Shared Vs VPS Vs Cloud Vs Dedicated Hosting Options Compared for 2023

There are different types of hosting plans available, Some of them are really cheap and affordable while other plans are really expensive. Learn the difference between these hosting plans,

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You have put in all your time, effort, and money in designing a website, and now it is time to launch it. When you want to launch a website, everything boils down to hosting, and when it comes to hosting, you have different options to choose from such as:

  1. Shared hosting service 
  2. Dedicated hosting service
  3. Cloud hosting
  4. VPS Hosting

Just like the choices of hosting are many, so are its features, benefits, and consequences. It is therefore needed to choose the right web hosting service provider when you are ready to launch your new website project.

However, choosing the right web hosting service can be a tough decision to make, even for the most experienced website developers. 

  • You will most importantly need to consider the service type and quality to get the highest return on your investment.
  • You will also need to consider the features and benefits so that it aligns with your web hosting needs successfully and efficiently.

To start with, you will need to work out the hosting you need. For that matter, you will need to explore all these four major types of hosting services and balance them with your needs and requirements. 

1. Shared hosting service

shared vs managed vs cloud vs vps hosting
Image Source: Medium

One of the most popular choices is the shared hosting, especially for those designers who are building their first website and wants to see the result.

In this specific type of hosting service, after you sign up, the hosting company will put your site on a server. Here there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of other sites as well. This means that:

  • There will be a lot of competition, and for that matter, you will need an excellent SEO service as well and 
  • Each of the owners of the websites will need to share the space as well as the resources available on the server with all other customers.
  • You will also have to share the disk space, memory, and CPU time with hundreds of other websites.

It is very much similar to living in a large apartment building where you have your living space to you but the common amenities like the elevators, stairwells, garbage collection, park, and car parking space are shared. 

The good things about shared hosting are that:

  • It is the cheapest and most economical option
  • It is suitable for the beginners
  • You will not need to worry about upgrades, maintenance, and security that will be managed by the server itself.

The downside is that you get what you pay for, and this type of service comes with its own set of limitations, which most of the time are strict. 

  • The page load time may be more since there are so many other websites operating on the same server. 
  • Moreover, though the server provides security, it is not guaranteed. If there is a leak, your site may be affected.
  • Since there is a lack of server control, it may affect performance, and there is no scope for scaling up due to short storage and bandwidth.

However, if the price is your concern and you are okay with minimal traffic for your small site, this is the most effective type of hosting service for you.

Best Shared Hosting Services for WordPress

There are so many companies offering shared hosting services but you need to make sure, shared hosting provider is not only offering affordable hosting plans but they also offer good service.

1.1 BlueHost

Affordable WordPress Hosting Bluehost
Affordable WordPress Hosting Bluehost

is one of the most popular hosting providers. They are offering hosting plans as low as $3.95/month. They also offer Pro WordPress hosting plans starting from $20/month. Pro WordPress Hosting includes All-in-one marketing center, dashboard, SEO, email marketing, and social media tools.

1.2 SiteGround

Siteground Shared and Managed WordPress Hosting
Siteground Shared and Managed WordPress Hosting

offers Shared, Managed WordPress, High Performance WooCommerce and scalable Cloud hosting plans. Shared, Managed and WooComemrce Hosting plans are starting from $3.95/month only while cloud hosting plans are staring from $80/month with 2 CPU cores, 4GB memory, 40GB SSD storage, and 5 TB Data transfer.

1.3 Coolhandle Hosting Plans

CoolHandle Cheap Shared WordPress and Reseller Hosting
CoolHandle Cheap Shared WordPress and Reseller Hosting

is offering 3 types of Shared, WordPress and Reseller hosting plans. Each plan has 3 sub plans for small and large scale sites. Shared Hosting plans are starting from $3.95-$8.95/month, Managed WordPress Hosting Plans are starting from $5.95-$9.95/month. 

With these plans, You can host multiple WordPress, Joomla, Wiki and other types of sites. They also offer free site migrations and free marketing credit upto $250.

CoolHandle Reseller Hosting Plan is the best affordable plan for developers and agencies, With this plan, You can Start your own Web Hosting Company. Reseller Plans are starting from as low as 39.95/month and unlimited domain are allowed. 

1.4 NameCheap

namecheap shared hosting
namecheap shared hosting

is the best domain name registrar, They also offer different type of shared, Business, VPS and Reseller and dedicated hosting plans.

Namecheap shared hosting plan are starting from as low as $1.44/month, They offer most affordable WordPress and Shared Hosting plans. You can host multiple sites with unmetered bandwidth. 

Managed WordPress Hosting at Namecheap is starting from only $1.83/month. I have been hosting one of my blog with Namecheap WordPress hosting and I am pretty satisfied with this affordable hosting plan.

2. Virtual Private Server hosting

VPS hosting plans
VPS Hosting Plans

VPS or Virtual Private Server hosting service is much similar to shared hosting because, in this hosting, the same service is shared with other websites like yours. However, the difference is that:

  • There are a lesser number of sites sharing the space and resources 
  • The server is separated into various virtualized server environments and
  • You are provided with guaranteed baseline resources.  

You may also get additional resources as well in a short notice that may be required to spike traffic and performance of the site.

If shared hosting can be compared with living in an apartment building, VPS hosting is more like living in a condominium. Here you share the same building with other dwellers, but you are responsible for the maintenance of your property. You will need to do any repairs required inside your condo. You also get your own dedicated car parking space because fewer residents live here.

