The Three Types of Hosting, Explained Simply
Choosing between shared, VPS, and cloud hosting is the most important hosting decision you'll make — it determines your performance ceiling, scalability, and how much control you have over your infrastructure.
Here's the simplest way to think about it:
- Shared hosting = renting a room in a shared apartment. Cheap, but your roommates affect your experience.
- VPS hosting = renting a condo. Your own dedicated space, but in a fixed building.
- Cloud hosting = renting flexible office space. Scale up or down as needed, pay for what you use.
Let's go deeper with real numbers and recommendations.
Shared Hosting: The Starting Point
Shared hosting places your website on a server alongside dozens or hundreds of other sites. Everyone shares the same CPU, RAM, and storage.
How it works
Your host runs one physical server and allocates portions of its resources across all accounts. A control panel (cPanel or hPanel) gives you a managed interface to upload files, manage databases, and install applications.
What you get
| Spec | Typical Range |
|---|---|
| CPU | Shared (1-2 cores, not dedicated) |
| RAM | 512MB-2GB (shared) |
| Storage | 10-100GB SSD |
| Bandwidth | 100GB-"unlimited" |
| Price | $1.99-$10/mo |
| Root Access | No |
| Control Panel | cPanel or custom |
Performance reality
We tested shared hosting from our top three budget providers under identical conditions:
| Provider | TTFB (low traffic) | TTFB (peak hours) | Uptime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | 198ms | 340ms | 99.96% |
| SiteGround | 145ms | 210ms | 99.99% |
| Bluehost | 285ms | 520ms | 99.95% |
Notice the TTFB difference between low-traffic and peak hours. That's the "shared" effect — when other sites on your server are busy, your performance degrades.
When shared hosting is right
- Personal blogs, portfolios, and hobby sites
- Small business brochure websites
- Sites under 25,000 monthly visitors
- Your first website (learning)
- Budget under $10/month
- You don't need custom server configurations
When to outgrow shared hosting
- Response times spike during peak hours
- Your site regularly exceeds 25,000 monthly visitors
- You need specific software not available on the shared server
- You're running an e-commerce store with frequent transactions
- You host multiple resource-intensive sites
Best shared hosting: Hostinger ($1.99/mo) for value, SiteGround ($3.99/mo) for performance and support. See our full best web hosting guide.
VPS Hosting: The Middle Ground
VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting uses virtualization to give you a dedicated slice of a physical server. Your resources are guaranteed — no noisy neighbors.
How it works
A hypervisor divides a physical server into isolated virtual machines. Each VPS gets dedicated CPU cores, RAM, and storage. You get root access to install and configure anything you want.
What you get
| Spec | Typical Range |
|---|---|
| CPU | 1-8 dedicated vCPUs |
| RAM | 1-32GB dedicated |
| Storage | 25-400GB NVMe SSD |
| Bandwidth | 1-10TB |
| Price | $2.50-$80/mo |
| Root Access | Yes |
| Control Panel | Optional (you choose) |
Performance reality
VPS performance is consistent and predictable because resources are dedicated:
| Provider | TTFB (low traffic) | TTFB (peak hours) | Uptime |
|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean ($6) | 78ms | 82ms | 99.99% |
| Vultr ($6) | 72ms | 75ms | 100% |
| Linode ($5) | 92ms | 96ms | 99.99% |
Notice how TTFB barely changes between low traffic and peak hours. That's the benefit of dedicated resources — consistent performance regardless of what's happening on the physical hardware.
When VPS hosting is right
- Sites with 25,000-500,000+ monthly visitors
- E-commerce stores (WooCommerce, Magento)
- Web applications requiring specific software stacks
- Multiple websites on one server
- You need consistent, guaranteed performance
- Development and staging environments
- You're comfortable with (or willing to learn) basic Linux
Managed vs Unmanaged VPS
Unmanaged (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode): You get a blank server. You install the OS, configure the firewall, set up the web server, and handle all updates. Full control, full responsibility.
Managed (Cloudways, Hostinger VPS): The provider handles server setup, security, and maintenance. You manage your applications through a dashboard. Easier, slightly more expensive.
Best VPS: Vultr ($2.50/mo) for value, DigitalOcean ($4/mo) for developer experience, Cloudways ($14/mo) for managed. See our cheap VPS guide.
Cloud Hosting: The Modern Standard
Cloud hosting distributes your site across multiple servers in a provider's infrastructure. If one server fails, another takes over. Resources scale on demand.
How it works
Instead of one physical server, your site runs on a cluster of interconnected servers. Your data is replicated across multiple machines. Resources can be added or removed dynamically based on demand.
