What is Shared Hosting? Is It a Good Idea to Use For Your Website [ Ultimate Guide ]

If you’re looking to start a website or an online business that needs a website and you’re asking, what is shared hosting, then, you’re just in the right article.

So, in this article, we’ll go about everything you need to know about it. We’ll walk you through defining what it is, we’ll garner up all its pros and cons, how it works, and all other topics adjacent to it!

A lot of people think have misconceptions about shared hosting, and we’re here to straighten all of those out. And while it does have advantageous factors relating to it, it has a few lapses and drawbacks as well.

What is Hosting?

Before we jump off and dive straight into shared hosting, let’s first try to build the concrete idea on what hosting is.

Hosting, in the most formal way possible, is defined as the service which storage and computing resources are stored. With hosting, website owners or webmasters are able to keep, store, and maintain files and resources for one (1) or more websites.

In a nutshell, it’s simply the “place” or the area where the files are kept and stored. There has to be an area for all of your content to be stored at, right? That’s what hosting is.

Most people, especially beginners overcomplicate what hosting is. Do not. It is as simple as the place where your website, as well as all other resources are.

Domain vs. Hosting

A lot of times, people who are new to it will confuse domains with hosting. It’s totally understandable, since most companies that offer domains also offer hosting – so, how are they different? Let’s take a look at each of them for us to be able to compare.

Domain, in the simplest terms possible, is the address in which users or visitors access to be able to find the website. Without a domain, the addresses would be a whole bunch of numbers that could be difficult to memorize and be familiar with.

Hosting, following that, is the place where the website or the domain is kept and stored. This is the reason why hosting companies have their own available domains and vice versa.

So, in this alone, it’s easy to say that the domain is the “what,” while the hosting is the “where.”

What is Shared Hosting? Is it a Good Idea For Your Website?

Shared hosting is a term that’s directly connected to and linked to what it is. It is a hosting platform or a server wherein you share with other websites. So, in retrospect, when you have a website or a domain and you get hosting for it, you’re renting it out, right? Shared hosting is the same, it’s just that it’s not only you who is renting – there are others who are sharing the same room or area as well.

Have you ever ridden a carpool? If so, the idea of a carpool is the same with shared hosting. Because of it, webmasters or website owners are able to pay a lower fee as compared to getting their own hosting.

Most of the time, new website owners leverage shared hosting because it’s easy, it’s inexpensive, and it has been designed and optimized to be used for beginners.

Is it Safe?

In case you’re concerned about the data of your website being shared to others, don’t. Just because it’s labelled as “shared hosting,” doesn’t mean you’re sharing everything.

The shared hosting environment, also referred to as virtual hosting, is the way to allow you to rent out or host your website on a physical server that’s also hosting to other websites and web pages.

And to answer the question, yes, it is completely safe! It’s not like they’re going to share the content of your website as well!

How Does Shared Hosting Work?

There are numerous ways of how we can symbolize everyday items and things to help you understand how shared hosting works, but think of it as a highway or an expressway that tons of other cars and vehicles share on a daily basis.

Shared hosting works just like how a computer does – a single server containing a CPU or a central processing unit, a hard drive for space, and a RAM for processing. All of these resources are shared by the people who paid to be able to rent for the space that they have.

This arrangement is systematized in such a way that no more than one (1) domain will be shared and that each and every host has confidentiality in their resources and data. That is what makes shared hosting so popular, even for webmasters who already have experience.

Benefits of Shared Hosting

Have you ever wondered why some people choose going with shared hosting even though they don’t totally own it? Is it just because of how cheap it is compared to other types of hosting? Or are there any other factors connected to it?

Well, in all honesty, it’s actually due to a few reasons, and they are the following:

Cost-Effective and Much Cheaper

Probably the best and most sought-after advantage of shared hosting is its affordability. Compared to other types of hosting, shared hosting is cheap and affordable because it’s being shared by many people.

Imagine having a 5-bedroom house and you just have it prepared for one (1) person – that person will shoulder and take care of the costs of the entirety of the house, right? But what if they’re shared by five (5)? The costs will be split.

Easier to Manage

Shared hosting is also the type of hosting that’s easier to manage. It is user-friendly and typically just plug-and-play. You’ll find tons of providers that have website management tools that aren’t as expensive and as complicated as dedicated or VPS servers.

Dynamic Websites Are Hosted

Contrary to common belief about shared hosting, they’re actually able to host dynamic websites. Shared hosting is engineered and designed to be in accordance to what the user is looking for.

Better Customizations

Last, but most definitely not least is the fact that the customizations available for shared hosting is a lot better and wider. It’s normal to think of it as a simpler and less flexible tool, but that’s actually not what the case is.

It is simpler, yes, but, that does not mean that the customizations and styles are less. You’ll still have the ability to customize certain things and how your panel or dashboard looks like for ease of access and management.

Those are the top advantages and benefits of pursuing shared hosting. Of course, you will be able to find more of them along the way – it’s better when you’re experiencing it firsthand.

