What Is Shared Hosting? A Comprehensive Guide

If you have siblings, you’ll understand the ins and outs of shared hosting without breaking a sweat. I shared a room with my younger brother while growing up, and we had several arguments about who would use the bathroom first in the morning or who would wash the dishes at night. As the elder sibling, I won most of these arguments.

However, when it came to getting the best cuts of meat or the largest slice of cake, he was favored (moms — you know how it is). I consider it a win-win as I love him dearly and know he deserves the best. Shared hosting is no different from our sibling “rivalry.”

Shared hosting involves the sharing of server resources like processing power, storage, bandwidth, and memory space for website hosting amongst several users.

This article is your one-stop destination for all questions related to shared hosting. I’ll cover its key features, inner workings, pros and cons, and applications. I’ll also help you choose the right shared hosting provider, share tips to maximize your hosting plan, and debunk common myths.

Sounds too good to be true? Set your timer to ten minutes and start reading. I guarantee you’ll be a shared hosting pro by the time it rings!

There’s a reason why shared hosting commands a whopping 37.64% of the market; it’s the perfect entry-level web hosting option due to its cost-effectiveness, ease of use, and respectable features.

As your business grows and your website gains more traction, you can upgrade to a web hosting service like cloud hosting, virtual private server (VPS) hosting, or dedicated server hosting — the top dogs of the hosting space.

After enough growth, shared hosting just won’t cut it. As a website owner, you need to understand your requirements before choosing a shared hosting service. For example, shared hosting is far from ideal if you plan to introduce a grand eCommerce venture.

Instead, you need a top-notch eCommerce hosting plan. On the other hand, if you want to roll out a personal blog or small business website, a shared hosting plan will fit like a glove.

My list of key shared hosting features should help you better understand what will work best for your needs.

Shared Server Environment

In a shared server environment, processing power, storage, RAM, and bandwidth are “equally” distributed among you and several other users.

In an ideal world, if a shared server hosted 100 websites, including yours, everyone would receive the same amount of processing power, storage, RAM, and bandwidth. However, I don’t think I need to tell you that this isn’t the case in reality.

Even though web hosts promise a fixed number of resources, websites with higher traffic demands are likely to drain shared server resources, particularly CPU power and bandwidth.

You could be a culprit too if your website is particularly demanding or sees an unexpected spike in traffic. You could mitigate this by purchasing a more expensive plan with a greater resource share. I’ll explore this more when I discuss the pros and cons of shared hosting.

User-Friendly Control Panel Access

A control panel is like a command station for your website. Setting up a website with shared hosting is not rocket science.

A user-friendly control panel like cPanel, Plesk, or DirectAdmin will help you manage your hosting plan with relative ease.

With a control panel, you can manage all your website files, emails, and databases, automate tasks, and monitor website performance from a single place.

Be picky with your choice of control panel, though.

For example, cPanel doesn’t support Windows environments. While Plesk supports both Linux and Windows operating systems, it isn’t as widely available as cPanel.

Support Services

Here comes the fun part! Shared web hosts offer various support services to stand out from the competition.

Most shared web hosts offer similar server resource allocations and control panel options, but the support add-ons may vary.
Some features you should keep an eye out for include a CDN service like Cloudflare (which improves your website’s loading time), stringent security (DDoS and malware protection are a must), a near-100% uptime guarantee, and around-the-clock customer support.

Tip: Always verify the support hours of a hosting provider. Some offer 24/7 support with live chat, whereas others may take up to a day to respond to an inquiry.

Shared hosting is the bread and butter of small businesses and some medium-sized ones. While it’s far from exotic, its beauty lies in its simplicity (and cheapness).

I briefly touched upon the inner workings of shared hosting, and now it’s time for a deep dive — while I’m far from an accomplished swimmer, I’m confident I can help you navigate the waters of shared hosting safely.

Allocation of Server Resources Among Multiple Users

There’s no hard limit to the number of websites a server can support. It depends on your server’s configurations, how large the sites are, and how much traffic they get. However, the fewer websites, the better, because that allows everyone to have a larger slice of the pie, and I know you love pie (I LOVE apple pie).

