Should You Choose a Dedicated Server or a Shared Server?

Dedicated servers are physical machines that can be used only by one person, and not anybody else. These machines can remain in your personal company or in a third party hosted data center. Shared servers are the ones that you share with many other users.

So how do you decide which web host is the best solution for you? It probably will depend a lot on your budget and how much security you require.

Dedicated web hosting is the kind that belongs to you. You hold all exclusive rights for using this particular “box”. You will of course pay more for your dedicated server than for a shared server, because with shared hosting the cost is divided among many users and not exclusive to only you.

Dedicated servers are preferred over shared hosting for those who plan to use all of it, or at least some very significant part. That’s how you justify it. Basically, having a dedicated server means that your space amount gets divided at the point where the cost of a server split is about the same.

If your applications you’re running on your server contain business critical content needing a specific level of security for conducting online e-commerce, then you really need a dedicated server so you are able to control who has access to your server. This way you are able to explore all areas of your machine and not have to worry about unknown users who share this server with you.

You might prefer having a dedicated server just because of the kind of image that your company is trying to convey. You don’t want it to be affected by others on your network who may be involved in pornography or inappropriate business practices. It helps you maintain your image.

Many companies find that placing their own server is a bit too expensive, and their company has to be large enough to justify having it. Some companies think about placing these servers, and believe they’re too much of an expense, and so they look for ways of saving the costs and obtaining something that can get them a high performance for a lower cost.

Some companies, except for those that are quite small, hosting from a dedicated server delivers them the perfect balance between performance and finances. The managing of your dedicated server, plus the high quality of services, will deliver your company good security, good flexibility, along with excellent connectivity to the internet, and still for just a fraction of cost compared to placing a whole central server.