Wondering what the difference between shared hosting and dedicated hosting is, and (more importantly) which option is right for your site? This post is here to help!
We will cover everything you need to know below, including definitions of these two types of hosting, differences between the two, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each product.
And when it does make sense to upgrade to dedicated hosting, and looking at a few other ideas.
A quick introduction to shared hosting vs dedicated hosting
First, we should briefly define these terms, as well as another one you may come across, virtual private server (VPS) hosting.
Afterward, we go into more details about shared versus dedicated servers in the next sections, and list the advantages and disadvantages of shared hosting and dedicated hosting separately.
What is shared hosting?
With shared hosting, multiple sites are hosted on the same physical server. As a result, it leads to sharing of resources such as RAM, CPU capacity, storage, and bandwidth.
Due to the sharing of resources like this, hosting providers are able to provide extremely low pricing and this is why shared hosting is usually the cheapest way to host a website.
Of course, sharing is always going to come with some cost with performance, control, security, and scale.
For the most part, shared hosting is a decent choice if you are just starting out and trying to save on costs, but most business will benefit from spending money to get another type of hosting.
What is dedicated hosting?
With dedicated hosting, you have the entire physical server all to yourself. The server will be used only for you: its RAM, CPUs, storage, and bandwidth. You usually have a higher level of control over the configuration of the server, both hardware and software.
However, dedicated hosting is still going to be significantly more expensive than shared hosting because no resources are being shared to reduce costs.
For a higher price, dedicated hosting can provide improved performance, control, security, and scalability, which makes it an optimal solution for serious companies ready to invest in the long-term run of their websites.
What is VPS hosting?
VPS hosting; it is one additional unique type of hosting solution in which you will have exclusive access to a virtualised portion of a server without isolation.
Unlike dedicated hosting, you do not get exclusive use of 100% of the physical server. The difference is that, unlike shared hosting, the resources that you do have in this scenario are uniquely yours to use. Also, your site will be fully sandboxed from other sites, so unlike shared hosting, you don’t have to worry about other sites impacting yours.
This makes it fall somewhere in between shared and dedicated hosting, and hence, we think it deserves mention as a third point of comparison. It could provide the same advantages as dedicated hosting, but for a lower cost.
Does Kinsta offer shared hosting or dedicated hosting?
Kinsta has a somewhat distinct take on Managed Hosting for WordPress, but it most closely resembles VPS hosting.
Similarly to a VPS (virtual private server), your site is fully isolated with Kinsta from all other sites. Every site has its bubble, and is powered by Google C2 and c3d VM, and of course, Premium Tie, which allows high speed and scalable performance.
Kinsta is not the first service provider you announce WordPress shared hosting, and it would help develop amazing web hosting (using containerization type, go, or should I say). But WordPress developer price is great, setting price and security – I don’t go with shared hosting!
Some clients will need the advantages of dedicated hosting, and Kinsta has that as well with its dedicated WordPress hosting offering.
Kinsta’s containerized approach makes it easier to switch between Managed Hosting and Dedicated Hosting. For example, you could switch your site to a dedicated server before a high-traffic event, such as your Black Friday sale, if you have an e-commerce store.
Then, you can switch back to regular Managed Hosting after the event has finished, and you no longer need the added performance.
Key differences between shared hosting and dedicated hosting
Wondering what the difference between shared hosting and dedicated hosting is and more importantly, which is best for your website?
This post is here to help!
In the sections below, we will tackle everything you need to understand, from the definitions of these two hosting types, some of the main differences between them, and a brief analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of both solutions, as well as the point at which it makes sense to move on to dedicated hosting and what some of your other options are.
1. Dedicated hosting provides better performance
The performance of dedicated hosting is typically better than shared hosting. It will also be able to scale to keep those fast load times even in high-traffic situations, so your site will not only load faster for each individual visitor, but it will also stay fast for everyone.
This is because all the resources on the server are dedicated to your site, and you do not have to share those resources with other accounts.
Another performance issue that dedicated hosting can help you avoid is experiencing slow performance or downtime on your website due to another account on your shared server overusing its fair share of resources.
There are still “good” dedicated hosting providers and “not-so-good” dedicated hosting providers, so don’t let the term “dedicated” fool you into thinking that you will receive the “best” level performance.