You may come across shared hosting plans with varying performance and memory guarantees, unlimited bandwidth, and average to ample storage space. I recommend striking a balance between budget and server resources (opt for NVMe SSD storage space, in particular, if available).

Impact of Server Load on Website Performance

Now, while each website on a server is guaranteed a specific amount of server resources, the truth is this is just talk. Websites on your server that receive unexpectedly high traffic could impact the performance of all other sites.

Keep in mind a website with an entry-level shared hosting plan can handle 300 to 800 visitors per website daily. If you expect more daily visitors within a few months of your website’s launch, you’ll probably be better off with a different hosting service.

Isolation of User Accounts and Websites

You’ll be happy to hear each website on a shared server is isolated. So while a few “bullies” may eat most of the pie, you don’t have to worry about them copying your homework or showing your secret love letters to your parents.

In other words, web hosting providers use isolation techniques to ensure the highest possible grade of resource provisioning, security, and privacy for websites.

Shared IP Addresses vs. Dedicated IP addresses

To understand these concepts, think of a server as an apartment building, a website as an apartment, and a shared IP address as the street address of the building. While each apartment has the same street address, they have different apartment numbers (domain names).

If you have more money in hand or have the appetite for a mortgage, you can buy a single-family home within a residential area (the server). A dedicated IP address is like the address of this house — you don’t have to share it with anyone else. If you’re curious about the advantages and disadvantages of shared IP addresses, check out that link.

You should know: While shared IP addresses sound efficient on paper, they could lead to performance issues like reduced internet speed and slower website loading times. After all, an IP address enables data exchange between destinations, and sharing one between multiple websites is bound to slow things down.

After reading the pros and cons of shared hosting, you should be able to decide whether it’s the right fit for your website.

Remember, every type of hosting service has benefits and drawbacks, whether it be resource availability, price, or level of control (shared hosting doesn’t offer server root access); web hosting is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Here are the pros and cons of shared hosting:

Pros of Shared Hosting

If you run a small or medium-sized business with a limited or average budget, shared hosting may be for you.

The pros of shared hosting include:

• Cost-effectiveness: If you’re hungry for pizza but don’t want to buy a whole pie, you can save money by purchasing pizza by the slice. This is similar to shared hosting, where you spend less money on a small slice of the server instead of buying the whole thing; I’d rather buy a small pizza, but hosting providers aren’t like Domino’s.

• Easy setup and management for beginners: With a shared hosting plan, you don’t have root access. This means you can’t control server configurations — that’s in the hands of the web host. This actually makes your life easier. Simply purchase a plan, set it up in a few clicks, and manage each aspect of it through your control panel.

• Technical support provided by the hosting provider: Most web hosts offer stellar 24/7 support. If you have any technical queries, you can contact them via live chat, phone call, or email. Alternatively, you can watch tutorials on the hosting platform or access written tutorials in the host’s knowledge base.

The pros of shared hosting certainly outweigh the cons for small to midsized websites.

Cons of Shared Hosting

Now, shared hosting is definitely the wrong choice if you own a large business. First things first, why haven’t you launched a website already? We’re midway through the 2020s, my friend!

However, (if you’re a miser) if you expect moderate website traffic and take all necessary precautions to ensure utmost website security, these cons can be managed. Let’s take a look at them.

The cons of shared hosting include:

• Limited resources: Some shared hosting providers are notorious for bundling limited resources into their plans (not naming names… yet.). Cloud hosting and VPS hosting plans, in comparison, are more generous with resource allocation. A dedicated hosting plan is the cream of the crop, as you have an entire server at your disposal. But yeah, a whole pizza costs much more than a single slice.

• Potential performance issues: Some people are foolish. They may purchase a shared hosting plan, abuse it, and negatively impact all websites sharing the server. Don’t be like that.

• Security concerns: While your favorite web hosting providers do their best to implement strong security measures, a shared server environment is undoubtedly vulnerable to potential data breaches and cybersecurity attacks. One wrong move by a website on your server could potentially impact everyone. You must swear by robust security practices on top of the security provided by your web host. I don’t really consider this a con, as you should be extra cautious these days anyway.

• Lack of customization options: Now this is certainly a con for some; shared hosting offers limited customization options. Since root access isn’t available, you can’t modify server settings to your taste and are reliant on the hosting provider’s server configuration settings. You may also face software restrictions and constrained website functionality. I mean, the grass is always greener on the other side.

