You are in your early 20s, join your first job in a metropolitan city and are on a lookout for a place to reside. You would ideally be a bachelor and would be fine with sharing a flat with others which involves limited privacy and autonomy but guarantees lesser expenses.
Five years down the line you have grown professionally and are looking to get your family to move in with you. This is when you would want to opt for a flat completely for you and your family, though in a shared tower. While this is bound to pressurise your pocket, it will also ensure privacy and autonomy.
This is exactly what Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting is. As the term Shared indicates. Shared Hosting runs on shared servers between users. Everything from server memory, disc space to CPU is shared amongst users.
On the other hand, Virtual Private Server Hosting or VPS Hosting is a type of dedicated server i.e., each website is isolated from the other on the server, however, gathers resources from various shared servers. VPS Hosting can also be said to be a bridge between Shared Hosting and Dedicated Server.
So, what should one prefer – Shared Hosting or VPS Hosting? Before we decide, let’s first look at the advantages and disadvantages of both types of hosting.
Advantages of Shared and VPS Hosting
| Shared Hosting | VPS Hosting
|
| It is economical | Increased level of security as based as each website is isolated on the server
|
| Users don’t have the onus of maintenance and updation of the server
|
Enhanced and efficient performance |
| It is user friendly and good for beginners | Full-root access allowing easy server customisation and scalability
|
Disadvantages of Shared and VPS Hosting
| Shared Hosting | VPS Hosting
|
| No ownership of server since it’s a shared model
|
More expensive as it is near exclusive hosting |
| Impacts speed and performance due to load on shared servers
|
Requires technical know-how as user needs to manage the maintenance of the server |
| Limitation on server storage and bandwidth
|
Some experience needed to use the hosting platform |
The Deciding Factor – VPS vs Shared
Now that we have understood what Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting is and how they stack up against each other, it is time to decide on what to opt for.
Well, that simply depends on the stage of your venture and your requirements. If you are already an established website with growing traffic and your business having greater accountability and willing to scale up, VPS Hosting should be your calling.
If you are a beginner with less website traffic and/or low on budget with lesser technical knowledge of handling servers or website pages, Shared Hosting is the answer for you. Moreover, as you are a beginner you can opt for Shared Hosting, and to ease your task of building a website from scratch you can use our newly launched website builder. With the Bluehost Website Builder, creating a website is simple and fun using the smart drag and drop tools.
We at Bluehost, offer both VPS Hosting and Shared Hosting. You can choose either hosting option depending on your requirements. Happy hosting!
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to drop them below. For more, visit our Web Hosting Category page.
