Shared hosting-

Most people who start a website start on a shared hosting plan, the main reason for this is the price. Sharing a server with a couple of hundred/thousand other websites makes the price of the hosting much cheaper. Choosing a web host is very difficult and if you have databases installed then moving to another server can be complicated. My website started on shared hosting, but the support was awful and so I moved again to another shared hosting plan. The support on this package was excellent and was almost 24 hour support by live online help. Eventually my site was growing and the forum which was PHPBB was crashing on a regular basis. A quick message to support and it would be back up- most of the time! Shared hosting is fine for small sites that are not getting too many hits, but once your site gets large or you are getting lots of hits you are going to have to think of moving.

VPS-

A virtual private server is the next logical step up from shared hosting, with VPS you get much more control over the web space that you are managing. Often the VPS package will come with software installed to help you maintain your part of the server ( VPS is still a type of shared hosting, but there are only a few users on the server).
I was disappointed with the VPS package that I was using as it came with some difficult to use software installed as the default operating software called webmin. Webmin was not the easiest software in the world to use and even a friend of mine that is a certified webmaster could not use it and so I had to purchase a license and get Cpanel installed. Eventually I ran into problems and contacted support and to my surprise VPS was not covered by support!

Dedicated server-

After the saga with the VPS I started to look for dedicated hosting, but because of my limited server knowledge I wanted something that was easy to use, safe and reliable. A friend pointed out 1&1 and they had some really high spec servers with very fast connections at a reasonable price, these servers are also managed and so there is no maintenance that I need to perform. I simply create the pages and upload them to the server and I make regular backups of my databases regularly. I have been on a managed-dedicated 1&1 server for four months now without a single problem or forum crash. Obviously a dedicated server is much more expensive than shared hosting, but for me it is worth every penny.

When it comes time to choose a web host and hosting package choose very carefully!

You're very right.

hosting is really a strategic matter in the Internet.

Dedicated server have as well become a lot cheaper than a couple years ago, and this make the price a smaller matter.

You can nowadays easily find a (real and usable) dedicated only costing couple time more than a shared one. I think quite some people with several shared hosting would be better, and even for cheaper, hosted if they'd rent a dedicated for all their websites.

This to tell that it's not really a cost matter to go for a dedicated, because in most case, if a shared hosting is to small it means you already have enough visits to finance at least most of you server expenses with few adds.

The real matter is admin, as it can be quite a pain for people with few experience.

Cpanel though can make it as easy a dealing with a shared hosting, you just have to deal with more responsibilities by yourself, but as long as you do regular (daily) backups, and took the time to train yourself a bit on putting all back online from scratch, it should never be a problem.

Administrated servers like the 1&1 offer you mention can as well be useful for non technical people, but even in this case, you responsibility is greater than on a shared hosting, the company won't do everything for you.

My personal experience is I started with a dedicated form the very beginning, as I wanted to have dealt with dedicated server for some time before it would have become really necessary. Was a bit more expense at first, but in the end I do not regret, as I did not have to deal with migrating under pressure, and had the time to peacefully set everything as I wanted.

Never tried VPS, I'm not convinced it's really useful as dedicated can cost less than 20€/month now.

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wow 20/month? can you give me that website?

thanks

Unfortunately, the one I was thinking about is only usable in France, belgium and switzerland, but I'm sure you can find similar offers : http://www.kimsufi.com/

It's in €, but I don't see why similar offers would not exsist in the $ zone.

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Wow. Thats great. You french guys are really enjoying. I would really love the dollar version of that amazing offer

dcz wrote:It's in €, but I don't see why similar offers would not exsist in the $ zone.

If such a deal exists in the US, it's well hidden. Thanks ultimatehandyman for the mention of 1&1, it looks like a nice lower tech alternative. The only thing that gives me pause is the min contract periods. That could be an expensive mistake if the service does not please.

no kidding, I hardly believe hosting could be cheaper in France with the dollar so low but, as a matter of fact, the corporation behind the kimsufi server does not have the same price for English user :

https://www.ovh.com/en/dedie/web/superplan.html (lowest offer in English)
69€/month for less than the kimsufi set up
Even more expensive than a P4ht in the french word : https://www.ovh.com/fr/particulier/prod ... rt100m.xml

Jeez, I had never noticed the difference was so huge.

Maybe I should start a hosting company