A Guide to Shared Hosting
When you’re building a website, one of the first things you’ll need is hosting. For most beginners, shared hosting is the go-to option.
Shared hosting is an affordable solution that’s perfect for startups and small businesses. This helps keep costs low, and the best part? You don’t have to worry about managing the server, your hosting provider takes care of all the technical stuff.
In this article, we’ll explain how shared hosting works and help you decide if it’s the right choice for your website.
What is shared hosting?
Shared hosting is a type of web hosting where multiple websites are hosted on the same server. All the websites on that server share the available resources, such as CPU, memory, and bandwidth. Much like renting an apartment in a building, everyone shares the same utilities, which helps keep costs low.
Because everything is shared, the hosting provider manages the server’s technical tasks like security updates and maintenance. This makes shared hosting an easy, hands-off option, especially for beginners or small businesses that don’t need large amounts of resources. You can quickly get your website online without the need to handle complex server management.
How does shared hosting work?
Shared hosting allows multiple websites to operate on a single physical server. When you sign up, your website is placed on a server that also hosts other sites, all sharing resources like CPU, memory, storage, and bandwidth. Each site gets a set amount of these resources, but since they’re shared, the performance of your website can be influenced by the activity of others on the same server. Hosting providers often implement resource limits or load balancing to manage this and ensure stable performance across all websites.
One of the main advantages of shared hosting is that you don’t have to manage any technical aspects of the server. The hosting provider handles everything so you can focus solely on your website. This is why shared hosting is an affordable and low-maintenance option, especially for smaller websites.
Pros and cons of shared hosting
Just like with any other type of hosting, shared hosting comes with its own set of benefits and drawbacks for your website visitors:
Pros
- Affordable. Shared hosting is one of the most budget-friendly hosting options available. Because you’re sharing server resources with other websites, the overall cost is significantly lower, making it ideal for small businesses, personal blogs, and beginners.
- Easy to use. You don’t need to be a tech expert to use shared hosting. The hosting provider handles server management, including security updates, software installations, and maintenance. This allows you to focus entirely on building and managing your website.
- Low maintenance. Since all the technical aspects are managed by the provider, you don’t have to worry about things like server configurations or troubleshooting. This makes shared hosting a hands-off and hassle-free solution for those who want to avoid complex server management.
- Scalability. Many hosting providers offer easy upgrade options, allowing you to start small and scale up as your website grows. You can move to more advanced hosting types, like VPS or dedicated hosting, when you need more resources.
Cons
- Limited resources. Since you’re sharing resources with other websites on the same server, your site’s performance can be affected if another site experiences a traffic spike. This means you might experience slower load times or downtime during peak traffic periods.
- Less control. With shared hosting, you don’t have full control over server settings or the ability to install custom software. You’re limited by what the hosting provider allows, which can be restrictive if you need specific configurations.
- Security risks. Sharing a server with other websites can introduce security vulnerabilities, especially if one of the sites is compromised. Although hosting providers implement strong security measures, the shared environment can increase the risk of exposure to threats compared to isolated hosting options like VPS or dedicated hosting.
- Not ideal for high-traffic sites. If your website grows and starts attracting a lot of visitors, shared hosting may not provide the performance you need. It’s better suited for smaller sites with moderate traffic.
Is shared hosting right for you?
Shared hosting is likely the most cost-effective solution if your website doesn’t receive a lot of traffic, like a blog or portfolio site. It doesn’t require much technical expertise and it’s really cheap, which is great for beginners or those with simpler websites.
But if you anticipate high traffic or need more control over server settings and custom configurations, shared hosting may not be the best fit. Websites that deal with heavy traffic, large databases, or specific software requirements might find shared hosting limiting. In these cases, upgrading to VPS or dedicated hosting from other web hosts provides more power and flexibility.
Other types of hosting
Shared hosting is just one of several hosting options available. See how it stacks up against other types of hosting.
VPS hosting
VPS hosting offers more control and resources compared to shared hosting. While you still share a physical server, you get a dedicated portion of the server’s resources. It offers you your own virtual server environment, complete with your own operating system and full control over configurations and software installations.
VPS hosting is a great choice for growing businesses that need more power and flexibility but don’t want the expense of a dedicated server.
