If you have been searching around for web hosting solutions, you must have come across the term “shared hosting”. It is the most budget-friendly hosting out there and that has made it so popular. If you are thinking of creating a website any time soon, you might also want to join in the shared hosting bandwagon.
However, before you go for shared hosting, there are some important factors you need to consider. You need to know just what you are about to get into and decide if that’s the best option for you and your website.
In this post, we have highlighted some important factors you need to consider before choosing a shared hosting plan with any host provider. But before that – for the sake of beginners, let’s first talk about what shared hosting really is.
What Is Shared Hosting?
Every website needs to be hosted on a server before it can appear on the internet. The server is what connects your site to the internet and makes it accessible to your users. The entire content of your website is stored on the server, including your files, software applications, and web pages.
There are many types of hosting packages, and one of them is shared hosting. Shared hosting means you will be sharing a server with other users. Unlike some other types of hosting, you cannot have an entire server to yourself alone.
Things to Consider Before Going for Shared Hosting
#1: Your budget and features you need
Compared to other types of hosting, shared hosting tends to be the least expensive. Since your website is sharing a server with other websites, it relatively brings down the cost. But all users on the server will be sharing the server’s resources, including the storage space.
So check what your budget is as well as what features you are eyeing. For example, many shared hosting plans do come with a free domain, hence making it easier to set up the site. You can also add email services with a very small extra cost. Looking at all these features, one will agree that shared hosting is indeed the best pocket-friendly plan available.
Therefore, if you don’t have so much money to spend on a website or you are just starting out and looking to learn the rope, shared hosting might just be the best option for you.
#2: What are your technical skills?
When starting out, managing a server may not be what a beginner can handle. But with a shared hosting package, that part is usually taken care of for you. That means even if your technical skills are not top-notch, you will have enough time to dedicate to the site itself while someone else takes care of your hosting. But with some other hosting plans like dedicated hosting, you will be the one responsible for maintaining your server.
#3: How large is your website?
The bigger your website, the more resources it will require. And since you will be sharing the same server with many people on shared hosting, you might be having some problems down the road. For instance, you will be having issues with storage space because all the sites on the server will be sharing the space. And some sites on the server can quickly push your website to the edge because of their growth.
Also, an increase in traffic to any of the websites on the server can impact your website. It can cause overload on the server and cause your website to crash. Your site is also more prone to malware attacks on a shared hosting plan. Therefore, if you are expecting to be getting some heavy traffics on your website soon, you might consider trying other hosting plans like dedicated hosting.
#4: Consider the restriction on shared hosting
This varies among hosting providers. Many of them often prevent a single site on a shared server to eat up the resources of the server at the expense of others. While this might look like a benefit to users, it might affect your site if you don’t know what you really need for your site. Some limitations you might need to check when choosing shared hosting include memory limits, spam and hacker activity, file restrictions.
Now that you know what benefits are in shared hosting and why many people are using them, you can decide if it’s also the best option for your website too. But don’t just look at the benefits. Make sure you double-check the drawbacks. Some of them include limited resources and security.
