Shared Hosting

Web hosting comes in three different types- there’s virtual private server hosting, dedicated server hosting, and shared hosting. Virtual private server and dedicated server hosting are all well and good for users who need a lot of resources and have a lot of money to spend, but the majority of site owners can easily make do with a good shared hosting plan.

A shared hosting plan is so named because it requires users to share a singe piece of hardware. This differentiates it from a dedicated server plan, where a single user gets an entire server dedicated to their needs. Good hosting companies will avoid allocating too many users to a single server, since the more users a server is required to support, the fewer resources (like disk space and CPU power) it can devote to each user.

With a shared hosting plan, all of the users are also required to use the same software. This differentiates it from a vps web hosting plan, where each user gets a virtual server partitioned off within a single actual server. Though virtual private server users still have to share hardware, they have specific allotments of resources earmarked for their use, and can have pretty much whatever software they want installed on their server. This isn’t the case with shared hosting, where there is no such partitioning. Instead, users have to share software.

Shared hosting offers some benefits over dedicated or virtual private server plans. For one, they’re much cheaper. Dedicating an entire server, even a virtual one, to a single user means that the number of users that hosting companies can allocate to a single server is very limited. As a result, these plans cost more. They also cost more because servers need to be managed. Fully-managed server plans, where a dedicated server or virtual private server is managed by the hosting company, require that the user compensate the hosting company for the time and effort they have to spend managing their server. This isn’t the case with shared hosting, which generally requires less time and effort on behalf of the hosting company.

The main disadvantage to shared hosting is that it is a bit more limited than a virtual private or dedicated server. Shared hosting customers generally don’t get as much bandwidth, disk space, or CPU power, and if their account allows them unlimited bandwidth and disk space, using too much of either can lead to the customer getting their site’s resources throttled. Shared hosting companies have to do this to protect their other users. If one site were able to hog all of the resources on a single server, it would cause problems with all of the other sites on that same server.

Shared hosting plans are generally the easiest and most economical for personal and small business websites. A lot of e-commerce sites, blogs, professional portfolios, and other small sites are hosted on shared hosting. If you have a site that isn’t very large yet and doesn’t have a large amount of traffic, then shared hosting may be the perfect hosting solution for you.

cPanel is a web control panel that allows easy management of web hosting related tasks. Management is done via web browser. With cPanel you can manage FTP accounts, databases, access logs and statistics, upload/download files, have integrated File Manager, can setup cron jobs, add new domains, subdomains or parked domains, setup e-mail and lots of other tasks.

FTP accounts

Ftp accounts can be setup with cPanel. New accounts or modify existing accounts, permissions can also be configured, like which folder-only access will be allowed, how much data can be transferred and similar.

Databases

New databases can be created, and database users (with permissions) can be added. You can see overall database info and statistics, and delete/edit users/databases.

Logs/Statistics

Depending on the configuration by the hosting provider, you can access current server stats (memory usage, cpu processes), access program paths and versions, server load and other server info. For websites there are couple of tools like latest visitors (shows 300 latest of all your sites). Raw logs, bandwidth information, error logs are also accessible.

File Manager

File manager is an excellent tool for uploading, downloading, modifying files online. It is very easy to use and supports drag and drop interface, zip extraction, file/folder permission edit and other. It is my favorite and most frequently used cPanel tool.

Other Tools

There are lots of other tools available that can ease hosting tasks. There are also plugins available. For example with the Fantastico you can install quickly and easy popular web applications: wordpress, drupal, joomla, phpbb, galleries and others.

Currently cPanel is the most popular control panel. Competing with cPanel are Plesk (windows), hsphere, lxadmin, webmin and others.

Some of the popular web applications that can be installed in the typical shared hosting environment are WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, phpbb, galleries, shopping carts and others. These are the most common scripts for creating websites. Hosting requirements for these applications are PHP (web programming language), MySQL (databaase system) and web server.

Shared hosting is usually the most economical hosting solution for personal and business websites. With the increasing popularity of web applications like WordPress, Joomla, phpBB, and others, more and more hosting companies that offer inexpensive shared server hosting plans are beginning to support them.

Content management systems are very popular applications on just about every type of hosting, including shared hosting. Joomla and Drupal both give users a means to manage and create web content. They also have a very wide variety of plugins and extensions that allow them to create everything from image galleries to e-commerce sites. Their versatility and ease of use are two of the reasons why both of these content management systems have become so immensely popular in recent years.

Blogs are also hugely popular applications for shared hosting. Blogs, short for ‘web logs,’ allow the user to post journal-style regular updates on their site. A lot of people use them for personal journals, but they’re also useful for alerting visitors to site updates and other changes. WordPress is one of the most popular blog creating platforms out there. Because of its popularity, there have been numerous extensions created for WordPress that have turned it into more of a content development platform. Even so, it’s still popular chiefly as blogging software.

Internet forums are popular all over the internet, even on shared hosting. Some forums are dedicated to fans of a TV, book, or movie, others are dedicated to internet gaming, and others are even set up as a customer support area. Simple Machines Forum and phpBB are two very popular forum scripts. They allow visitors to a site to become registered users, make posts to a forum, receive replies, and even send private messages.

