Hosting your site on the Internet is possible through a variety of options and, methods and routes. There are several web hosting service providers that have their own policies, packages, features etc. There is no hard and fast rule for categorizing or differentiating the type of websites but roughly we can say:

• Free hosting VS Paid hosting.
• Windows hosting VS UNIX hosting.
• Shared website hosting VS Dedicated website hosting.
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And there can be various other comparisons and categories regarding web hosting.

The purpose of this article is to equip you with basics of Shared Hosting and its advantages and disadvantages.

Lets start with a question, what is Shared Hosting? Simply speaking, in shared web site hosting, the shared hosting provider hosts various sited on a single server. So if you buy a shared hosting plan from a shared hosting services provider, your site will be on a server along with some other client's site.

In case of shared web hosting, all the sites share the same operating system e.g. shared windows hosting or shared UNIX hosting, however features can be different according to the shared web site hosting plan selected.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Shared Hosting

Hosting your site on a shared server comes with some advantages and disadvantages. Some of these advantages and disadvantages are discussed below:

Advantages:

1. COST SAVING: Shared web hosting providers are usually low cost as compared to dedicated hosting providers.
2. SERVER ADMINISTRATION: Server administration is easy in case of shared web hosting services as compared to dedicated server hosting services.
3. NO SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED: Specialized knowledge is not required because you only have to look after your own site and not the whole server.

Disadvantages:

1. LOW SECURITY: Security is usually low in case of shared hosting because various sites are hosted on one single server and limited security can be applied to all of them.
2. SERVER LIMITATION: In shared web hosting, each website hosted on the shared server uses the same server resources, e.g. Memory, C.P.U, Hard disk etc.
3. RESTRICTIONS: In some shared hosting plans, some Ports and connections may be limited or blocked for providing security to shared website hosting.

Who Should go for Shared Web Hosting

Shared hosting services are useful for small business organizations that cannot afford huge budgets for hosting their site on the Internet. Shared hosting is also ideal for personal WebPages or sites that have limited (below 200 M.B) space and bandwidth requirements. Some shared web hosting services are free, so it provides a golden opportunity for those who have ability and time for making a web sit for but do not want to pay for hosting the site on the net. A term reseller shared hosting is used to donate the reselling of shared hosting.