There are several types of web hosting services and this might confuse you because there are a lot of web hosting companies providing different types of hosting services and they even go ahead to give some hosting services a unique name.
With the explanation below you should be able to ask your web hosting company what type of server your website is actually running on.
Think of this list as the progression of the type of hosting plans and services an online business can consider.
We will be looking at the different types of web hosting services in detailed.
01-Â Shared Web Hosting
Shared hosting means just that. Your website is hosted on a server shared by other websites. The advantage of this setup is the shared cost. You can pay as little as ₦2,000-₦50,000 per year for sharing a super server with (probably) hundreds (or thousands) of other websites.
The biggest disadvantage of a shared hosting account is that you are at the mercy of the other sites on your server. A really popular site may adversely affect the performance of your own site. On the other hand, if you are the most popular site on the server, you get to use a super server for a very low price.
When most people start an online business they usually start out with a shared hosting plan to minimize costs; and they are not likely getting a ton of traffic initially.
Shared hosting is good for a brochure type site, or a newer site that does not get a lot of traffic.
Price Range: ₦2,000-₦50,000/year.
You can see SkyTechNG Shared Hosting Plan by Clicking Here
02- Reseller Web Hosting
Reseller hosting packages are basically a shared hosting account with extra tools to help you resell hosting space.
Reseller packages come with greater technical control which is the Web Host Manager (WHM) control panel, billing software to help you invoice clients and other extra perks.
Some of those perks include:
- free website templates
- white label technical support — that means the hosting company handles your clients’ technical support issues
- private name servers — make your company seem even bigger by telling your clients to point their domain nameservers to ns1.yourwebdesignfirm.com
Price range: Reseller packages range from ₦10,000 – ₦200,000, depending on features and resource limits.
If you’re planning on selling web hosting as a business then reseller web hosting is perfect for you. Otherwise just stick with a shared hosting plan if you are just starting out.
You can see SkyTechNG Reseller Hosting Plan by Clicking Here
03- Cloud Based Web Hosting
Cloud Based Web Hosting refers to a fairly new hosting technology that lets hundreds of individual servers work together so that it looks like one giant server. The idea is that as the need grows, the hosting company can just add more commodity hardware to make an ever larger grid or cloud.
The advantage of cloud-based web hosting is that if you get an unusually large amount of website traffic the web hosting plan can accommodate the surge of traffic – rather than shutting your website down.​
If your website is growing and you are driving more traffic to your website, this is probably the first point you would upgrade too from a shared hosting plan.
Price Range: All grid computing packages use some form of pay-for-what-you-use pricing structure.
04- Virtual Private Server (VPS)
Virtual private servers share one physical server but acts like multiple, separate servers. A VPS is a stepping stone between shared hosting and getting your own dedicated machine. Even though each VPS instance shares hardware resources, they are allocated a dedicated slice of the computing resources.
A VPS avoids the problem of having your hosting neighbors bring down your website, while avoiding the cost of a dedicated server.
Price Range: Most VPS hosting packages cost between ₦83,000 and ₦700,0000 Annually. Pricing is based on the guaranteed CPU and memory (RAM) you get.
You can see SkyTechNG VPS Hosting Plan by Clicking Here
05- Dedicated Web Server
When you have a dedicated server, it means you are renting one physical server from a hosting company. You can have full control (called “root” permissions in Linux) if you want it.
With a dedicated server, you don’t have to worry about other websites on a shared server taking up your resources and slowing your website down.
A dedicated server is generally the highest level of server you would need if your online business grows into a presence that is getting a lot of website traffic. While the costs of a dedicated server is significantly higher than shared hosting, your business will be at a point that can easily afford the necessary costs of having your own server.
Pricing: Dedicated servers are priced from ₦400,000 and up annually. But if you are considering a dedicated server, you should also consider the costs of hiring a system administrator to take care of the technical details.
You can see SkyTechNG Dedicated Hosting Plan by Clicking Here
06- Colocation Web Hosting
When you colocate, you rent rack space from a data center. You bring in your own server hardware and they provide power, cooling, physical security, and an internet uplink. This means you are responsible for your own server software, data storage, backup procedures, etc. If hardware fails, you are responsible for replacing it and getting the server back up and running.
Unless you have the technical know-how in-house, colocation is probably not worth the investment in time, expertise, and money for most small businesses.
