If you are ready to begin your hosting journey, then you are reading the right article because I’m going to explain all the important differences that you need to know between shared hosting and VPS hosting. Hosting can be quite an intimidating topic, especially if you don’t have the technical know-how. But you do not need to worry because that’s our job, so let’s get into it!
There are several types of hosting, but we are going to focus on just two. The first one is shared hosting, and the second one is Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting.
Shared Hosting vs VPS Hosting in Brief
Basically, shared hosting means that you are not the only one using a server and its resources. It implies that you are sharing the platform with other websites. This simply means that you are not the only one using the bandwidth, storage space, and other resources that you need to host a website.
On the other hand, Virtual Private Server basically comes up with a virtual platform that looks like a dedicated server. But it’s actually not a real dedicated server. However, with VPS, you will have your server and resources to yourself in a shared platform.
To explain it better, imagine renting a property. With shared hosting, you have a space in the property, but you are sharing all the resources of the property with other tenants. Shared hosting is the cheapest hosting option that you can find, and it has a lot of advantages, even though things can get stuffy at times.
VPS hosting can simply be explained as renting an apartment in a building block. It gives you access to more rooms, more space to move around (flexibility), and more resources. And it’s not surprising that it is more expensive. It will give you the ability to dictate more, and you will have more control over your website. Nevertheless, you will still be operating on a platform with others.
If you are interested in hosting a static and simple website, the best option is always the shared hosting. Shared hosting is basically for sites like personal blogs, food recipe blogs, and other simple websites. You will not be getting extraordinary speed or a world-class level of encryption, and you will not be getting a lot of extra features. But you don’t need to worry about all that because you will have all that you actually need to host a simple website.
VPS hosting is the upgrade, is the perfect choice for online stores, heavy websites, dynamic websites, and company websites. You will be able to access a lot of features, including better security and performance, but you will need to pay more. VPS can also come in handy if you are interested in growing your website, maybe you are looking to start small, but you have a plan to expand and grow bigger.
As we move further, we will be comparing these two web hosting options; we are going to talk about the pros and cons. We are going to talk about resource allocation, scalability, performance, configuration and customization, price, and other important factors. This will help you to decide the best option for your website that will represent value for money.
Shared Hosting vs. VPS Hosting: Pros and Cons
Although it’s common knowledge that Shared hosting is the cheapest type of web hosting service, VPS can also be economically profitable. A lot of amateurs will like to know the features of Shared hosting, but if you have a plan of creating on online store or a website that will later struggle with the basic features that shared hosting offer, then you will need to step up to the more customizable options that VPS hosting offers.
Shared Hosting Pros
It’s the cheapest that you can find
Best option for beginners and tech amateurs
Good performance on simple and static websites
Shared Hosting Cons
You will not be getting unique or specialized resources
Low level of security
Low performance level because you will be a sharing server with other sites.
VPS Hosting Pros
Represents excellent value for money
Several customizable features
Comes with scalable plans if you are willing to grow your website
VPS Hosting Cons
Quite expensive compared to shared hosting
Requires technical know-how
You must be able to estimate the resources that you will need
6 shared and VPS hosting differences
1. Resource Allocation
We all need specific resources, using a mobile phone as an example; it comes with a set plan for calls, data, and texts that makes the phone resourceful. We can apply the same rule to web hosting, and the resources here are bandwidth, storage space, memory, and some other ones.
Just like I mentioned earlier, when you are on a shared hosting plan, you will be sharing resources with other websites that are on the same server with you. So if one of the websites is consuming more data than the others, the allocated data for all users may be exhausted sooner than planned.
VPS is quite different because you will have access to a larger part of the server, which means that you will have more resources for your website. And to make it better, you will have full access over the server platform, which means that you can fully customize it as you want.
It’s clear that VPS hosting provides more resources than shared hosting. Because you will have more hardware access, which means that you will get more resources at your disposal. You won’t have to worry about other websites consuming too much data, so the performance of your website will always be smooth and steady.
2. Security
In terms of security, let me start by saying that for the major parts, the shared hosting security level is quite impressive. Most shared hosting services do a lot of background checks on their security, but there are no guarantees. And this is largely due to the fact that you will be sharing a server with other websites, so nobody can really give you a certain level of security.
All it needs is a website that you are sharing the server with to make a mistake, and every site on that server is at risk of a security breach.
