The 4 types of hosting that exist and how to choose yours

So that a website can exist and be easily found online, making use of website hosting services is essential. However, there are several types of hosting offered by these platforms, each with its own characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages. If you need to sign up for a hosting plan for your website or e-commerce, you may be wondering: how do I know which type of hosting is best suited to my needs?

However, before we show the differences between the different types of hosting offered, it is essential to choose a good website hosting provider. Among the options available on the market, here at AppTuts we have already tested and can recommend:

• Hostinger
• Hostgator
• GoDaddy

By hiring a professional hosting provider like Hostinger, you will have the technology and resources necessary to keep your website running with security and quality. In this article, we will introduce you to the main types of hosting available on the market, so that you know their characteristics and applications.

What types of website hosting are there?

There are four main types of website hosting. They are:

• Shared Hosting
• Dedicated Hosting
• VPS Hosting
• Cloud Hosting

Although they all serve the same purpose, which is to host websites, blogs, stores, landing pages, and applications, each type offers features that may be better suited to certain types of traffic levels, amounts of data, or specific needs.

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Shared hosting

Shared hosting is the most affordable of the types of hosting. It allows several users to use the services of the same server. In other words, several sites can coexist in the same environment, but each one will have a certain amount of resources at its disposal. This will depend on the hosting plan chosen by each user.

Without a doubt, one of the great highlights of this hosting format is its flexibility. After all, with it, you can upgrade your plan so that it becomes more robust to handle greater traffic as your website gains visibility. However, if you need to, you can downgrade if you realize that you don’t need as many features or data.

Furthermore, shared hosting plans usually have an integrated control panel that centralizes all of your website’s essential information in one place. This factor makes managing your work simpler. As for the maintenance of this service, it is the sole responsibility of the hosting provider.

But not everything is as great as it seems with shared hosting. When choosing this type of service, you need to keep in mind that sharing the server with other websites can lead to performance issues when there is a large volume of traffic. This is because resources are distributed among users.

Advantages

•  Best value for money;
•  Maintenance is the responsibility of the provider;
•  Easy-to-use control panels;
•  Providers provide SSL certificates;
•  Availability of website builders.

Disadvantages

• Compromised performance during traffic peaks;
• Low server customization capacity;
• Lower security when it comes to getting hacked;
• Additional costs to acquire space.

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Dedicated hosting

Dedicated hosting is the best option among the types of hosting. By opting for it, you will have exclusive resources for your website and will not need to worry about performance issues due to competition for resources on a shared server, as your website will have all the processing power and memory available.

Security is an important factor that deserves attention in dedicated hosting. Here, you are isolated from other accounts, and this reduces the risk of attacks aimed at other sites affecting yours. In this type of service, you have full administrative control, and it is possible to customize the server configuration and install and update the software whenever necessary.

If your intention is to have a website that will have thousands of visitors per day, dedicated hosting may be the ideal choice, as it tends to be the most scalable. That is, you can increase server resources. This way, you can ensure that your visitors don’t face the annoyance of entering the website and encountering a bad experience with images and videos taking a long time to load.

But with dedicated hosting, there are some points that you should take into consideration. Firstly, the fact that it offers more features than shared hosting means it tends to be more expensive. Furthermore, with it, you assume some responsibilities for server maintenance operations, such as security updates and patch installation.

Advantages

• Server entirely dedicated to the website;
• Exclusivity in CPU, RAM, and storage resources;
• Faster loading times;
• Greater stability;
• High level of security;
• Full control over settings.

Disadvantages

• The high price of the service;
• Greater learning curve;
• Maintenance is the responsibility of the user.

VPS Hosting

VPS hosting is another alternative among the types of web hosting. It offers a technological infrastructure that starts from a physical server and divides it into several virtual machines. Each of these machines has the same resources as the original server. The result of this scenario is an environment where each website or application has its own server space.

Certainly, one of the main advantages of VPS is the guarantee of dedicated resources. By opting for this hosting service, you won’t have to worry about performance issues that result from sharing resources like shared hosting. Although it is very similar to dedicated hosting in this regard, the VPS model is much more affordable.

In VPS, you are the master of your domain, as you have full administrative control over your server. Thus, you can perform advanced customizations and specific configurations. Furthermore, this service is very secure and private, with your files and data locked from other server users. Also worth mentioning is the fact that VPS hosting is adjustable to work well during traffic spikes.

Setting up and managing a VPS may require some technical knowledge. This factor must be taken into consideration when studying this hosting format, as incorrectly configuring your server can result in security vulnerabilities.

Advantages

• The physical server is divided into several virtual instances;
• Better performance compared to shared hosting;
• Faster loading times;
• Greater stability;
• Personalization of the environment according to your needs.

Disadvantages

• The high price of the service;
• Need for technical knowledge;
• Physical server hardware limitations.

Cloud server

The last of the types of hosting is the cloud server, which is a virtual server that operates in a cloud computing environment. In this sense, instead of relying on a single physical machine, they are built, delivered, and accessed through the Internet.

Something that makes this service stand out is the fact that it can handle traffic spikes. When a server is overloaded with requests, other servers can take over the load so that a website remains accessible and performs well. Additionally, cloud hosting is an ideal choice for websites with global traffic because they have CDNs that can be distributed across multiple geographic regions, allowing your website to be delivered from the server closest to the user.

In the cloud server, you have full control over the server resources. This way, you can scale them whenever you need, paying only for what you use. Backing up and restoring is easy and quick, and can be done from any device with internet access. Therefore, the probability of data loss is minimal.

However, it should be noted that although it is possible to upgrade storage, there are generally limits that involve additional costs. The cloud server also has a strong connection dependency. Therefore, in the event of loss of internet access, the ability to access information in the cloud is compromised.

Advantages

• Greater scalability;
• You only pay for what you use;
• Good value for money;
• Continuous uptime guarantee;
• Better security and protection against DDoS attacks.

Disadvantages

• Configure and manage more complicated;
• Lower security and privacy;
• Little cost predictability;
• Less control over resources.

How to choose the ideal type of hosting for your website

The first step in choosing between types of website hosting is understanding your website’s current and future needs. If you’re just starting out and expect moderate traffic, investing in a dedicated server may be premature. However, sites with high traffic or plans to expand quickly require more resources from the start.

Shared hosting is generally the most cost-effective, but may not provide the performance or features needed for more demanding websites. VPS and cloud hosting offer a balance between cost and performance, while dedicated hosting is the most expensive but also the most robust.

If you need complete control over your server environment, with the ability to install specific software or perform custom configurations, consider options like VPS or dedicated hosting.

If you anticipate rapid growth, opting for cloud or VPS hosting may be more prudent. Both offer ease of scalability, allowing you to adjust resources according to demand.

All types of hosting have security measures, but dedicated servers and VPS tend to offer a higher level of isolation, reducing the risk associated with other potentially malicious websites on the same server.

Sites with heavy traffic or that need to load quickly to ensure the best user experience may benefit most from VPS, cloud, or dedicated hosting.

If you don’t have technical knowledge or prefer not to deal with server management aspects, look for plans that offer managed support or providers known for excellent customer service.

What is website hosting?

Website hosting is the service that makes the content of a website available on the internet. When purchasing a hosting plan, you are entitled to space on a server, a place where all the files and information for your website will be stored so that it appears on the web.

What are the types of website hosting?

There are four main types of website hosting: shared hosting, dedicated hosting, VPS hosting, and cloud hosting. Although they all have the same objective, each type has its own characteristics, meeting different needs and budgets.

What is the best provider for hosting websites?

Hostinger is a popular provider that offers a variety of hosting plans. The company is known for offering advanced features and good customer support. In addition, Hostinger also offers unlimited backups, which helps you not lose website data when you need to perform maintenance and updates.

What is the difference between hosting and domain?

Hosting refers to the service where the content of a website is stored on servers, maintained by companies that guarantee its constant operation and security. The domain is the exclusive address that identifies a website on the internet, acting as its digital identity and making it easier for users to find it.