Dedicated hosting is capable of providing faster, scalable performance than shared hosting, and, done right, can prove worthwhile if you are serious about performance for your website(s).
2. Dedicated hosting offers more control
Dedicated hosting grants a greater degree of control over the server environment compared to shared hosting.
In shared hosting, you can’t alter your server hardware or software configuration because doing so would affect other accounts on the server. This second fact is why you are essentially stuck with whatever configuration your shared hosting provider offers you “as is.”
With dedicated hosting, you get access to all resources on a server to yourself, so you can typically customize it however you need. Which can include decisions on hardware, choice of operating system, web server services, etc. You can install packages of software as well except for that.
It also allows you to create your specific configurations like running your WordPress cron jobs every “x” minutes, increasing PHP memory limits, etc.,
3. Dedicated hosting is completely isolated
Dedicated hosting: With dedicated hosting, your websites are all by themselves, completely separate from all others. Not only do you get to enjoy 100% of your server resources, but you also do not have to worry about other people’s systems slowing down or hampering the performance of your website or compromising security on the server.
In addition to the technical advantages, the fact that dedicated hosting provides total isolation can assist you in complying with corporate or regulatory compliance regulations.
Your company might have its clear rules around complete isolation. You could also work in an industry that needs you to go outside due to the government centers on this. Again, with shared hosting, compliance can be difficult.
4. Dedicated hosting can be more secure
Because shared hosting is so, um, shared (noticing a pattern here?), that open nature can also make for a security risk if the hosting provider has not properly isolated accounts from one another.
At the very least, a hacked site or a virus from another account could infect other sites on the server. Some shared hosts are better than others at separating accounts, so if one account has a security issue, it will not impact the other accounts on that server. But what about dedicated hosting, you ask? Well, in this case, it is not something to worry about because you are not sharing to begin with.
On the other hand, there may also be security problems with outside attacks, like a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. But if it is the site of another account on your shared server that is being DDoS’d by a malicious actor, that too could cause your sites to go down.
With dedicated hosting, you can be free of the collateral damage from these kinds of attacks, though you will also get additional protection against DDoS attacks that can be much easier to administer as well.
5. Shared hosting usually costs less
After reviewing the differences above, you may wonder why anyone would choose shared hosting over dedicated hosting.
There’s just one answer here: cost.
By sharing a server’s resources among multiple accounts, shared hosting can offer significantly lower prices.
All things being equal, shared hosting will generally be the most cost-effective way to host a website.
Are the cost savings associated with shared hosting worth the trade-offs? To address this, let’s examine the advantages and disadvantages of shared hosting and dedicated hosting in more detail.
Pros and cons of shared hosting
Let’s start by looking at the pros and cons of shared hosting.
Pros of shared hosting
- Cheap. The biggest advantage of shared hosting is its low cost. All things being equal, shared hosting will almost always be the cheapest way to host a website.
- Easy to use and beginner-friendly. Because shared hosting is a low-cost option used by many first-time webmasters, most quality shared hosts have created easy-to-use and beginner-friendly setup and management processes.
Cons of shared hosting
- Can be slow. While the exact performance will depend on your chosen provider, shared hosting will usually have worse performance than other types of hosting.
- “Bad neighbor” effect. Other accounts on your server could negatively affect your sites, especially if the host isn’t properly isolating accounts.
- Unclear resource limits. Because you don’t know the exact resources that are allocated to your sites, it can be hard to know the exact limits of your plan. This can lead to running out of resources or getting asked to upgrade to a higher plan (this can happen even if your host advertises “unlimited storage” or “unlimited bandwidth”).
- Limited control. You don’t have full control over the server, so you must accept the host’s configuration.
- Can have security issues. If accounts on the shared server aren’t properly isolated, a security issue on another account could affect your sites.
Pros and cons of dedicated hosting
Next, let’s look at the pros and cons of dedicated hosting.
Pros of dedicated hosting
- Faster performance. When configured properly, dedicated hosting will pretty much always be faster than shared hosting.
- More control over configuration. Dedicated hosting lets you fully configure your server according to your preferences, which means you can adapt it to your website’s unique technical requirements.
- Better security. Because you’re the only account on the server, you don’t have to worry about security issues on other accounts affecting your sites. You’ll also just generally have more control over the security rules on your server.
