Dedicated hosting versus shared hosting

When choosing a web host there are several different considerations which have all been tackled in previous articles. Right now, the main concern is choosing between a dedicated server and a shared (also known as virtual) server. What are the differences? A shared server is one server which hosts several different web sites, while a dedicated server – as the name suggests – has only the one web site running off it.

There are pros and cons to each of them, and as you might expect, price factors heavily in it. Signing up to a shared server means costs are reduced as equipment and running costs are being shared amongst several sites. This benefit is also the main drawback of shared servers; for while sharing costs is a good thing, sharing space, time and support is not.

A shared server means it is more likely that your website will load more slowly, and at best this may prove frustrating for visitors to your site, while at worst it may mean that they don't hang around to wait for content to load. While this may be regarded as a mere annoyance, there are more serious issues that come with sharing a server: the other sites you are sharing it with. If their content proves offensive to search engine spiders that have banned them, the chances are your site will be banned alongside them just by the fact that you share the same server and IP address.

None of these issues are problems with dedicated hosting by EUKHost. But costs of dedicated hosting by EUKHost are significantly higher. If your website is extremely busy or requires a huge amount of bandwidth then it may be that you don't have a choice and that dedicated hosting by EUKHost is your only option.

However, if your site is small and you do feel that a shared server is the best solution for you, then consider checking who you share your IP address with and how quickly the servers run with that particular host. ShareThis