To have a online presence, you must have a host. The two principal options available for website hosting are shared and dedicated packages. A web site that has dedicated hosting has the server all to themselves, whilst a shared host is split amongst many customers. This article will help you select the one that will work best for your online presence.

Web sites are stored on servers which are just computers that have been organized to respond to data requests from the internet. Each server has an unique Internet Protocol (IP) address made up of four sets of digits separated by dots such as 123.456.78.9.

Dedicated Hosting

For a dedicated server, all the power of the server, as well as the IP address, are unique to that web site and are yours to utilize as you desire. It can be utilized to host just one site or many. You have access to the entire bandwidth of the server, and you can utilize as much disk space as required.

Organizations with large complex websites that receive a lot of traffic really should have a dedicated server. Sites with a dedicated server are also able to execute any type of script they need. This is especially important for those that are developing new scripts and need to test them without affecting other web sites.

Shared Hosting

Web sites sharing a single server are sharing all the resources of that server. Shared hosting places several websites on the same server, all using the same disk space, bandwidth, and IP address. The host will limit each site to a specified amount of disk space and bandwidth to be utilized each month, in order to provide sufficient service to all the shared sites. Sites that go over their limit may be charged a substantial penalty or even temporarily closed down.

The number of sites that are shared by a particular server is not as important as the amount of traffic each is receiving. A server hosting 200 low traffic sites will respond much faster than one with 50 sites receiving lots of visitors.

Because the cost of running the server is split amongst many customers, shared hosting is much cheaper than dedicated. It’s available for as little as $1 a month, whilst dedicated hosting can run to more than $200 per month.

How to Decide Between Shared and Dedicated Web Hosting

Large complicated websites that expect to receive 1,000 or more visitors a day should opt for dedicated hosting. It’s also a good choice for developers who expect to research and test new internet technologies.

Small companies and individuals with small sites are probably better off with shared hosting. The cost is certainly more reasonable. Just be sure to choose a host with a good reputation who will protect your site from others that could put your site at risk.