A server hosts every website you visit daily to be available to you and people around the world. Without a web hosting service, sites can’t be viewed on the Internet.
If you want to start a website, choosing the type of hosting, provider, and plan that fits your needs will be a critical decision to be taken. Shared web hosting is a popular service that providers will offer you for sure.
What is web hosting?
All the files that websites are built of (themes, text, images, videos, different codes, etc.) must be saved on a server connected to the Internet to be displayed online.
Web hosting is the service that offers you the storage space on a server needed for your website to be available on the Internet.
What is shared hosting?
This is the most popular, accessible, and basic type of web hosting service. It means your website will be stored in a server, together with more websites, so yours will live there, sharing space and the resources of the server (storage, bandwidth, processor, RAM, etc.) with others.
In simple words, your site will live with roomies around.
Every site can use a certain limit of server’s resources. Such a limit is defined by the plan you choose.
Shared hosting pros
Easy configuration
Most providers offer one-click features for users to install easily what they need.
Built-in features
To make it simple for users, built-in features like DNS management and c-Panel (interface) are included to manage the site. No expert tech skills are required to do it.
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Technical maintenance is not required from you
The company you hire is in charge of server maintenance, not you. Issues will be fixed by them.
Customer support
You won’t be alone in this adventure. But since shared web hosting is a basic service, users will have almost nothing to modify or troubles to face in theory. How high or basic guidance you can get depends on the provider and specific plan you get.
Cheap rates
Being the basic type of web hosting, it’s also the cheapest. Rounding numbers, starting rates can range from 3 to 10 monthly dollars. Providers offer initial discounts but always check the regular ones not to be surprised, once the discount period gets over.
Shared hosting cons
Sharing server’s resources
Resources divided among hundreds of clients definitely can affect websites’ performance. Websites with a heavy design or having traffic peaks can use a lot of processor’s power and RAM from the server. This can make your site’s loading time really sluggish.
Security issues
Sharing a server with many sites brings vulnerabilities. If a site gets compromised, potentially all the websites on that server could be hacked. If the attack goes directly to take over the server, all websites in it will be compromised.
Besides, all websites on a server share the IP address. In case another site does something wrong, it can be banned. Then, all sites using such an IP address can suffer the same consequences.
No root access
Since it’s a service thought for beginners, you won’t have root access in case you want to modify settings for adding, removing, customizing, etc.
Conclusion
Shared web hosting is a good beginning, especially if you own a site without much on-site interaction, a static site, a start-up, a blog, a corporative site, etc. It is an affordable, easy to manage choice.
Choose shared web hosting just if it really suits your website needs. If your site requires more resources and you pick shared hosting, for sure, you will face problems.