If you are thinking about taking your e-commerce business to the next level, then you must be wondering whether to continue with the shared hosting account or upgrade to a Virtual Private Server (VPS). You cannot take this decision lightly as your website is the heart of the e-commerce operation. Despite the VPS server price being higher than shared hosting, it is recommended to upgrade if you truly wish to expand your business.
- Limitations of Shared Hosting: Many shared hosting providers claim to provide unlimited resources along with the ability to run dozens of programs that can be installed with a single click. However, their unlimited disk space or bandwidth is a myth. Once your e-commerce business expands, your website will have to run several scripts to offer all that incredible functionality to customers. It will force your hosting to hit a wall and fail.
- Issues with a Shared SSL Certificate: Some shared hosting providers use a shared SSL certificate to provide cheaper website hosting plans. SSL is a protocol that ensures a secure connection between the client and the server. However, using a shared SSL certificate can scare your clients with a warning message that it does not match your domain name. It might even drive away your loyal customers.
How Does VPS Work?
VPS provides a shared server to the clients that split into several virtual servers with the help of virtualization software. These split servers are strictly defined and managed by the virtualization software. The specified number of CPUs, RAM, disk space, and bandwidth is allocated to your virtual computer depending on the hardware setup you have purchased. It gives you sufficient space to operate without no obstructions.
Benefits of Using VPS
Isolation from the Activity of Others
If another user misbehaves on your web hosting platform or crashes their server for any reason, it won’t affect your physical server on which the virtual machines are run.
Optimum Speed
With shared hosting, the speed varies according to the amount of traffic on the websites of other users. On the other hand, VPS allows dedicated resources for your commerce website to ensure optimum speed at any time of the day.
Optimum Space
As discussed earlier, the claims of shared hosting providers providing unlimited disk space are a myth. Since the resources are fairly shared between all users of that server, it translates into limited disk space. That is not the case with VPS. It allocates the agreed-upon disk space for you. Even if you are not using it, it will still be available only to you.
Root Access
For technically strong users, there is always a need to install some programs using root access. This is something you won’t get with shared hosting. Root access is only available with VPS. You can talk to your service provider beforehand to gain root access and have enhanced control over the web hosting platform.
VPS is a must for those who want to seriously expand their e-commerce business. Shared hosting may be advisable for the startups, but you need VPS to take that big leap. VPS is an economical option as well, since the VPS server price is much cheaper than dedicated hosting, with the service ensuring optimum operations for your website.