- Easier scalability. A dedicated server can offer significantly better performance in high-traffic situations because you can utilize all available resources. You can also increase the resources of your dedicated server if you need to scale even further.
- Clear limitations/resources. Dedicated hosting lets you know precisely what resources are available to your site, like RAM, CPU, and storage.
- Easier regulatory or corporate compliance. The fully isolated nature of dedicated hosting can be a crucial aspect of achieving regulatory compliance or adhering to your organization’s corporate policies.
Cons of dedicated hosting
- More expensive. Dedicated hosting almost always costs more than shared hosting.
- Can be more complicated in some situations. Because dedicated hosting provides a whole server to yourself, setup and management can sometimes be more complicated than with shared hosting, especially when purchasing an unmanaged dedicated server. However, if you use a Managed Hosting service like Kinsta’s, dedicated hosting can still be a beginner-friendly option.
When to consider moving to dedicated hosting
While shared hosting can be a good choice when you’re getting started, a lot of organizations will quickly outgrow it.
And you don’t need to jump straight from shared hosting to dedicated hosting, as some good intermediary options can offer some of the benefits of dedicated hosting at a lower price point.
For example, Kinsta’s Managed Hosting for WordPress offers a VPS-like experience where your sites are still completely isolated from other websites.
These containerized environments can offer many of the same benefits in terms of performance and security, but at a lower cost than a dedicated hosting server.
At the same time, Kinsta still offers dedicated hosting if you need that, so here are some of the main reasons to use dedicated hosting:
1. You need better/more reliable performance (especially for traffic surges)
One significant reason to consider dedicated hosting is if you require faster and/or more reliable performance, particularly during peak traffic periods.
With dedicated hosting, it’s easier to equip your server with sufficient resources to handle traffic spikes.
With Kinsta’s containerized approach to hosting, you can easily switch from Kinsta’s regular Managed Hosting plans to dedicated hosting plans without expensive or complex migrations.
If you anticipate your site will receive more traffic during a specific period, such as a major sale, consider switching to dedicated hosting for the duration of the event and then seamlessly return to your regular Managed Hosting plans afterward.
2. You need more control over your configuration
Another reason to consider dedicated hosting is if you require more control over your site’s hosting infrastructure due to specific technical requirements.
For example, you may have a WordPress site where page caching is not feasible due to technical reasons, or you might need to install a specific software package on your server.
3. You need to improve regulatory or corporate compliance
Dedicated hosting can also be a great solution if you have more strict regulatory or corporate compliance guidelines that you need to follow.
In some industries or organizations, shared hosting or even VPS hosting just might not be an option from a compliance perspective.
Because dedicated hosting is completely isolated and provides more control over server configuration, it can help you more easily meet your compliance requirements.
How to purchase a dedicated server at Kinsta
As we discussed earlier, Kinsta’s Managed Hosting plans share the most similarities with VPS hosting, thanks to Kinsta’s containerized approach.
However, Kinsta also offers dedicated hosting options for organizations that need them. You can choose to permanently upgrade to dedicated hosting or do it temporarily to plan for periods of high resource usage.
To purchase dedicated hosting at Kinsta, you can reach out to our sales team:
- If you’re already hosting with Kinsta, you should plan for up to three business days to move your site(s) to dedicated hosting.
- If you’re not hosting with Kinsta yet, we recommend reaching out around two weeks before you want to go live on Kinsta’s dedicated hosting.
Summary
Overall, there are significant differences between shared and dedicated hosting.
Shared hosting’s primary attraction is affordability. Dedicated hosting offers improved performance, security, and customization.
But shared hosting and dedicated hosting are not your only choices. An isolated VPS-like approach can be the best option, which is where Kinsta’s Managed Hosting for WordPress can fit in.
If you host with Kinsta, you’ll also have the option of upgrading to dedicated hosting on a temporary or permanent basis. You can find a Kinsta hosting plan to fit your needs.
Power your site with Kinsta’s Managed WordPress hosting, crafted for speed, security, and simplicity. With Kinsta, you get:
- Effortless control in the MyKinsta dashboard
- Unlimited free migrations, handled by our expert migrations team
- 24/7/365 support from WordPress experts
- Google Cloud’s premium infrastructure
- Enterprise-grade security through Cloudflare integration
- Global reach with 37 data centers