Shopping carts are a must for any e-commerce site, which makes them show up often on shared hosting. Shopping carts are what allow visitors to an e-commerce site to gather the goods they want to purchase, total their order, and check out. TomatoCart, Zen Cart, Magento, and osCommerce are popular shopping cart utilities.

Image galleries show up pretty often on shared hosting, as well. These can be a grid style, slideshow, or just about any other style that the user can think of. Coppermine is popular software for creating image galleries, but Joomla, Drupal, and even WordPress have their own specific plugins that allow them to expand to create galleries and slideshows themselves.

A lot of the same applications that are popular on VPS and dedicated hosting are popular on shared hosting as well. A lot of content management systems, blogging platforms, forums, shopping carts, and image galleries are developed by the open source community. This means that they were uniquely designed to respond to the need of the majority of site owners out there, many of whom use shared hosting. As a result, these applications generally don’t require a lot of disk space or resources, and are easy to install and use on a basic shared hosting plan.

WordPress

WordPress is the most popular blogging platform. It aims to be simple, yet effectivi personal publishing tool. With wordpress you can also create complex websites because underneath is a Content Management System (CMS) with lots of features including user management system.

Joomla and Drupal

Joomla and Drupal are Content Management System. With either of them you can create complex web sites including social networks, blogs, forums, and with plugins almost any type of websites. This are very poweful applications, have large number of community users, lots of features, plugin system etc etc.

phpBB, Mybb, and other

phpBB is a Internet Forum software PHP script. It is used to create online communities where users can post threads and posts, talk to each other, discuss and share ideas.

Galleries

Some of the popular galleries are Gallery and Coppermine. With galleries you can upload and create online albums, you can also setup visitors to upload or have them first register then upload new photos, add pages, and simular things CMSs can do.

Shopping carts

Shopping carts are used to create online stores where products are listed in categories. Users may order these products and depending on the setup register. Most popular shopping carts are zencart, magento, oscommerce and others.

Other scripts

Just about almost any script that is written in PHP and uses MySQL for data storage can run on today’s shared hosting environment. Almost any type of web site can be created.

Webhostingpad is USA based web hosting company established in 2005. It offers only shared hosting. There is only one hosting plan in which are included many features that are included on most hosts: unlimited domain hosting, unlimited disk space and bandwidth, PHP, MySQL, cPanel for very cheap price.

Webhostingpad control panel

Webhostingpad offers cPanel the industry control panel. This panel have everything you need to manage your web hosting account. Add databases/users, setup FTP, add new domains or subdomains, upload files with File manager, install scripts with Fantastico and other.

Webhostingpad support

Webhostingpad have live chat, phone and ticket support.

Webhostingpad Review and Rating

We have been with web hosting pad almost four months and we are really satisfied from the services they offer. Our test account showed excellent uptime and response time. We have tested popular scripts including phpbb, wordpress, joomla, drupal cms, galleries and other scripts and all work great. Rating 9/10.

Hostmonster is well established serious hosting company. It specializes in shared hosting and offers only one hosting plan. This hosting plan have everything you will ever need and don’t need to run your website. Unlimited hosted domains are allowed on single account, unlimited bandwidth, space, FTP, PHP, MySQL, cPanel control panel and lots of others.

Hostmonster control panel

With hostmonster control panel cPanel you can do many hosting tasks: administration of databases and users for databases with databases cPanel tool and phpmyadmin, FTP accounts and FTP quotas, addon domains, access site logs, setup email accounts, configure PHP settings, use File Manager to change files online and other. Fantastico de luxe one-click installer for popular web applications (wordpress, drupal, joomla, phpbb etc is also included.

Hostmonster Support

Hostmonster offers 24/7 support via tickets (email), phone and live chat.

Hostmonster Rating and Review

Hostmonster is rated top host on many hosting reviews sites with excellent rating. We definitely recommend them for share hosting provider.

Justhost

Justhost is a web hosting company with its offices in USA, UK and Australia. Offers shared and reseller hosting. It is popular hosting provider with hundreds of domains hosted on their servers.

Justhost Shared hosting plans

Justhost offers only shared hosting plan. Features included are: PHP, MySQL, FTP, Free domain name, Free setup, cPanel control panel, unlimited domain hosting, unlimited databases, unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth and many other features. With this plan you can create your website, blog or online community. From the scripts that we have tested on Justhost: wordpress, drupal (content management system), joomla (cms), galleries, shopping carts and other scripts. All were running great on Just Host. The price currently is $3.45/Monthly. Guarantees: anytime money back guarantee, 99.9% uptime and 24/7 support.

Justhost Control Panel

Justhost offers cPanel control panel. cPanel is the most popular control panel. It allows you to easily manage hosting tasks. You can create new databases/users, add new domains/subdomains, setup FTP accounts ( and quotas). cPanel have also a web based File Manager where you can edit files online.

Justhost Support

Just host provides support via tickets, phone and live chat.

Overall Rating

Overall rating 9/10. They are good and recommended hosting provider. We have two months account with them and so far we are satisfied with the service they offer.

Ixwebhosting??