And while you may think of it as a perfect setting, it’s not. There are actually a few drawbacks and cons to it.

Drawbacks of Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is a good deal, but, it’s not as perfect as you think. So, we present to you a couple of the cons and drawbacks you ought to be aware of before you start your journey in indulging in shared hosting.

Limited Resources

Shared hosting is known to have limited resources – well, all types of hosting are. By sharing resources with other websites and businesses, though, could you just imagine the impact it will have?

Think of it like this – if a website gets traffic, it’ll draw the majority of the resources of the server away from others, causing them to be slower.

No Dedicated SSL

Another drawback would be the absence of a dedicated SSL. In case you’re not aware, SSL, which is a Secure Sockets Layer, is the technology that helps in authenticating the identity of a website, as well as helps enable an encrypted connection.

The reason why shared hosting won’t have dedicated SSLs is because shared hosting does not also have a dedicated IP address.

Bad-to-Moderate Customer Support

Customer support is a necessary part of any business, regardless of size, and while most people would want to have a touch of customer support, that’s one of the things shared hosting can’t give you. You see, it’s close to impossible to host and to support thousands of people all at the same time.

So, in turn, these shared hosting platforms would utilize generic tools and bots to help you and to answer questions their subscribers might be having.
There are, however, big companies that offer shared hosting with telephone customer service now. But, the prices and rates of those would be in the likes of the rates of single hosting platforms and services.

No Dedicated IP

Last and most definitely not least in the things you should be wary of when going with shared hosting is that it does not have a dedicated IP. Most of the time, the absence of this dedicated IP puts you at risk of not being able to access your property in case something goes wrong with the domain.

It’s like a line of defence for webmasters or website owners in case there’s something wrong that’ll happen with the domain.

Those are the pros and cons of going for shared hosting versus other types. And while you might think of it as an irreversible factor, if you weigh the two, the pros will definitely outdo the cons. It all goes down to what you are looking for exactly.

Do you want a hosting platform that has an impeccable support system? Do you want one that has a dedicated IP for multi-functionality purposes? Or are you looking for hosting that is cheap, affordable, and easy-to-manage?

Is Shared Hosting For You?

Shared hosting presents a ton of advantages and benefits that could be effective for certain people and business owners. It will be, however, not ideal for people or businesses that are advanced and experienced in building and maintaining websites.

Moreover, businesses and people that would need premium support or constant reminders about the status of their site would find shared hosting a bad platform because of the low number of hosts that have dedicated customer service.

Shared hosting could be the perfect plan for you if you:

• Are looking to save up on costs on the maintenance of your website
• Have little-to-no background knowledge of web hosting and management
• Need a simple website for small business or business purposes without all the complex elements
• Want a hassle-free experience in managing websites

How Much is Shared Hosting?

You can get shared hosting for as little as $5 per month to $20 per month, whereas getting a VPS or cloud hosting can cost as high as $40 – even $100 per month, if you require premium service with powerful features and elements connected to your hosting platform.

Shared hosting is really a good deal if you just want to place your website without any complications on physical servers.

You’ll be able to find plans and deals that can go as low as $2.99 for yearly or annual rates – even lower!

What to Look For in Shared Hosting

There are a couple of things you want to look for in a best hosting providers. That being said, you have to remember that there is not a perfect plan – there will always be pros and cons attached to a plan.

For you to find it easier and to narrow your searches down, here are a few of the most important things you want to look for in a shared hosting service:

Bandwidth

Bandwidth, in layman’s terms is the given and allowable band that’s used for holding the data on your website. What you want to look for in a shared hosting plan is flexible bandwidth where you don’t have to pay ludicrous fees when you reach and exceed the bandwidth of the plan. Some plans offer high bandwidth, while there are some that are unlimited – just be careful with terms and fees related to it.

Customer Support

Who doesn’t want a reliable customer support team that is capable of answering and addressing questions and concerns about a product, service, or a specification? Like what we mentioned, the majority of shared hosting platforms only have bots and generic responses But, that does not mean that no other platform has real people manning it.

You want to find a service that has all the necessary tools and answers, even if they don’t have a support team on the line.

Ease Of Use

Most panels and dashboards of hosting platforms are complex to the extent that they’ll be filled with codes, processes, and maps that are complex and difficult to understand. So, you want to look for a hosting service that has an easy-to-use dashboard.

In addition, you’ll also come across companies and businesses that have pre-installed tools and software that would be critical to the health and status of your website.

Domains

Most, if not all hosting services also offer available domain names – they usually come in a package. It will be extremely convenient and fast if you get a hosting service with domains, so, you don’t have to look at 2 different businesses and talk to different people simultaneously.

Storage

This is the particular factor that affects how much space is needed for a particular element or website. Storage space is the physical disk space that will keep and store files, media, database, and other things. The bigger the storage, the more functionalities it’ll be able to hold.

Uptime

Last but most definitely not least is uptime. Who would want to have a service that is down and unresponsive more than 50% of the time? At most, you want your website to be 99% up and running, this will help attract more and more people to whatever you’re offering.

