Cloud Hosting vs Shared Hosting

When the time comes to publish your website online, you have a number of options for hosting services. Starting from Shared Hosting, the choices go all the way up to Dedicated Server Hosting. Among these, Shared Linux Hosting is one of the most popular alternatives, mainly because of its cost. It is the most affordable web hosting platform among hosting platforms that are available today.

Then there’s Cloud Hosting which harnesses the power of the cloud to offer a scalable web hosting experience. But it costs much more than Shared Hosting, which puts it at a slight disadvantage with new website owners. First-time site owners choose to start their online journey with Shared Hosting, specifically Linux web hosting, because of the cost factor.

Let’s understand what Cloud Hosting and Shared Hosting are before looking at the differences that will help you choose one over the other.

What is Shared Hosting?

Shared Hosting is among the oldest forms of web hosting. It hosts multiple websites on a single server which then share all the server resources within themselves. While it may not be the fastest one out there, it is certainly one of the most versatile and is used in a wide variety of websites. It presents a great option for site owners with a limited budget and low resource requirements.

What is Cloud Hosting?

Cloud Hosting uses multiple servers to store website data, thereby creating a “cloud” hosting environment. It spreads out your website data over multiple servers and can allocate almost infinite resources for your website if the need arises. It can easily scale your hosting space as per your requirements and ensure optimum use of your hosting. It is a wonderful option for a next-level hosting platform.

Difference between Shared Hosting and Cloud Hosting

1. Scalability

Cloud Hosting offers more flexibility as it has access to resources of multiple servers whenever the need arises. This means that your website can never crash due to lack of resources. Shared Hosting, on the other hand, offers limited scalability that is restricted by the server’s physical resources.

2. Performance

Cloud Hosting offers fast performance that is powered by multiple resources. Since it has easy scalability, Cloud Hosting can offer a more consistent performance under various load conditions. Shared Hosting provides a competent performance that can vary with the amount of traffic your website receives.

3. Security

Cloud Hosting offers robust security features that make it an ideal choice for medium to large websites. It can even withstand a DDoS attack as it is very difficult to bring down the Cloud Hosting setup. Shared Hosting offers comparable security but doesn’t have the resilience of Cloud Hosting.

4. Reliability

Cloud Hosting rarely goes down for maintenance as it can be done in stages without affecting the hosted websites. When a Shared Hosting server needs to be serviced, it experiences downtime.

5. Price

Cloud Hosting is the pricier option but offers good value for money with all its features. Shared Hosting is a pocket-friendly hosting option that makes it the hosting of choice for most smaller and beginner websites.

If you’re in the market to buy hosting for your website, you can consider either of these options. Understand your website’s needs clearly, and they will help you make the final decision.