The Three S’s
Shared Servers are usually the cheapest choice. They let you pool your resources with other companies to fill out space on one server and reduce costs by not paying for use of the whole thing. This can be a good way to save money, but it comes at a serious price.
Shared servers generally don’t divvy resources equally. If someone else on your server gets more traffic, or experiences an influx of visitors, then it’s going to start eating away at your shared resources. With less horsepower being spent on your website, you can suffer crippling slowdown simply because someone else is doing well.
Dedicated Servers are, as the name implies, servers which host only your content. They’re more expensive, but the added cost comes with the benefit of all available resources being spent on you and you alone. You also gain control over your hosting setup, and won’t suffer just because someone else’s website is suddenly flooded with traffic.
Cloud Servers are a more recent option, and one which comes with several advantages. Though you are still sharing resources with other companies, those resources are now part of a much larger and more stable network. Through cloud hosting services you can reserve your own dedicated slice of the server pie, and scale it according to need when experiencing boons or lulls in traffic. This can keep your site running efficiently while affording you some extra adaptability.
Now that you know what kind of hosting services are available, you need to identify which option is best for you. Will the cheapest bidder be sufficient, or do you need more stable resources? Consider using a tool like PageSpeed Insights to test your website’s page load speed and determine what you
can improve.
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What type of server is best for you? We can help you figure that out, and find more ways to improve your site speed!