So, you’re ready to create your first website? Congrats! You’ve probably already discovered that shared hosting is the most budget-friendly option out there, but is it a wise choice or a potential pitfall? What exactly do you get with a shared hosting plan, and will it be enough to keep your site running smoothly?
With so many provider plans to choose from, every website owner needs to understand they get on a shared hosting plan before making their decision. Don’t worry, though – we’ve got you covered! In this article, we’ll explore the main features, advantages, and drawbacks of shared plans. We’ll also give you the scoop on shared hosting alternatives, so you can find the best fit for your online venture.
What is Shared Hosting?
Shared hosting is a web hosting service where multiple sites share the same physical server and its resources, such as CPU, RAM, and bandwidth. The most common type of web hosting, it allows individual users to start and maintain a website without the cost of paying for the upkeep of a full server.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Shared Web Hosting?
There are several benefits that make shared hosting an excellent choice for many websites. No hosting plan is 100% perfect of course. Here are the pros and cons to consider when looking at shared web hosting.
Pro: Cost-Effective
Shared hosting is one of the most cost-effective hosting options. Multiple websites share resources on the same server, making it much cheaper than dedicated or VPS hosting. It's a cost-effective option for anyone just starting out.
Pro: Easy to Use
A further advantage of shared hosting is its user-friendliness. Many shared hosting providers offer intuitive control panels like cPanel, which make it easy to manage your website files and databases.
These control panels offer one-click installations for popular CMS platforms like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. This allows you to launch your website quickly and easily, even if you have limited technical knowledge.
Pro: Maintenance and Management
When you opt for shared hosting, you benefit from your provider’s expertise in server maintenance, security updates, and technical support.
It is your hosting provider's responsibility to monitor for security threats, update software, and address technical issues. This allows you to focus on creating content, growing your business, and engaging with your audience, without worrying about the technical aspects.
Con: Less Control and Flexibility
One of the main drawbacks of shared hosting is the limited control and flexibility you have over server configurations and customizations.
The shared nature of the server can make performance optimization challenging and may prevent you from installing custom applications required for your website.
You still have complete control over your website, but you cannot make specific changes, like the specific version of PHP the server uses. This usually isn't an issue for those just starting, but it can be a limitation as you grow.
Con: Limited Resources
With shared hosting, you’ll be sharing the same system resources like RAM and CPU with other websites on the same server.
Those resources are divided between users, so your website may load slower during high-traffic periods. Slow loading times can negatively affect your visitor's experience and even your SEO rankings.
Hosting companies typically balance their shared servers by putting several low-traffic websites and only one or two moderate-traffic websites on the same system.
This usually prevents slowdowns due to traffic spikes, but the limited resources can still impact your page load speeds.
Con: Security Risks
Although rare, there is still an increased risk of malware and virus infections. Since your website shares the same server with others, a security breach in one site could potentially compromise the security of all websites, including yours.
Hosting providers have comprehensive security measures in place to limit these security risks. But it is something you should consider, especially if you collect personal information or store sensitive data on your website.
What to Look for When Choosing a Shared Hosting Plan
When shopping around for a hosting company, you should evaluate the following options before deciding.
Uptime
Uptime is the amount of time the server - and your website - are accessible on the Internet. Conversely, downtown is the time your website is not accessible from the Internet
Low or inconsistent uptime can negatively impact your website. Not only will your visitors have a hard time loading your site, but frequent stretches of downtime can cause your site to appear lower in search results.
A standard benchmark for most hosting providers is 99.9% uptime. Putting that in simple terms, your website might not be available for roughly 45 minutes over the course of an entire month.
But even that much downtime is unlikely and it's even more rare that that you would see even a few minutes of consecutive downtime. In most cases, the actual amount of downtime is almost unnoticeable.
However, you should always look for an uptime guarantee. It's a trust signal that your host is committed to providing consistent, reliable service.
A2 Hosting offers a 99.9% uptime commitment to ensure your website is always accessible.
Customer Support
Customer support can significantly impact your overall hosting experience, especially when issues arise.
Obviously, your website not loading is a significant issue and most support teams can address and resolve those issues quickly.
But it's more likely that you will have issues where your website loads, but not exactly how you want it to.
This is where a knowledgeable support team is important. They can help solve your problem so your website looks great and works for your visitors.
Look for a host that has great reviews specifically about their support team. They should also have a comprehensive knowledge base so you can troubleshoot minor issues on your own.
Our in-house Guru Crew customer support team are available 24/7/365 by phone, chat, ticketing system, and email to help resolve any issue. Plus, we have a robust knowledgebase with tips and how-tos on almost any topic.
Scalability
Scalability is key for allowing your website to adapt to changes in traffic or resource needs. A scalable hosting plan lets you grow without interruptions or complicated migrations.
Whether you need more system resources for better site performance or want to launch more websites, look for a host that allows you to easily upgrade your plan.
A2 Hosting offers several Web Hosting plans that allow you to balance your needs with the cost. If you need better performance, we have Turbo Hosting plans that are up to 20X faster.
For more control over your hosting environment, we also offer Virtual Private Server (VPS) and Dedicated Server plans.
You can quickly and easily upgrade your service anytime with virtually no downtime or interruptions in service.
Performance and Speed
When choosing a shared hosting plan, consider the hosting infrastructure, including server hardware, and whether they use SSD storage and caching tehcnology.
