Web hosting is actually storage space on the Internet where website data and files are stored. Choosing the right web hosting plan for your project can be daunting as there are several types of web hosting plans. In this guide, we compare two major types of web hosting plans. The merits and demerits of each will help you make an informed decision about what to opt for in your project.

1. Shared hosting.
Shared hosting is a model of hosting that host several different websites on the same physical server. A shared hosting can host more than a hundred websites all together, so all the sites on the physical server share a bounded number of resources. This approach is idea for personal website, blogs and small businesses.

Pros of Shared Hosting
• Easy to upgrade and set up: Shared hosting is user-friendly and requires little to no coding skills and maintenance.
• Cost efficient: shared hosting is quite affordable and the cheapest hosting plan compared to the others.
• Managed services: the hosting provider will perform upgrades, manage the servers and provide technological support.
• It is beginner-friendly and great for static websites or low traffic. Shared hosting is a perfect choice for start-ups and portfolios that are not aiming to grow into large-scale projects.

Cons of Shared Hosting.
• Compromised security: Sharing servers with others may increase the risk of attacks, security breaches, and hacks, as you may even be sharing space with unsavoury sites.
• Limited resources: Considering that resources and servers are shared by many sites, resources like CPU, bandwidth, and RAM are insufficient, which might lead to slow web performance and downtime.
• No root control as the hosting provider manages the servers; you have no control of tailoring your site and configuring settings the way you’d want.

2. Virtual Private Servers
In this type of hosting, multiple sites share the same physical server, but each website is allocated additional resources. VPS hosting can handle traffic spike more conveniently as compared to shared hosting. Each server has an allocated amount of space, so high traffic on other sites does not affect the performance of your site. VPS hosting is best for users who have high traffic and need more dedicated resources.

Pro of VPS hosting.
• Scalability and reliability: VPS allows you to add more resources in just a click. You can scale up in times of high traffic and scale down during seasons of low traffic.
• VPS hosting has extra cybersecurity features that ensure your site data is completely secured
• Full root access: this means you can control every aspect of your server from security, customization, user management and everything in between.
• High performance: resources like RAM, CPU, and bandwidth ensure better site performance and no downtime.

Cons of VPS hosting.
• Management: you will need coding skills and technical knowledge when configuring servers.
• More expensive.

Conclusion
Choosing the wrong web hosting plan can result in lack of resources, hence affecting the growth of your site. Evaluate the current needs of your site as well as the future growth of your website and settle for a plan that fits you best.