1) Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the perfect option for first-time website owners; it’s easy to manage and it’s affordable. If you’re a small-business, a website beginner, or you’re pretty budget conscious, shared hosting is a great place to start. When you go with a shared host, your website will be stored and run off the same server as other websites. This method reduces costs for everyone involved, while still providing a hosting solution that is fully functional and can handle the needs of the vast majority of website owners. Even if you start off with a shared hosting service like GoDaddy, Bluehost, or (shameless plug: Freshwater), you can always upgrade to something more robust when your website traffic increases, or you reach a certain level of personal success and require more capabilities.

2) Managed Hosting

Managed hosting has become increasingly popular in recent years, especially among those who don’t want the hassle of dealing with the technical aspects of website management. Depending on the site, managed hosting can run anywhere from $30 to $300. What you receive is a managed hosting solution that will handle all hardware and software setup ad maintenance, technical support, updates, file storage, and more.

If you have limited time and resources, but still want a website that looks professional and is full-featured, managed hosting is certainly an option worth looking into. Managed hosting companies offer website building tools for creating a professional website with all the features you require, even if you have no prior design experience.

3) Dedicated Hosting

For website owners who want full control of the servers their files are stored on, dedicated hosting is a great solution. Businesses have complete access to the server rented to them by a server company. Dedicated servers are only required for websites with high traffic volume other types of hosting solutions couldn’t handle without significant downtime occurring, or websites needing enhanced security capabilities. Dedicated hosting is generally more expensive, but a necessary step if you’re a large business or your website gets a lot of traffic.

4) Cloud Hosting

When hosting services are on the cloud, it means multiple computers and servers are putting their computing resources together to run the various functions of a website. Cloud based services are similar to shared hosting in this way, except shared hosts keep multiple websites on a single server in a set location, when cloud hosting spreads the data out over a digital network that’s not bound to a physical place. The main benefits of cloud hosting are reduced downtime, fast page loading speeds, and the ability to easily scale your hosting requirements as your needs change over time.

While these are the 4 most popular types of hosting, they’re not the only ones you may encounter! As you search for a solution to build your website on, you aren’t limited to these 4, even custom solutions for exist. Remember, if you begin with the ease of shared hosting, you can always build up to the specialized services of a dedicated host, the convenience of virtual managed servers, or the reliability of cloud hosting. If you need help deciding which hosting type is right for you, or you’re looking for a provider that can handle whatever type of hosting you need — we’re happy to help. Contact us to find out more!