Do You Need a Dedicated Server?
Photo by İsmail Enes Ayhan on Unsplash
When choosing a hosting plan for your website, there’s a lot you need to consider. From shared hosting to dedicated hosting plans, each level of online hosting will be better suited for different websites. Having a dedicated server with devoted resources for your website sounds like a great idea, but it’s not for everyone. Knowing whether or not a dedicated server is right for you can help you better maintain your website and help support your business or brand’s bottom line.
What is a Dedicated Server?
In order to host a website online, you need to have your data stored on a server. These servers are what connect to the internet, allowing people to view and interact with your website. Because most websites aren’t super complicated, they often share server space with many others. In fact, hundreds of small-scale websites can all live together on one server.
A dedicated server, however, is a server that belongs exclusively to one customer. They don’t always support just one website, however. With a dedicated server, the owner can ensure that all resources available can be put to use for them, and they have a greater opportunity to customize their hardware and software options.
Who Benefits from Dedicated Hosting Plans?
Getting a dedicated server for a single-page website isn’t necessary. Dedicated hosting plans are built to provide more power and resources to businesses and websites that need them. While not everyone will benefit from a dedicated server, certain websites and business ventures can.
Large Businesses
Large-scale businesses can highly benefit from having a dedicated server, no matter what type of business they are. The bigger a company is, the more likely they are to have increased web traffic. And with increased traffic, you want to have the resources and power needed to support it. With other hosting plans, you have a maximum amount of resources that don’t always reach what you need, causing your website to react slowly or even suffer periods of downtime. A dedicated server helps ensure your website is always up and running at its best.
Complex Websites
Even if you don’t have a large business, you’ll want a dedicated server if you have a particularly complex website. Website complexity is impacted mainly by user interaction. Having personal accounts with editable content, user forums, games to play, or videos to watch can all make your website more complex. In order to properly run all the scripting this involves, you’ll want to have a dedicated server to help support your website with the right resources and power.
Hosting Resellers
Reseller hosting has become a popular business that can be either a side gig or a full-time job. You don’t have to buy a dedicated server just for your websites alone. A dedicated server works just like any other server, and you can host other people’s websites on there as well. With a dedicated server, you can boost your reseller hosting business by offering more hosting space for your clients.
Does Your Company Need a Dedicated Server?
Even if you fit the bill for a business or brand that would benefit from a dedicated server, that doesn’t mean it’s the best option. Choosing to upgrade to a dedicated server is a big choice, and you should consider all the factors before making a decision.
Money
Dedicated servers are the costliest hosting plans around. You’re getting unlimited access to power and resources that you wouldn’t find on a shared server. But you are paying for the entire server yourself rather than sharing the cost with others. Before deciding to make the leap to a dedicated server, check that you have the budget for it. If your website is constantly running slowly, or you have plans for major updates and growth soon, then it may be time to upgrade.
Photo by Massimo Botturi on Unsplash
Management
Having a dedicated server means maintaining that server. For many, maintaining and managing a server and website is too time-consuming, leaving less time to focus on other aspects of their business or brand. Thankfully, many hosting providers include fully managed dedicated server packages. With one of these plans, you can leave the management to the professionals while you focus on your business. If you don’t want to pay for the extra management, make sure you’ll have the time or manpower to keep up with your server maintenance.
Are There Other Options?
If you want some extra power, but aren’t ready to go to a fully dedicated server yet, there are other hosting options. With virtual private hosting or cloud hosting plans, you can increase your resources without moving to a server all by yourself. In these plans, you’re still sharing server space with others (thus spreading around the cost), but there’s a cap to how many websites can share one space. This guarantees you a specific number of resources for your website to use that will help support more traffic and complex interactions. If you need a little more power behind your website, consider VPS or cloud hosting options as a good in-between while your company continues to grow.
Dedicated Hosting Plans with HostForWeb
At HostForWeb, our goal is to provide each client with the best online hosting experience possible. Our hosting plans support any level of business and any kind of website they may need. With dedicated hosting plans, cloud hosting plans, and shared hosting plans, we have the perfect package for your business or brand. You can browse our available hosting plans online or give us a call at 1-833-201-8322 if you have any questions about your account or the hosting plans we offer.