The pros and cons

Looking at the merits and demerits of Virtual Private Server hosting, companies like Big Drop Inc may prefer to use it for website launching purposes. 

The pros of VPS hosting include:

  • This is a more affordable hosting solution as compared to a dedicated server
  • Here you pay for what you want
  • It is more secure because it is completely separated from other websites as the sites are segmented properly 
  • The hosting company installs an additional layer of software to dedicate a portion of the server to your site
  • It is fast, and you will have more resources available to you than shared hosting
  • It will allow you root server access so that you can customize according to your needs and
  • You will have more control over the hosting environment and, therefore, more scalable.

The best part of VPS hosting is that it grows with your site because your server will need to increase over time. However, there are also a few downsides to it, such as:

  • There may be some server companies that may oversell their servers thinking that every site hosted by it will not have peak traffic day and it will cost you more than shared hosting and 
  • You will find it challenging to configure, mainly if you use an unmanaged VPS hosting service, and therefore it will take you a long time to get your site up and running.

This hosting service is best suited for those who need much more than basic hosting and resources. 

2.1 Namecheap VPS Hosting

plans are staring from $12/month. You will get 2 CPU Cores, 2 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD RAID 10, and 1000 GB Bandwidth. These plans offer Free .website domain name and privacy protection, Full root access and Operating System (OS), selection Your choice of Server Management, Top security standards, and free to transfer existing websites and VPS to Namecheap, unlike competitors.

3. Cloud hosting

cloud hosting for WordPress, Joomla, Etc
Cloud Hosting

This hosting service is based on cloud computing technologies and concepts. This system allows an unlimited number of devices to perform as a single system. Therefore, this does not host websites on a single server. Instead, it hosts them as a virtual partition of a server.

Moreover, this system of hosting derives the necessary resources from the existing network of servers. This means that it can access multiple servers and work together to effectively and successfully deal with higher levels of traffic or any spike for a particular website.

  • This is a reliable hosting option because changes of low performance of your site when a specific server goes down is minimized. Since it draws resources from multiple different servers, one will fill in the gap when one server goes down.
  • Cloud hosting is also very scalable and flexible options as well because it will grow with your website, and you will be able to add the resources as and when your site needs it.

However, you will need to share resources with other sites, much like you will have to do in VPS hosting. The good thing is that you will have more resources available to you due to the involvement of more servers in it.

The only downside of using cloud hosting is that you will need to have some advanced knowledge about the technology to set it up and start using it straight away, even if you are an experienced developer. 

4. Dedicated hosting

dedicated WordPress Hosting
Dedicated Hosting Plans

A dedicated server is an exclusive service provided to your website and perhaps is the best, provided you can afford the price of such a particular type of web hosting service because it is costlier than the others. 

  • In this system, your website is stored on a dedicated single and physical server. 
  • It is for your personal use, and you will not have to share it with anyone else. 
  • You will have complete authority and control over the resources of the server allocated to you.
  • You will be able to configure the hosting environments easily as per your web hosting needs and to the exact specifications.

All these will ensure high performance of your site, high level of security and management, and high traffic as a result. The best part is that you will get 24/7 support. 

This is just like your own house. You are the only resident, with your family, of course, to it, you do all repairs and maintenance. The parking space, the driveway, and the security are all your own and your responsibility to maintain.

However, you will need to have exceptional technical knowledge for using and maintaining or hire a proficient and skilled technical staff for that matter to keep the performance level of the server optimized. 

Hence, this hosting service is best suited for large companies having a considerable amount of money and more advanced web hosting needs.

4.1 Namecheap Dedicated Server Hosting

namecheap dedicated server hosting
namecheap dedicated server hosting

Your Dedicated Server is hosted in the renowned PhoenixNAP datacenter, located in the US. From enterprise-level processors to ECC memory, you can count on the highest of standards and relax in the safest of hands.

Dedicated Servers Hosting Plans are starting from $47month when paid yearly. You have the option to pay monthly, quarterly and yearly.

4.2 WP Engine Dedicated WordPress Hosting

Wpengine hosting + WordPress Themes by StudioPress
Wpengine hosting + WordPress Themes by StudioPress

WP Engine is one the most popular and best Dedicated WordPress Hosting service provider. The advantage of choosing WP Engine over hosting providers is that, You will also get Free access to 35+ Premium StudioPress Themes, Genesis Framework, Atomic Blocks Pro page builder plugin, Local Development and many other tools.

In simple terms, dedicated WordPress hosting is a plan that involves the use of one server. As opposed to shared and VPS hosting โ€“ both of which use small areas within one server โ€“ dedicated hosting provides you with your very own server.

A dedicated server is common among enterprise-grade websites, including corporations and e-commerce storefronts. This is directly related to the benefits that dedicated hosting provides, as such websites require higher levels of security, reliability, and flexibility.

Get 3 months Free when you signup for WP Engine

5. Choosing the right one

Now that you know the differences in different types of web hosting services, it is up to you to choose the right one, according to your needs. 

When you make a choice, make sure that you check aspects such as:

  • Server deployment and management
  • Sharing model
  • Scalability
  • Cost
  • Flexibility
  • Security
  • Customization features and ability
  • Reliability and 
  • Performance.

Most companies choose VPS hosting because it is safe, fast, manageable, and needs no technical knowledge. However, cloud hosting is in-thing now and is also favored.  

About Author: Barrack Diego

Barrack Diego has worked as an editor and writer for more than 10 years. He enjoys mentoring young and upcoming writers. To find out more about web design, SEO, Social Media, Hosting, Marketing, Business, UI/UX visit BigDropinc

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