VPS vs Shared Hosting | Difference between VPS and Shared Hosting

Have you ever observed why “VPS vs Shared hosting” is a very famous discussion in web hosting services industry?

As we all know finding the best web host is really a tedious task. Most people will suggest us to go for a shared hosting plan just because of its price.

But there are many more aspects to consider before buying a web hosting service. I am here to make you understand Why You Should go for VPS hosting over Shared Hosting.

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Let’s start summarizing the things based on a few important aspects we should consider while buying hosting services from any web host company

Key Metrics to be focused on choosing the right web hosting:

1. Performance
2. Security
3. Scalability
4. Server Administration
5. Cost

Let’s understand first, what is VPS & Shared Hosting,

VPS Hosting: In this type of web hosting, a virtual server will be installed into our computer that can serve multiple websites/blogs. So, every individual website will have their own dedicated server.

Shared Hosting: The name itself says that it is sharable among multiple. In detailed, Shared Hosting is a web hosting service that can serve multiple web services in a single server.

VPS vs Shared Hosting

So, you got the clear idea of what they are, right? Now, let us focus on how they are different from each other. So that we can easily decide with which Web hosting you can go for.

1. Performance

• Shared Hosting:
  • Let us think about it from our end. Performance is the thing that is related to traffic. Means, if our blog/site is having less traffic then YES, obviously you can go for shared hosting.
  • Here, I mentioned one point that is: if the traffic is less, we go for it, right? So here we can see some limitation for shared hosting but there is a chance of improving the performance of shared hosting by using SSD’s, CDN’s and Caching.

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• VPS Hosting:
  • Unlike the shared hosting, it gives you great flexibility to configure our server as per our requirement.
  • Means, we can scale our server configurations for the smoother performance of our websites/blogs.
  • And the performance of web hosting completely depends on two things; one is server(machine)configuration and the size of the website/blog.
  • As we have seen above, we have the flexibility to configure and to scale the machine’s configuration. So, finally, I could say VPS hosting offering us good performance when compared to shared hosting.

2. Security

If we write something or post something on the internet obvious thing what we check for is security.

We start to think whether my content/post would be secured or not. So, let us have a look into that.

• Shared hosting:
  • As we know, in shared hosting one single server is shared by multiple sites, right? but we don’t even know who they are and what they are keeping in their sites/blogs. So, the content in the other sites may spoil your blog’s/website’s reputation.
  • It doesn’t mean that shared hosting is not secured; it is secured but not 100%.

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• VPS hosting:
  • In VPS hosting, there is a 100% guarantee for our blog’s security and moreover, security-related issues can be resolved instantly which is the best thing in VPS hosting.
  • So, security-wise VPS hosting is the best one for the safe and secure running of a blog/site.

3. Scalability

Just now we had one point above saying we can scale up the server’s configuration, right? But we can’t scale it for every hosting. Let us discuss it in detail.

• Shared hosting:
  • In one line to say, Shared Hosting is not scalable. As it is not scalable and is shared among multiple sites, we see some downtime which is the most irritating thing in running a website/blog.

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• VPS hosting:
  • We know that we can scale up the performance by making necessary configuration settings. In VPS hosting 100% chance is there to scale up the configuration of the server.
  • Means we can make our server strong enough to run the site/blog smoothly. And as our site grows, we can scale up(increase) bandwidth, storage, and capacity as per our requirement.

4. Server Administration:

• Shared Hosting:
  • One of the great advantages of Shared hosting that I observed is to have the basic server administration.
  • So, you no need to have a dedicated system administrator for it, no need for additional budget and no need of spending extra time for Server Administration.

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• VPS hosting:
  • Coming to this hosting, the managing and maintenance of multiple websites require some dedicated resource for Server maintenance.
  • And at the same time, customizing and configuring the applications and soft wares can also be achieved which can increase the performance and security.

5. Price

• Shared Hosting:
  • Cost of shared hosting is less compared to VPS hosting as it is providing shared storage, bandwidth, RAM and IP address.

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• VPS Hosting:
  • It is costly when compared to shared hosting as it is providing dedicated bandwidth, RAM, IP addresses for making the websites/blogs powerful.

It may cost more but worthy, what do you say?

So far we had a focus on how VPS hosting is different from Shared hosting and why it is preferable when compared to Shared hosting.

And, now it’s the time to have a look at the PROS and Corners of these two.

PROS and CONS of VPS hosting

Every hosting service will have some pros and cons, right; VPS hosting is also having the below. Come let us have a look.

PROS:

• Better performance of the server.
• Scalable and flexible configuration a server.
• Instant resolution of server related issues.
• A higher level of security.
• Extensive support.
• All basic feature configuration.

CONS:

• It is expensive compared to shared hosting.
• More time and technical knowledge required to manage.

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PROS & CONS of Shared Hosting:

PROS:

• Technical knowledge is not required.
• Easy to set up, use and manage as the basic configuration is already done.
• It is cheap when compared to VPS hosting.
• Available in different storage types like HDD and SSD’s, etc.,
• Available with different Operating Systems like Windows and LINUX.
• Flexibility to choose more than one e-mail, database, and FTP.

CONS:

• Every resource is shared among multiple users.
• Bandwidth is less for shared hosting.
• Flexibility is less in shared hosting.
• Full control over the server is not possible.

Finally, let us have only one question: Why we should go for VPS hosting over shared hosting?

We will get great performance, great scalability and a higher level of security with VPS hosting whereas shared performance, shared storage and security are being provided on Shared hosting.

Blogging and running a website is for the long run only, right? Then definitely we should go for VPS hosting as it helps to grow up the online business.

And in the current market, many VPS hosting providers are available like DreamHost, LiquideWeb, SiteGround, Bluehost, A2 host etc.

So, choosing and using VPS hosting is always a good decision.