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You have many options for web hosting, and shared hosting offers an easy way to get your website online. But reseller hosting could offer the benefits of shared hosting plus an option to earn money from hosting. Learn about these web hosting options and consider which might work best for you.
Key takeaways:
- Shared hosting, one of the most popular types of hosting for small businesses, meets most people’s needs.
- Reseller hosting offers excellent hosting technology and the opportunity to add a new income stream to your business.
- Just as important as choosing the right type of hosting is selecting the correct company to work with.
Shared hosting is when the hosting company sets up a web server to operate multiple websites. Each customer is given a private account on the server to create and manage their website.
However, all of the sites on that server run using the same pool of system resources. A hosting company could put a few customers to several hundred onto one web server.
Allowing multiple customers to operate their websites on one server helps to keep the costs low so that the hosting company can offer this type of service at an affordable price. Shared hosting is most often used for small to midsize websites. It is a great way to get reliable services without breaking your budget.
What are the advantages of shared hosting?
There are many reasons why shared hosting is the most commonly used technology for running websites:
- Affordable: Shared hosting is the most cost-effective option and gives you excellent quality hosting for your site at a low monthly price.
- Rapid setup: Most hosting companies create shared hosting accounts automatically, so your hosting environment is ready seconds after checkout.
- Robust: The hosting servers used for shared hosting are strong. While sharing these resources, you get a high-quality server that meets your needs.
What are the disadvantages of shared hosting?
Shared hosting isn’t right for every situation. Read through the following downsides:
- Impacted by other sites: Your site’s performance can be negatively impacted by how another site on the same server runs.
- Limited growth: If your site gets too large or has too much traffic, you may have to upgrade to another type of hosting since you’re limited in the resources on the server.
- Potential for low-quality hosting: While good, shared hosting is a solid option, many low-quality companies offer subpar shared hosting. Ensure you’re working with a reputable company when opting for shared hosting.
What Is Reseller Hosting?
Reseller hosting is a unique type of account allowing you to host your website and sell access to your hosting environment to others. This type of hosting can be on shared servers, virtual private servers (VPSs), cloud servers, or dedicated servers — so make sure you know what you’re signing up for.
When you get reseller hosting, you can access a billing system and site management tools to support the people or businesses you sell the service to.
What are the advantages of reseller hosting?
Learn about these advantages that can make reseller hosting a great option:
- Offset your expenses: If you can sell access to your web hosting environment, it can easily balance your other website-related expenses, which can be great for budgeting.
- Income stream: If your business can sell web hosting as an add-on, this reseller hosting can create an excellent additional income stream.
- Quality hosting: Whether you resell the hosting or not, reseller accounts need to support multiple websites and are thus of higher quality.
What are the disadvantages of reseller hosting?
Not surprisingly, reseller hosting isn’t the right option for every customer as it works best for creating income through selling web hosting. Consider the following disadvantages:
- Complicated: You aren’t just buying a normal web hosting service, but essentially a web hosting business. You must know how to manage marketing, billing, and other services to make it worthwhile.
- Price: You can get reseller hosting at many different price points. In general, it is more expensive than a traditional hosting account because you get all the additional features needed for reselling access to your hosting environment.
- Specific usage: This type of hosting is only a good option if you plan on reselling hosting space. If you don’t, there’s no real reason for this type of hosting.
How Do You Choose the Best Hosting for Your Business?
When comparing shared and reseller hosting, it’s an easy decision to make. If you plan on selling hosting services, reseller hosting is the obvious option. Otherwise, going with shared hosting makes much more sense.
The challenge is choosing which hosting company to do business with, whether shared or reseller. Choosing a reputable company that can meet all your needs helps ensure you have a good hosting experience today and long into the future.
Read about the top-rated hosting companies and the best reseller hosting services to see your options.