Dedicated hosting means your site is alone on a server, with no other sites sharing same physical machine, its resources or IP address. It also means that you have the freedom to do anything you want on the server.

High Performance

Not every site must have a high performance. If you don't plan on selling products through your website, chances are that almost any of the hosting plans out there will suffice. What type of performance can you expect to get from the hosting? What can affect this performance?

With dedicated hosting, your website is the sole occupant of its server, and does not have to compete foe resources/. This means that the online request queue for the server holds requests only for your website, and your users get better response time. It also means that all the physical resources: memory, network and CPU are yours to exploit as you see fit. Some hosting providers have limited monthly traffic quota for your website. This usually affects only websites on shared hosting, and will not be a concern for a site on a dedicated server.

Private IP Address

Will your website have its own IP address?

With dedicated hosting, your website lives on its own server and hence has its own IP address. This is important because your website is not in danger of being co-hosted with unethical websites. Unethical websites may be used for spamming or spreading of malicious software. When such a site is found it is usually blacklisted, meaning that servers all over the Internet refuse to accept traffic (such as email) from this site, and search engines no longer list it. When your website is co-hosted with such a website - it will get blocked as well, since blacklisting is performed based on IP Address. This will not happen to your website when you use dedicated hosting, as your IP address belongs only to you.

Low Cost

How expensive is each of the options?

Dedicated hosting is a lot more expensive than shared hosting. Be prepared to pay at least ten times more for the cheaper dedicated options than what you would pay for shared hosting plans.

Server Control

How much control do you have over the server?

When you choose dedicated hosting, your website is the sole occupant of the server you're paying for, and you can install whatever software or scripts you want on it. You will also be able to customize the software that the hosting provider initially installs for you, and with some hosting providers you can also make decisions regarding the hardware itself. Additionally, with dedicated hosting you get root access and sometimes your own VPS (Virtual Private Servers) option. This level of control also has its down side, and if you are not proficient in this field, you may end up having to pay someone to take care of your server management for you.

Big Websites Fit

Does this hosting option fit a big website, with a large volume of traffic?

Big, traffic-intensive websites usually need dedicated hosting. You will want the space to grow into, and the performance level that a dedicated server can provide you with.

Small Websites Fit

Does this hosting option fit a small, low-to-average traffic website with no special needs (e.g. a blog).

The short answer is: Probably Not. Dedicated hosting is really an overkill for a small site. If your site does not get a lot of traffic - you'll just be wasting your money. Even if the website does get considerable visitor volumes, you probably don't need dedicated hosting unless you serve a lot of multimedia content off it or want to use it as an online shop.

High Security

What are the security implications of going this way or the other?

Dedicated hosting is usually perceived as more secure than shared hosting, but this is not the whole story. The perception is due to the fact that the security mechanisms employed by the hosting provider (e.g. firewalls) can be tailored to your needs and not have to concern other websites sharing the same IP address. However, it is worth noting that with most hosting providers, when you choose dedicated hosting, you also get to be responsible for the security configuration of the server. It is up to you to apply OS patches and deal with security threats. In shared hosting, on the other hand, this is performed for you by the hosting provider. When considering the security aspect, remember that the web has many people trying to hack into any website they can, be it for fun or profit. If you have to handle security yourself, you may find that you spend a lot of time dealing with securing your website and not with its content.

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Shared Hosting

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Average rating: 4 / 5 , based on 8 customer reviews
Feel factor: 5

Spent over $100.00 for this product and received nothing

(score 1/5)

COMPLETE GARBAGE!! You pay for support and the company gives you nothing in return! In other words, you don't get to use the product for which you paid.

Posted on: 2008-09-01
By Mark Burrell
Helpful index: 100%

Well Worth the Money

(score 5/5)

The free domain name and free one-year service makes this bundle a very hot deal.

You do not need the software. It is on their web site. The package has a code. You can go to the site to register. You can use their online tools (software), or you can use your own tools to create your sites.

You do need some basic skills to create and publish your site. There is no technical support with the package. They charge $15 fee per incident.

Just set your expectation right. There is no catch. Everything it promised is real. Worth every penny.

Posted on: 2008-07-21
By Frank Silver
Helpful index: 66.6666666667%

Check out the other reviewers

(score 1/5)

Check out the other reviewers. They each have given 5 stars and make no mention of the box providing a link and no software or the monthly charges. They each have one review a piece and the writing style is the same ad type. They are obviously fake reviews. There are a couple of real reviews that rate this product poorly. Read them, they are on target.

Posted on: 2008-06-04
By A. Paulson
Helpful index: 100%

Could not be easier

(score 5/5)

Could not be easier to setup, you just point and click your way to adding pictures, content, audio/video files, and all kinds of other stuff. I also like how the content is written in a Word format. And they throw in free advertising through google and yahoo.

Posted on: 2007-12-04
By B. Mierke
Helpful index: 50%

Easy for me

(score 4/5)

I bought this product to see if I could build a website for our family. I was suprised at how easy it was to use. There are so many designs and even some specific for what we wanted, our child's birthday party!

Now, we use it to post pictures and share the photo album with our relatives and my husband writes his weekly blog about raising our daughter. There are a bunch of extras that come with the product and the best is that Web.com hosts our site as part of the sign up process (free for a year!!!!!).

I have a few friends who started their own business recenly and thought these would make good stocking stuffers.

Very cool and so easy to use!

Posted on: 2007-12-03
By Allison's Family
Helpful index: 75%