Dedicated servers vs. shared servers: Which to choose?
If you are starting out on the web you will probably need a shared server, as you are more successful, the traffic going to your site should increase over time. So as your traffic and web needs grow, so should your hosting solution.
By having your own dedicated server you avoid most of the problems affecting the reliability and stability of your server, that shared servers cannot.
Some of the potential problems of shared servers may be overloads, bad codes and scripts from other shared accounts.
On a dedicated server only applications you need are installed, but on a shared server there are many applications installed which slow down the response time.
Are dedicated servers faster than shared servers?
With a dedicated server solution the server the sites are hosted on is dedicated to those sites. Meaning that that site (or sites) comes first when the outside world makes requests of its resources. In a shared server environment, it's possible that another website is overly using resources your site may need, hence a bit of a lag in your website's performance.
It is debatable whether or not dedicated servers increase your rankings. There are many other factors which go into a search engine's determination of rankings including content, links, page accessibility, etc. The most important one, is that your website is available around the clock - 24/7/365.
It is very important who is on your shared server, this is one variable that a dedicated solution doesn't have. With a shared hosting solution, if the sites on your same machine are involved in dubious practices, it is possible that the search engines will ban an entire IP address, making you a non-participating blacklisted victim.
The dedicated servers vs. shared servers is a debate that will go on forever. The real question is answered by the performance of the server, not whether or not it has other sites on it.
Try to get a hosting solution which gives you:
1. excellent performance (shared or dedicated)
2. great customer support
3. peace of mind 24/7/365 when it comes to the costs, co-sharers
and the search engines will respond accordingly.
Click here for a list of dedicated servers or shared servers suppliers.
