What’s the difference between shared hosting and cloud hosting?

Every website is (hosted) stored on a server, and when users type the website's URL into their web browsers, they are directed to that server. While selecting the best hosting, factors to consider include how quickly a website loads, how safe it is, and how well it is maintained. Depending on the hosting service we, as site owners, choose, this server might or might not be a tangible asset. Here we'll focus on the two most common forms of hosting services: shared hosting and cloud hosting.

Before we look at their primary differences, it is crucial to comprehend their fundamental definition and workings.

Shared Hosting

As the name implies, shared hosting refers to a form of hosting arrangement in which numerous websites share a single server. Let's use a real-world example to grasp this further. It can be compared to using a public transportation system, like the metro. By using a shared public transportation system, you may ensure that costs and resources are distributed among many users rather than being borne alone by one. Yet, one drawback of taking public transportation is that you could experience congestion during rush hour. Also, because there are numerous stops along the way, it can take longer to get where you're going. It operates just like this with shared hosting.

Many different websites share the same server. Fair use policies are typically used to distribute the assets of the shared server to the websites. On the other hand, similar to public transportation, other websites' performance may deteriorate if the server is overloaded due to the heavy traffic volume. Yet, new site owners and users continue to favor shared hosting as the best option. Shared Hosting combines the convenience of management with inexpensive hosting plans by delegating server management and maintenance to the hosting company while splitting the costs among the customers.

Advantages of Shared Hosting

• Shared hosting is simple to set up - This is one of the top reasons it is utilized; it substantially cuts down the time it takes to go online.
• No administrative duties - This means your hosting company essentially takes care of all technical duties (such as maintaining and managing the server), and you are not required to have technical expertise.
• Inexpensive - Compared to other hosting plans, shared hosting is less expensive.
• Interfaces for Visual Software - Including a visual control panel is a typical practice in shared solutions, offering users who don't want to get excessively technical with web development a more user-friendly and manageable approach.

Cloud Hosting

The most recent method of web hosting, known as cloud hosting, allows for the co-hosting of several websites. Instead of relying just on one server, as is the scenario with the majority of conventional hosting options, a website's data is stored across a number of servers. This increases data redundancy because data can still be produced for the user regardless of whether one of the servers breaks. This guarantees that your website won't be impacted, resulting in high uptime and reliable performance. The development of web hosting is believed to lie in cloud server hosting. High uptime, smooth scalability, cutting-edge security, good data redundancy, and high website performance are all advantages of cloud hosting.

Advantages of Cloud Hosting

• Reliability - High availability and redundancy are two of the major characteristics of cloud servers. As the data or resources can be allocated from another location, this guarantees that a hardware issue on one of the physical servers won't necessarily result in downtime.
• More Efficiency - Compared to conventional alternatives, cloud hosting's infrastructure is built to manage enormous amounts of traffic more effectively.
• Effortless scalability - Because cloud hosting is set up with a big stack of resources, users can scale widely and quickly. This indicates that a business's needs, in terms of online traffic, etc., grow over time. Users can easily increase and add new resources using cloud hosting.
• Faster loading time - Since the hosting service incorporates caching technology, cloud hosting users receive faster page load times.
• Storage space - Cloud hosting offers a tonne of space. This is a huge benefit for web developers who wish to create applications for their clients. In addition, cloud hosting providers may host several websites on the same server and manage or maintain them all because of the vast amount of storage space available.
• Recovering lost data - Using tools from the backup system, cloud hosting enables you to restore lost data. Data is now kept in data centers, which is mostly to the users' advantage.
• Savings on operating and capital expenses - Because the hosting providers handle the infrastructure maintenance, cloud hosting enables you to make significant upfront savings. This reduces the time, effort, and, ultimately, the implementation cost.

Difference between shared hosting and cloud hosting

• Architecture: Shared hosting systems host several websites on a single server, sharing all assets, including data storage, across all of the websites on the server. The hosting company typically has a fair use policy that applies to this usage. On the contrary hand, Cloud Hosting uses several servers in place of only one to store the data for a single website. The additional benefit is the ability to host numerous websites simultaneously while assuring improved data protection and redundancy.
• Reliability: If all or some of the websites start using a lot of resources at once, shared hosting's performance may deteriorate. In reality, a lot of websites could stop functioning, which would concern the website owners. Contrarily, cloud hosting makes use of modern technology and is regarded by experts as the most dependable type of web hosting. Data is kept on many servers using data mirroring, allowing for easy restoration in the event of a breakdown.
• Website performance: A number of elements, including server performance, are related to website performance, and their significance cannot be overstated. Several website owners have been especially cautious about their degrading site speed because site speed has been added as a significant SEO component in the search engine algorithm. For smaller websites, shared hosting can deliver an acceptable site speed.

But cloud hosting will improve your performance when it comes to managing resource-intensive sites or websites with a high number of incoming traffic. Since the information is stored and accessed over several servers for a website, cloud hosting ensures blazing-fast speed.

 

• Security: Because numerous websites on a shared server share the same IP address, this could make websites more vulnerable. Yet, a competent hosting company takes extra security measures because several websites are at risk. To prevent serious cyber attacks, the hosting provider must keep track of and update the most recent security updates. On the opposite hand, cloud hosting is more secure because it makes use of cutting-edge cloud storage options that effectively leverage data mirroring.

• Cost: Shared hosting is the least expensive choice and is appropriate for website owners that don't want to spend a lot of money.

In contrast, Cloud Hosting is more expensive than Shared Hosting. However, Cloud Hosting delivers the most worth for the money considering the capabilities it offers.

 

Which is most suitable for you?

Identifying your needs is the first step in deciding between shared hosting and cloud hosting. When creating a detailed action plan, it is essential to be aware of your financial constraints, the sort of data you need to handle, the quantity and traffic flow, the experience of your staff, and the security budget.

A shared hosting provider is the default choice for small websites with light to moderate traffic flow. It is not cost-effective to use the most recent security technology or to have a lot of resources. Personal blogs, reference books, educational websites, personal storage banks, and testing platforms are a few examples of use cases.

A cloud hosting provider is ideal for high-performance websites that demand a safe and adaptable environment. Also, it works best for low-traffic websites where users are conducting computationally intensive tasks or for individuals with specialized setup requirements. Some of the most frequent scenarios in which a cloud hosting solution is essential are gaming servers, high-concurrency databases, streaming devices, or HIPAA Compliant Hosting data centers.

Given its benefits, it really isn't surprising that cloud hosting is frequently regarded as preferable to shared hosting. It's crucial to keep in mind that these benefits come at a price, and generally speaking, cloud hosting is much more expensive than shared hosting services. Cloud hosting has turned into the de facto norm for businesses where the dependability and adaptability of their websites are essential. On the other hand, shared web hosting is ideal for you if you're just starting and want a cheap alternative that has enough functionality to assist you in getting things going. The improved affordability of shared hosting may be sufficient for an organization whose web traffic is comparatively low and predictable.