What Is Shared Hosting, How Does It Work
Shared hosting is an affordable and user-friendly way to host a website, making it a great option for beginners.
If you thought about getting Shared Hosting for your website, we’ll discuss how it works and what factors to consider when choosing a plan. We’ll also explain other types of hosting and answer some frequently asked questions about shared hosting.
Shared hosting is a type of hosting service where a single server hosts multiple websites. The server maintenance cost is shared between the users, so it is an affordable hosting option.
Apart from Buying a domain name Signing up for a best web hosting service is the first step towards creating a website.
When purchasing a hosting plan, you rent space on physical computers called waiters to host your website data, such as images, videos, text, and code.
Every time visitors type in your website URL, their browser sends a request to the server that hosts its data. In return, the web server will transmit the requested content, allowing visitors to view your web pages.
In a shared hosting environment, the web host stores and manages data from multiple websites. Since the cost is shared between several sites, it is usually a less expensive type of hosting.
The hosting provider is responsible for setting up and maintaining the shared server, which means the website owner can focus on other aspects of website development. Moreover, the use of a shared server does not require any technical knowledge.
However, buying a shared hosting package also means limited bandwidth, storage space, processing power, and little to no control over server configuration. For this reason, it is best suited for small to medium sized websites.
Beginners often rely solely on price when they choose a web hosting provider. However, the provider plays a vital role in the performance and security of your site.
In order to make an informed purchase decision, consider what the hosting company offers in terms of uptime, traffic, speed, and features.
Availablity
Website Discontinuation refers to when your web pages become inaccessible or malfunction, which can negatively impact user experience and your reputation.
Therefore, we recommend that you look for hosting providers with a 99% uptime guarantee, your website will be up and running at all times.
Traffic
With shared hosting, high traffic to other websites on the same shared server can affect your website’s performance.
Before subscribing to a plan, calculate your potential monthly visits. Next, check the resources provided by each host and plan, focusing on bandwidth, to determine which one meets your needs.
Rapidity
Website speed is another essential quality, as well one in two visitors will abandon pages that take six seconds or more to load.
When selecting a web hosting company, check their bandwidth capacity. The more bandwidth it provides, the faster your website will load. Also, check the web hosting technology used by the company.
Features
Select a hosting provider that offers the features you need, such as free Domain name registration, email accounts, unlimited bandwidth, third-party app integrations, and money-back guarantee.
Additional features to consider include:
- User-friendly interface. An intuitive and easy to navigate control panel allows easy management of the website.
- Security. To protect your site from cyberattacks, consider robust security features such as firewalls, free SSL certificates, file backups and regular software updates.
- Technical support. Reputable web hosting companies should provide 24/7 customer support. Also, check if the host has a comprehensive resource or tutorial page.
- Data management. Many web hosting companies including Host provide unlimited databases, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) SSH accounts and access to help users manage files more efficiently.
Now that we’ve covered the essential factors a hosting provider should have, let’s review the benefits of using shared hosting plans:
- Affordability. Since the cost is spread among many users, shared hosting is the most affordable hosting solution.
- Easy management. Shared hosting providers usually offer a control panel, helping you set up and manage websites easily. To Host tailor-made hPanel comes with a minimalist design, simple navigation, and a detailed overview of every setting.
- Simplified maintenance. With shared hosting, the host handles the technical aspects, including server maintenance tasks such as software installation and updates. You can focus on web design, search engine optimization (SEO) marketing campaigns and content creation.
- Flexibility. Most shared hosting providers offer scalable plans, allowing you to upgrade resources and features as the site grows.
Despite its affordable price and accessibility, the shared hosting service also has some disadvantages, such as:
- Limited resources. Sharing resources with other websites means limited storage space, bandwidth, and CPU power. A sudden spike in traffic from neighboring sites can negatively impact your website’s performance.
- No root access. Root access gives you the highest level of access to the server. It allows you to run an alternative operating system and install server-wide applications such as Nginx and apache. Usually, root access is only available on VPS and dedicated servers.
- Shared IP. Apart from resources, you will also share an IP address with other users. Unlike a dedicated IP address, you cannot use a shared IP address to access your site when you are having domain name issues.
Other types of accommodation
If you plan to build high traffic websites, buying a shared hosting plan might not be the best solution. In this case, consider other types of hosting with more resources.
VPS Hosting
Virtual private server hosting provides users with an allocated space within a server. Although you still share a physical server with other customers, it provides more flexibility and control for managing a website.
Unlike shared hosting, VPS allocates a certain amount of resources to each website, so traffic spikes on other websites don’t affect your site’s performance.
However, this service requires technical knowledge to operate and costs more than a shared hosting plan.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting combines the user-friendly interface of shared hosting with the reliability of VPS hosting.
Instead of a single server, cloud hosting uses a network of web servers to host your website. When one server encounters an error, another takes over to keep your website running.
This hosting solution works best for e-commerce stores and medium to large businesses, ensuring stable website performance.
CMS Hosting
This type of shared hosting service is optimized for various content management systems (CMS), such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.
For example, our WordPress Hosting Plans come with pre-installed plugins and tools suitable for WordPress sites. It’s a great option if you plan to build a website using this popular CMS.
Dedicated server hosting
Dedicated hosting allows website owners to control an entire physical server, providing the ability to customize the operating system, install any software, and use all available resources.
As such, this website hosting solution is suitable for large businesses and businesses that handle high volumes of traffic.
Considering the unlimited resources provided by a dedicated server, a dedicated hosting plan has the highest price among other web hosting plans.
Last Words
In a shared hosting environment, you share a server with multiple sites. This makes it an affordable option, ideal for those who are just starting their online journey.
Also, you don’t need any technical knowledge to use this service – the hosting provider will take care of the administration and maintenance of the server.
When choosing a shared host, consider its availability, bandwidth capacity, traffic limit, and key features. Also, make sure it can accommodate the growth of your site as it increases traffic, whether that means upgrading your plan or migrating to cloud or VPS hosting for more resources and features.