Nowadays, it’s a challenge to find a website that is up 90%+, so, if you are that website, you’ll most likely see more people and conversions pouring in.
These are of utmost importance when it comes to choosing a shared hosting platform. However, it’s also imperative that you look into your future project. The growth of your website is what you’re aiming for, after all.

Shared Hosting vs. VPS

VPS and shared hosting are the major combating factors in terms of hosting, and it’s something that you should be eager to know about. So, how are they the same? How are they different? Let’s detail that out below!

Shared hosting, as we already know, is the type of hosting that’s shared across multiple users and website owners. It’s like a piece of real estate that’s shared between different people and families.

VPS, short for virtual private server, is the complete opposite. It is the type of plan where a single server’s resources are only directly allocated to a single account. You could run multiple websites on it, but, the only person who is able to access it and to use it would be YOU.

Don’t confuse yourself, with it, though. You are still sharing a physical spot with a VPS with other users and accounts, but virtually, it’s just you alone. It’s like certain aspects and factors of shared hosting is the same with a VPS, it’s just not 100%.

Confused? Don’t worry, we don’t blame you! In fact, we prepared a quick rundown that further outlines the differences between VPS and shared hosting.

These are some of the differences shared hosting has with a VPS. Some of these are minor and aren’t really that big of a deal, but there are certain factors in play that could be crucial on how you run your website or your business.

For e-commerce, though, a VPS would be the best option as it is highly scalable, and it’s easily upgradable and customizable in their own way. Shared hosting will do just fine, but, when it comes to sudden and large-scale changes, it might not work out efficiently.

What is Dedicated Hosting?

Dedicated hosting is the type of hosting that’s made up of a physical server without the virtualization. A lot of times, people mistake dedicated hosting with VPS, and vice versa.

They are the same, in the sense that certain resources are only allocated to YOU, but not all of them are with VPS. With dedicated hosting, though, it’s like you own a piece of physical server from anywhere, and it’s dedicated to you alone – no sharing of server.

With dedicated hosting, you’re given your own server to work on with all settings completely dependent and reliant to you.

What is Cloud Hosting?

Cloud hosting, as complex as it may seem, is similar to a VPS. However, instead of using a physical server, it uses a cloud server. The server runs on a cloud computing environment, which can remotely be accessed by you and by people who run it.

It is like a platform made with different, interconnected networks that are able to come to a specific point to host and keep website data and elements at bay.

Cloud hosting, shared hosting, VPS, and dedicated hosting – which one do you think is the best for you? Shared hosting might not be as glimmering as other hosting types, but, it sure can do the right job that you’re looking for.

FAQs

We know that you’re stuffed with questions about shared hosting. So, we did due diligence and garnered the most significant ones about it! Below are some of the most frequently asked questions about shared hosting that we know you’re itching to ask, so, we got it all for you here!

Is Shared Hosting Good For Beginners?

Yes, in fact, it is the best type of hosting to get if you are new in the website industry. The controls and dashboards are easy, the management will be well-off user-friendly, and the maintenance won’t be as tedious as dedicated or cloud hosting. They’re so good and customizable that beginners wouldn’t find it difficult even in their first try.

Who Should Use Shared Hosting?

As mentioned above, it is good for people or website owners who don’t have much activity with their website. Ideally, it’s the perfect tool and type of hosting for people who have less than 5,000 daily visitors. Experts say, that the majority of shared hosting platforms are able to house at least 100,000 users or visitors per month, which directly translates to 3,000 visitors per day. In estimate, it’s an ideal platform for websites and businesses that have 25 people or less.

Is Shared Hosting Secure?

Yes, shared hosting is safe and can be safer with other available tools. However, it holds a certain risk that can lead to infiltrators hacking or taking over the site. This doesn’t erase other types of hosting, though, because VPS and cloud hosting also holds the same risks.

If you’re thinking about other people and webmasters gaining access to your data, they wouldn’t be able to. Your data is your data, and it’s stored where you want it to be stored with the necessary security.

Is Shared Hosting Free?

No, it’s not. However, most shared hosting companies and platforms often offer freebies, such as free domains, free emails, free SSL, and many more – for a cheap rate.

Would Shared Hosting Be Slower?

Generally, it is. Since many websites are hosted in that particular server, the natural reaction of the technologies within that is for it to become slower. This is in comparison to dedicated hosting, VPS, or cloud hosting, though. If your website does not actually need to be lightning speed, if it just needs to load on average without any delays, shared hosting would usually be sufficient.

Conclusion

Shared hosting is something that can make or break the website you have. It’s something you can bank onto if you are in dire need of funds, but it can also be the breaking point if you want to scale and go large. Now Days there are number of top class hosting providers that have cheapest plans for shared hosting with good features. Hostinger shared hosting is the one of them.

You should now have a clearer picture in mind of what shared hosting is, as well as whether or not this type of plan is for you.

By knowing and understanding what shared hosting is, you’re basically equipping yourself with necessary information on what it is, how it’s advantageous to you, and how you can leverage it for you to gain more without spending more in the future.