What you get
| Spec | Typical Range |
|---|---|
| CPU | 1-96+ vCPUs (scalable) |
| RAM | 1GB-384GB+ (scalable) |
| Storage | 25GB-16TB (expandable) |
| Bandwidth | 1TB-unlimited |
| Price | $2.50-$1,000+/mo |
| Root Access | Yes (on VMs) |
| Scaling | Automatic or manual |
Performance reality
Cloud hosting performance is essentially the same as VPS for individual instances — the key differences are in reliability and scalability:
| Advantage | VPS | Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Consistent performance | Yes | Yes |
| Hardware failure recovery | Manual migration | Automatic failover |
| Scaling speed | Minutes (resize) | Seconds (auto-scale) |
| Multi-region deployment | Manual | Built-in |
| Pay-as-you-go billing | Sometimes | Always |
| API management | Limited | Comprehensive |
| Managed Kubernetes | Sometimes | Standard |
When cloud hosting is right
- SaaS applications and web apps
- Sites with variable or unpredictable traffic
- Projects requiring multi-region deployment
- Teams using CI/CD and infrastructure as code
- You need auto-scaling for traffic spikes
- Microservices architecture
- High-availability requirements (99.99%+ uptime)
Cloud hosting providers
- DigitalOcean — simplest cloud platform, great for startups
- Vultr — most data centers (32), best raw performance per dollar
- Linode — Akamai edge network integration
- AWS — most services, most complex
- Google Cloud — best for data/ML workloads
See our full cloud hosting comparison.
The Complete Comparison
| Factor | Shared | VPS | Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $2-10/mo | $2.50-80/mo | $2.50-1,000+/mo |
| Performance | Variable | Consistent | Consistent + scalable |
| Resources | Shared | Dedicated | Dedicated + elastic |
| Root Access | No | Yes | Yes |
| Scalability | None | Manual resize | Auto-scale |
Decision Flowchart
Answer these questions to find your hosting type:
1. How much traffic does your site get?
- Under 25K monthly visitors → Shared hosting is fine
- 25K-100K monthly visitors → VPS or cloud
- 100K+ monthly visitors → Cloud hosting
2. Do you need custom server software?
- No → Shared or managed cloud
- Yes → VPS or cloud
3. What's your technical comfort level?
- Beginner (no command line) → Shared or managed (Cloudways)
- Intermediate (comfortable with SSH) → VPS
- Advanced (infrastructure as code) → Cloud
4. Is your traffic predictable?
- Steady traffic → VPS (cheaper for consistent workloads)
- Spiky or unpredictable → Cloud (auto-scaling saves you)
5. What's your budget?
- Under $5/mo → Shared (Hostinger)
- $5-15/mo → VPS (DigitalOcean, Vultr)
- $15-50/mo → Managed cloud (Cloudways)
- $50+/mo → Cloud with custom configuration
Still unsure? Our AI Hosting Advisor can analyze your specific requirements and recommend the right hosting type and provider.
The Upgrade Path
Most websites follow this natural progression:
Stage 1: Launch → Shared hosting ($2-5/mo) Start with Hostinger or SiteGround. Focus on building your content and audience.
Stage 2: Growth → VPS ($5-20/mo) When shared hosting feels sluggish, move to DigitalOcean or Vultr. Your existing skills transfer.
Stage 3: Scale → Cloud ($20-100+/mo) When you need auto-scaling, multiple regions, or managed services, you're already on a cloud platform (DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode are all cloud providers).
The key insight: DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode ARE cloud providers that offer VPS-like simplicity. Moving to them at Stage 2 means you won't need to migrate again for Stage 3 — you just resize or add services.
FAQ
What is the difference between shared and VPS hosting?
Shared hosting places multiple websites on one server sharing resources ($2-10/mo). VPS gives you dedicated CPU, RAM, and storage on a virtual server ($2.50-80/mo). The key difference is performance consistency — shared hosting performance varies based on other users' activity, while VPS performance is predictable because resources are guaranteed.
Is VPS hosting worth the extra cost?
If your site gets more than 25,000 monthly visitors or you need consistent performance, yes. A $5 VPS from DigitalOcean or Vultr delivers 40-60% faster response times than shared hosting, with near-zero performance variation during peak hours. For small personal sites under 10K visitors, shared hosting is sufficient.
What is cloud hosting in simple terms?
Cloud hosting runs your website on a network of connected servers instead of a single machine. If one server has issues, others pick up the load. You can easily add resources (more CPU, RAM) without migration. Cloud VPS providers like DigitalOcean, Vultr, and Linode offer cloud hosting starting at $2.50/month.
Can I upgrade from shared to VPS without downtime?
Yes, though it requires migrating your site. Most quality hosts offer free migration assistance — Cloudways, A2 Hosting, and SiteGround all include this. For WordPress sites, migration plugins make the process straightforward. Keep your old hosting active during migration to avoid downtime.
Do I need cloud hosting for a WordPress site?
Most WordPress sites under 50K monthly visitors run perfectly fine on quality shared hosting (SiteGround, Hostinger). Cloud hosting benefits WordPress when you need consistent high performance, handle traffic spikes, or run WooCommerce with significant order volume. Cloudways offers the easiest WordPress-on-cloud experience. See our WordPress hosting guide.
How do I know when to upgrade from shared hosting?
Key signs: your page load times exceed 3 seconds, your TTFB regularly exceeds 500ms, you experience downtime not caused by your own code, or your host warns you about resource limits. Test your current speed with our free Speed Test tool.
