When it comes to hosting plans, none can rival the popularity of shared hosting. Millions of websites use these plans mainly due to their affordable prices and the fact that they are easy to set up and manage. Recently, a section of webmasters has been leaning towards a relatively new hosting type known as cloud hosting in search of improved website performances and faster load speeds.
Are you wondering whether to use shared or cloud hosting for your site? This post explains the key differences between the two plans on aspects like uptime, security, performance, support, and speed. You might also want to take a look at these Canadian reviews on Hosting Foundry if you’re looking for a reliable hosting provider for your business.
Differences between shared hosting and cloud hosting
Before we can delve deeper into what separates these two plans, we’ll first provide a simple description of each.
For starters, shared hosting, just as its name suggests, is a form of hosting where websites are hosted on one server and share various resources like bandwidth, storage, disk space, and databases. On the other hand, cloud hosting entails hosting websites on a cluster of cloud servers that work in harmony with each other. In this arrangement, your website is transferred automatically to a different server when the current one fails or becomes overloaded.
Shared and Cloud hosting operate differently and offer varied results, as we’ll find out below.
Speed
Websites hosted on shared plans are generally slower compared to those on cloud plans. To begin with, servers that power sites on shared plans tend to operate at full capacity at any one time, thereby making them quite prone to load speed issues. For example, a sudden influx of traffic in one of the websites can significantly slow down speeds of all other sites on the same shared server. This can negatively impact the performance and speed of your site and ultimately interfere with user experience.
On the other hand, all resources in cloud hosting are channeled to your website with no one else to share with. This means that any speed related issues can only emanate from your activities and active processes on your server. And if your host detects any hardware issues that could cause a lag or interfere with the optimal dispensation of resources, your website is quickly moved to a different server to ensure it continues running at excellent speeds.
Uptime and reliability
One of the most misused terms in the hosting industry is the uptime guarantee. Today, most providers promise to offer at least 99.99% uptimes, which means any sites hosted with them will be available virtually all year round.
Unfortunately, it can be extremely challenging to live up to this claim, especially in the case of shared hosting plans whose reliability depends on various factors that might not even be in control of the provider. For example, if one of the sites on a shared server experiences a surge in traffic, chances are high that the rest might experience downtimes too should some shared resources get depleted. This makes it difficult to guarantee that websites on shared plans will be available at all times.
On the other hand, cloud hosting is quite reliable as most hosts assign dedicated servers to you when you choose these plans. Besides, additional servers are deployed automatically in the event of a server failure, thereby reducing downtimes significantly.
Security
The biggest concern for most shared hosting plans has to be security. Usually, a hacking incident on one of the websites in a shared environment opens possibilities of security breaches on all other sites on the shared server. It is for this reason that providers emphasize a lot on the need for webmasters to keep their computers safe, and to also use strong passwords for their Cpanel accounts.
Cloud hosting tends to be a lot more secure as most of the security issues are dealt with by specialized experts in the provider’s team. These professionals work all around the clock to arrest any security issues like side-channel attacks, illegal invasion, malware injections, and network eavesdropping.
Pricing
Sharing server resources and spaces mean spread-out server costs and ultimately cheaper rates for websites on shared plans. Indeed, shared plans are the most inexpensive hosting services available today, with prices going as low as $1 per month. But as they say, you get what you pay for.
Cloud hosting plans, on the other hand, are quite pricy as your website is assigned a server of its own. The good news, however, is that some providers allow you to use resources on-demand, which means you only pay for what you use. This will enable you to save lots of money on hosting while you also enjoy superior services and enhanced website performance.