The matrix below provides a general idea of how different types of hosting plans stack up to each other with respect to different website attributes. Dedicated hosting is the best web site hosting service available. It is not a cheap approach. but it offers you the most dependable and reliable servers on the web.
Server Approach Selection Matrix
| Website_attribute | Shared | Virtual | Dedicated |
|---|
| High reliability required | Ok | Better | Best |
| High level of traffic | Poor | Better | Best |
| Software intensive | Good | Better | Best |
| Low to Medium level of traffic | Good | Better | Best |
| Monthly Cost | < $10 | > $30 | > $200 |
The obvious benefit of shared hosting is the fact that it is so inexpensive compared to the alternatives. This approach is often chosen by individuals looking to host personal, business, e commerce, or church web sites. There are however two drawbacks with it. On a shared hosting plan, the speed at which your web application runs is dependent upon how much traffic the other websites sharing your server have. If they are very busy, the server will be overburdened and your site will run noticeably slower. This is why the better hosting companies carefully monitor their clients to insure that they are staying within their bandwidth limits, thereby protecting their servers from overload..
Another drawback with shared servers is that any virus picked up by the other sites sharing your server will most likely also be shared with you,
Recommendation:
Unless your site requires extraordinarily high amounts of data transfer and/or computation, save some money and go with the inexpensive shared hosting approach. Upgrade to a virtual dedicated server later if you notice performance degradation down the road.