With the latest advancement in technologies, it’s hard to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of the world wide web and how it operates. There was a time it was hard to wrap your head around the very concept of hosting services and how they worked. Thankfully, now at least most laymen have a baseline understanding.
It is where all the files of any website are stored and each time anybody puts in your domain name on an address bar, your website is pulled from these servers and displayed onto the screens.
As a business owner and a new website creator, you want to know which hosting is going to serve your needs the best, without the stress of cyber attacks and network breakdowns and keep your website’s data safe and secure.
Before go and discuss the comparison between cloud-based and regular hosting, let’s discuss the different types of hosting available and how they work. The type of hosting that is the best for you will ultimately depend upon your unique needs, such as the size of the website, the type of security and applications you want to deploy, your own technical proficiency and last but not the least, the amount of traffic you anticipate to receive.
You can basically categorize hosting into the following types:
Managed Hosting:
With managed hosting, you basically get access to your own server which is not only high performing but also optimized for your specific needs. You get access to a team of experts running and managing your server and taking care of any technical challenges that might arise in the hosting side of your business website. Naturally, it is also one of the most expensive types of hosting you can get but also the one with the most peace of mind.
VPS:
Short for Virtualized Private Server, utilizes the shared environment of shared servers but deploys a virtual server to allocated space and resources dedicated separately for you. VPS is a step-up from a regular shared hosting environment in terms of security and speed. Sites hosted on VPS are generally faster and perform better compared to shared hosting.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting basically dedicated an entire service to you that you have set up, manage and maintain. Obviously they are for people who have the technical know-how and are known to be a more expensive solution to their counterparts. However, these servers give you complete control and freedom than any other hosting so if you know what you’re doing, you can optimize your site for maximum performance
Shared Hosting
The most common and without the doubt the cheapest hosting option available. With shared hosting, you are renting one (of many) parts of a single server with dozens, if not hundred of other websites. This is the best option for beginners and first-time site owners. Sites like www.godaddy.com and www.hostgator.com are known for really good starter options.
You can familiarize yourself with the hosting environment and control panels while you grow your site and eventually upgrade to other more dedicated options.
Cloud Hosting
The most recent innovation or evolution, whatever you may call it, in the field of hosting technologies is the ability to host your files on the ‘cloud’. To make it palatable, well, its called the cloud because there is no single server that is storing your files per se, it is a hosting that uses the resources of multiple servers at the same time. This allows tremendous scaling capabilities, faster loading times and comparatively secure environments.
You don’t have to deal with server malfunctions and in case of underwhelming performance, it can simply be switched to another server. These are perfect for running Java apps and running websites who see a sudden rush of traffic during peak season and then have to quickly scale down for regular everyday traffic.
Hosting for Java
If you plan to run Java then look for tomcat based java cloud hosting to have complete peace of mind. Try JavaPipe for their specialization in Java-based development and hosting and pricing that doesn’t break the bank.
Our Recommendation
For almost all kinds of professional needs, we recommend Cloud Hosting unless you want a dedicated and completely controlled server, in which case you should go for dedicated hosting.
3 Main Reasons we love Cloud Hosting
1. Uptime and Performance
In almost all comparisons, sites hosted on cloud hosting perform better and faster compared to shared hosting
2. Scalability
You can upgrade and downgrade with a few clicks allowing you to move and manage resources as per your needs. You’re not stuck with fix plans and rigid resource allocation
3. Pay as Per Use
This is one of the unique advantages of cloud hosting. If you are having a particularly high traffic month, or you are downgrading after season time wears off, you only pay for how much you use.
To Conclude
If you’ve read this far, then hopefully we’ve cleared most of the confusion around the different types of hosting available and which one will suit your needs best. If you are doing what you are doing in the long run, there is no reason you should cut any corners when it comes to hosting and it is vital that you lay a solid foundation to build your website upon.
For complete beginners, it is recommended that you start with shared hosting, as it will be the fastest way to get you up and running with minimum technicalities.
But if you want specialized solutions and WordPress/java hosting, and you are sure you will be scaling up and down in terms of resources as per your needs, then your best bet is to start with cloud hosting as it will give you not just top performance but also keep the costs flexible and adjustable without much hassle.
Check out JavaPipe for their tomcat based Java Cloud Hosting and web development.
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