The Internet is not a physical place—rather it’s a collection of computers (clients and servers) interconnected via a network. As such, when you put your website “on the Internet,” you’re actually uploading it to a website server, where it is accessed via the Internet. There are a number of website hosting options, ranging from sharing a website server along with several other websites, leasing your very own website server or purchasing a website server outright. Here is a brief overview of each option:

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most common type of website server hosting and is by far the most affordable. A shared hosting plan consists of numerous websites existing on the same physical website server. The pros and cons of having a shared hosting plan is akin to the pros and cons of having roommates. In addition to sharing the costs of hosting, you share the infrastructural burdens and sacrifice a bit of flexibility and freedom. Websites on shared hosts have to divvy up their bandwidth, access and storage equitably, which means there will be caps placed on each. Otherwise, one client which receives a high volume of traffic may negatively impact the performance of other websites also hosted on the same website server. There is also a greater security liability with a shared host—if a hacker gains access through one client’s insecure website, they can potentially have access to all of the data held on the website server.

For most small to medium businesses, blogs and personal websites, a shared hosting plan is sufficient. The cost savings more than outweigh the performance and security drawbacks, which only become critical for larger scale online retailers and ecommerce operations.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated website servers give you the run of the place. With a dedicated hosting plan, there is one account per piece of hardware. Because of this, you have much greater freedom to install different server software, run the operating system of your preference and make other decisions that might affect other “tenants” on your website server, as they would with a shared hosting plan. Furthermore, you do not have to share processing power or bandwidth with other websites, which gives you a significant boost in terms of browsing speed. Likewise, you shuck the “weakest link” aspect of security and won’t be compromised by another website’s security issues.

However, the drawback of a dedicated website server is that it is more responsibility. Again, drawing from the tenancy analogy, a dedicated website server is like owning your own home versus sharing a condo unit with other tenants. While your hosting company will take care of connectivity, hardware and other essentials, you will be responsible for the nuts and bolts and technical intricacies. For companies with a well-staffed tech department, this is an advantage. But if you aren’t equipped to handle sophisticated technical issues, a managed dedicated hosting plan is probably right for you. With a managed plan, you get assistance with software setup and an overall more user-friendly experience that doesn’t expose you to the “behind the scenes” aspects of website server administration. In essence, it’s like the difference between having a landlord or groundskeeper who will take care of things such as clogged toilets and out-of-whack HVAC systems versus rolling up your sleeves and doing it yourself.

All in all, dedicated hosting is mostly suitable for large operations. Dedicated hosting plans are far more costly than shared hosting plans. But if an underpowered hosting plan is costing you customers via slow connections or security concerns, then the investment is worth it.

Virtual Private Servers

As a compromise between a dedicated server and a shared hosting plan, virtual private servers (VPS) seek to offer the best of both worlds. Virtual private servers are hosted on the same physical hardware, but user accounts are held on separate partitions. This allows you to install your own server side scripting languages, operating systems and other server software without affecting other accounts on your website server. Furthermore, you can get your own IP address, which allows you greater security.

The costs of a virtual private server is much less than getting a dedicated server outright, but the benefits are much the same. You will still have to share bandwidth and processor performance with other accounts, but for most websites, a VPS delivers enough power for their needs.

These are your basic options for hosting plans. Almost all website hosting companies will offer shared hosting, dedicated and VPS plans at different price ranges. Other more specialized companies may also offer other options, such as grid hosting, cloud hosting and content delivery networks (CDN). For more information on these options as well as greater details about the types of website servers mentioned above, read through the rest of our pages.

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Cloud Hosting Servers: NO

Co-Location Servers: NO

Dedicated Servers: NO

eCommerce Servers: NO

Green Servers: NO

Reseller Servers: NO

Shared Servers: YES

VPS Servers: NO