Do I Need Managed Web Hosting or Shared Web Hosting?

There are many different choices to make when it comes to selecting the best type of web hosting for your particular needs. Shared web hosting is by far the most popular type of web hosting, and is ideal for most websites. However, many websites, such as those with very high traffic or form whom security of sensitive information is of utmost concern, managed web hosting just might be a better choice.

Shared Web Hosting

Web Hosting

For smaller websites, purchasing a server or paying to leasing a dedicated server would be an unnecessary and very significant expense. Shared web hosting is an inexpensive and effective web hosting solution for most smaller websites. This type of hosting is referred to as shared web hosting simply because multiple websites share space on a single web hosting server.

Web host servers are large and powerful, and have sufficient room and bandwidth capacity to host multiple websites with ease. When you select a shared web hosting option, you purchase a package from a web hosting company that includes a certain amount of space and bandwidth on the company's server. This option allows website owners to enjoy the power of a powerful web hosting server without having to pay for more than is actually needed.

The number of other websites with which your site shares a web host depends on the size and bandwidth needs of each website along with the capacity of the server. As long as your shared web hosting agreement includes a sufficient amount of space and bandwidth for your needs, you don't have to worry about running out of room in a shared environment.

If your website grows faster than you expect, and you do find that it is outgrowing your current hosting agreement. You can always negotiate with your web hosting company to add additional space and bandwidth capacity to your current shared hosting agreement. Another option is to step up to a higher level of web hosting, which could mean getting a dedicated server with managed web hosting.

Managed Web Hosting

Websites that deal with highly sensitive confidential information, as well as those who receive a great deal of traffic are more suited for a dedicated web hosting environment than for shared web hosting. With dedicated web hosting, your website does not share a server with other websites. One web hosting server is dedicated specifically to your website.

Most companies who need the capacity of a dedicated web host decide to go with a managed web hosting solution. This is because the actual management and administration of a dedicated host can be very time consuming. If a website owner selects an unmanaged hosting option, he or she becomes responsible for every aspect of maintaining the web hosting server. Managing a web host is very time consuming, and involves everything from day to day maintenance to security issues.

Those who operate large websites are typically busy with other activities, and it is worth setting up their web hosting agreement so that the hosting company handles most of the task associated with managing the dedicated host. Another option for managed web hosting is simply to contract with an outside organization to handle the duties associated with managing the web host server.

Making a Decision

If your website is large enough to need a dedicated web hosting, it is certainly in your best interest to go with managed hosting instead of unmanaged hosting unless you employ a server maintenance expert who has the time to handle the large task of maintaining your web server.

However, before making the decision to invest in managed hosting, it is in your best interest to see if shared web hosting will meet your needs. Shared web hosting is significantly less than dedicated hosting options. Remember that shared web hosting is sufficient for most websites, so don't take on the expense of managed hosting if it is unnecessary.

Do I Need Managed Web Hosting or Shared Web Hosting?

The Drawbacks of Using Shared Hosting

Among the various types of web hosting plans in the market today, shared hosting is one of the more popular choices among consumers. Its ability to support many hosting accounts simultaneously made it widely used by many. Also, its affordable pricing made it very attractive to consumers especially those who are new to this. However, like any other hosting plans, it has its own sets of shortcomings.

The biggest shortcoming for using this plan is that users will be required to share their web server with many other websites. Therefore, this means everything that is provided by that server is shared among all the sites sharing the same server which includes disk space and bandwidth. Another problem with this plan is that sites on the same server will have identical IP address. This can pose a problem in the event that any site on the server is banned or faces security issues as it could mean that the whole server will be affected. As you will be sharing the same server, your site could be banned as well until the problem is resolved which could take days or even weeks.

Web Hosting

As a shared server hosts many sites, naturally, it will have a vast amount of data kept on it. With so much data on it, it will take a longer time for the server to find the data and deliver the data to its rightful place which means a slower page loading rate. If your site happens to have a lot of graphics or videos, it could take a much longer time for the page to load. Aside from disk space, you will also be sharing bandwidth with the other sites. If the server's resources are stretched far too thin, it could result in your site experiencing downtime which means visitors will not be able to visit your site. Your site's visitors may grow impatient if it is a constant occurrence and may not visit your site again.

As technical problems are bound to happen one time or another, you will need to have technical support from the web host. Most reputable hosting companies provide sufficient support system. However, if there is a surge in technical problems, priority may be given to other customers who have more expensive plans such as dedicated hosting plans. Hosting companies will usually respond to them first before attending to shared hosting plan users. So, if you have some urgent technical problem, you might have to wait a while before it is resolved.

Although shared hosting plan may have a number of drawbacks, it does not mean that it is a bad choice. It is still a very popular choice among consumers as it is affordable and provides sufficient resources for most sites. Perhaps you could upgrade to a better hosting plan when your site is more successful.

The Drawbacks of Using Shared Hosting