Dedicated Hosting vs Shared Hosting: 7 Differences Should Know

In shared hosting, there are other customer’s websites, apps, or software hosted too. The root server access is with the server provider. You will get your own cPanel access but the amount of bandwidth, and priority you are allotted is limited because it is shared hosting and you need to pay extra if you surpass the allotted bandwidth. If you use dedicated hosting you can adjust according to traffic spikes and miscellaneous performance stress. It increases security making it difficult to hack which is suitable for large corporate accounts. Shared hosting is more cost-effective and dedicated hosting gives you full control over the server making it more scalable and secure.

What is Shared Hosting?

In shared web hosting, one physical server is shared by some users. Thanks to its cost-effectiveness and easy-to-use nature, shared hosting is gaining more ground among small businesses. It is an ideal choice for websites that see limited traffic and where content needs to be updated frequently.

What is Dedicated Hosting?

In dedicated hosting, all the server resources are reserved for your website. You can even control its operating environment and even the configuration. All those who don’t want to make compromises should opt for the best-dedicated servers to host their website on. If your business is expanding rapidly and involves high-resolution photos and videos, dedicated hosting is your best bet.

Differences Between Shared and Dedicated Hosting?

After getting all the nitty-gritty definitions out of the way, let’s look at some differences between shared and dedicated hosting.

Cost and pricing

Pricing and tariffs are other areas where shared hosting paces ahead of dedicated hosting. Since a shared hosting plan has multiple clients using the same server, the prices are bound to be lower. It is the ideal choice for startups and small accounting firms with fewer customers. With its attractive and more economically viable pricing, shared hosting is what most businesses with a smaller budget go for.

Hardware and Network Resources

In shared hosting, a pool of resources is shared between multiple users, which is why the bandwidth and disk space you get for your website is limited because many users are drawing resources from the same server. Moreover, you will be charged extra when you exceed the allotted resource limit.

If you choose the best dedicated hosting, you will get access to all the bandwidth and disk space because you are the only one using the resources. With no resource sharing and limitations, you can get the best performance and choose resources according to your needs.

Security of Shared and Dedicated Hosting

Shared hosting servers are shared with other users as well, this provides the opportunity for security breaches and if it is successful your team will not have the control to fight back. The experts of the hosting company establish firewalls, server security applications, and other security programs. On dedicated hosting, your IT team has full control over the server’s security, and since it is purely dedicated to your organization the chances of catching malware, spyware, and other viruses are low. So in security dedicated hosting is the clear winner but if you are going for shared hosting then choose a reputable hosting company.

Control

The level of control you can enjoy with a dedicated server is way more than what you get with shared hosting. In shared hosting, the hosting company makes all the decisions on your behalf, so there is very little that you can control. If your organization needs controls on a granular level, you won’t be getting it with shared hosting.

Dedicated hosting offers you more customization options and settings. Your organization will have complete control over the server when you go for dedicated hosting. You get to choose preferred programs, applications, and scripts and you could meet your organizational requirements easily.

Scalability and Flexibility

When it comes to scalability and flexibility, dedicated hosting triumphs over shared hosting. Dedicated hosting plans are really flexible and scalable. They can be adjusted easily according to traffic influx, storage space requirement, user capacity, and terms of several software being hosted. Now, we wouldn’t exactly say that shared hosting plans are non-scalable, but they sure do fall behind in this aspect.

Sure, even with shared hosting plans you get scalability, but it is not as flawless. The maximum flexibility that you get with shared hosting plans, is that you can have your HDD space and size of individual databases increased but you can’t upgrade the CPU power of the shared hosting solution, and neither can you increase the amount of RAM being used. This is because shared hosting is a pooled service and other clients are sharing the same server and cloud setup.

Dedicated Hosting or Shared Hosting: which hosting option meets your needs?

This is where we draw towards the end of our comparison and to summarize it all, dedicated hosting and shared hosting are both good options based on your requirements. When it comes to pricing, shared hosting takes a win being cheaper and more affordable. It is a perfect plan for those on a budget or for people who are just starting. But when we talk about server features, scalability, number of apps being hosted, overall seamlessness, speed, and performance, then dedicated hosting is the clear winner.

All the features packed into dedicated hosting make it an ideal choice for medium and large-sized businesses that need to host multiple apps and software. Medium and large businesses generally have IT teams that can manage dedicated servers. Shared hosting is for those who are dipping their toes into cloud hosting and have smaller requirements or just one app/software to host. Based on your needs and budget, we hope you can make an informed decision.