If you’re new to the world of web hosting, you may have come across the term “shared hosting” but aren’t quite sure what it means.
Shared hosting is popular for beginners and small businesses due to its affordability and ease of use.
But what exactly is shared hosting, and how does it work?
In this comprehensive guide, I will delve into the world of shared hosting, explaining its benefits, drawbacks, and everything you need to know to make an informed decision for your website hosting needs. Let’s get started.
What Is Shared Hosting?
The first thing about shared hosting is that it is a popular choice for first-time website owners. I hope you can guess what shared hosting is from its name.
It is cheap, and you don’t need any technical expertise because the hosting provider will take care of the server configuration.
Shared hosting is cheaper and more affordable than other web hosting plans such as VPS or Cloud hosting.
Best entry-level shared hosting services might be the ideal, cost-effective solution if you’re beginning a new website, a tiny blog with few visitors, or both.
How Does Shared Hosting Work?
I will give you an example to understand how shared hosting works properly. Imagine a dormitory where a few students live in the same apartment.
They share that apartment, kitchen, bathroom, and everything. They share everything because sharing an apartment is cheaper than renting alone.
You get the point; it’s the same way with your website. It shares all the server resources with other websites on shared hosting.
One physical web server hosts multiple websites simultaneously. Your website shares common server resources such as RAM and CPU with many different customers.
It is the most cost-efficient type of hosting. You can always start from there and upgrade when you need a more advanced solution.
Some Crucial Things to Consider Before Buying Shared Hosting
Choosing web hosting is pretty tricky for a beginner. But it would help if you considered some criteria before buying shared hosting for your web hosting.
In this part, I will discuss some points you need to consider before buying shared hosting as a beginner.
#1 – Considering your Budget
The price is a big deal when you buy a shared hosting package as a beginner. It is essential to find a hosting service that fits your budget.
But I will warn you about one thing: the cheapest option is only sometimes the best. If you find a tempting hosting option, you will get what you pay for.
Try to buy shared hosting after researching the company properly. Reading reviews can be a good option for finding the best shared hosting.
Interestingly, Hostinger is one of the most popular web hosting providers, and they have agreed to offer my users a free domain name and 85% off on purchasing any web hosting.
Hostinger’s starting shared hosting plan is only $1.99, which is considered budget-friendly.
Also, you can use other popular shared hosting providers like Network Solutions or StableHost; they also offer shared hosting at very low prices.
But I always recommend Hostinger for beginners because it is one of the best and oldest hosting providers on the web.
#2 – Uptime
Uptime is essential for your website. Uptime is the amount of time your website is online and working. You must fulfill your goal with high uptime, and your website will eventually fail.
So, it is essential to choose a hosting service that can guarantee a high uptime. Firstly, you need to look for hosting companies that offer at least a 99% uptime guarantee.
But it will be a wise choice if you can find an uptime of 99.9%.
#3 – Bandwidth
Bandwidth is a term that can be confusing if you are a beginner. But don’t worry. I will make it simple for you to understand bandwidth.
It is the amount of information that can be sent between your website and the people who visit it from your hosting server.
When you have a lot of visitors, you’ll need a hosting service that can handle and provide information to all of that traffic without any problems.
Luckily, most shared hosting services offer unlimited bandwidth. But sometimes there are some restrictions. Some companies will charge you extra money if you exceed a specific limit.
#4 – Storage
This means how much information you can store on the server. Storage is crucial, and you need to understand how it works.
Most shared hosting services offer unlimited storage. But you must remember that you will share that storage with other websites on the same server.
There are many types of storage, SSD and HDD. Try to choose an SSD because it is way faster than HDD.
Estimating the amount of storage you need before buying any shared hosting is a clever strategy.
#5 – Support
As a beginner, you will only understand a few things at first. So having good support to help you when you need it is always a good option.
Good customer support is a must when purchasing shared hosting. When looking for a hosting company, you need to ensure they have good customer service.
Excellent and fast customer service is necessary to solve any problem with your website.
It will help if you are looking for hosting providers that offer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Remember to read reviews to find out how fast they respond and how good their support is.
Who Needs to Choose a Shared Hosting Plan?
After all the things I’ve talked about, you can ask me who needs shared hosting. So firstly, shared hosting is the best option if you have a small budget. It is the best choice if you are a beginner with few IT skills.
If you are, you’re comfortable with the idea of learning new IT skills, such as how to use a control panel, or willing to get to grips with CMS such as WordPress.
Lastly, these shared hosting plans are suitable if you want to build a blog, portfolio, or review website.
What are the Benefits of Shared Hosting?
Most of the time, shared hosting is a cheap type of web hosting. Since multiple websites share the same server, the cost of it is split between them.
As a result, you can get shared hosting much cheaper than other types of hosting, like dedicated hosting.
You don’t need to know much IT skills to operate shared hosting. People who could be more tech-savvy can use shared hosting easily.
The fun fact is that the hosting company will take care of all the technical stuff for you.
If you think you cannot customize shared hosting, you are wrong. Although the server is shared, each website has its own space.
And you can change your website according to your needs. You can install your software and set up your settings.
This will let you make your site unique and fit your needs. Another fact is that you don’t need much space or bandwidth; shared hosting is the best option for you.
Most shared hosting companies offer their customers technical support. It is beneficial for people who need to learn more about how to solve problems independently.
What are the Downsides of Shared Hosting?
The server’s CPU, memory, and disk space are shared among the multiple websites hosted there.
Because of this, the performance of all sites hosted on the same server can be negatively affected if just one site consumes a disproportionate amount of system resources.
Another downside of shared hosting is that if you’re looking for security, you might want to look elsewhere, as shared hosting is only sometimes as reliable as dedicated or VPS hosting.
Depending on the hosting provider, website owners may have little control over the server’s configuration settings or the installation of any necessary software.
The website’s speed may be hindered, and it may be more challenging to implement bespoke software.
There is a possibility that shared hosting providers provide less technical support than dedicated hosting providers.
Wrap Up
Lastly, choosing to host is difficult for beginners. But this article will help you select the best shared hosting plan.
If you follow the instructions I have discussed in this article and choose shared hosting from the company I have mentioned, you will get what you have paid for.
Moreover, if you are still struggling to find hosting, you can check out my other blog post about the best web hosting provider.