If I compare shared hosting to a cup of coffee (I had three cups while writing this piece), it would be a simple drip coffee. While a drip coffee doesn’t meet a lot of people’s standards, it ensures you won’t sleep on the job!

Simply put, if you don’t need a particularly flashy hosting plan, a shared server will do the trick.

Speaking of tricks, if you’re still confused, I have one more up my sleeve to make this decision even simpler for you. If you anticipate moderate website traffic (around 300 to 1,000 daily visitors) for at least a few months after launching your website (hopefully, things will blow up), a shared hosting plan should be sufficient.

However, if you already run a well-established business and are looking to set up a website for it, you should stay a mile away from shared hosting.

Small Businesses and Startups

If you’re a small business owner, you can use shared hosting to build a significant online presence. When your business grows, you can upgrade to cloud hosting or preferably VPS hosting.

If you stick with the same hosting provider, switching plans is relatively easy, so start small with a shared hosting plan and climb the hosting ladder when the time is right.

Personal Websites and Blogs

A personal website is likely to receive low to moderate traffic, so it makes little sense for you to buy anything other than a shared plan.

Just monitor your daily visitors and upgrade your hosting plan when you consistently achieve more than 1,000 daily visitors (over a period of a couple weeks, for example).

Websites With Moderate Traffic

According to my experience, most SMEs (small and medium-sized businesses) experience moderate traffic. It’s important to regularly monitor the number of visitors you receive daily.

As a final reminder, a shared hosting environment isn’t ideal for heavy-hitting websites. So only continue with your plan if you’re receiving fewer than 1,000 visitors each day.

Making life-changing decisions isn’t easy, and choosing a shared hosting provider for your new venture is (potentially) one of them. There are 330,000 hosting providers, and most offer shared hosting services. The list below will help you separate the best from the rest, so get your pen and take notes.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Shared Hosting Provider

I believe the number seven is lucky. Here are seven things you should look for when choosing a shared hosting provider: a near-perfect uptime promise, reliable performance, fast webpage loading speeds, high-quality customer support, easy scalability, robust security, and reasonable pricing.

Here’s a closer look at these features:

1. Reliability and uptime guarantee: Most web hosts offer an uptime guarantee of 99.9% at the least, and the best hosts in the business promise 100% uptime (though honestly, this is a rare occurrence). I wouldn’t be too picky on the uptime front, as a 99.9% uptime promise is sufficient for shared hosting cases.

2. Performance and speed: Quite naturally, some web hosts offer better performance and speed than others. For example, shared hosting plans with NVMe SSD storage are quicker than plans with SSD storage. Additionally, web hosting providers like A2 Hosting (my favorite web host) offer premium shared services based on rapid Turbo Server technology (included in high-end shared plans only). Most web hosts offer similar resource allocations, so if you have the budget for key differentiating factors like NVMe SSD storage and other premium server technologies, go for it.

3. Customer support quality: A web host is only as good as its customer support. If you run into a problem, you’ll need a quick resolution to prevent negative impacts on your site. While I recommended watching tutorials earlier, the first step you should take is reaching out to a customer support professional. You can think of watching tutorials as a supplementary step.

4. Scalability options: Shared hosting plans offer limited scalability compared to cloud and VPS plans. I mean, you can upgrade your shared hosting plan tier in just a few clicks, but that’s about all there is to it.

5. Security features: I encourage you to look out for security features like SSL certificates, DDoS protection, malware scanning and removal, a web application firewall (WAF), 24/7 server monitoring, and automatic daily backups. The more security features a web host provides, the better.

6. Pricing and value for money: All things said and done, you must assess value for money. Let’s take the example of A2 Hosting again. Its most expensive plan, the Turbo Max plan, is an outstanding shared hosting option, but you must ask yourself whether it’s worth the price for your website.

Figure out exactly what you need, shortlist hosts that offer those qualities/features, and choose the most budget-friendly option.

Popular Shared Hosting Providers By Market Share

Of the 330,000 options at your disposal, GoDaddy, IONOS, HostGator, Bluehost, and Hetzner Online are among the best of the best — they’re the most popular shared hosting providers by market share.

