Choosing the right website hosting for your business can be an overwhelming process. There is so much to consider that a non-technical site owner is bound to get flustered and make a hasty decision. Today, we are going to talk about the three most popular hosting types – Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting, and Dedicated Server hosting. We will try to highlight some essential differences between VPS Servers and Shared or Dedicated Servers.
Basic understanding of Shared, VPS, and Dedicated Server Hosting
In Shared Hosting, your website is stored on a Shared Server. Multiple sites are hosted on the same physical server, and the resources and computing power of the server is shared between all users. Hence, these are the cheapest hosting plans and offer a simple and non-technical way of getting your site online.
VPS Hosting, on the other hand, stores your website on a virtual server. The web host uses server virtualization to create multiple virtual servers from a single web server. Each virtual server is isolated from the others and has dedicated resources as well as complete root access or administrative rights.
Lastly, in Dedicated Server Hosting, you are allocated an entire server. All the hardware and computing power of the server is dedicated to your website, making it a powerful hosting option.
Difference Between a VPS Server and Shared or Dedicated Servers
While structurally, a VPS Server is a combination of Shared and Dedicated Servers, here are some differences in features that you need to know about:
- Site Performance
The performance of a website on a VPS Hosting plan is usually better than a Shared Hosting plan but lower than a Dedicated Server Hosting plan.
In Shared Hosting, the resources are limited, and the performance of other sites on the server can impact the performance of your site. This is a good option for websites with lesser traffic and static pages. On the other end of the spectrum is Dedicated Server Hosting, where the performance of your site is directly proportional to the configuration of the Dedicated Server.
A VPS Server walks the thin line between Shared Hosting and Dedicated Hosting. It offers better performance than Shared Hosting services without having to spend as much as you would need to on a Dedicated Server plan.
- Site Security
The security of the website is usually the topmost priority of most site owners. In Shared Hosting, an infected website on your server can put you at risk of being infected too. Also, if a site gets blacklisted due to unacceptable practices, you will suffer the consequences as well. With Dedicated Server Hosting, there is no sharing of space or resources, and hence the security risks are limited to those faced by any web server.
In VPS Hosting, although the virtual servers share the same web server, account isolation ensures that bad neighbours don’t put your site at risk. Also, complete root access allows you to install security tools as freely as in a Dedicated Server.
- Customizability
VPS Hosting plans allow you to install custom software or applications and create a customized hosting environment for your site. Dedicated Server Hosting offers it too but at a much higher price. In Shared Hosting, customizability is not possible since the server is shared.
- Scalability
VPS Hosting offers the best scalability option compared to Shared and Dedicated Server Hosting services. In Shared Hosting, since the resources are divided between users, you are usually confined to the package that you have initially purchased with minor upgrade possibilities. With Dedicated Server Hosting, scaling up is limited by higher prices involved in increasing resources and space constraints.
Summing Up
As you can see, VPS Servers are uniquely designed to meet the needs of websites that have outgrown Shared Hosting services but are not large enough for Dedicated Servers. Before you buy VPS Hosting services, ensure that you assess the hosting requirements of your website and make an informed decision.