Web hosting providers offer many different types of hosting like free web hosting, Shared, Reseller, Virtual Dedicated Server, Dedicated, Managed, Colocation, Clustered, Grid. By glancing through the list, you should get a better understanding on all the different hosting packages available online and which one is the right service for you.
Free web hosting service: is free, (sometimes) advertisement-supported web hosting, and is often limited when compared to paid hosting.
Shared Hosting: (My personal favorite) is a type of hosting where many web sites are hosted on same physical server. It is the cheapest and easiest way to get a web site up and running. Shared web hosting is perfect for web blogs, personal web pages, small forums, small business and e-commerce sites. Shared web hosting is ideal for establishing simple websites.
Reseller hosting: is a certain kind of web hosting where you buy server space, market it yourself, and sell it on to your own customers. Most of the resellers are web designers, consultants or marketers, who want to offer their customers a complete package with hosting included.
Virtual Dedicated Server: offer many of the capabilities and features of dedicated servers, including admin (root) access and dedicated IP addresses, but at a much lower price. However, as a virtual dedicated server is, indeed, virtually dedicated, the customer in fact shares the server space with a small number of other customers. Virtual dedicated servers meet the needs of web sites that have outgrown garden-variety shared hosting, but which don’t yet justify the expense of their own dedicated server. Virtual dedicated servers come with an easy-to-use control panel that offers a highly powerful tool box that allows you easy access to powerful features.
Dedicated server: means you are renting an entire physical server for use all by yourself. Getting a dedicated server means you don’t have to share system resources with other websites. Dedicated servers are most often housed in data centers, similar to colocation facilities , providing redundant power sources and HVAC systems. In contrast to collocation, the server hardware is owned by the provider and in some cases they will provide support for your operating system or applications.
Managed hosting: is usually more expensive since the web host will be responsible for managing and maintaining the dedicated server. Managed hosting service can be considered as an upgraded version of web hosting. The managed hosting provider takes the responsibility of hosting the clients website in a well managed way.Managed hosting firms can also help businesses change their network and systems, upgrading, adding options and extending solutions.
Colocation hosting: is like having a server on your own. With colocation you can save time and money because of using shared data infrastructure. Colocation hosting is the next best thing if you are willing to provide the server and manage it by yourself. If you don’t have much experience or can’t spend a lot of time managing the server or want to buy a server computer, dedicated hosting or a VPS is the best option.
Clustered Hosting : is a group of servers clustered in the same network to perform hosting services. The purpose of Clustered Hosting technology is to eradicate the troubles inherent in typical shared hosting infrastructures.
Grid hosting: is a new approach to a shared hosting environment. Instead of a few websites sharing one server, in the more classic shared environment, grid hosting is a bunch of websites all sharing a bunch of servers.
Well I hope this article gave you a better understanding on what web hosting service is right for you. And if you are still undecided or still need more information, Check out affordable web hosting 101 lesson 2 How to choose a good web hosting company.
