Difference Between Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting
Web hosting providers offer shared and Virtual private server (VPS) hosting services. In shared hosting, one common server is shared by many websites and users whereas in VPS the server is virtually divided into many private servers and users manage these private servers. VPS is easy to manage for the users.
Shared hosting is configured in a hardware box with a Linux or Windows based Operating system. Many hosting providers offer unlimited server space to the users and except the media files, you can host as much as you like. The users need to share the memory, bandwidth, application, storage space and the processor. One server is assigned to multiple users and websites but this is one of the cheapest options when compared to VPS and dedicated hosting.
In VPS the server is partitioned and configured as a separate server and this process is known as virtualization. A separate operating system is installed as per the requirement of the users, on each of these separate servers created. The users get the rights to administer the server and he can use it just like the dedicated server, this allows the users to configure and customize the software.
The users can get dedicated or shared resources. You get the liberty of selecting the memory size and hard disk space as per your requirement.
Some of the differences between shared and VPS hosting are mentioned here:
- Shared hosting is economical than VPS.
- Shared hosting is perfect for the websites which experience less traffic or whose business is at initial stages.
- The resources are shared in Shared hosting while they can be dedicated in case of VPS.
- Shared hosting is lesser efficient than VPS.
- Shared hosting allows the users just to install and customize the applications while in VPS they get the admin rights.
- Shared hosting is not as flexible as VPS hosting.