What Is The Difference Between Shared And Dedicated Web Hosting?

Shared web hosting

Shared web hosting, also known as virtual hosting, is very popular today and is often referred to as just regular web hosting. Shared web hosting can provide a reliable web presence without having special technical skills and is the most affordable way to host a website. That's the reason why the vast majority of small/medium size business sites is using this type of web hosting. Simply put, shared web hosting is a type of hosting in which multiple web sites are hosted on the same physical server each having its own internet domain name.

Dedicated Web hosting

Dedicated Web hosting is a web hosting method, where one client hires the entire space of a server from a web hosting company to host a website and will have access to all the resources of that server, including the hardware and the opreating system. Dedicated web hosting is recommended for webmasters with large web sites that require more bandwidth and web space than the average user. It is more reliable and flexible than the shared web hosting solution and therefore more expensive as much more equipment is required. Only specialized high-tech companies which own sophisticated equipment along with premium bandwidth connectivity are able to provide this type of hosting service.

For the average small business website shared web hosting is the way you should go especially if your technical skills are marginal or you're on a tight budget. Dedicated web hosting is an option you should consider when your web traffic is exploding one day and you're not sure if your shared hosting account is able to handle this amount of traffic.