Shared v/s VPS v/s Managed WordPress hosting: how to expertly choose between them?

  • Hosting

Choosing the apt WordPress hosting provider and package is a daunting challenge for those about to launch their new websites. To add to the confusion, there are many hosting companies in the market like Hostinger, Bluehost, Liquid Web, etc boasting of a myriad of features and services. Before taking a final decision, please work out what kind of hosting you will need. We have already shared with you our ideas on things to consider while choosing a hosting provider.

In this article, we will take a look at three types of hosting – shared, VPS, and managed WordPress hosting. It is imperative that you understand the benefits and drawbacks of each to decide the hosting type for your site. 

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is a web hosting service where your site “shares” the resources of a single web server with other websites. Each individual on the same shared server is given a definite amount of resources like server memory, disc space, CPU, etc. This sharing feature enables the drastic lowering of its overall costs. Your hosting package determines the limit of server resources you can use.

Shared Hosting is the most common form of hosting today, used especially by startups and beginners. But once your website traffic increases, you have to think of other options.

Pros of Shared Hosting

Cheapest Hosting Option: Shared hosting has many subscribers due to its low cost and affordability. It is great for those with low budgets.

Beginner-friendly: Compared to other hosting options, shared hosting is much easier to set up. After signing up for a shared hosting package, you will get access to an intuitive control panel and user dashboard from where you can easily manage your website.

Security and Maintenance: Security, upgrades, and maintenance of the server are managed by the hosting staff liberating you from the complex server management tasks.

Cons of Shared Hosting

Low Speed: Your page load time may be affected because of sharing the server resources with other users. A spike in traffic in any of the sites on the same server can impact all other sites too. 

Lack of Customization: Your customization options are limited to making small changes via the control panel or installing a CMS thus restricting your website from achieving the highest level of performance.  

Unsuitable for high-traffic sites – Websites with high traffic cannot be handles by shared hosts. It is also impossible to scale and support a growing site due to server storage and bandwidth limitations. 

Suitability of Shared Hosting

It is a preferred partner for beginners and those with low traffic websites like hobby sites, blogs, personal sites, and small business sites.

VPS Hosting

WordPress VPS Hosting is the next common hosting method after Shared Hosting. VPS stands for Virtual Private Server.  It is similar to shared hosting but you are assured of baseline resources and also of additional resources at a moment’s notice to handle any traffic hikes. There are fewer websites sharing a server than in shared hosting thus the server environment is fully optimized for WordPress hosting.

This is perfect for those WordPress owners with no budget to get a dedicated server but has website traffic too big for shared hosting.

Pros of VPS Hosting

High Performance: VPS hosting enables improved performance thanks to the resources dedicated to your WordPress site to handle increasing amounts of traffic. You can also upgrade your server resources if you are expecting a month with more traffic or is experiencing stable higher growth.

Better security: VPS hosting provides better protection against hackers. For every hosting account, there is a hypervisor isolating it from other sites in the same server and preventing leaking of resources. This ensures your site is protected from other sites. If needed additional security measures can be taken since only WordPress sites are using the VPS server

Better Server Customization: If you need more server access, then VPS hosting is your answer. It provides root server access for greater server control and customization options making a VPS server feel more like a dedicated server than a shared server.

Cons of VPS Hosting

Expensive: VPS hosting is more expensive than shared hosting thus making you feel the pinch. 

Technically Challenging: VPS hosting demands a higher level of technical skills to configure and manage your server. This may end up taking more time to get your website running.

Resource Allocation Issues: Some unethical server companies may oversell their resources hoping no website would experience a traffic hike and you will be in real trouble if your site experiences one on such a day. 

Suitability of VPS Hosting

Suitable for those sites that need more resources than what offered by shared hosting but does not want to spend too much money for dedicated hosting. A good solution to websites suffering from speed and security issues of shared hosting. 

Managed WordPress Hosting

Managed WordPress Hosting is the type of hosting service that provides the latest technologies for your WordPress site to make it both secure and fast. Managed Hosts also take care of issues like security checks, backups, WordPress updates, etc. In short, you rent the hardware from the host and also pay them for managing it and other server related issues. 

There are 2 types of managed hosting – Semi-managed hosting (self-managed hosting) for people who only need a host’s infrastructure and support, and Fully-managed hosting for people who need both infrastructure and server management support. Some companies offer managed hosting as an add-on to their existing VPS or dedicated packages. From a single dashboard, you can create and maintain multiple WordPress websites.

Pros of Managed Hosting

Security & Backups: Managed Hosting providers keep an eye on OS updates, virus scanning, spam filtering, and security audits. They also check the operating system and core application for any vulnerabilities and prevent any server attacks. You also get automated backups for data restoring.

Effective Server Monitoring: The hosts regularly monitor the server enabling early detection of vulnerabilities and irregularities that may cause havoc. This regular monitoring keeps the site and server healthy and assures good server uptime and network availability.

Great Support: Support is available 24*7 via live chat, phone, email or support ticket. The support executives are well versed with handling minor issues and resolving glitches. 

Cons of Managed Hosting

Expensive: Managed hosting cost is high compared to that of shared hosting. 

Plugin restriction: WordPress Managed hosts are stricter than other hosts and often bans those plugins with bad track records for security reasons.

Loss of control: The hosts have control over the technical aspects and do not give control panel access to users. 

Suitability of Managed Hosting

WordPress managed hosting is useful for those websites with very high traffic and generates good income. 

We hope that we have given you a detailed idea about the three hosting methods and enough information to make your choice. Please keep checking this site to know more about the best hosting providers and their cool offers.

The WP Week Newsletter

A weekly newsletter covering updates from the WordPress ecosystem that are relevant and helpful for WordPress agencies, developers, and enthusiasts

Leave your comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *