When you are starting an online business, you have two hosting options to choose from:
a) Shared Server Hosting or Virtual Hosting
b) Managed Server Hosting or Dedicated Hosting
Shared server refers to sharing server space with other websites. This means that your website is placed on a large server that hosts other websites too and you need to share all the resources with them. Since everything is shared, the overall hosting costs are much lesser as compared to other plans.
Managed Server Hosting provides you a complete server to host your website. From the choice of hardware to your preferred Operating System, everything in a managed hosting package is controlled by you. These of course come with an added price but offer utmost control and flexibility to the users i.e. you.
If you own a large business, an ecommerce site or a heavy-traffic website, managed hosting is the best option for you. Here’s a list of other reasons that make dedicated or managed hosting a much better option that Virtual or Shared hosting.
Shared Vs Managed Server Hosting
- Traffic Management and Server Response – Server response time is directly proportional to the amount of data present on the server, Internet speed and web traffic. Shared plans host multiple websites on a single server, thus when any of the websites experience heavy traffic server response time increases.
There is generally lesser load on a Managed Server which makes the server response time minimum and increases the speed of your website drastically. The pages will load faster, your site will function better and of course the users will keep coming back for the perfect browsing experience.
- Flexibility – Shared Server allows you to use only a limited number of features and there is a restriction on the kind of software you can install or scripts you can run. For every change that you want to make, you need to get in touch with the hosting provider.
Managed Server Hosting offers unlimited variety of features and complete control over your site. The server can be completely customized for your website needs and you can easily install or run any program on it.
- Scalability – When you go for an upgrade in a Shared hosting plan, you get an increase in the disk space, bandwidth and email accounts. But when you upgrade in a managed hosting plan, it includes an increase in RAM, hard drive space, OS, high-end software and of course the disk space and bandwidth.
- Software – In virtual hosting, you either get a Windows or a Linux platform and the various software are bundled with your hosting package. You do not have much choice in terms of the OS or software.
But with Managed hosting you can have your choice of OS, Software, Hardware and so on. A managed or dedicated hosting package is fully customized according to your preferences and requirements.
- Security – All good web hosts provide high security for all their servers and this is true for Shared hosting too. But the level of security in a shared arrangement is lower since there are multiple websites present on a single server.
In a managed hosting arrangement, only your website is hosted on the server which reduces the risk of virus or malware attacks and other fraudulent activities. It also includes a firewall for your server adding an extra level of security. If you want complete control on your website and need large resources for your business, there is nothing better than Managed Server hosting.