Best Types of Web Hosting to Consider in 2020

Want to jump straight to the answer? Here are the 6 types of hosting plans to consider and the best web host for each:

• Shared Hosting —  BlueHost
• VPS Hosting — InMotion
• WordPress Hosting — WP Engine
• Dedicated Hosting — HostGator
• Cloud Hosting — Siteground
• Reseller Hosting — A2 Hosting

Every website has a web host. But not every website is hosted the same way.

If you’re starting your first website, you should learn about the different types of web hosting. That way you can figure out which option is the best for your website.

Don’t rush through this process. Choosing the wrong web hosting type can cause big problems for your site down the road.

Some of you might be unhappy with your current web hosting situation, so you’re looking to switch to another type. That’s what brought you to this page.

Regardless of your situation, this guide will explain everything you need to know about your web hosting options. Once you figure out the type of web hosting you want, then you can review the best web hosting providers and select a plan to meet your needs.

Different Types of Web Hosting

All servers are different. That’s why different web hosting options exist.

Multiple websites might share a single server. Meanwhile some websites have a server to themselves.

There are four main types of web hosting:

• Shared hosting
• VPS (virtual private server) hosting
• Dedicated hosting
• Cloud hosting

Reseller hosting and WordPress hosting are also specific types of hosting that fall within these categories. We’ll cover all six types of web hosting as we continue.

How do you know which hosting option is best for your website?

The type of server you choose impacts elements like performance, security, scalability, and management level of your website.

Your decision also depends on the type of website you have and the amount of traffic you get.

For example, a small personal blog with 5,000 monthly visitors have different hosting needs than a large ecommerce site with 250,000 visits per month.

It’s also worth noting that different hosting options are offered at varying price points. So it’s important that you find an option that falls within your budget as well.

I’ve outlined and explained the six different web hosting options below. You can use this information to figure out which hosting type is the best choice for your website.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most basic type of web hosting. It’s cost-effective and the best choice for small or entry-level websites.

As the name implies, websites using shared hosting will be sharing resources with other websites on a singular server.

That’s how shared hosting remains so cheap. By splitting resources, it’s less cost for the web host.

As such, each website on the server will have a limited amount of resources as defined by their specific hosting plan.

Think of it as renting an apartment with roommates. You have your own bedroom, but you and your roommates will share resources like water, electricity, and common spaces throughout the house.

The nature of sharing a server with other websites has its drawbacks. If another website on your server has a traffic spike, it can potentially cause performance issues with your site. These situations are out of your control.

So while shared hosting is a great option if you want to save some money, it definitely won’t deliver the most high-quality web hosting experience for you or your website visitors.

VPS Hosting

VPS stands for “virtual private server.” This hosting type is a step above shared web hosting. When a website outgrows their shared plan, it’s common for owners to upgrade to a VPS.

With a virtual private server, your website will still be sharing a single server with other websites. However, the number of websites you’ll be sharing it with is significantly lower.

The main server is split into multiple virtual servers—hence the name. These virtual servers can be customized by individual websites.

Even though the main server is shared with other sites, your website will have dedicated resources with a VPS.

For those of you who want to run custom configurations to your server, you can get optional root access with your VPS hosting plan.

You site will generally perform better since you aren’t sharing resources. This means you’ll benefit from faster loading times and higher uptime rates. You won’t have to worry about another website causing your site to crash.

Most websites do not need a dedicated server (we’ll get to that next). But a VPS gives you some of the benefits of dedicated hosting at a fraction of the price.

A virtual private server is like renting an apartment on your own. You won’t be sharing a kitchen, bathroom, living room, or other common spaces with any roommates. This gives you much more freedom and flexibility to do what you want with the space.

However, you’ll be sharing some resources with the other units in the building. So there will still be some limitations.

WordPress Hosting

WordPress hosting optimizes for WordPress as your content management system.

You’ll normally see two different types of WordPress hosting offered by providers.

• Shared WordPress hosting
• Managed WordPress hosting

Shared WordPress hosting works the same way as regular shared hosting, except WordPress might be pre-installed.

Managed WordPress hosting provides added benefits like enhanced security, server caching, staging, and faster loading speeds.

The best WordPress hosting plans come with one-click WordPress installations as well.

WordPress hosting usually has added security that’s specifically designed for websites that are running on WordPress. Since WordPress is the most commonly used CMS across the globe, those websites are a higher risk for cyber crime. So that added security is definitely a great benefit.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated servers are the top of the line in web hosting. As the name implies, you’ll have a dedicated server that belongs to you, and you alone. This is the most expensive type of web hosting, but it comes with added benefits.

Since you won’t be sharing resources or anything else with other websites, your site will operate at peak performance.

Websites being hosted on a dedicated server have complete technical control over the server settings. You choose the software, configurations, and anything else you need.

If you get a dedicated server, you should expect extremely high uptime rates and lightning fast loading speeds. You won’t have to worry about traffic from other websites impacting your performance.

A dedicated server is like owning a house. If you want to build a fence, plant a tree in the yard, build a patio, or renovate the kitchen, everything is completely up to you.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is a newer type of web hosting. It can best be described as a hybrid version of a VPS, but more cost-effective.

Cloud hosting plans come with multiple remote servers. Each server has different responsibilities. If one of the servers is compromised or has a problem, the other servers on the network will take over those responsibilities and pick up the slack.

That’s what makes cloud web hosting such an appealing alternative to traditional web hosting.

With cloud servers, your website will have higher uptime rates and won’t have as much unexpected downtime due to server errors. Your site will remain fluid and perform at a high level.

The best part about cloud web hosting is scalability.

With traditional hosting, there is always a constant dilemma between server resources and price. You don’t want to overpay for a plan with resources that you’ll never use, but at the same time, you don’t want to exceed the resources of a lesser plan and negatively affect the performance of your website.

Unless you know exactly how many page views your site will get per month, then this is nearly impossible to predict.

But website traffic is never an exact science. At times, you’ll experience spikes or surges to your site—which is great news. You just need to make sure your plan can accommodate that traffic.

That’s why cloud hosting is the ultimate solution to this dilemma. The best cloud hosting plans allow you to scale your resources on-demand.

You pay for what you use, and you can always adjust these resources within your admin dashboard.

Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting is definitely not for everyone. If you’re building a small website from scratch or just looking to host a website on your own, then this will not be the best option for you.

But if you want to sell web hosting to other sites, then you should look into reseller hosting plans.

Reseller hosting is basically white label web hosting. You buy hosting from a provider and then resell those services to your clients.

As the reseller, you get to choose the pricing options for your clients. Since you’ll be paying wholesale rates to the provider, then you have the opportunity to make substantial profit margins.

Source: https://www.quicksprout.com/types-of-web-hosting/