We may have three types of hosting services for our website, Shared Hosting, VPS (Virtual Private Server) and Dedicated Server. The pricing of these services varies from provider to provider and resources you like to have. Lets examine the differences between these three services:

1. Shared Hosting :

Shared hosting is a service where many users share a single server. All the users have a separate directory to upload their files. This is usually most economical option because overall cost of the server is distributed. The server is administered by the hosting company and all the technical tasks like managing servers, installing server software, security updates, technical support, etc. are the responsibility of the server admins. These servers generally use control panels like cPanel, DirectAdmin, Plesk, Interworx, etc which allow the users to manage their websites.

2. VPS (Virtual Private Server) :

VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a virtual machine created on a physical server. The hosting provider creates multiple VPS on a physical server and provides access to users. VPS is as good and secure as a dedicated server but with limited resources. VPS provides root access to the user so the user can install any software/OS and perform any root level tasks. This option is a little expensive as it is more powerful as comapre to shared hosting and has more flexiblity and control.

3. Dedicated Server :

Dedicated server is a service where the user leases the entire physical server and has complete control over it. Unlike VPS and Shared hosting, the user has full control over the server and its physical resources. The user can choose the hardware, software, OS, etc. Dedicated server is useful because it has features like high performance, security, email stability and control. This option is the most expensive as you are the only one who is bearing the cost of the entire server. Most of the providers offer Managed dedicated server where the server is managed by the provider upto some extent.