While I don’t want to bore you with numbers, I’m going to explore the market share of each of these hosts, as it may help you make a more informed purchase decision.

• GoDaddy — 15.6% market share: GoDaddy rules more than 15.6% of the hosting market (that’s 20 million+ websites) and should be one of your top picks for shared hosting. It’s also the world’s largest domain registrar, which is a factor in its shared hosting popularity.

• IONOS — 6.5% market share: IONOS is an ambassador for cheap hosting, which is reflected in its commanding 6.5% market share. If you can only afford the bare minimum, you’ll be delighted to hear it offers plans starting at just $1 per month. Don’t mistake its budget-friendliness for a lack of oomph; Unlimited storage space, professional email features, and daily backups and recovery are just the start of an impressive list of features it offers!

• HostGator — 5.6% market share: I’m not the biggest fan of HostGator, but it’s understandable that it owns a 5.6% market share. Its shared hosting services are more than adequate and include unlimited bandwidth, pre-installed WordPress, malware scanning, and Cloudflare CDN support.

• Bluehost — 3.2% market share: If you want to launch an eCommerce venture from the ground up, Bluehost offers an affordable avenue. While the majority of the 3.2% of Bluehost’s market share swears by its WordPress services, this doesn’t mean the web host lacks in the shared hosting department. It’s one of the few web hosts that makes eCommerce possible with shared hosting plans.

• Hetzner Online — 2.7% market share: Hetzner Online is an intriguing option if you live in Europe. Since it doesn’t cater to American customers, the largest web hosting market in the world, you can only imagine how many Europeans use it — it has a market share of 2.7%.

While it’s difficult to determine the best shared host, you can decide the best fit for you. Each of the shared hosts above dazzles, so find the plan that shines brightest!

Your success using shared hosting will depend on how well you manage your site. While your hosting provider will do all the heavy lifting for you, there are ways you can further optimize site performance.

Here’s how you can make the most of your shared hosting plan:

1. Optimize your website’s performance: Always optimize images before you upload them to your website, as large, unoptimized images take more time to load for your users and can lead to a poor browsing experience and higher bounce rates. You should also take advantage of CDN services and caching implementations; full-site caching is bound to increase your website’s speed.
2. Implement security measures: You won’t believe it, but the most common password in the world is “123456.” Yes, really. You should create strong passwords to stay on the safer side — several tools can generate and store complicated passwords for you. You should also update all software and applications at the earliest (enable automatic updates if possible), implement robust user permissions, and use security plugins and firewalls.
3. Monitor your resource usage: Every smartphone has a feature to remind you of your remaining storage space. Your hosting plan does the same. Monitoring your resource usage can help you delete unnecessary files and save space.
4. Perform regular backups and updates: The last thing you need is to lose some of your website’s data to a mishap. Performing regular backups and updates gives you peace of mind. Fortunately, most credible web hosting providers offer automatic backups and update your software toolkit for you.
5. Scale up when needed: If you consistently monitor your resource usage, you’ll know when to upgrade your shared hosting plan. Don’t shy away from moving to a VPS or cloud server when the time is right — your website deserves the best, even if it means spending a bit more on your hosting needs.

By following these tips, you can mitigate some of the shortcomings of shared hosting.

Shared hosting can get a bad reputation for being unreliable, poor-performing, and lacking security, but many of these negative claims are false. I’m going to debunk some common myths about shared hosting right now.

Shared hosting plans might not wow you, but there’s no debating their importance in the web hosting landscape. Shared server environments are a budget-friendly starting point for growing businesses, personal websites and blogs, and websites with low to average traffic demands.

They offer cheap access to a fair share of server resources, a user-friendly control panel, dependable service add-ons, and fantastic customer support. Now that you understand how shared hosting works and are familiar with its pros and cons, please follow my shared hosting tips to take full advantage of your plan and help your site thrive.

I know shared hosting isn’t as glamorous as VPS hosting or dedicated hosting, but it allows you to launch your dream website on a budget. You can think of it as a stepping stone to your business’s growth. Monitor your website’s resource usage and upgrade from a Prius to a Mustang when you need more power.

Happy hosting!