Dedicated hosting
With dedicated hosting, you get an entire server for your website alone. This means maximum performance, security, and control. Good for large websites, high-traffic eCommerce stores, or businesses that require custom software setups. However, dedicated hosting is significantly more expensive and requires more technical knowledge to manage.
Cloud hosting
Cloud hosting distributes your website across multiple servers instead of relying on just one. This setup ensures better uptime and scalability, as the system can pull resources from various servers to handle traffic spikes or other demands. Cloud hosting is an option for websites that need flexibility and reliability, but it tends to be more expensive than shared hosting.
Managed WordPress hosting
Specifically designed for WordPress websites, managed WordPress hosting provides optimized performance and advanced features tailored to WordPress users. It’s a great choice because you get top-notch speed, security, and automatic updates without worrying about the technical side of things.
Domain.com’s hosting options
Domain.com offers two major hosting plans tailored to different needs, which are Shared hosting and WordPress hosting. Both are designed with accessibility and performance in mind.
Shared hosting plans
Domain.com’s web hosting plans are a good choice for your general website needs. They include unmetered bandwidth, a free domain for the first year, and an intuitive control panel. The plans are scalable, allowing you to host multiple websites with ample storage and resources to grow your site over time. All plans come with a drag-and-drop website builder.
WordPress hosting plans
For WordPress users, Domain.com provides specialized WordPress hosting plans optimized specifically for WordPress websites. These plans come with automatic WordPress updates and access to pre-installed plugins and themes. Made for speed and security, Domain.com’s WordPress hosting makes sure your site runs smoothly while giving you all the tools you need to customize and manage your WordPress site.
With 24/7 live chat support and 99.9% uptime, Domain.com’s web and WordPress hosting options make it easy to find the perfect plan to match your website’s requirements as they grow.
Why choose Domain.com for shared hosting?
Domain.com stands out among web hosting companies as a reliable and affordable choice for shared hosting. We support users with these great features:
- Affordability. Domain.com’s shared hosting plans are a cost-effective solution for small businesses, personal blogs, or anyone looking to launch a website without breaking the bank. This budget-friendly pricing doesn’t sacrifice quality, as you still get access to essential features like unlimited bandwidth and huge web storage.
- Free domain for the first year. When you sign up for a hosting plan, Domain.com includes a free domain name for the first year, saving you additional costs when starting your website.
- Easy-to-use website builder. Domain.com’s drag-and-drop website builder makes it easy to create and customize your site, even if you have no coding experience.
- 24/7 customer support. You’ll never be left in the dark. Domain.com offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, so help is always available when you need it.
- Security features. Domain.com includes a free SSL certificate for one year with every shared hosting plan, ensuring that your website’s data is encrypted and secure from threats. Another security tool, SiteLock Security, protects your website from malware, viruses, hackers, and spam.
- 99.9% uptime. Your website’s uptime is important, and Domain.com offers 99.9% uptime, so your visitors can access your content whenever they need it.
Get a strong starting point with shared hosting
Shared hosting is an excellent option for those just starting their online journey. This type of hosting offers an affordable, easy-to-use solution, allowing you to get your website up and running quickly without dealing with technical complexities. You can get all the essentials for a web host with shared hosting at a fraction of the cost of other hosting options.
Get started with Domain.com’s shared hosting plans today and make a mark online.
Yes, many shared hosting plans, including those from Domain.com, allow you to host multiple websites under a single plan. You need to check the specific plan limits for the number of domains or websites you can host.
Shared hosting can be secure, but it comes with some risks since multiple websites share the same server. Hosting providers implement regular server updates to minimize risks. Your hosting provider should also offer other security solutions such as SSL certificates and SiteLock.
If another site on shared hosting servers experiences a large spike in traffic, it could slow down your site because you’re sharing the same resources. Reputable shared hosting providers have safeguards such as resource allocation and load balancing to manage server load effectively.
Absolutely. If your website outgrows shared web hosting, you can upgrade to a higher-tier hosting option like VPS from your shared hosting service. Check if your hosting providers give easy upgrade paths so you can move to a plan with more resources as your website grows.
Shared hosting services are best suited for small or low-traffic websites. If you anticipate high traffic or need more control over server resources, VPS or dedicated hosting would be a better choice to ensure performance and stability.
Shared hosting involves multiple websites sharing the same server and resources, while VPS hosting gives each user their own portion of dedicated resources on a virtual server. VPS offers better performance and more control but comes at a higher cost compared to shared hosting.