Understanding the Advantages and Disadvantages of Shared Web Hosting

I get asked quite often why someone would choose shared hosting over having their own VPS (Virtual Private Server) or Dedicated Server, and I almost always respond the same way...

What do you think you need? And Why? And I almost always hear the same type of answers.

We expect to have a lot of visitors, we will be sending all our customers to it, we need the space for all the information on our products, we don't want to have our business on the same server as a bunch of other sites, etc.

For some reason, a lot of people and businesses have a negative view of shared hosting. Granted there are a few sites that need dedicated hosting, however the vast majority, about 75%, really only need shared hosting. Usually when I explain the advantages and disadvantages of shared hosting, and then give them my opinion of their needs, most go with shared hosting.

What Are The Advantages of Shared Hosting?

Shared Hosting is Inexpensive (ie: Cost Effective)

Let's face it, a good dedicated server is going to cost you or your business a lot of money, somewhere around $300 per month. Compared with shared hosting averaging around $7 per month, that's a cost savings of $3500 annually.

No Maintenance Costs (ie: Cost Efficient)

With shared hosting there are no maintenance costs because the web hosting provider performs all maintenance and upgrades on their servers at no cost to the end consumer, in other words, at no cost to you. They absorb the costs of maintenance and upgrades as a part of doing business.

Fast Setup

When you order shared hosting from a reputable web hosting provider, your shared hosting account is usually setup with hours, and sometimes minutes. Whereas if you order a dedicated server, you may have to wait 24 to 72 hours before your server is ready and online.

Great For Small Or New Sites

Shared web hosting is great for sites that are small, new, or not resource intensive since by definition, shared hosting is "shared". What this means is that multiple sites are all on the same server sharing those servers resources. This is just fine for about 80% of all websites, and usually is not a problem. When a site really starts getting busy or need more resources is when you should consider upgrading to either a VPS or dedicated server solution.

What Are The Disadvantages of Shared Hosting?

Limited Resources

As stated above, with shared hosting, multiple sites are sharing the same resources on the server, with the possibility of bottlenecks in the information flow when multiple sites are being resource intensive. Although bottlenecks like this are uncommon, they do happen from time to time. Good web hosts monitor their servers consistently for such bottlenecks and balance their servers to maintain even flow.

Not Good For Resource Intensive Sites

If you are going to be running a large forum or e-commerce site that requires a lot of database interaction, then shared hosting may not be the right thing for you because of the limit on resource usage. It all depends on what your sites needs are. If you know going into it that your site is going to be resource intensive, then you should go with a VPS or dedicated server.

Dynamic IP

While Dedicated IPs are available in shared hosting, usually for an additional monthly fee, the vast majority of shared hosting is done using dynamic IPs. In other words, all the sites which are hosted on a shared server use the same IP address. If you know you will be needing a dedicated IP for SSL or some other reason, then you can easily add on a Dedicated IP address to your shared hosting. But know that it will require an additional cost.

Security

While some people would consider this a disadvantage of shared hosting, it can also be an advantage depending on your point of view. Security in the online world is an ever-changing environment which requires constant monitoring and updating of software to stay one step ahead of those people who enjoy hacking sites. With shared hosting, the hosting provider will take care of locking down their server to the best of their ability.

Unfortunately since there are many different sites on one server, all it takes is one script on someone else's website to potentially cause problems for every site on the server. It's up to you to ensure your website scripts are kept up-to-date and backed up to a safe place.