Businesses pay for web hosting in order to keep the data on their website safe and sound. At a basic level, the services of web hosting give you web server space to store your site’s data that’ll be launched in the browser every time someone wants to open your website.
Just as websites differ from each other in size, design, purpose, field, and in many other ways, there are various types of web hostings too. This means that the factors that you’ll need to keep in mind when finding the perfect hosting match that’ll be right specifically for you will vary from case to case. For instance, the key points when choosing Magento hosting for eCommerce won’t be the same as those when selecting a hosting for your WordPress blog.
On this page, we’ll be delighted to tell you all about the different web hosting types and servers, give tips on what to take into account when choosing a hosting, as well as give a list of specific hosting providers that you can consider opting for.
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What kind of hostings and servers are there?
In order to select the best web hosting for your website, it is vital to understand what singles out the possible options. Below, we answer the most commonly asked questions about web hosting types and server types to set things straight.
Managed vs Unmanaged Hosting: What’s the Difference?
Servers that store data of your website can either be self-managed or handled on the side of the provider. Managed hosting is the scenario when your hosting provider is responsible for everything to run like clockwork, this includes all of the security points, emitting downtimes, taking care of the hardware, making updates, to name a few. If you have expertise in the field or have a person on your team who can be in charge of working with the servers and hostings, then unmanaged hosting is your option.
Which Sites Can Use Shared Hosting?
Shared hosting is the simplest of the available options. In this case, the storage volumes of a server are divided between a large number of users, at times half a thousand, meaning that the costs for this solution are very low. Most shared hostings are managed, therefore all the tech support and tweaks are taken care of on the side of the provider.
Shared hosting can work for:
- Small websites with low traffic and weight
- Tiny businesses
- Newbies in the business world
- Low bandwidth blogs
What Kind of Websites Need VPS Hosting?
In contrast to the name, virtual private servers are actually also shared ones but with much fewer “neighbors”. VPS hostings are more powerful, secure, and quick, and are much more affordable than dedicated hosting that implies dealing with hardware. Moreover, giving an example of customized stores in online retail, hosting plays an important role in Magento 2 speed optimization and for boosting overall performance, thus, VPS is a common and optimal choice for many businesses.
VPS hosting can work for:
- Mid-sized eCommerce stores with under 50 orders per day
- Medium-sized websites with mid-traffic and weight
- Those who’ve outgrown shared hosting
- Those who don’t have the opportunity to invest in dedicated hosting
Who Should Use Dedicated Web Hosting?
Moving on to the big players, dedicated hosting is a solution when the server hardware is yours alone. You don’t have any dependence on neighboring websites with whom you share storage, you can use all the resources by yourself and set up those custom configurations that are needed for your site. Of course, it’s self-explanatory that this option is very costly and will require investment both in its usage and in maintenance.
Dedicated hosting can work for:
- Large-sized businesses
- Highly-customized websites with lots of traffic
- Those who wish to add many custom configurations to the hosting
- eCommerce stores with up to 500 daily orders
- Those who don’t want to share server storage and capabilities
What are the Pros of Cloud Hosting?
Unlike physical servers, cloud servers are virtual. This solution exists on the basis of a cloud computing platform with more than one interconnected server. Using the internet, cloud hosting stores data and gives you the opportunity to not depend on physical hardware. Cloud hosting is all about scalability, it’s fast and cost-effective too.
Cloud hosting can work for:
- eCommerce stores with up to 100 daily orders
- Those who want to save money on dedicated hosting
- Those who want flexible pricing based on the resources that you use
What to know when choosing a hosting provider?
Before skipping to the list of specific hosting providers to consider choosing, let’s cover a couple of pointers that are believed to be common “rules”.
- It is thought to be wise to select that hosting provider that is available in your part of the world, the closer it is to you, the better (i.e. if you are based in the Netherlands it doesn’t make sense to get a hosting provider in the USA).
- In order to find a good match, you have to be very clear about the requirements that you have, what are your business needs, what are the features you’re looking for.
- Take note of how flexible the provider is and whether they’ll easily meet you halfway if you wish to make changes (ex. boost or downsize what you’ve previously chosen).
- Security is vital. Be attentive to the level of security of the hosting you select, in some cases this point is even worth overpaying a bit for.
- If you’re not planning to manage the hosting on your own, make sure to find out all the details on the support services from the provider.
- Read the payment plan policies carefully in order to not stumble upon unpleasant hidden fees.
Which hosting providers deserve attention?
Now let’s take a look at some of the great hosting providers that are out there:
- HostGator: This popular shared web hosting is a great and affordable option. With several plans to select from, HostGator gives a free SSL Certificate as well as complimentary domain registration for an entire year. This solution is fit for sites on WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento, Wiki, and phpBB.
- BlueHost: Considered one of the best choices for websites on WordPress, BlueHost is one more provider with nice deals. As such, it also grants an SSL Certificate and 1-year domain name for free. It offers three hosting types, including shared, VPS, and dedicated. It is also suitable for eCommerce stores on WooCommerce.
- AWS Hosting: Amazon Web Services is among the top-rated web hosting providers. It is best suitable for those sites that were built on platforms like WordPress, Joomla, Magento, or Drupal. With a plethora of services and flexible pricing, it can offer many perks, including good scalability, support, and cost-effectiveness.
- Nexcess: This hosting provider has a large range of hosting solutions for various platforms and CRMs, i.e., Magento, WooCommerce, WordPress, BigCommerce, Drupal, Sylius, OroCRM, among others. Nexcess has a broad choice of plans that vary in “sizes”.
- Rackspace: Last but not least, Rackspace is another hosting provider that specializes in multi-cloud. Their technology is innovative, plus there are many plans that’ll suit the needs of different business types and website sizes.
To conclude, there exist various hosting solutions that’ll be suitable based on the type of website that you have and on your specific business needs. Smaller sites can find shared hosting to be enough, but for larger-weight ones (and especially the sphere of eCommerce) it is important to know the technology stack and the requirements when selecting the hosting that’ll be right for you.
About the Author:
Alex Husar, CTO at Onilab with 8+ years of experience in Magento and Salesforce. He graduated from the Czech Technical University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in Computer Software Engineering. Alex’s expertise includes both full-stack dev skills and a strong ability to provide project-critical guidance to the whole team.