One of the great advantages of the modern web is that it’s no so much easier to build and launch a website than it once was even just a few years back.
Whether you’re using a popular Content Management System like WordPress or Joomla, or making the most of beautiful, customizable templates and drag-and-drop interfaces to be found on website building platforms like Wix, there’s no need to have a degree in web design to create a great looking site.
Yet as easy as the whole process has become, there’s still one thing that manages to catch out many new website owners: Choosing the right kind of web hosting is an essential step so remember to compare the best web hosting plans by using websites such as this one.
Paying for even a cheap hosting plan means making a commitment, so it makes sense to get it right, but at first glance, there seems to be so many options out there that it’s not always that easy knowing which one’s right for you.
Don’t worry, it’s not as complicated as it looks. On the whole, there’s three main types of hosting plan that you may want to consider, and we’ll explain each of them below.
Shared Hosting
This is the most popular kind of hosting plan, and the most prominent one that you’ll find. Used by the web’s cheapest web hosting companies to attract new customers, a shared plan is basically one section of a large web server that is dedicated solely to you and your website.
The reason most hosting providers can offer these plans at such a low rate is simply because they’re able to divide up that larger server many times over, and sell on lots of individual sections to lots of different website owners like you.
Shared hosting is ideal for small to medium sized websites, so if you’re just starting out and have no real idea of how successful your site is going to be, this might well be the right option for you.
One of the things we like the most about these plans is their scalability, so if your site does take off and is a run-away success, you can always invest in increasing your hosting resources at the single click of a button.
Virtual Private Servers (VPS)
Virtual Private Servers provide a great middle ground between the shared hosting we’ve just discussed, and the dedicated servers we’ll get to in a moment. Offering all the power and flexibility of the latter, with all the simplicity and ease-of-use of the former, a good VPS plan is ideal for those who need greater resources and security than you’ll find with a shared plan, but come at a fraction of the cost of paying for your own dedicated server.
A VPS often works best for those running multiple websites with a decent amount of traffic, or for those of you who may be thinking about making the investment in a dedicated server, but aren’t quite ready to make the leap yet. Going for a Virtual Private Server instead of a dedicated one offers the opportunity to try things out and see how it fits you before making that big investment.
Dedicated Servers
This is exactly what it sounds like: An entire web server dedicated to only to you, your business and the sites you want to host.
Dedicated servers may be the most expensive of all the three options discussed here, but they’re well worth the investment if you’re running large sites such as e-commerce sites with a heavy influx of traffic, lots of large media files, or a combination of both.
They’re also ideal if you want greater levels of freedom and control over your server, as they offer the kind of root access and manageability that you just don’t get with the other two plans.
