Popular web hosting companies try to offer plenty of different hosting plans that cater to the different needs of the online public.
Some of the popular web hosting plans today are free, shared, dedicated, and VPS hosting. Today, I am going to talk about each one so that you can figure out which of them is the right one for you.
Free Web Hosting
Even though this is the only hosting plan where you do not have to spend any money on this list, I would be remiss if I didn’t include this one since it is one of the popular hosting services out there.
That being said, free web hosting services, as the name implies, is an option that people can take if they just want the most basic hosting services possible.
You see, a website can only be visible if it is placed inside a server that web hosting company manage and if the server keeps running, your website will be visible until it goes down.
Free web hosting is okay for people who just want to have their websites hosted without paying any money. However, ‘free’ in this context is not actually totally free. Let me explain.
Server computers will require maintenance from time to time because it is running with physical components that will get damaged over time. And, since they require some money to maintain their service, they will not ask money from you, per se, but they will post ads on your website as a means to keep the servers running.
That is also the reason why you should never indulge in free web hosting services if you are running a business because it can negatively impact your website’s credibility- given that you do not have control over which types of ads are posted on your page.
Shared Web Hosting
This is the best option for just about anyone other than online entrepreneurs. The reason why that is so is that the web hosting industry is more competitive now more than ever before and companies are doing things that will help entice you to get their service.
That being said, shared web hosting, as the name implies, is where your website will be placed inside a server along with other customers’ websites. The only downside to this is that if the server is congested, it may not provide the best possible performance.
However, it is the perfect solution for people who do not want to spend a lot of money and is a major leap from free web hosting services.
Dedicated Web Hosting
As you can tell by the name, a website owner will be given an entire server for themselves. Because you get to have your own server (and can be managed by a hosting company if you desire), you will have to pay an exorbitant amount of money. That is why this is only reserved for businesses and large corporations that have the financial capacity to sustainably maintain this type of hosting.
VPS Hosting
Think of VPS hosting as the middle-man between shared and dedicated hosting. It is similar to shared hosting in the sense that your website will still be placed in the same server along with other websites, but it is also the same as dedicated hosting in that you are in a dedicated virtual server, meaning, you get to have your own resources that only you can use.
