When launching a website or web application, one of the first decisions to make is the hosting model. The three most common options are shared hosting, VPS and dedicated servers: performance, flexibility and cost increase in that order, but so do the expertise and time required to manage them.

Shared hosting

Several customers’ websites run on a shared server, which is maintained, updated and secured by the provider; you only need to focus on your website. Among our hosting solutions, web hosting comes with the KeyHelp interface, cPanel hosting with the cPanel interface, and WordPress hosting with the WP Toolkit Deluxe management tool. On cPanel and WordPress hosting plans, CloudLinux allocates a dedicated processor, memory and I/O quota to each account, ensuring that another customer’s high-traffic website does not slow yours down.

Advantages: it is the cheapest option, ready to use straight away, and requires no system administration knowledge. Limitations: you can only use software installed by the provider (such as PHP and databases), and resources are limited by the plan you have chosen.

VPS

A VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a virtual server isolated within a physical machine, with its own guaranteed resources and full root access. You can install any software on it: your own web server configuration, Docker, a Node.js or Python application, or a database server. On our KVM VPS servers, server management (updates, security, backups) is your responsibility; if you do not wish to take this on yourself, you can request a managed VPS, or opt for a dedicated cPanel server, which provides dedicated resources managed by us. You can read about the differences between shared hosting and VPS in detail in a separate article.

Dedicated server

With a dedicated server, you have an entire physical machine to yourself; you do not share it with other customers. This offers the highest performance and the greatest control, but it is the most expensive solution and also requires the most work to operate. It is recommended for high-traffic, resource-intensive applications, large databases or situations where it is a requirement that no one else can use the hardware.

Signs that you have outgrown your shared hosting plan

• On cPanel hosting, I regularly get a ‘508 Resource Limit Is Reached’ error, or the site slows down during busy periods, even though the website has already been optimised;
• you need software or settings that shared hosting does not allow (dedicated service, system-level package, root access);
• You manage many websites or clients and would like to consolidate them onto a single, dedicated server.

How should you decide?

• Start with shared hosting if you’re just starting out, are on a tight budget, or are running one or two standard websites (a landing page, a blog or a small online shop).
• Switch to a VPS if your hosting resources are limited, you require a custom software environment, and you or a colleague are able to manage a server.
• Choose a dedicated server if you have a high, predictable workload and performance or exclusive use of the hardware is of paramount importance.

This decision is not final: you can upgrade to a larger hosting plan at any time, and if you wish to switch to a different service (for example, from hosting to a cPanel server), we will assist you with the migration.