Wondering what exactly a shared web hosting service is? And you need to know the benefits and limitations of shared web hosting? So, keep reading everything has advantages and disadvantages, and here, I’ll show you all the information you need to have a clear idea about modern web hosting.
What is a shared web hosting service?
A shared web hosting is a type of website hosting that divides all the webserver resources between hundreds of domains. So, instead of using expensive dedicated servers, shared web hosting is the ideal solution for the small size of websites, personal blogs, and low traffic sites in general. In fact, the user will be able to host a website with other domains and share the server resources, so, that comes with a cheap price and the same address IP as other domains of the other users.
Shared web hosting is the solution for personal sites, it’s not a matter of pricing only, but also because of the ease of management, tools, and other advantages. That’s why many bloggers and small site owners started with a shared hosting plan, and then, upgraded to their own servers one day.
What are the benefits of shared web hosting?
When it comes to using shared web hosting, there are many benefits for websites and Blogs. So, here are the main advantage of using shared site hosting services.
1. Shared web hosting saves money
Shared website hosting is cost-effective, there is no need to pay a lot of money to get your site online. With only a few dollars per month, you share the server resources with other users, and everyone gets what his domain needs, and even more.
Instead of paying hundreds of dollars per month for a cPanel license, you’ll get it for a small fraction of the real price because you share the same license with hundreds of users. The cheap hosting cuts the cost and lets small business owners, and also individuals to have their own sites. Even more, there are special web hosting offers for students in some companies, and that’s helpful all the way.
The same thing applies to auto-installer applications like Softaculous or QuickInstall, that way, the user gets the most popular and best web hosting tools and software for a few dollars. That’s what makes shared hosting the best option for people with a limited budget and who need to save money for other things and get what they look for in a good web hosting service.
2. Shared hosting is easier to use
This is not only true but great for users who want to manage their sites without any technical skills. In reality, the majority of popular shared web hosting services provides a good control panel like cPanel which lets you upload and download files with easy clicks. In addition, the cPanel File Manager tools come with options to copy, delete, rename, move, and even change the permissions of files and folders of your Blog or website.
Unlike VPS or dedicated servers, when you have a shared web hosting account, you can easily add FTP users, change passwords, and compress folders or unzip them on upload. That’s not possible on the VPS or dedicated hosting without expensive tools and complicated configurations.
So, using shared web hosting is easier, and beginners or advanced users will find it better and everything will be organized and clear. cPanel includes dozens of website management tools, DNS tools, email forwards, website compression, and more.
3. No Bandwidth limitations
The web host will provide unlimited Bandwidth for your website per month. That means no problems if you use one GB of bandwidth or more, however, as there is a real server with limited bandwidth, don’t overload the server or your account will be suspended.
In other cases, if you use a lot of bandwidth that affects the other domains, your web host may send you a warning or an email asking to upgrade your account for a suitable bandwidth limit. That’s only the case of 1% or less of the domain hosted on shared accounts.
On the other side, 99% of the sites will bandwidth without problems in general. So, that’s what makes a shared website hosting great for beginners and small size of sites. No limits on bandwidth mean no conditions, but of course, it’s not really unlimited, but let’s call it “unmetered”, that’s better and you don’t have to worry about that for a normal website.
4. Multiple domain hosting
If you want to host multiple domains, then, shared hosting is the way to go. The majority of web hosts allow hosting multiple websites on the same account. However, that comes with limitations, some allow 2, 3, or 5 domains per account, when others have no restriction unless you have lots of traffic coming to your sites. So, for developers, students, and individuals who need to host a few sites, the shared account will fix a lot of issues.
5. Easy email hosting and setup
The email with your domain name is not an option, these days, it’s what most business owners look for t brand their emails. So, having multiple emails with the domain name is an advantage for many. Even better, when you have cPanel on a cheap web hosting plan, you can easily add email, remove others, allocate quota, and even forward emails to Gmail or any other service.
Limitations of shared web hosting
Even if you can host a website for a few dollars, and get all the tools in one place, shared accounts and servers have their limitations and disadvantages. So, here are the main Cons of using a shared web hosting plan.
1. Security problems
Because the web host wants the maximum number of domains to be hosted on one server, they make everything easy and with no real security measures.
So, if we talk about hacks, you’ll find that shared hosting is the most dangerous type of site hosting because the hacker can use one domain to access the whole server and all the other sites hosted there. However, some web hosts claim they implement some kind of domain isolation to prevent the other domains from being affected if one site was hacked, but in reality, that’s not always true, and the security is lower in level than what it should be.
2. Speed issues
This is the most noticeable disadvantage of shared web hosting because lots of users share the server resources, CPU, RAM, and speed will be slower. Even worst, if a website receives lots of visits, all the other sites will be affected because of the excessive server resource usage and also because there is one single IP address.
In general, from what I used and tried, shared web hosting will make your site loading time around 3 seconds if you’re lucky. On the other side, the server response time will be around 1000 milliseconds. However, some web hosts are slower and some others work faster, so, expect the same server response time.
3. Many server crashes
This frustrating, especially with low-quality web hosts. The servers crashed every hour or so because some sites use excessive CPU and RAM. So, the other sites will have a problem and at some point, the server will stop working and crash. Now, if you think that the web hosting company will fix the problem, you’re wrong, many of them ignore these things and only think about other problems.
I called a web hosting customer support once, and I was surprised to hear that server crashing is normal to them.
Of course, that’s not 100% of the truth, there are good web hosting providers without big server crashes. And even if the server crashed for any reason, they fixed it instantly and banned a website that uses all the server resources or asked the owner to upgrade to VPS. Now, from what I know most of the sites that violate the web host terms for server usage are spam sites, so, don’t think about these problems with a good normal site or Blog.
4. Problem fixing takes a longer time
This is not a good thing for bloggers who care about uptime, shared web hosting comes with a server performance problem. So, here are downtimes and site loading problems, and if you ask for support, don’t always expect a fast fix. In addition, web hosting businesses have a customer support team, but, they don’t always invest in updates and educating their team about the latest innovations in web server, software, and problem fixing.
Even if the web hosting company is the best one, there are some cases when the technician will need some time to isolate the problem and fix it.
A problem in shared web hosting is not a one minute fix, it can take hours and even days if the problem persists. For that reason, some web hosts have too bad uptime.
To avoid all these issues, and if you really need shared web hosting, make sure you add a downtime notification plugin or app. You’ll get instant SMS if your site goes down, and you can fix the problem yourself, by installing the site to another web host if you want to cancel and avoid waiting hours or days especially if you have an eCommerce site.
Is there any good shared web host?
Not all the shared web hosts work the same, some companies invest a lot of money and effort in server configurations. Some other web host adds the latest SSD technologies and offers good services. So, here are the best options.
HostGator is a business shared web hosting service provider, they offer cPanel, advanced file manager, FTP, free domain name, and good uptime. I used this web host and recommend it for bloggers who look for an affordable hosting plan and the most secure environment compared to other companies. Moreover, there are lots of tutorials, web hosting guides, and problem fixing and solutions. So, you get what you need to manage a website and make it load faster than any other shared hosting service.
Of course, the web host offer VPS, and dedicated server plans, but you can start with their cheap shared hosting and save money.
Now, you know exactly what shared web hosting is, what are the benefits, and what are the limitations of using that cheap service. If you’ve used any web host and you found it good or bad, make sure you write about it in your comment below.
