Which Hosting Package is Right for Me?
While there are many different types of hosting, we can narrow down the field of choices to just a few for most of us. First, let's look at the most common types of hosting and talk about who typically fits in each category. This will give you a better idea of what you should be looking for.
Shared Hosting
The first category we'll talk about is by far the most common. This is Shared Hosting. Shared Hosting simply means what it says. You share resources with others. Resources are things like memory, storage, CPU cores, bandwidth, and so on. So if you have a server that has 8 CPU cores let's say, and 16 users assigned to the server, all 16 users share those 8 cores. Now, that's not to say each user gets 1/2 of a CPU, but rather you share processor time with 16 other people. The same goes for RAM, storage, and bandwidth.
This can be good or bad. The bad part is that users who have high utilization can drag down the performance of the server and slow things down for everyone. The good part is, well, it's much cheaper to share resources. And actually, most people who have a website aren't using many resources at all. That's why the Shared Hosting model works so well, at least until too many people are placed on the same set of resources.
Shared Hosting also comes in different sizes and of course, pricing. Some of the low-priced hosting will limit you to only a few domains, while on the high side you have unlimited domains, storage, etc. This allows Shared Hosting to appeal to many different levels and types of users.
Who uses Shared Hosting?
Shared Hosting, depending on size, caters to a wide range of individuals and businesses alike. Most providers have a sort of a Good, Better, Best category of services. This allows you to maximize your money and pick the level of hosting you need. It also helps providers make sure resource loads don't get too high and provision resources accordingly.
What's right for you? Let's use a scale of 1-3, 3 being best, and see if we can classify these.
Level 1:
- Single website
- Low usage websites
- Small numbers of images
- Low Bandwidth, or Network Usage.
Level 2:
- Those who have multiple websites
- Moderate numbers of images
- Moderate amount of Bandwidth or Network Usage
- Medium size websites
Level 3:
- Large websites
- Large Number of Websites
- High number of images
- High Bandwidth or Network Usage
VPS Hosting
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. VPS comes in all sizes and flavors. What makes VPS different from Shared Hosting is the word "Private" in its name. With VPS you have a set of resources that are yours alone. You share resources with no one but your own website(s). VPS gives you security in knowing that you share neither CPU, memory, storage, or bandwidth with anyone else. So for those who have eCommerce sites, large websites, resource-intensive websites, VPS is a great option. It's also great if you do testing that might require server reboots, root access, etc. Sometimes even those of us who just a bit more technical will opt for a VPS in order to customize their solution.