Factors greatly impact your site’s speed and performance and visitors are more likely to leave your site if the pages load too slowly.
Speed also affects SEO, as the average loading time for a first-page result on Google is 1.65 seconds—much faster than the overall average of 2.5 seconds.
A2 Hosting uses premium hardware like ultra-fast CPUs and SSD storage and includes LiteSpeed Web Servers with all hosting plans.
Choose a hosting provider like Hosting.com, which offers fast and reliable services, including NVMe SSD storage and caching systems. NVMe SSDs are significantly faster than traditional SATA SSDs, using the PCIe interface for more bandwidth and lower latency. This translates into superior performance for your website.
Storage
Sometimes still called disk space, storage is another important thing to consider when choosing a web host. You want to look at the amount of space included as well as the type of storage.
Between 5 and 10 GB is usually plenty of storage space for even the most robust website or WordPress blog. You really only need unlimited storage if you are hosting extremely large files or have a huge database of information.
Perhaps more important than the amount, you also need to check what type of storage the host uses. Spinning disk-based hard drives (HDDs) are becoming obsolete in hosting because they are much slower than modern alternatives.
SSDs, or solid-state drives, offer faster read/write speeds, which means your website loads faster than traditional HDDs. If speed really matters, look for ultra-fast NVMe storage, that offers up to 3X faster read/write speeds.
Our Web Hosting plans start with 10 GB of storage, with many unlimited plans available. We use SSD storage for all files, databases, and software on our basic hosting tier. Our Turbo Hosting plans use NVMe storage for significantly fast page load speeds.
Transfer Limit and LVEs
Another thing to consider when choosing a host are transfer limits and LVEs.
Sometimes called bandwidth, the transfer limit is the maximum amount of data your website can use each month. While limits were common years ago, most hosts now offer unlimited transfers.
LVE (Lightweight Virtual Environment) allows services to isolate resources in shared web hosting. Not all hosts list their LVEs, so it's important to read the specifications carefully.
A2 Hosting includes specs on our servers and our LVE limits in our web hosting comparisons for full transparency.
Security Features
Security should be a priority when picking a shared hosting plan. Look for features like malware scanning, DDoS protection, and firewalls. Not all hosting companies offer the same level of protection.
SSL certificates are another security feature to consider. Most hosts offer free Domain Verification certificates, but you may need to upgrade to another type of SSL for better protection and trust with your site visitors.
A2 Hosting provides comprehensive security protection and a free Domain Verification SSL certificate. If you need additional encryption, we offer all levels of SSLs as add-ons for all hosting plans.
Email Hosting
If you need email accounts for your website, check what the hosting plan includes.
Some plans include a fixed number of email addresses, while others include unlimited accounts.
Also look for specifics about features like webmail access, spam filters, and email forwarders.
A2 Hosting’s shared plans come with unlimited email accounts, allowing you to create as many addresses as you need for personal or business use.
You can log in to your accounts through webmail or use standard IMAP or POP3 to sync messages with popular email programs.
Value
Many hosting providers focus on the price of their plans, but you should consider the value of the features offered.
Consider how much you will pay for the resources, performance, and support you get. You should also take into account promotional pricing and renewal costs.
A2 Hosting offers a premium hosting experience at a highly competitive price point. All of our plans are built for speed, performance, and reliability.
How to Know When to Upgrade Your Hosting Plan
As your website grows and evolves, there may come a point when your shared hosting plan can no longer meet its demands. Here are some indicators that it might be time to consider an upgrade to VPS or dedicated hosting:
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Resource demands: The first sign it's time to upgrade is you run out of resources. If your site regularly loads slowly, you need more system resources like CPU and RAM. Higher-tier plans offer dedicated resources that will significantly boost performance.
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Security concerns: If security is a primary concern, upgrading to VPS or dedicated hosting can offer better isolation and control over security measures. With dedicated resources, you can implement advanced security protocols and have greater control over software updates and patches.
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Customization needs: If you need specific software configurations or administrative control, shared hosting can be too restrictive. VPS or dedicated hosting provides greater flexibility to install custom software, modify server settings, and tailor the environment to your unique requirements.
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High traffic: Shared plans are designed to handle a lot of traffic, but there may come a time when you have too many visitors. High traffic can create a poor user experience. Upgrading to VPS or dedicated hosting can provide the necessary resources and performance to handle increased traffic.
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Business growth: As your business grows, your website may outgrow the limitations of shared hosting. Upgrading to VPS or dedicated hosting can accommodate increased traffic and resource needs, and ensure your website can continue to scale and support your business’s growth.
Should you find yourself outgrowing your shared hosting plan, Hosting.com offers expert migration assistance to help you transition to a VPS or dedicated hosting plan that better suits your needs.
Get Premium Shared Web Hosting From Hosting.com
If you are ready to get started with premium web hosting, Hosting.com has affordable plans to fit your needs.
Explore our Shared Web Hosting plans now, starting as low as $1.95 per month with current incentives.
All our plans include premium hardware and enough resources to launch a successful website. If you need better performance, consider our Turbo Hosting options, with up to 40%faster CPUs and ultra-fast NVMe storage.
If you are not sure that shared web hosting is right for you, we also offer VPS and Dedicated Hosting at competitive prices.
