What Is Shared Hosting? (Definition + Advantages)

What Is Shared Hosting Meaning?

Generally speaking, a shared hosting server is proper for a personal weblog, startups, local businesses, or other small websites that don’t need very high bandwidth or professional settings. Websites with high volume should go for VPS or other dedicated options available on the market. Owners of these sites can take advantage of more in-depth controls and more stable performance if they choose plans with higher prices than the shared hosting. In the past article, we have mentioned the advantages of shared hosting.

How Does Shared Hosting Work?

Shared hosting plans are cheap and affordable. Before you go ahead with it, you will come across the need to figure out what is shared web hosting and how it works. Shared hosting is where you will be provided with hosting space in a server, which hosts multiple other websites. It can even contain hundreds or thousands of websites. The server resources, including processing speed, RAM, and hard drive space, are shared between all the websites hosted. Due to the same reason, the performance of your website hosted on the shared hosting server can be affected by another website’s performance on the same server. This is something that you will need to be mindful of.
The next part of this article will tell you about shared hosting pros and cons.

Advantages of Shared Hosting

Now you have answers to the question of what is shared hosting. There are some drawbacks and benefits of shared web hosting that you must know before deciding whether or not to use this kind of web hosting. In the following, we are going to mention some of the benefits first:

1- Cost-Effective

2- Simple User Interface

One of the main benefits of shared hosting is a simple user interface. Shared hosting is generally managed by control panels. This means that when you purchase the service, you are provided with a web interface with the ability to make changes, upload, create a site and add domains, and more. Due to the simple user interface in these types of management panels, you no longer need to have high knowledge of Linux or Windows servers and can use your service without paying attention to the details. The control panels provided on these services are generally Plesk, Cpanel or Solidcp.

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3- Security

4- Support

5- Scalable

In sum, shared hosting services may require you to hire a server administrator to maintain the service. This type of support and management of service is generally not provided on virtual servers or will be significantly limited.

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6- You Can Host Multiple Domains

You can have multiple domains under the user directory while using a shared hosting plan. The hosting provider will deliver a convenient interface, which you can use to manage all the websites. This interface can help you to overcome complexity in managing multiple websites.
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7- It’s Professionally Managed

The maintenance cost associated with shared hosting is low. In fact, you will be able to manage the website as well professionally. All you have to do is seek the assistance of a professional team and hand over the job to them.

8- It Can Host Dynamic Websites

Dynamic websites are the websites that change dynamically based on how a user is browsing. Quora, Facebook, and Twitter are perfect examples of such dynamic websites. They are usually based on content management systems. You can easily host a dynamic website within your shared hosting plan.

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Disadvantages of Shared Hosting

1- Resource Constraint

In shared hosting, the resources provided to your site are limited, and the overall server resources are shared among all users; this is one of the leading shared hosting drawbacks. Resource constraints become more critical when your site expands and needs more resources to operate. Lack of resources can severely impact your site’s performance, slow down the site, or interrupt loading. If the site in question uses more resources than what is specified by the server, access to the service may be restricted by the provider rules

Suggest you read our article about cloud hosting vs shared hosting speed

2- Lack of Full Access

One of the main Disadvantages of Shared Hosting is a lack of access. As mentioned earlier, shared hosting services have limitations on the amount and type of user access to server settings. This could be due to security issues or the impact of changes to other users’ services. If you need to make any changes to the server for any reason, you should discuss this with the server to make these changes if possible. In many cases, such changes cannot be made to these services. In fact, you do not have much authority for changes in shared services.

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3- Influenceable

Shared services generally have a lot of investigations to control the quality of service. Different websites operate typically in the range of resources provided to them, using the Isolated Application Pool, which essentially prevents over-consumption on one website and affects it on other websites. However, there are other problems that if happen to other websites, can negatively impact your website.

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4- Less Stable

Technologies such as cloud hosting, load balancing, and redundancy have greatly increased the ability of servers to provide more stable services. However, shared services are still less stable than dedicated services. The issues mentioned in previous sections are among the reasons that influence the sustainability of shared services. If your website requires a very high level of service sustainability, even the best-shared services may not meet your needs.
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5- Insufficient Support

Insufficient support is one of the big shared hosting cons. Shared hosting companies often assert to provide easy support, but this support might not be enough. In other words, if the website meets head-on a problem, they might not be able to help you with that. If your problem goes under, they will just restart it for you.


If you ask why it continues going under, they might be unaware. And in the end, you might soon find out that you are talking to someone who is not a professional WordPress pro, but instead someone who is a newcomer and is reading from a prepared FAQ. If you have bigger problems, you have to call an expert help from outside, which could cost a lot for you.

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6- More Vulnerable Against Security Issues

Another disadvantage of shared hosting is vulnerability to Security Issues and because of which you should just stay away from it. If a hacker hacks any website on a server, then other websites also face the potential threat. And if the main server itself gets hacked, then every website on the server threats Simultaneously. So, if you should try to work without mistake, your website is at risk in a shared hosting environment.


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7- Extra Payment For SSL Certificates

In general, you have no problem with the initial cost of shared hosting, because it is not high, but when you want to add a feature, you have to spend more. that is one of the main shared hosting disadvantages. One of these features is SSL certificates. Many shared hosting companies don’t prepare SSL certificates for free, and this causes your website to show a “Not Secure” warning.

However, these certificates are actually available for free. But, you still result up paying for them on shared hosting. So the cost of SSL Certificates becomes one of the biggest shared hosting disadvantages because you have to add up the cost of buying it from shared hosting.
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Who Should Buy a Shared Hosting Server?