VPS, on the other hand, can boast of having a better level of security. To break it down, you are on a server with other VPS clients, which means everyone on the server has a particularly high level of security that does not disturb the other client. It also means that you have the full access to the security of your website,
In terms of VPS hosting, you will have more access to the level of your security than shared hosting. Your VPS service provider will also provide better security features that will keep you protected. If you are sharing your personal files and information on your website, I will advise that you do not subscribe to shared hosting.
3. Performance
One of the important things that you need to consider before subscribing to a hosting plan is the performance level of the service. They may be offering a lot of resources and a high level of security, but no one wants to visit a website that will take forever to load.
The amount of bandwidth that will be allocated to your website and the uptime differs from one hosting service provider to another one. It is a well-known fact that more than half of the internet users expect web pages to load in a few seconds, maybe two or less. Putting that into consideration, you will need to look for a hosting service that can work smoothly with heavy traffic without affecting the loading speeds.
When it comes to performance, it’s easy to see that VPS hosting is better than shared hosting. With VPS hosting, you will be getting more bandwidth, and it will be able to handle sudden spikes in traffic that ensures that your website is not affected. On the other hand, shared hosting is also decent for a small site that will not be receiving a large number of visitors. Still, it can later become an issue if the website becomes more popular.
4. Configuration and Customization
On a shared hosting plan, you do not need to worry about the configuration because that’s the job of the hosting service. This will give you more time to attend to other things. VPS, on the other hand, can be quite complicated when it comes to setting up the whole thing. There are two basic types of VPS hosting. There is Manage VPS hosting and Unmanaged VPS hosting.
Managed plans are similar to shared hosting in that the service provider will be the one to take care of the whole configuration. At the same time, with Unmanaged, you will be responsible for the entire set-up, which is always the perfect one for web developers and professionals.
In terms of customization, the two hosting plans are quite different. Shared hosting will give you limits of resources that you cannot exceed. Resources like bandwidth and storage space will be limited. While VPS hosting will allow you to pick the terms, and they will make it modifiable, which gives you a chance to alter the plan on a month-to-month basis.
In terms of customization, VPS hosting is definitely the better one considering the Managed plan, which gives you so much flexibility; you do not need to worry about setting it up. With VPS hosting, you select your own terms while share hosting is more rigid.
5 Scalability
If you own a blog that only gets a few visitors per week and you don’t see yourself scaling up in the nearest future, it’s always better to go for a shared hosting plan. The only time you will start having issues is when the number of visitors starts increasing, if you start getting up to a thousand visitors per week, your beautiful homepage can quickly turn into something ugly.
With VPS hosting, you can grow with the plans. For example, if you are starting a small business, paying a couple of extra money might not be a bad idea if you feel that the business will become popular very soon.
VPS hosting is still the best option in terms of scalability. Just like I mentioned earlier, shared hosting comes with its advantages. For small businesses and personal blogs, it’s the perfect one. But if you want to grow and you do not want your website to become useless, VPS is the right one.
6. Price
Now that we’ve discussed the important technical aspects of both hosting plans, there is another important factor that we need to talk about, which is the price.
First off, you need to understand that both hosting plans have different tiers of pricing. And basically, the more expensive the plan, the better resources you get. Also, you need to know that all the hosting services that are mentioned have different promotional prices. The ones that I will mention in this article are discounted subscribing rates that will only be valid for the first few months of subscribing to the plan.
Below is a list of full prices of four hosting plans:
| Provider | Shared Hosting | VPS Hosting |
|---|---|---|
| InMotion | $7.99-15.99 per month | $39.99-144.99 per month |
| HostGator | $6.95-14.95 per month | $89.95-159.95 per month |
| Bluehost | $7.99-23.99 per month | $29.99-119.99 per month |
| A2 Hosting | $7.99-18.99 per month | $49.99-99.99 per month |
It’s clear to see that shared hosting is quite cheaper than VPS hosting. It’s the perfect one for personal blogs and small startups. If you are interested in hosting an affordable website, it’s definitely more reasonable to go with shared hosting. But you should not forget that shared hosting has limited features for sites with big goals.
Conclusion
I want to believe that you are now well informed about the two web hosting plans that we’ve discussed. You now have a good knowledge of the significant differences between shared hosting service and VPS service, and you can now decide on the right one that will be perfect for your website.