Shared Hosting vs. Cloud Hosting: What's the Difference?
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
When you’re considering the best version of hosting for your business, there are many different options to choose from. Some of the most popular options people are considering include shared hosting and cloud hosting.
So what exactly is the difference? Let us show you! In this guide, we will break it down and let you in on the differences between these two types of hosting.
What is Cloud Hosting?
Cloud hosting takes everything you do on servers and networks and places that responsibility into the cloud, rather than having a variety of servers you have to depend on.
The nice thing about cloud hosting is everything is digital and you can customize the cloud hosting options to meet your business’s needs. This hosting solution is pretty powerful, and it works well for businesses that are perhaps spread out and need plenty of power paired with a lot of flexibility.
Cloud hosting basically relies on a myriad of servers that don’t have to be in your physical control. The cloud hosting company you work through has the responsibility of maintaining those servers.
What is Shared Hosting?
Shared hosting is different from cloud hosting in several ways. This is one of the most popular web hosting options out there, because it’s really affordable. With shared hosting, a server is divided up to many different users to share.
Every user gets the same access and same bandwidth on the server. This is a form of web hosting, so again it’s a hosting source that doesn’t require you to be responsible for a physical server location.
Think of it as you renting an apartment on that server. Multiple other people are renting apartments as well in the server, and the landlord is responsible for maintenance and keeping the server secure and operational.
Benefits of Cloud Hosting
Probably one of the greatest things about cloud hosting is that it is nearly infinite. Millions of people can operate on cloud hosting and your operations aren’t slowed down or hindered by the other 999,999 people on the same cloud as you.
It’s all virtual, so you don’t have to worry about hiring tech or server maintenance people. You’re just paying your cloud host a fee and letting them handle all of those details while you happily use their cloud space.
Cloud hosting is incredibly reliable, it’s scalable, it performs amazingly, and it’s affordable when you consider all of the details. Finally, it’s also secure!
Photo by Martijn Baudoin on Unsplash
Reliability
If you’ve ever had to deal with physical servers, you know that they can go down in a heartbeat, and any downtime can cause you a myriad of problems. With cloud hosting, if a server fails or gets too busy, you are transitioned to a new cloud server and you don’t notice the difference.
Scalability
Cloud hosting is scalable. Your business can grow - and so can every other business that is using cloud hosting, and yet you won’t be negatively affected by the growth. Cloud hosting, and any other type of cloud servicing, can handle growing work and accounts for the growth on its own.
Affordable
With cloud hosting, you’re paying for the services you need. When you consider the exchange of using the cloud rather than using your own in-house solutions, you probably will save a bit of money.
Secure
Cloud hosting is also quite secure. There are certain requirements for the cloud but it is also designed with encryption, reliable firewalls, and authentication measures that are designed to keep your data safe and far less likely to face a breach.
Benefits of Shared Hosting
So what are the benefits of shared hosting? You will find some of the benefits will be similar. The main difference is just in how the hosting service operates.
With shared hosting, physical hardware is still in place and you’re part of a pool. Remember that you’re a tenant in one apartment within the server. You don’t have to worry about the server, but your host service does, and you pay them to do so.
The biggest downside of shared hosting is that multiple people are on the same server, so the strength or the power that you need is never guaranteed. The power and processing of that server could be inconsistent and could be pulled in a lot of directions at once.
Simplicity
Shared hosting is simple to work with. It’s very easy to get yourself set up, and you really don’t have to worry about the details. You let your servicing host worry about that and just do your thing.
Affordability
Next, shared hosting is probably one of the most affordable hosting options out there. If you’re looking to do something cheap and you’re working online, this is considered to be the most economical option available, because the cost of a single server is split between all of the tenants.
Support
Since you’re just a tenant of the shared hosting platform, you don’t have to worry about the maintenance or the backups. You don’t have to worry about the speed, the upkeep, or even the security. All of those are up to your host. You pay for the service, and you expect them to keep it up to par.
Shared Hosting vs. Cloud Hosting
When it comes down to it, shared hosting and cloud posting both have their positive sides and uses. Host for Web covers both of these hosting services and more. We’d love to help you with your hosting needs. Get the support and the service that you need and deserve. You worry about your business details, and let us handle the rest!