“Websites promote you 24/7”. This quote by Paul Cookson emphasizes the importance of making your online presence or your business’ online presence felt, through a website that can be accessed by anyone from anywhere with an active Internet connection. In this regard, owning a website isn’t enough; it needs to be hosted through an effective web hosting solution provided by a reputed and professional service provider to ensure the seamless online availability of the hosted site.
If you are planning to avail web hosting service for rendering your site accessible over the Internet and you are in a dilemma about the right choice with regard to the hosting solution that you should avail, then this blog will be helpful. Here, we shall elaborate on two types of web hosting solutions, VPS Hosting and Shared Hosting, which are used for keeping websites up and running. These hosting solutions will be discussed in detail, with a focus on their similarities and differences. Prior to that, let us understand the role that web hosting plays in making websites accessible over the Internet.
How Websites Are Made Accessible Online?
It is the files that websites are made of, which, when delivered to the Internet-connected devices of site visitors, render the sites accessible to them. Broadly speaking, for a site to be accessible to site visitors, there needs to be a web server, a browser and an active Internet connection.
What the web server does is, it provides space for the files of a website/websites to be safely stored on. It also processes these files, based on the incoming request for the files from a browser.
The browser of the Internet-connected device of a site visitor, requests for the content of a hosted site by initiating communication for the same with the web server that is hosting the website. The web server receives this request and responds to it by locating the corresponding files of the site in its storage, processing those and then delivering the files, over an active Internet connection, to the browser that had initiated the communication. In this way, a website is rendered accessible to its visitor.
An active Internet connection is needed for the request of the browser to reach the web server, as well as for the files to be retrieved by the browser from the server. That is the reason that the presence of all three;a web server, a browser and an active Internet connection, are essential for a website to be accessed online.
The server space that is required for making websites accessible over the Internet, is provided by web hosting companies, such as HTS Hosting which is referred to as the best Web Hosting Company as well as the best Linux Hosting Company, through the service of web hosting. In web hosting, the technologies and the services that are needed for keeping sites accessible are also provided, along with the required server space for storing and processing the files of websites. Web hosting can be availed from a web hosting service provider or a web host, through a range of web hosting solutions. Website owners can choose from Shared Hosting, Dedicated Hosting, VPS Hosting and WordPress Hosting to host their websites on the web servers of web hosting companies. The choice depends entirely on the hosting requirements of the site that needs to be hosted, as well as on the budget of the site owner.
Next, we shall provide information on two specific types of web hosting services, Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting, and compare their similarities as well as their differences.
The Web Hosting Service of Shared Web Hosting
Shared Web Hosting is a specific web hosting solution that is provided by almost all web hosting companies and is popular as the most economical hosting solution. It is usually availed by sites that are of small-sized businesses and by those with less budget for hosting, as well as for simple sites, blogging sites and websites that get very less traffic. The reason for that is, the limited server resource availability that it offers to the hosted sites. That is why only sites that are not resource-intensive, such as the aforementioned sites, can function effectively on this type of web hosting service. Why does Shared Hosting provide limited server resources to each of the hosted websites? That will become clear, when we explain next, that what this type of hosting entails.
In Shared Hosting, a single web server hosts multiple websites, which means a single server stores and processes the files of multiple websites. Due to this, the server resources get shared among the hosted sites and the same happens to the server space which is shared by all the hosted sites. Naturally, this limits the resource availability to the individual sites and results in slow site speed. The shared server space can cause security concerns. Despite the drawbacks with regard to slow site speed and security vulnerabilities, Shared Hosting is opted for, because it offers one of the most economical web hosting services.
VPS Hosting: Hosting that Uses Virtual Private Servers
VPS Hosting does away with most of the issues that are part of Shared Hosting, such as slow site speed and security related problems. Enhanced site speed, augmented performance, and elevated security are provided through VPS Hosting to the hosted sites.
Virtual Private Servers (VPS) are used for hosting websites in VPS Hosting, wherein multiple sites exist on a common shared web server, but each of these sites gets the environment of a dedicated server and dedicated server resources with the aid of Virtualization Technology. A VPS refers toa physical web server that has been virtually partitioned into multiple, independent, isolated, private servers. Each of these private, virtual, servers is fully-equipped to function independently and host a website. The multiple, virtually-created, private servers can install their own software and operating systems.
VPS Hosting is availed by resource-intensive sites that need dedicated server resources for their efficient functioning, as well as by sites which require augmented speed, performance, security and server customization; features that are missing in Shared Hosting.
Similarities Between Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting
What are the similarities between the hosting services of Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting? The main similarity has to do with the hosting environment, which is shared in both these types of web hosting solutions. A single web server is used by the web hosting service provider to host multiple websites in Shared Hosting as well as in VPS Hosting. In short, a single web server stores and processes the files of multiple websites in both, Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting. Both these hosting solutions can effectively host multiple websites.
DifferencesBetween Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting
VPS Hosting differs from Shared Hosting in many ways. A shared server is used to host websites in Shared Hosting, whereas a Virtual Private Server (VPS) is used to host websites in VPS Hosting. Shared Hosting is the most economical web hosting solution. VPS Hosting is a bit more expensive to avail, when compared to Shared Hosting solutions.
Despite the shared server space where multiple websites are hosted, VPS Hosting is able to offer dedicated server resources and the environment of a dedicated server to each of the hosted sites, through Virtualization Technology. This is not the case in Shared Hosting, wherein shared server resources are utilized by the sites hosted on the same server.
VPS Hosting makes it possible to customize the server, as every virtually-created, private server can install its OS and software. Server customization is not possible in Shared Hosting.
VPS Hosting is able to deliver enhanced site speed, performance and security due to the availability of dedicated server resources. On the other hand, the limited resource availability offered by Shared Hosting, results in slow site speed and unimpressive site performance for resource-intensive sites. Moreover, security concerns are common in Shared Hosting, which is not so in VPS Hosting. These are some of the ways in which these two types of hosting services differ from each other.
Conclusion:
Now that you are aware of the similarities and the main differences between Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting, you are better equipped to decide that which of these two web hosting options is the best hosting solution for your website.
HTS Hosting is a globally renowned service provider of all types of web hosting solutions, including Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting, at the most affordable prices. At HTS, you can choose from a wide range of plans for either VPS Hosting or Shared Hosting, at massively discounted prices. HTS offers high uptime, fast page loads, 24*7 technical support, user-friendly control panels, secure hosting, SSDs, and much more, in all its hosting plans for Linux and Windows.
If you have decided to opt for the Shared Hosting plans of HTS Hosting, then your plan will include free SSL certificate, along with the other features. Moreover, Shared Hosting offered by HTS Hosting starts from Rs.31/month.
If you want to opt for VPS Hosting, then HTS Hosting offers various efficient VPS Hosting plans for Managed VPS and Self-managed VPS, that are full of features and are available at highly discounted prices.
HTS Hosting is globally popular for providing the most secure, the fastest and the best hosting services at the most reasonable prices, for seamless site availability. You can contact the customer care team of HTS Hosting, at any time, to seek expert assistance in choosing the best hosting plan for your site.
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