance, it boosts the performance of a website alongside adding flexibility to its functioning; these vital features of hosting service can make or break the deal for securing a competitive edge in this day and age. You need to have a team of dedicated developers in order to create a dedicated hosting for your website.

However, it poses cost-related challenges for a business organization. Unless a company has enough finances to meet the high costs of dedicated hosting service, it can be challenging for the company to sustain this form of hosting service in the long run.

Shared Hosting vs. Dedicated Hosting: Key Differences

Whenever you consider the names of the two popular hosting services in question, it becomes crystal clear that both are poles apart in the operational approach. With that said, there are also other aspects in which both differ from one another. Given below are some such aspects.

Cost

When it comes to drawing out the differences between the two hosting services, the cost factor assumes prominence. In shared hosting, different businesses that host their websites on a shared server also share the costs. As a result, the cost of hiring becomes affordable to all parties.

On the other hand, a dedicated server of a dedicated hosting service belongs to a company’s website. The company in question remains responsible for bearing the service charges entirely on its own. As a result, costs may add up to a hefty amount of money.

Security

In shared hosting, multiple websites use the resources of a single server. A breach in the security features of one of the websites puts other sites on the server under threat. Thus, shared hosting poses security-related challenges to the business data of all the associated websites.

In contrast, dedicated hosting is more secure as it supports only a single website that has the freedom to implement its security features in the hosting environment. It offers complete control of security features to a website. As such, it is more reliable than shared hosting.

Resources

The disk space, memory, CPU, and data are the four aspects that primarily constitute hosting resources in a hosting environment. No doubt, sharing them enables several websites to access these features at once. However, it also reduces the efficiency or effectiveness of these elements. This explains why the sites that run on a shared hosting service encounter performance-related issues.

A dedicated hosting service, on the other hand, provides ample resources for addressing the resource-related needs of a specific website. It allows the reinforcement of resources if necessary. Thus, in a nutshell, a website that runs on dedicated hosting gets ample resources for operational needs. This feature leads to robust performance.

Management

Like the other aspects, there also exists a fundamental difference in management in both forms of hosting services. The best part about shared hosting is that it does not require any technical expertise on the part of an individual. However, the downside of it is that an individual gets a pre-set or existing settings that do not offer too many options for customization.

On the contrary, dedicated hosting provides rich customization options. An individual tasked with the management of a site on a dedicated server can customize and configure the settings, including the ones related to the updates. They can do it as per their business needs.

Website Performance

When it comes to website performance, issues related to downtime assume prominence. Shared hosting is more vulnerable to such issues than dedicated hosting. In the former, sites share spaces. If even a single website encounters a problem, it also reflects on the performance of other websites.

Dedicated hosting is free from such issues as all its resources go towards meeting the requirements of a single website. This aspect keeps it free from performance-related problems and technical glitches, especially downtime.

Final thoughts

Considering the differences between both forms of hosting, it stands out that dedicated hosting has an edge over shared hosting. However, the definition of the usefulness of these options may differ from one company to the other. Aspects such as cost and performance also contribute to the selection of one out of these options.

Shared hosting is more suitable for small businesses or bloggers that have limited needs. On other hand, considering the cost factor, deploying dedicated hosting makes more sense for a mid or large-sized business organization with complex requirements.

Read also: Differences Between VPS vs Dedicated Hosting

Author Bio:

Harikrishna Kundariya, a marketer, developer, IoT, ChatBot & Blockchain savvy, designer, co-founder, Director of eSparkBiz Technologies. His 8+ experience enables him to provide digital solutions to new start-ups based on IoT and ChatBot.

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