Ixwebhosting is USA hosting company offering shared and VPS (virtual private server) hosting services since 1999. Datacenters are located in Columbus, Ohio and Hopkinsville Kentucky, United States of America. Have good number of awards and good reviews.

Shared hosting plans

There are three hosting plans: Business Plus, Unlimited Pro and Expert plan. All plans include this features: host unlmited sites on single account with unlimited space and bandiwidth, PHP, MySQL, Ruby On Rails, FTP, Control Panel and others. With Expert Plan 1 free domain name is included, while with Business Plan – 2, and with Unlimited Pro three free domain names. Also 3, 2, 15 dedicated IP addresses are included respectively. These are the key features, to see all features click this link.

IxWebhosting Control Panel

Control Panels allow management of websites and automation of hosting task over the internet (with web browser). Ix web hosting offers Hsphere control panel. It is similar to the popular cPanel you know. With Hsphere you can create new databases, upload/download files, setup FTP accounts, add new domains, install scripts and other tasks.

IxWebhosting Support

Tickets, phone and live chat is offered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We have contacted them 2-3 times and response was fast usually within 30 minutes. The technicians were knowledgeable and nice.

Overall rating

I give 9/10 of ixwebhosting. The uptime and response time of my sites hosted there is very good. I recommend them as shared hosting provider.

Bluehost is one of the oldest hosting providers. It have been providing hosting services since 1996, and currently hosts over 1000000 domains. It is based out of Utah, USA. Offers only one shared hosting plan for $6.95 monthly. This shared plan is best for personal blogs/sites. Features included are: PHP, MySQL, cPanel web panel, unlimited disc space, bandwidth, unlimited domains on single account, FTP and many other features.

Bluehost Control Panel

Bluehost offers cPanel the leader in hosting industry. cPanel is very easy to use, simple panel that allow you to manage many hosting tasks including creating new databases, managing FTP accounts, uploading/downloading files, installing web applications and lots of other tasks.

Bluehost Support

Bluehost offers real non-outsourced support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Live chat is also available. If you have a problem just submit a ticket at http://helpdesk.bluehost.com/, or ask the live chat.

Blusthost Reviews and Rating

Bluehost have received good reviews from users and reviews sites. Currently is rated among top 5 web hosting firms with excellent rating.

You can submit your own review by commenting.

I recommend bluehost for shared hosting provider.

Hostgator Hosting

Here is my first review of shared hosting company HostGator. Hostgator is USA based company headquatered in Houston, Texas, top web hosting provider. Offers shared, reseller, vps and dedicated servers. There is room to grow in case your site grows in popularity. There three shared plans: hatchling, baby and business. The difference between the three is on hatchling you can host only one domain, and on business and baby you can host unlimited domains. Plus on business plan you  get free toll-free number, ssl certificate and dedicated IP address. All other features are the same: unlimited space, bandwidth, cpanel control panel, PHP, MySQL databases, FTP, Fantastico one click installer, 45 day money-back guarantee and lots of others. The best plan for you would be the baby plan if you want a personal website, or business for company.

HostGator Support

Hostgator offers ticket (e-mail), phone, live chat and community support. Support have been excellent. In my 2 years time, I have had 2-3 problems so far, and all tickets have been answered within 30 minutes. Operators have been nice and knew what they were doing.

HostGator Uptime

On my test site rsmkd.com, the uptime have been great always > 99.9% as guaranteed. Here is a live link of the monitor report.

Overall Rating

Hostgator have been excellent host. My test site have showed good response time and uptime. There are lots of features available, you get what you pay for. My rating is 10/10.

HostGator Coupon

If you want to test hostgator use this coupon “freemonth” and you will get the first month for $0.01 for the baby hosting plan.

The most popular shared hosting providers are listed below. All offer many features on single hosting account, including control panel to easily manage your web hosting account, including add new domains, setup databases, ftp accounts, php, mysql and lots of other features.

1. HostGator – Hostgator is top web hosting provider based in Texas, USA with more than 2,500,000 domains hosted on their servers. Offers three shared hosting plans: hatchling, baby and business. The most popular plan is baby with unlimited disc space, bandwidth, unlimited domains on single account, cPanel and other. With Hostgator there is room to grow, they offer also vps hosting, reseller and dedicated servers.

2. Bluehost – Bluehost hosts more than 1000000 domains. It is founded in 1996, and based in Utah, USA. Offers one shared hosting plan with plenty of features including php, mysql, php, mysql support, unlimited hosting. Best for personal websites/blogs.

3. Hostmonster – Hostmonster is also USA company with more than 600000 domains hosted. Single plan is offered with lots of features.

4. IxWebhosting – Ixwebhosting offers three shared hosting plans: expert plan, business and unlimited pro. Also offers VPS hosting.

5. Webhostingpad – US based company offers only one shared hosting plan.

6. Justhost – Only one shared plan

7. Lunarpages – Offers starter, basic and business hosting.

8. Dreamhost – Only one shared web hosting plan offered.

I have accounts with most of the hosts and all of them are great hosting providers. All offer cPanel control panel, except Ixwebhosting – hsphere and dreamhost their own control panel.