By far, shared hosting is the most common web hosting solution used by new businesses. That’s because it is relatively inexpensive. But is it worth your time and money?
Let's have a quick look first of what shared web hosting means.
What is Shared Hosting?
Shared web hosting involves a primary web server that is being used to host various websites. Usually, this involves hundreds of sites that are being hosted in a single server.
As of the moment, there has been a debate regarding the viability of shared hosting. A lot of people consider it an important asset in the digital industry letting anyone establish an online presence. Some, however, view it as a recipe for disaster.
Before you decide to jump to a shared hosting plan, it is vital to understand the seven most common drawbacks of shared web hosting.
- Slower loading time
Your type of web host can affect your website’s loading speed. Keep in mind that most of the components of shared hosting service are shared, meaning, these components are not distributed evenly.
As a result, your site performance will be significantly reduced because of the websites in the server, giving you a slower loading time.
We all know the consequences of the slow loading time is. Even a one-second delay can cause a significant impact on your conversions. That’s why it is crucial to pick the right hosting provider.
This is where review sites could come in handy. Say, you want to know which between Bluehost vs. Siteground is a better web host in terms of speed and performance. Online review sites can help you get a hand of an unbiased review of these web hosts’ performance.
- Insufficient Resources
A shared hosting site means that all websites are run with a single server. Thus, that server is more prone to congestions and performance hits.
Let's say one website experience a spike of traffic, and the server is not designed to handle this. The overall result could be damaging to other sites that are hosted on that server.
As mentioned previously, this could potentially slow down your site, causing your website's performance to be limited. In some cases, it could even lead to website crashes.
That's the last thing that you want to happen to your site.
- Crashing
Server or system crashes are fairly common in a shared web host, and still largely remains a problem. When a load of multiple sites is on the server, then it can cause the system to crash.
Although there are several reputable web hosts out there, when it comes to shared vs. dedicated hosting, the former has always been questionable.
No matter what proactive measures you take, if there are thousands of sites that are in a single server, then it could lead to failure and eventually crash.
When looking at a shared hosting provider, it is crucial to look through their previous history and SLA guarantees for downtime. You can even search through their social media pages and web hosting forums to search for more information.
- Poor customer support
Shared hosting platforms depend on tools that are automated, as well as general questions to serve an extensive client base. If a customer encounters a problem or an issue, they might need to open up a support ticket.
Depending on the type of hosting package that they choose, the support team might take a while to respond. But if you have a business, every second count and a critical issue that you might encounter might affect your reputation in the market. If that scenario happens, there is little can be done but just to wait and watch.
On the other hand, these problems can easily be handled by a dedicated hosting provider with a dedicated support team to ensure that a site is up and running.
- Performance
Another issue can be your site's performance. Let's say, you are experiencing moderate traffic on your site. Then, another user that's utilizing your shared hosting provider gets a sudden spike of traffic, then the overall performance of your page can be significantly affected.
Taking a long time for your pages to load can be so frustrating for your web visitors, and in the long run, you might lose out that precious traffic as your site visitors might decide to look for information elsewhere.
- Fewer features
Although it might be one of the cheapest options out there, if you are lacking in features and customization options that are associated with these plans, then it can significantly affect the quality of your website, app, and your business. The lack of features may also mean that it will be difficult for you to fix SEO issues on your website.
This can significantly affect your user experience as well, making it less likely for people to come back to your site again. If you have a dedicated hosting package, then you will likely have more features to work with and customize according to your preference.
Also, your resources are being spread too thin because of your bandwidth, data, and other usages are all going to be divided equally among you.
Let's say you have opted for a dedicated hosting platform on the other hand. Well, rest assured, you only have a single client account. Meaning, all the resources you have will be yours and yours alone.
- Security
Probably the most important thing that you have to take into consideration when choosing a web hosting provider is security.
It only takes one mistake for the webmasters for your shared hosting plan to misuse your .htaccess, and it might cause server glitches. It can also bring about all sorts of chaos in your site, as well as a host of security issues.
Hackers and malicious individuals might gain access to your data, causing your site to be blacklisted because of malpractice that is being recognized by the server.
Hopefully, you have understood how shared web hosting works as well as one of the biggest drawbacks with shared hosting plans.
Top comments (2)
I agree with your points that shared hosting has many drawbacks, but the problem is that shared hosting is the best type for small businesses with low traffic. The main problem is that small businesses don't have enough budget for VPS or managed hosting as they are relatively expensive. Shared hosting is a good choice as it doesn't have a lot of traffic and small businesses usually have less traffic.
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