Shared vs. VPS vs. Dedicated Hosting?

The best way to compare the Shared vs. VPS vs. Dedicated Hosting services is to buy services for each and compare the services. Here are the results of such an endeavor:

Cloud VPS

The first was that of Gandi, which offers accommodation Cloud VPS where the price is fixed according to the “Units” used. Each unit adds a boost of power to the CPU service, memory and disk space. The potential memory and CPU you are able to purchase is impressive. It is however not so impressive in the area of scalability. Gandi has a test version which they provide for free.

Pros of Cloud VPS

It had RAID 60 with a lot of space and a good sized bandwidth. You are able to get a snapshot of the disk in one click. You also have the ability to activate “automatically share”, whenever the need arises.

Cons of Cloud VPS

It only uses a simple “apache” system of management which is not great, (OS version tested: Centos 5.5). There is too little RAM for a decent share, and it is much too expensive for a decent and true dedicated CPU core.

Infomaniak Shared

This is not a VPS but a shared hosting service. Setting up the system was quite difficult, however, that is more a case of Infomaniak’s efforts for ease of use. Not all shared hosting services make it so difficult.

Pros of Infomaniak Shared

The price is the biggest pro when it comes to shared hosting. You do not need to perform any sort of technical maintenance on the server when you are running programs. You also do not need any sort of Linux administration skills to run a website on a shared host. Uploading is easy and most shared hosts have a very simple and easy to use GUI or web based control station. There are some that have a few sticky bits, in that you will have to reload when it freezes, but other than that they are okay.

Cons of Infomaniak Shared

There are far fewer resources at your disposal, which is the trade-off you make for not having to maintain the server. You are sharing resources with other people which means that your services and use are going to be restricted, so that everybody gets a fair share. One of the obvious downsides to using shared services is that you cannot add modules, in the same way you cannot ride on a public bus and install your own seating.

Kimsufi 2G Dedicated Hosting

It is expensive to have dedicated hosting, even if you want to test it out for just a month. The settings are far more advanced than that of those offered by shared and VPS, but this may just be a benefit offered by the company, as opposed to one of the pros of dedicated hosting.

Pros of Kimsufi 2G Dedicated Hosting

It uses a good CPU (Celeron 220 1.2 Ghz) and has a good bandwidth. There is sufficient RAM to run a good Apache server (2GB), and there’s a good amount of disk space, not to mention the use of CentOS 6.

Cons of Kimsufi 2G Dedicated Hosting

The delivery time is quite long. It is 7 days against the 1 or 2 for Gandi. There are no snapshots, which means you have to create regular backups. You are not able to dynamically increase the power of the server.