Shared Web Hosting Plans Cost Comparison - February 2023

What is Shared Hosting ?

A shared web hosting service is a web hosting service where many websites reside on one web server connected to the Internet.All the websites on that server share resources; and each website is assigned a limited amount of total server resource which is defined by their hosting plan. This is generally the most economical option for hosting, as the overall cost of server maintenance is spread over many customers. By choosing shared hosting, the website will share a physical server with one or more other websites.

Advantages of Shared Hosting

• Shared hosting is the most affordable option when compared to other hosting options
• Shared hosting servers are managed by the hosting provider which means that you don’t need to concern yourself with technical issues of the server.
• Shared Hosting comes with built-in web hosting panels which makes your website management very easy
• Most of the Shared Hosting provider offers free SSL, so you don't have to purchase separate SSL certificate for your website

Disadvantages of Shared Hosting

• Since the resources are shared and limited, it may affect the speed and performance of your website.
• Since many hosting plans are managed, you end up with less control of your website
• You will not have root access to your shared hosting server
• If any website on a shared hosting server gets hacked, then other websites also come under potential threat.
• Shared hosting servers provide a limited list of software that you can install on your server.

How to Choose a Best Shared Web Hosting Provider for your Website ?

• Performance : Having a web hosting provider with a fast server and enough memory and processing power to accommodate lightning fast page speed is crucial for every business. Check to see what technologies your hosting provider has put in place, such as SSDs, to help ensure dependable performance.
• Security : Website security is a huge concern these days, and it can be an issue especially if you’re operating on a shared server. Because your website is operating in the same space as so many others, it’s quite easy to acquire a virus or get hacked by a malicious user. Make sure that your hosting provider takes steps to ensure the safety of your data, from virus protection to backups.
• Bandwidth : Bandwidth describes the quality and level of traffic and data allowed to travel and transfer between your site, users and the internet. Each hosting company will offer different levels of bandwidth. This can be an indication of which hosting company has the best networks, connections and system.
• Backup : Backups are essential for a website. Even with all the security measures in the world, your website will face some kind of crash, failure, virus, or hack that will take your website down. A good web host provider should be able to restore your full site with very minimal downtime to avoid any significant losses.
• Support : Does your company have the technological know-how and the internal resources and manpower to manage a website server, or would you rather use a web hosting company that can handle all that for you? If you want your host to provide support, make sure they offer 24/7 monitoring and support and are readily accessible in case of an outage or other problem.
• Scalability : While you might be shopping for a hosting service for your small business, you should consider partnering with a service that can scale with you as you get bigger. That can mean that the service offers different tiers of service based on the number of expected visitors you receive each month where, as your business takes off, you can easily upgrade your plan.
• Truly Unlimited Plans: Some hosting providers advertise free space, storage, or bandwidth, but still cap it at a certain level. You should carefully read their terms and find out, whether the unlimited plans they offer are truly unlimited.

Shared Hosting vs Cloud Hosting vs VPS Hosting

When you sign up for shared hosting, the hosting company will put your website on a server along with hundreds, if not thousands, of other websites. This means each customer has to share space and resources on the server with every other customer, including CPU time, memory, and disk space. Shared hosting is the cheapest option among all. Unfortunately, your site might have limited bandwidth and will get slow when there’s a lot of traffic crowding websites on the same server as you are.

Cloud Hosting is fairly similar to VPS hosting, but the main difference is that while VPS relies on physical servers, cloud hosting is based on several interconnected servers spread over a wide geographical area. This allows you to spread your data across these widely distributed virtual servers.Where the VPS has limitations on bandwidth and data transfers, cloud hosting usually does not. Cloud hosting is also considered the new, more modern solution to hosting web apps and online businesses, given the efficiencies and advantages.

With VPS Hosting you’ll still be sharing one physical server, but each user gets a specified set of resources, meaning that other websites on the same server won’t affect you, unlike with shared hosting. VPS hosting provides a dedicated virtual partition for each user, making sure resources are always available to you. Of course, VPS comes at a higher price than shared hosting. VPS hosting is a step up, and ideal for small businesses, online stores, and larger personal sites. You’ll see an increase in features, security and performance, all for a very reasonable rise in cost.