What Type of Web Hosting is Best for You?
Copyright Dave Summits. You can distribute this article, but
you must keep the author box which is included at the bottom.
How to Choose the Right Type of Web Hosting by Dave
Summits Are you confused with all of the different types of
web hosting? Do you know which type is best for you? This guide
will try and help you to find out which type of web hosting best
suits your needs and budget.
First of all, here are the different terms that will be
discussed:
Shared hosting Reseller hosting VPS (virtual private
server) Dedicated server Colocation
What is shared hosting? Shared hosting is the
most common type of budget web hosting. You are hosted on a
server with different websites, that you share the server with.
One abusive site can slow down the whole server, and on an
unsecured server, a malicious user can gain access to your
files. The number of sites hosted on a server depends on the web
host, and the size of the plans. Users on shared servers often
experience slow speeds, due to overselling. Many shared server
web hosts oversell their servers. Overselling is assuming that
most users will not use up all of their resources, so they put
more users on a server than it could hold if every user used up
all of their alloted resources. This isn't too big of an issue
if web hosts know what they're doing, and oversell responsibly.
Shared hosting can start very cheap, as low as a couple dollars
per month, but I suggest going with something a little more
costly.
What is reseller hosting? Reseller hosting is
very similar to shared hosting. Reseller hosting takes place on
a shared server. The difference between shared and reseller
hosting is that with a reseller account, you can create shared
hosting accounts. Depending on the host, you can create an
unlimited number of shared users, but of course you cannot use
more space and bandwidth than you are alloted. With reseller
hosting, you can start your own web hosting business, give
hosting away to friends, or make many accounts for yourself.
Overselling can still be an issue with reseller hosting, because
you still share the server with other resellers and shared
hosting users. Reseller hosting usually costs a little more than
shared hosting, starting at around $15-20.
What is a VPS? A VPS is a virtual private
server. Also known sometimes as a VDS, or virtual dedicated
server. A VPS is very similar to a dedicated server, except that
you are still sharing the server with other users. However, with
a VPS, you are in an isolated environment. Each VPS user has its
own partition of the server, and therefore an abusive user does
not effect other users on the VPS. You get root access to the
server, and can install your own software. You also have the
ability to create reseller accounts. With a VPS, you can do
everything that shared and reseller hosting users can, as well
as complete control over your slice of the server. VPS costs
more than shared and reseller hosting, with usually starting
around $40 a month. I can recommend PowerVPS.com with firsthand
experience, I am very happy with them. Their lowest price for a
cPanel VPS is $44.50 a month with 10GB storage and 150GB
bandwidth. I also recommend (without firsthand experience) LiquidWeb.com, which starts at
$60/month with 20GB storage and 200GB bandwidth.
What is a dedicated server? A dedicated server
is very similar to a VPS, except that you get the full server.
You get full root access and complete control over it. With a
dedicated server, however, comes a lot of responsibility. You
need to make sure that the server is fully secure. A managed
server means that the company you are getting the dedicated
server from will manage it for you, but the amount of management
that you receive depends on the company. If you are interested
in a managed server, you should ask the host ahead of time about
the amount of management that they will provide. You can also
outsource the management. There are numerous companies out there
that you can outsource the management to. The one I've seen with
the lowest price that has good reviews is FastServerManagement.com
a>, which is priced at $29.99 a month for full management. I've
also read some good things about Rack911.com, but they cost more.
You can always manage it yourself, but if using a Linux server
you will need a lot of Linux experience, or with a Windows
server there are a lot of security flaws that need to be fixed.
If managing it yourself, I recommend getting a security scan on
your server done to ensure that it is fully secured. For the
hosting provider, I recommend ThePlanet.com, a very large
hosting company which owns 2 datacenters in Texas. They offer
servers with a minimum amount of management starting at $199.99
a month (or sometimes more, when they're not on sale). They also
have a cheaper line of servers, starting at $99/month, at ServerMatrix.com. You may
also want to look at Ev1Servers.Net, which starts at
$99 a month, or LayeredTech.com, which starts at $60/month. You
could always also do a Google search for "dedicated
servers" and get lots of results.
What is colocation? I won't go to much into
depth here, because I have no experience with colocation. With
colocation, you own a server and you pay a datacenter to hold it
for you. They will provide the space in the datacenter,
bandwidth, IP addresses, etc. Some hosting companies that offer
colocation provide on-site staff, but others will require you to
have your own staff.
This wraps up my summary of the different types of web hosting.
I didn't recommend any shared or reseller providers because
there are so many out there. I recommend going to WebHostingTalk.com to read
reviews about different web hosting companies. I didn't
recommend any colocation providers because I have no experience
with any. I hope that I did a good job explaining all of this.