Choosing the right web hosting package is one of the most difficult aspects of building a website. It’s more than just price when selecting the perfect web hosting package from various types of web hosting services. In order to establish a successful website straight away, it is crucial that you choose a plan that provides you with the appropriate degree of resources and functionality.

Cloud Hosting is one of the popular choices to host your application as it offers redundant storage, virtualization, resource scaling, data security and much more. But, Is cloud hosting always the best option for your application?

Every application on the Internet is not always hosted the same way. Different apps need different types of hosting. Rushing through the process of choosing the most suitable hosting for your application might cause problems for you and your application down the road. Before jumping straight to the topic, let’s understand the hosting service first.

What is a hosting service?

A web hosting service is an online hosting service that makes websites for customers visible on the World Wide Web and provides the resources needed for them to construct and manage a site.

The resources and hosting technologies needed for the efficient and secure functioning of your website are provided by web hosts. They are in charge of maintaining the server, putting security measures in place, and making sure that information like texts, pictures, and other files is successfully delivered to the visitors’ browsers.

Different types of web hosting and their differences

1. SHARED HOSTING

It’s the most basic type of hosting in which websites share resources with other websites on a single server.

Pros

• It’s cost-effective as the cost of operating the server is shared between all the websites on the server.
• Best suitable for beginners and small-scale enterprises.
• Most part of the server configuration and setup is done by the service provider.

Cons

• As the server gets shared among various websites, the server may at times slow down.
• Due to sharing of resources, a spike in any other website may affect the performance of your website too.
• Loading time is quite slow.

Which applications can use it?

• Smaller and beginner-level websites as it doesn’t need much technical knowledge to begin.
• Small Business Owners and Bloggers with simple application or website designs.
• Applications with fewer on-site interactions and resources.

Hosting Service Provider

• • Godaddy: Provides a fast and maximum level of security
  • InMotion: The all-in-one package for the best Shared Hosting
  • HostGator: Provides the best help and support

• DreamHost: Value for Money Service
• BlueHost: Provides free extras

2. VPS HOSTING

Virtual Private Server is the most well-balanced hosting which is similar to shared hosting but one step ahead of it. In this, all applications share a single physical server, but they operate on multiple isolated virtual machines.

Pros

• More stable and reliable than shared hosting.
• The limited number of websites per server and evenly distributed resources.
• More flexible as the owner can control and customize OS configurations of the server.

Cons

• Setup is not easy. The owner has to take the entire responsibility of maintaining it.

Limitations of what you can control

• One can install all of the software required for your product/project.

Which applications can use it?

• Medium-scale applications that cannot compromise with the unexpected downtime.
• People who are tech-savvy and can control and maintain the server.
• Applications which use large files like images and videos a lot.

Hosting Service Provider

• • Godaddy: Provides a fast and maximum level of security.
  • InMotion: Provides overall best services for VPS Hosting.
  • A2Hosting: Provides Value for Money service.

• BlueHost: Provides the best features.
• iPage: Provides the best customer service.

3. CLOUD HOSTING

Cloud Hosting is one of the latest types of Web Hosting. In this, multiple servers are used to balance the load and boost uptime. Some providers provide fault tolerance capability (The ability of a system like a computer, network, cloud cluster, etc. to continue operating without any interruption even if one or more of its components fail)

Pros

• High scalability and security of resources and data.
• Less possibility of downtime.
• You pay only for the resources you use.
• Few providers like AWS provide limited services free of cost for 12 months which is very beneficial for beginners. Some of the available services are:

1. Load Balancing (LB)- Distributing incoming networks efficiently over different servers.
2. High Availability (HA)- System’s ability to operate for a long time without any failure.
3. AWS Lambda- Compute service helps to build applications which respond to new information quickly.
4. DynamoDB- A key-value and document database of Amazon.

• Along with the above services, there are lots of other services included in the free trial.
• One can also set up multiple services usage monitoring, which helps to make decisions on a prior basis such as:

1. Setting up an alarm to inform you about your server load.
2. Notification to inform your payment information.
3. Limiting your server according to the cost.
4. Multiple levels of Monitoring, Data backup and logging etc.

Cons

• Pricing is not always fully predictable or fixed.
• Less customizable.
• Unexpected traffic spikes may increase the cost considerably.

Which applications can use it?

• Large-scale applications are growing at a swift rate.
• Applications are expected to be scaled up later.
• Websites which receive more than 50,000 monthly visits.

Hosting Service Provider

• • AWS: All in one package for Serverless Hosting
  • Microsoft Azure: Best value for money

• Google Cloud: Better pricing plans
• InMotion: Provides the best help and support

4. DEDICATED SERVER HOSTING

As the name suggests, Dedicated Server will belong entirely to you only. In this, the owner has complete technical control over the server settings.

Pros

• No sharing of resources among other applications or websites.
• Faster loading times, higher uptimes and better performance than other types of hosting.
• High security.

Cons

• Most Expensive hosting among all hosting types.
• Needs strong technical knowledge.

Which applications can use it?

• The best option for enterprise-level applications.
• Application and websites with more than 100,000 monthly visits.
• Applications which store high confidential and important data.

Hosting Service Provider

• • HostGator: Best all-inclusive service for Dedicated Server Hosting
  • BlueHost: Best value for money

• InMotion: Top choice for tech-heavy applications/websites
• A2Hosting: Provides the best help and support

5. SERVERLESS HOSTING

Also known as Serverless Computing or function as service, FaaS, it’s a cloud computing execution model where the applications or websites are hosted by a third-party service.

Pros

• Abolishes additional hardware and software management.
• Static websites can be deployed on s3 at a very nominal price of $2-3 which reduces the hosting costs up to 90 to 95% with millions of hits, as compared to other hosting providers which charge huge amounts for the same service.
• You can also deploy Dynamic websites or Web applications using the Lambda Function which is a very useful and cost-effective solution in the current challenging world.
• As the name suggests, it removes almost 90% of the software and hardware needs and server costs as the services are free for a few million requests.
• Applications are broken down into smaller functions which can be scaled and invoked individually. Eg. By referring to AWS, Serverless Architecture = “Managed Services ” + “AWS Lambda”.

Cons

• Lack of operational tools.
• Problems may arise due to Third party API systems.
• Architecture is complex.

Which applications can use it?

• If the application has a small number of functions.
• When the application is very complex, Serverless Computing is beneficial but the application should be architected very differently.

Hosting Service Provider

• • AWS Lambda: All in one package for Serverless Hosting. Click here to check its pricing
  • Microsoft Azure: Best value for money

• Google App Engine: Top choice for event-driven applications
• IBM OpenWhisk: Provides the best control and customisation

Summing up

Finding the best hosting server can be difficult and requires a lot of consideration. However, if you understand the steps which are involved in hosting an application on the server, it becomes much easier for you.

What are the top web hosting alternatives for you, then? Shared hosting is typically a good choice if you’re a newbie to the market, whereas, VPS can be a better choice if you’re a more seasoned user and want total control over your setup.

However, to begin building your first website, we can help you with choosing the top web hosting services from the best web hosting company. Call us and get ready to create the website of your dreams!