What is the difference between shared and dedicated hosting and which is best?

Chosen Answer:

Shared hosting means several sites use the same machine, share the cost, and share available CPU/bandwidth. Some have, monthly upload/download limits per site, one of my favorite sites got shut down at the end of the month- two months running, until they switched servers.

Dedicated hosting mean you have sole use of the machine, pay all the costs, but get all the CPU time and internet bandwidth.

Which is better depends on what you need it for and what you can afford, most sites don’t need dedicated.
by: William C
on: 29th November 09

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3 Responses to “What is the difference between shared and dedicated hosting and which is best?”

  1. Kasey C says:

    Shared hosting — one server can run several different domains, so you share your machine with unknown number of people

    Dedicated hosting — one server is dedicated to your domain, and your domain alone.

    Unless you need to run web applications, and then pretty specialized ones, you don’t need dedicated hosting

  2. William C says:

    Shared hosting means several sites use the same machine, share the cost, and share available CPU/bandwidth. Some have, monthly upload/download limits per site, one of my favorite sites got shut down at the end of the month- two months running, until they switched servers.

    Dedicated hosting mean you have sole use of the machine, pay all the costs, but get all the CPU time and internet bandwidth.

    Which is better depends on what you need it for and what you can afford, most sites don’t need dedicated.

  3. David G says:

    As an experienced webmaster I recommend BlueHost service which I’m sure it would work for you and fulfill all your requirements. They have a really great offer for hosting & I have used them for over 3 yrs now, and have never had a single problem with them.

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    You can go there through the address below:
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    Here I have copied and pasted its features from their website to view:

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    They offer an installing service called “Fantastico”. By using this service, you can easily create your forum, blog, photo gallery, shopping carts etc. They also offer “Free Site Builder” that helps you build your web pages without difficulty if you are not skilled in using any creating website programs.

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