Shared VS Dedicated Hosting for the Non IT Savvy

Sure all you IT savvy people easily understand the difference between shared hosting and dedicated hosting but have you ever found it difficult to explain to someone that thinks hosting means throwing a party?

I’d like to share with you the Atum definition of shared vs dedicated server hosting – one you could tell your non IT friends and have them actually understand what you’re talking about.

Imagine you had two friends.

Shared Server Hosting
Joe lives in a small student house. Although Joe has his own room, he shares his kitchen and bathroom with other people on same floor. Joe’s neighbours are constantly having parties (especially on weeknights) and he hears everything through the thin walls. He is involved in all their problems and his neighbours often have questionable guests making Joe feel his security is at risk.

Dedicated Server Hosting
Anna lives in a luxurious house in a safe quiet neighbourhood. The only common area she comes close to sharing with her neighbours is the entrance to her street. She isn’t bothered by her neighbours, even when they have parties, because she can’t hear them through her thick secure walls. She is isolated from all their problems and feels safe in her home.

Shared and dedicated servers are the same. On a shared server, the operating system and resources are shared, slowing down the server performance or worse requiring it to be shut down while the problem gets fixed.

On a dedicated server, all the server resources are only yours. It used to be that a physical dedicated server would cost around $450/month, adding up to a whopping $5, 400 annual costs. However, with virtualization and dedicated Virtual Private Servers (VPS), you are able to use features and functionality of a physical dedicated without the cost of building and maintaining one (as low as $470/year!). You truly have complete control of your virtual environment for a fraction of the cost.

Dedicated Virtual Private Server hosting allows you to do whatever you want with your space so your neighbours problems are not your concern.

Hope this helped (and entertained) you somewhat…

In the mean time, we’re off to visit our friend Anna

Best regards,

Your Friends at Atum.