Many new site owners, like you, me or any other, probably chooses shared hosting when launched their first website. After all, it’s the cheapest option and budget is most important. However, as the website grows with time, it’s vital to know when to upgrade to something more substantial. There are plenty of options available, and you may have study about a dedicated server – and why do you need one?
The answer lies in the reasons for upgrading. For example, you may be dealing with a rise in immediate traffic, or expect a huge growth in future. Then, Dedicated servers are ideal for this, along with strong and enhanced security features and positive impact on page loading times.
In this guide, we’ll explain dedicated servers are, and offer some advice on how to decide whether dedicated hosting is right for you or not.
What is Dedicated Hosting Server?
Dedicated hosting means that your website has its own server, all for itself. It offers great power and flexibility to your website, but usually it is premium. So, before purchasing, it’s important to do your research. For example, you start your website with a shared hosting plan but soon grow and exceeds shared hosting plan’s limits. Here, you have options to upgrade to a virtual private server (VPS) or a dedicated one.
You may be aware, in shared hosting, your website is store on a server with hundreds of others. For personal blogs or very small business websites, this option is sufficient. However, it’s not the good for performance and also you may lose on flexibility because you can’t configure all the things yourself.
On the other hand, a VPS gives your website its own space and separate place from other sites. You also get more flexibility on how your server is configured. VPS offer you the speed you need at a lower cost than dedicated hosting, and represents like a good middle ground for those looking to upgrade from shared hosting.
However, dedicated hosting is the best plan if you need the most power of your money. By the time your website needs one to handle its growing traffic, it may very well be worth it.
Reasons Why You Need a Dedicated Server
As we stated above, dedicated hosting is one of the most powerful hosting plans available. However, you may be thinking whether you need it or not. Before spending your money, evaluate the following four reasons:
Website Grows and Not able to Handle an Increase in Traffic
If you expect that your website is going to grow rapidly, at that time, it might be a good idea to choose a dedicated server. For example, if your website is using shared hosting even after sharp increase in your traffic graph, website’s performance could drop crucially. This can increase the bounce rate and impact on your revenue. It’s important to migrate your site, before it impact on your website performance before any potential problems arise.
Security of your Website
Security is most important for every website, but especially for those handling sensitive information like emails, credit card numbers, or other sensitive customer information. It’s important to protect these information and your website from viruses, hacking, and other risks.
With a dedicated server, you’re in-charge of your website’s security. It means you can optimize the features needed for the specific requirements of your website and files stored. Though, some hosts provides fully-managed and semi-managed maintenance plans.
Optimal Page Loading Times
Your website page loading time have a remarkable impact on all technical aspects. Slow pages lead to low engagement rate and high bounce rate. With dedicated server, you can optimize these aspects of your website as much as possible.
On a shared server, you don’t know when the server’s resources are being used elsewhere, which could make your site slow.
Control over your Server
Most important reason you need to choose a dedicated server over other options is control. Dedicated Server gives you complete control over your server. You’re free to choose the server software you prefer. If you favor the resource control of NGINX over Apache, you have the power to do so, adjust hardware specifications and install your own operating system. Due of these, dedicated server is attractive option for advanced web developers.