If you’re planning to create a website of your own, you might be aware that to make your website available online, you need some type of hosting. The different types of hosting are Virtual Private Server (VPS), Dedicated Server Hosting, Shared Hosting, and Cloud Hosting. If you host your website in a Shared Hosting server, with time when contents in your website increase you’ll notice that the performance of your website is degrading. The best option to host a website for better performance is either a VPS or dedicated server. In this article, we will tell you the pros and cons of both types of hosting.
What is Hosting?
Just like an Operating System allows you to access the files on your computer, hosting allows the visitors of your website to access the content present on your website. Few factors that decide the speed of your website are RAM, storage, and bandwidth. Once your website reaches the limit, your website starts slowing down and it’s time to upgrade your storage, RAM, and bandwidth for faster performance. So, the main difference between different types of hosting is who has full control over them.
Before we explain VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting, let’s look at the basic things of selecting a server.
- The more the CPU cores the faster the performance.
- Decide how much RAM you might need.
- Decide if you want a faster SSD or a cheap option, also decide how much storage space you might need (remember, you’ll update contents in future).
VPS Hosting: VPS (Virtual Private Server) splits the resources of a website between different hosting accounts. Though, present on the same server VPS makes feel everyone like they’re present on different servers. The structure of a VPS and shared hosting is almost similar, the only difference between the two is their software and availability of resources. This software protects your data from other clients who are present on the same server and it is divided in such a way that one website cannot take advantage of another website’s resources present in the same server. VPS is available from $20/month and can go up to $100/month, depending on your requirements. The resources of a VPS is divided evenly among the clients. For example, if a hosting server has 10 GB of storage and there are 20 websites being hosted on the server, then each website will get 500mb of storage. If you want better performance, you must choose managed virtual private server hosting instead of normal VPS hosting.
Advantages
- Price: It is cheaper than dedicated server hosting as it has multiple clients on a single server and hence the total cost gets divided between all the clients, hence reducing the cost.
- Customizations: You might need to customize the server to make sure that it meets your requirements. And, the best part is you will pay only for the resources you use.
- Speed: With a managed virtual private server hosting, you can boost the loading speed of your website using turbo boost.
Dedicated Server Hosting: The main advantage of hosting a website in a dedicated server hosting is that you’ll own the whole server. You can customize the server according to your needs as you’ll have full access on the server. As dedicated server hosting is expensive, it’s always better to start with a VPS hosting unless and until your website has generated enough revenue to support the cost of a dedicated server.
Advantages
- Enhanced Performance & Security: Dedicated servers are more stable and reliable when compared to shared hosting. It also guarantees maximum uptime for your website. With a dedicated server, you don’t need to worry about sharing space with the malicious website.
- Unique IP Address: If you’re using shared hosting, it means that you’re sharing a single IP address with other websites, but with dedicated server hosting you’ll have your own IP address. Having a unique IP address can help you rank better in search engines.
- Doesn’t Require Maintenance: In case you don’t have the time or resources to manage the server then, the hosting provider handles all the cost of required maintenance. This is also one of the reasons as to why dedicated hosting is expensive.
When Should you Choose VPS hosting?
- If your website has more traffic and needs a better hosting than shared hosting, but you have a tight budget.
- If you’re not technically strong or don’t have resources to manage technical tasks.
When Should you Choose Dedicated Server hosting?
- If your website has tons of visitors and you want your visitors to get the best version of your website or if your website contains a lot of high-resolution videos and images.
- If you want the most secure way of hosting (especially if your website requires your visitor’s payment information.
Conclusion
It all depends on the type of site and the average number of visitors your website has. Also, how secure you want your site to be. You should choose a VPS hosting if the price is your main concern. However, if security is your main concern, then a dedicated server is the best choice.