Overall, for those who are starting a website from the ground up, there is no alternative to shared hosting. It’s by far the best choice for this group of users. Also, shared hosting is the right fit for those who can’t invest much in their hosting and need to keep their costs down. Beginner users with little experience regarding website management who choose Joomla and WordPress cms as their CMS could also benefit from this service extensively. Furthermore, in the beginning, it’s hard to predict how much space and requirements a website needs precisely. To this end, shared hosting is a proper flexible solution that allows you to manage the unknowns easier.
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Things To Consider When Choosing a Shared Hosting Plan

Upon understanding what is shared website hosting and the benefits of shared web hosting, you will need to explore the factors that can contribute towards the best results out of your shared hosting plan. Here are some important tips that you need to consider as you try to obtain your shared hosting plan.

1- Uptime
One of the very first things you should do as of now is to take a look at the uptime. If the shared hosting plan is leading you to continuous downtimes, you will end up with struggles. This is why you should be mindful of the uptime. You can then make your website available for visitors at all times.

2- Speed
Next, you should be mindful of safety. No person would like to wait for more than 3 seconds for a page of your website to load. While keeping this in mind, you should pay extra attention to the speed of the website.

3- Security
Shared hosting can be risky as your server will be shared with numerous other entities. This is why you should be mindful of the security of the website. Then you will be able to keep it away from threats.

4- Resources
There should be enough resources available for you to host the website. This is something that you should double-check and see. If not, you will run into struggles because of a lack of resources.

5- Easy to use dashboard
You never expect to go through any struggles when using the web hosting account. This is why you should check and see whether there is an easy-to-use dashboard is available or not.

6- Support
Last but not least, you need to make sure that proper support is available to you. Then you can get answers to all the questions you have promptly.

When We not Use Shared Hosting

Your site is facilitated on a standard server with numerous different sites with shared Hosting. Subsequently, the server is arranged to permit well-known structures, for example, WordPress, to run effectively with traditional settings. To use a custom website system that isn’t introduced on the server or improve server assets for webpage explicit undertakings, it is likely best to use a web hosting or devoted hosting program. These projects require much more information and framework the executive’s experience, yet they permit you to alter the server precisely to your necessities.
Introducing WordPress or utilizing essential coding, for example, HTML or CSS, doesn’t need root access and is effectively finished with the underlying arrangement of a joint facilitating account. Email, essential security strategies, such as ModSecurity, Sucuri, and SSL testaments, likewise don’t need root access and can be applied rapidly without broad information.
Except if you want root admittance to introduce programming or unique settings, shared Hosting is the best spot to begin. Nonetheless, on the off chance that you wish to teach particular programming or set up another server to set up and run your site, consider Hosting a VPS or committed server.

Why Start with Shared Hosting?

Shared Hosting is the least complicated type of web Hosting to begin. Progressed server settings expect you to oversee server assets and upgrade server settings yourself. In a joint program, this is dealt with for you! Likewise, you can pick a joint undertaking with the support that your business needs—that way, you just compensation for what you use. Assuming you at any point expected to change to a VPS or devoted hosting program, you can undoubtedly overhaul your application to something with more control.
In addition to shared Hosting, it is natural to have numerous destinations simultaneously. cPanel, Softaculous, and other engineer devices simplify the same goals, send off new locales, and attempt new things. You can undoubtedly test on different destinations without influencing your center business. Most independent ventures need a little data site to assist them with building mindfulness and cultivating leads while beginning a site.
Likewise, while sending off a site, traffic will probably be low until the site positions in web indexes. Utilizing a standard Hosting plan at this phase of development will assist you with setting aside cash while distinguishing your image, constructing an internet-based presence, and fostering an SEO technique.
Shared Hosting turns out best for primary, centered sites. Online journals, one-page pages, or destinations that sell a little assortment of items or administrations can all function admirably in shared Hosting. WordPress and other well-known substances the executives programming are frequently excellent for shared Hosting when a site has standard, predictable traffic. Some web-based business stages can, without much of a stretch, sudden spike in demand for shared Hosting, even with a wide assortment of items; however, a few scenes perform better compared to other people.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Shared Hosting Good?

Shared hosting is a suitable option for small businesses that require small websites. Since every website doesn’t need to use its quota, then it works for most of the small businesses. It is really affordable for such organizations and also profitable for web hosting companies.

Is Shared Hosting Secure?

The answer is yes! Shared hosting has the same amount of security risks as other kinds of hosting. If hackers get the chance to hack your website, they can redirect your users to unwanted pages, display unwanted content and spam the customers.

What Is the Purpose of Shared Hosting?

If you are wondering what does shared hosting mean, we should say that it is a kind of web hosting capable of hosting multiple websites on a single server. In this way, several websites can host their website files and utilize the resources together. As a result, the cost for shared hosting plans is much more reasonable than the other kinds of plans.

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Is Shared Hosting Slow?

One of the most important shared hosting drawbacks is its speed. The performance of your website highly depends on the activity of other websites which are hosted on the same plan and also by the server infrastructure itself.

How Much Traffic Can Shared Hosting Handle?

Good shared hosting is capable of handling about 1.5–2k traffic per hour. It actually depends on how website owners optimize their website pages. With the average size of 700kb to 1.3 MB of website pages, we can say that shared hosting can handle 7–12 k daily traffic without any problem. But for more traffic, users may experience some slow loading issues. 

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Conclusion

In this article, we have mentioned some of the pros and cons of shared hosting that can affect your business. It is important to choose the right kind of Webhosting service for your website to attract more users to visit your site and also rank higher in SERP. We hope that this article can help you have a better understanding of shared hosting limitations, pros, and cons!