Types of Web Hosting

In general, there are 4 types of web hosting, namely Shared Hosting, Virtual Private Server (VPS), Dedicated Server Hosting and Cloud Hosting.

All types of web hosting act as a place to store website data.

However, they have different specifications, ranging from price, control over servers, size of data storage, level of security, server speed and also reliability.

Let's together see what the differences are between the 4 types of web hosting.

1. Shared Hosting

• Cost
• Performance
• Security
• Skill Requirment
• Server Control

As the name implies, shared hosting is a hosting service where your hosting account is shared with other hosting accounts on the same server.

Is it clear?

Imagine that there is a large room and the owner of the room is renting out the room to the crowd.

Then you come and rent space in the spacious room. In it you share with other people who also rent the room.

We call the room a server and the server is shared with everyone who rents the server.

Pros of Shared Hosting

The price is cheap.

Another plus is that you don't have to bother doing technical maintenance on the server when running the program, because all shared hosting is fully managed by the hosting service provider in question.

Like a web-based control panel (cPanel) that is easy to use, so you will also be easy to install platforms like WordPress, create email accounts and add databases.

Disadvantages of Shared Hosting

The main problem with shared hosting is limited resources.

Due to sharing on the same server, each user has some restrictions in their service.

For example, if one of the server users is using too many resources, such as a lot of traffic / visits, email spamming, etc., then your website or other users on the same server will experience downtime or experience a very slow / long load time.

Conclusion

Shared hosting is good for users who don't want to spend a lot of money on a hosting package.

Shared hosting is best suited for new websites, personal blogs, online stores and websites with not too many visits per month (usually less than 30,000 traffic / month).

2. Virtual Private Server (VPS)

• Cost
• Performance
• Security
• Skill Requirment
• Server Control

VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a solution that bridges the gap between shared hosting and dedicated hosting.

What does it mean?
Okay .. please continue first, later you will understand

The advantages of VPS

VPS is still similar to shared hosting, you are still sharing on the same server.

It's just that you get bigger resources and a definite size, both CPU, RAM, disk space and bandwidth.

Imagine in a room that was rented out by the owner, in which you have a private room.

Now your place is bigger than what you use compared to shared hosting.

The good thing is, in it you have the freedom to install any software without fear of disturbing other users.

So in a VPS, you get full control over the server, even getting almost the same benefits that dedicated server hosting services provide at a much cheaper price, and get higher performance than shared hosting.

Disadvantages of VPS

VPS hosting is generally more expensive than shared hosting.

Prices for VPS Hosting usually start from IDR 100,000 per month.

You'll also need a bit more technical skills, especially if you plan on using an unmanaged VPS host.

So, the VPS itself is divided into two, unmanged VPS and managed VPS.

What is an unmanaged VPS host?

In short is the VPS you rent:

You take care of it yourself.
You install the control panel yourself.
You update it yourself.
And other things you do yourself without the responsibility of the web hosting provider support team.
The hosting provider on an unmanaged VPS is only responsible for the server you use.

And what is managed VPS?
Managed VPS is the opposite of unmanaged VPS.

The server you rent will be managed directly by the hosting provider's support team.
You don't need to bother thinking about this and that. With managed VPS, you can focus 100% on our website.

Conclusion

VPS hosting is suitable for those of you who want better performance than shared hosting, but don't want to pay more to buy dedicated hosting.

VPS is suitable for websites with high traffic levels, it is also very suitable for those of you who want a good security guarantee, because using VPS, your data and email will be placed on a private server, separate from other users.

VPS Service Recommendations

For information, currently most web hosting providers no longer use traditional VPS because they have switched to VPS cloud hosting.

For unmanaged VPS, I recommend Digital Ocean, Vultr and Linode.

As for managed VPS, my recommendation is Cloudways.

3. Dedicated Server Hosting

• Cost
• Performance
• Security
• Skill Requirment
• Server Control

Dedicated server hosting is a managed hosting service where you rent an entire server and it is not shared with anyone.

Again, we are using the example of a person who has a large room.
In dedicated hosting, you rent the entire space.

This means that no one except you can use the room (server).

Pros of Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated server hosting is the most powerful, secure, scalable and flexible solution for hosting a website, it also has very good performance, because the server is not used by anyone.

In dedicated hosting, you have full control over the server and can control all activities that occur on the server.

You can adjust all resources such as processor, RAM, CPU, etc. as needed.

Another advantage is that you will also get support services with the status of "High Priority Support",

In fact, in many cases, when there is damage to the server being used, it is the responsibility of the server provider to fix it.

Disadvantages of Dedicated Hosting

Of all the advantages offered by dedicated server hosting, it is not surprising that the costs are relatively more expensive, generally the rental price starts from IDR 800,000 / month.

You also need to have good technical knowledge and skills in managing it.

If you don't want to bother learning these technical matters, you can hire a server administrator who is dedicated to managing servers.

Conclusion

This service is suitable for large business activities that handle high data traffic, as well as for websites that handle highly sensitive personal information / data such as eCommerce sites, corporate, university or government sites.

4. Cloud Hosting

• Cost
• performance
• Security
• Skill Required
• Server Control

The same problem with both dedicated hosting and virtual private server (VPS) and shared hosting services is that the three types of web hosting actually cannot keep their servers online when their resource usage exceeds normal limits.

Usually caused by an explosion of visitors.

I mean, we're talking about a device with limitations.
How much memory can be used, how much data storage, how many requests it can handle.

.... At this point, you don't need to worry.

Maybe you will start to get scared when it actually happens to your website that is hosted on a shared hosting service, VPS or dedicated hosting.

In reality, this is rare.

Most websites never exceed the normal limit of resource usage, except on shared hosting because it has limited resources. Remember, in shared hosting, everything is shared resources.

But there are some websites that regularly get tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, and millions of visitors every day

or some other websites that suddenly get a very high surge in visitors.

Then what is the solution to deal with this?

Because of the reality as stated above, web hosting companies offer a service called cloud hosting.

So, what is cloud hosting?

Cloud hosting is a hosting service created with the aim of ensuring the website remains online despite the explosion of visitors as described above.

Pros of Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting offers unlimited / unlimited capabilities to handle a very high explosion of visitors.

How does it work?

On shared hosting services, VPS and dedicated servers. Your website only has one server.

But in cloud hosting, your website will be associated with multiple servers.

Well ....

Normally if a serve is down / offline, the website on the server will also go down (because it only has one server).

But with cloud hosting, the downed website will be moved to another online server (because it is associated with multiple servers).

But the fact is, from my experience in the past few years using cloud hosting, servers can still experience downtime. So it is not 100% guarantee that the website will always stay online.

Even if you use cloud hosting with the best infrastructure in the world, such as Google Cloud.


Cons of Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is generally more expensive than unmanaged VPS and can be more expensive than dedicated hosting if you choose large resources.

Apart from that, you also need technical knowledge to manage servers if you choose unmanaged cloud hosting.

Conclusion

Cloud hosting is suitable for websites that regularly get tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands to millions of visitors every day.

And also suitable for websites that get a high number of visitors but cannot predict when they will come.

Whether it's because of a post that suddenly goes viral or suddenly gets busy at certain times such as the university website during the new school year.