Glossary
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting places many websites on one server that pools its CPU, memory, and disk, making it the cheapest but least isolated option.
Shared hosting puts many customers' websites on a single physical server, where they all draw from the same pool of CPU, memory, disk, and bandwidth. It is the entry-level, lowest-cost hosting tier.
Characteristics
- Managed almost entirely by the provider — you typically get a
cpanel-style control panel. - Sites usually share one
ip-address, distinguished by the HTTPHostheader. - The web server is commonly
apache,nginx, orlitespeedwithphpandmysqlpreinstalled.
Trade-offs
- Cheap and simple, ideal for small sites and
wordpressblogs. - Noisy neighbours — a busy site on the same box can slow down yours.
- Limited control: no root access, fixed software versions.
Why it matters for hosting
If you outgrow shared hosting's performance ceiling, the usual upgrade path is a vps, cloud-hosting, or managed-hosting, which provide dedicated resources and more control.
See also
VPS (Virtual Private Server)
A VPS is a virtual machine with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and disk carved from a physical server, giving root access and isolation at modest cost.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting runs your site across a pool of virtual servers that scale on demand, billed by usage for elasticity and high availability.
cPanel
cPanel is a popular web-based control panel for managing hosting accounts, including domains, email, databases, and files, without the command line.
Managed Hosting
Managed hosting is a service where the provider handles server administration, updates, security, and backups so you can focus on your site.