When we talk about hosting we can see people’s eyes start to glaze over. And we realise that it is one of those essential services that agencies and businesses don’t always want to get too involved in. For the most part that isn’t an issue, however, if you’re looking at how to pick the right hosting it helps to keep alert! Luckily, we’ve broken it down into bite-sized chunks in this post for you.
What are the different hosting types?
There are three main types of hosting that can cover the smallest of websites to enterprise-scale operations:
- Shared hosting – This is where websites are hosted on the same server and share its resources, including CPU, RAM, and storage. If you have a smaller site, you are unlikely to notice any impact in performance as a good host won’t let this happen but a larger provider might not give you the service level you sometimes need with this plan.
- VPS Hosting or Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting – This is a balance between sharing hosting and dedicated servers. A physical server is split into multiple virtual servers allowing you a dedicated resource. No sharing. It offers better performance, control, and security compared to shared hosting.
- Dedicated Hosting – This is an entire physical server dedicated to you. All resources such as CPU and RAM are yours. It allows optimum performance, customisation and security.
- Cloud Hosting – Cloud hosting pulls together a network of virtual and sometimes physical services. It can easily be scaled up or down depending on seasonal trends or varying traffic levels. While it’s generally more reliable due to its redundancy, it’s important to consider potential data security and cost concerns.
How to pick what hosting is right for you and your client?
We’ve outlined what each hosting is but that’s only part of the picture. A good hosting provider will work with you to identify the right hosting package for you. But, forearming yourself is forewarned. Understanding:
- What size will your website be? Or how many pages will it have?
- Does it have complex functionality such as e-commerce?
- Will it have large volumes of traffic?
- Will it have traffic spikes?
It can help you identify the right hosting package for each individual client. As an agency, you might also consider:
- How many websites do you want to host on one resource?
- What hosting will benefit my client the most?
- What hosting will benefit my agency as well as my clients in terms of budget?
There is no one-size-fits-all option for hosting. But as a guide:
- A small website e.g. under 30 pages with low volumes of traffic is best suited for shared hosting
- A larger website with functionality e.g. e-commerce with varying traffic levels would work on VPS
- A global website with consistently high traffic levels e.g. enterprise level would be best suited on a Dedicated Server or Cloud hosting
- If you’re an agency looking to run multiple client websites on one resource then Dedicated Servers or Cloud hosting are the ones to consider
Finally, one other thing to consider is the service of your hosting provider. Do they offer fully managed hosting? ProStack do. And by this, we mean that we will fully configure the hosting for you from shared to dedicated servers. Your development team don’t need to configure the architecture of the server. Leaving them time to focus on what they do best! Chat to us online or through our support desk for more information.