If you are the one who is going to start a website and looking for web hosting, this is the blog for you. We are here to guide you with some basics of web hosting before getting deep into the topic.
What is a Web Hosting?
Web hosting is nothing but a place on the internet where your website resides.
Consider your personal computer, for example, you have your personal files (pictures, documents, etc.) on it and only you can access it unless you lend rights to another person. Similarly, your website is a file with a lot of information. So in order to let people access your information you provide an address for them and that it’s your website URL. Just type in the website URL and access whatever is put in there. The address of my website is www.thehkonline.com.
Why is it Necessary to Have a Web Hosting?
To put it simply, without web hosting you cannot make your website visible to everyone. So you need the web hosting to make it available for anyone and everyone who has your website address that is your URL. The prime aim of your site is to draw the audience in case of business or readers in case of blogging. Either way, you need web hosting to share your information with the world, and the internet is an open and huge platform for growing your website.
So if you are benefitted from this web hosting, you will have to spend some bucks for it. Yes, web hosting may cost you from 5$ dollar a month to 500$ a month depending on your website requirement. As you are paying for your hosting, you get support and guidance for your website. This is an advantage of having web hosting.
Types of Web Hosting and Which one Should I Choose?
Actually, it depends on the kind of website you have, says the business website, personal blog, or any other website. And more importantly, depends on your budget as well.
There are four major types of hosting services in general. They are Shared, Dedicated, VPS, and Cloud hosting.
Shared hosting will be cheaper than the others to start with, and each hosting has its own pros and cons.
Well, we will see each hosting with its pros and cons in detail. And you may choose the best one for you at last.
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#1 Shared Hosting
Costs vary from $2 to $25 per month
This is the traditional hosting and the most common plan for beginners. Thus people opt for this the most, and they are satisfied with this plan. Usually, it is the cheapest hosting service.
As the name goes, it is a shared hosting like you share a room with your friend in an apartment. Technically, you will share data, CPU time, memory, and disk space. Since it is a shared hosting and many other sites are dependent on common resources, you may face speed issues when the other site gets more traffic. In such cases get your hosting’s support and tell them your problem. They may help by shifting your website to another hosting.
Strength
- Easy
- Low cost
- Simple setup process
Weakness
- Many websites rely on your or common resource
- Limited control over the server
Suggestions for Shared Hosting:
- Bluehost
- A Small Orange
- A2 Hosting
- SiteGround
#2 Virtual Private Server – VPS
Costs vary from $10 to $100 per month
The VPS (Virtual Private Server) is totally different from Shared hosting. It is like owning your own private space, and the entire resources are used only by your site. So you are responsible for what happens to your site.
The CPU time and memory are still shared in common, but also you have certain resources reserved for you.
Strength
- No “sharing” with others
- Powerful than shared hosting
- Better performance
- Faster loading times
Weakness
- Costly
- Bit more technical
Suggestions for VPS hosting:
- Web Hosting Hub
- Dreamhost
#3 Dedicated Hosting
Costs vary from $50 to $1000 per month
It’s completely and entirely yours as a whole. The dedicated hosting has its own resources and this time you don’t have to share them with anyone. The entire CPU time and the memory are all yours. There is no website or account linked to yours.
As you go premium now, the costs increase as well. You may get a dedicated hosting service from 50$ to $1000 per month.
Strength
- Full control
- High performance
- Lesser load time issues
Weakness
- Costly
- Requires deeper knowledge
Suggestions for Dedicated hosting:
- Hostgator
- Dreamhost
#4 Cloud Hosting
Costs vary from $2 to $200 per month
A Cloud hosting is similar to a rented space. In normal hosting, you get a machine with resources like CPU time and memory. But with cloud hosting your CPU is virtual. It is an advanced method of hosting that comes with a whole lot of benefits and at the same time cost-efficient too when compared to other hosting services.
Strength
- Pay for what you use
- Flexible
As discussed the hosting services so far cloud computing is the better option to go with. Because you pay for what you actually use. For example, if you had a month when your blog got a hit based on your content or something your servers would start trembling with the current resources. Immediately you can increase your server specifications for the month i.e. for the temporary time being in a cost-efficient manner. Thus server space and bandwidth are increased, and the task is achieved.
If not you will be paying a bulk amount every month which is merely a waste of money and resources. So cloud hosting helps you achieve depending on your goals. It is more or less similar to paying your monthly credit card bill where you pay for what you have used.
Weakness
Be sure that you have aware of the technical bits of your server. Sometimes it may be confusing what you are doing.
Also, there is a common argument that cloud hosting is insecure. Since the hosting is completely cloud-based meaning virtual, it may leave space for cyber attacks. Have this point too, while considering cloud hosting.
There You Go
These are the cloud hosting services around the world. I have explained everything in brief with the strengths and weaknesses of each service. So it is up to you to decide the one that best suits your website. My suggestion is that, go for dedicated hosting or cloud hosting if you have a huge audience regularly for your website. Else grab a shared hosting or even VPS hosting and give it a try if you are a beginner and save your money.
Not to worry you can move or upgrade your hosting service anytime with your hosting provider as nowadays most of them provide all these services. So upgrade your service anytime with your provider. On the other hand, if you are unsatisfied with the current provider and wish to shift your service to another service provider, yes you can do it, and all the hosting services provide full support in shifting your websites completely.
I have attached an infographic image below which would provide you with better details.
Comment below if you have any queries related to Web Hosting.
