It can be confusing to shop for web hosting. There are so many plans and types of hosting that it can be difficult to know where to begin. Today I’m going to give you a brief explanation of each of the major types of hosting.<\/p>\n

Shared hosting
\n<\/strong>This is likely the most common form of hosting used by individuals and small businesses. The “ahared” refers to the fact that the hosting account shares a server with many other such accounts. The web host carves up a server’s disk storage and bandwidth resources into smaller packages to sell as shared accounts.<\/p>\n

Shared hosting enables the client to get space on, potentially, a high quality server with good Internet connections at a relatively low price. Shared hosting is where most of us begin our hosting experience.<\/p>\n

Some of the limitations of shared hosting are:<\/p>\n

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• performance of your web site can be affected by other accounts on the server that are running insecure scripts that hog server resources;<\/li>\n
• if another account on the server sends out spam, your server’s mail IP address could get blacklisted, causing your sent mail to be blocked by recipient servers until your web host deals with the issue;<\/li>\n
• you typically have little control over server configuration, as that is all handled by the web host.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  Reseller hosting
  \n<\/strong>Reseller hosting is sort of a “super shared” hosting account. It was originally designed as a way to enable small-scale web hosting businesses. Even a one-person business can, with reseller hosting, create and sell shared hosting. However, I believe that the real value of reseller hosting has nothing to do with reselling.<\/p>\n

  A reseller hosting account typically provides you with a control panel at a higher level than shared hosting, enabling you to control all the shared accounts below you. I find this enormously convenient for managing my multiple domains and web sites. Think of them not as plans for people reselling web hosting, but as plans for anyone who wants an easier and more powerful way to manage multiple domains, web sites and hosting accounts.<\/p>\n

  Here at WebHostingBuzz, shared hosting accounts use cPanel control panel, and reseller account also get WebHost Manager to manage administer those shared accounts. The reseller account can, with a single login, make changes to all client accounts and access all the client accounts’ cPanels. This is a real time saver when managing multiple domains and sites, as I do.<\/p>\n

  Reseller accounts also have a wealth of features and functions not available in shared hosting. In one of my earlier articles I explained reseller hosting<\/a> in more detail.<\/p>\n

  VPS hosting
  \n<\/strong>Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is a level above reseller hosting. As the name implies, it mimics the control available with a dedicated server, but at a lower price.<\/p>\n

  The web host configures a server into several VPS accounts. Each VPS account has a share of the server’s resources allocated to it as a minimum performance standard, plus the use of additional processing resources when available. A VPS account gives you virtual root access and the ability to configure your virtual server as though you controlled an entire server.<\/p>\n

  Typically a VPS account comes with a control panel for management. At WebHostingBuzz, cPanel’s WHM is one of the available choices. The VPS control panel allows you not only to create shared hosting accounts, as with a reseller account, but also to create and sell reseller accounts.<\/p>\n

  For many of us with many domains and sites, a VPS account gives us everything we need. It provides the level of control of a dedicated server, but at an affordable price. Also, if you plan to one day manage a server yourself, a VPS account is a great transition.<\/p>\n

  Dedicated hosting
  \n<\/strong>Dedicated hosting assigns an entire server to you. You have full control of server configuration, and can choose to split it up into multiple accounts or operate it for one high-volume high-performance site. Depending upon the host, you may have the option of choosing hardware specs. yourself for your server.<\/p>\n

  One of the big decisions to make when choosing a dedicated hosting plan is whether you want the server to be managed or unmanaged. Managed means that the web host takes care of updating software and applying security patches for you. Unmanaged would require you to do that work. At WebHostingBuzz, as an example, one can choose an unmanaged server, a fully managed server, or several options in between those two extremes.<\/p>\n

  Unlimited hosting
  \n<\/strong>This is not actually a type of hosting, but as you’ll often see the term advertised I thought I should explain it. The “unlimited” refers to the disk space and bandwidth allowed with the hosting plan. While this is often advertised by low-price hosts, unlimited is never truly unlimited. With a low-price host, your unlimited plan will quickly become limited, or you will be asked to upgrade at a higher price, if you use a high amount of server resources.<\/p>\n

  Windows or Unix\/Linux
  \n<\/strong>Most web hosting uses a version of Unix, often built on an open source Linux variant. Unix hosting is usually less expensive than Windows hosting. Traditionally it has also been more stable, although recent versions of Windows hosting have naturally tried to improve stability. Unless you have a specific need for Windows hosting, go with Unix\/Linux.<\/p>\n

  What do I use?<\/strong>
  \nI began running a web site using free space provided by my ISP. I soon found that too limiting, and moved to shared hosting. As soon as I had a few domains and sites, reseller hosting was the answer to my need for easier and more flexible management of multiple accounts.<\/p>\n

  I now use a VPS, and like the ability to change server config. and have greater control over all accounts. I could go back to reseller hosting, but I could never return to shared hosting. I hope that helps you in your decision making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  It can be confusing to shop for web hosting. There are so many plans and types of hosting that it can be difficult to know where to begin. Today I’m going to give you a brief explanation of each of the major types of hosting. Shared hosting This is likely the most common form of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[143,74],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n