Shared Hosting vs. Private Hosting

There are three essential components that no website can function without. The first is the code and the files that make up the site itself, second is the domain that allows visitors to find it, and the third is the hosting that gets it onto the web.

Choosing the right hosting for your website is an important decision, one that needs to consider your business's unique situation and respond accordingly. The single biggest choice you’ll make is whether to use shared hosting or secure private hosting.



What does that mean and which should you go with? Well, that’s what we’re about to answer.

What’s the Difference?

So, what’s the deal with website hosting? Website hosting is the engine that powers your website. Without it, you’re left sitting on the side of the information superhighway watching everyone pass you by.

To stretch this metaphor to breaking point, shared hosting is a bus. You and a dozen others all share the same vehicle. It’s not the fastest or fanciest, but it’s really easy to make use of.

Private hosting, then, is a sports car. It’s super flashy, capable of fantastic speeds, and you have it all to yourself.

But don’t be fooled, neither is inherently better than the other, they each have their own advantages and disadvantages. This is why choosing between them is a decision that needs to be made on a case by case basis, keeping the unique situation of your business in mind.

Let’s now look at the case in support of each of these options.

Why You Might Use Shared Hosting

The single biggest reason to make use of shared hosting is because of the costs. Shared hosting is by far the more affordable of the two options, for obvious reasons. A private server requires you to pay for the whole thing yourself, whereas you can split the cost of a shared server with everyone else on it.

For businesses just starting out, this alone is probably enough to make a shared server the ideal solution. On top of that, shared servers are much simpler.

Someone else is setting up and maintaining the server and your place in it, you simply provide them the necessary information and they’ll take care of the rest.

Shared hosting is a fantastic option for those with limited funds and technical know-how, and whose time is best spent focusing on building up a fledgling business.

There are, of course, downsides, you generally don’t get to choose who you’re sharing a server with, so you can’t control what else is happening on that server. Security issues and site slowdown as a result of the actions of other server clients are the tradeoff for the affordability and convenience of this form of hosting.

Why You Might Use Private Hosting

If you’re looking at private hosting, it will be more expensive, that’s unavoidable. With no one else using the server, it’s all up to you to pay for it. It also usually requires a much more in-depth understanding of how to set up and maintain a server.

Some hosting providers will be a little more involved with the upkeep, but you can expect that to bring with it further increased costs.

So what makes all this extra effort and money worth it?

First up is the speed, a private server will be faster thanks to the lack of neighbours using up all of the resources. Everything the server has to offer is yours to utilise exclusively for your website, a feature that will become increasingly necessary as a business (and its website) grows.

A private server is also more secure, with no one else using it you only have to concern yourself with your own security. On top of that, its customisation is entirely up to you, whatever you need it to do, it will do, even if it will mean some extra work to set it up just right.

In short, the sky’s the limit with the private server, as long as you put in the work to make the most of all that potential.

Now that you understand the pros and cons of each of these options, it’s time to make a decision. Evaluate your business and see what options you need, and which ones you can safely pass on for the moment. Once you’ve made your decision, don’t forget you can change things later! Businesses grow and evolve, make sure your hosting choice remains the right fit for the current iteration of your business.