Types of Web Hosting :
There are many options available and you can select any web hosting type based on your requirement and budget. Following are most widely used Web hosting types:
Free Hosting: Yes, this is true there are many service providers who will give you free space on their web server with a condition that you will allow them to run their advertisement at your web pages. So if you are OK with this option then you have nothing to pay for a space.
Shared Hosting: With shared hosting, your web site is hosted on a powerful server along with other web sites. On a shared host you will have your own user ID and password to login to the shared host and you will be allowed to work in your work area. You would not be able to touch any file or directory belonging to other host partner. Even you would not know how many sites are hosted on your shared host. This type of hosting is very cost effective and good for small web site where your space and speed are not very important. Here traffic on one site will affect the speed of all other hosted sites.
Virtual Dedicated Hosting: This type of hosting is better for medium size business. With virtual dedicated hosting or virtual private server hosting you will have a dedicated bandwidth and dedicated RAM for your site. You will be given root ID and password to maintain your Web server. You will be complete owner of your virtual dedicated server and will be able to install or de-install any software. This type of hosting is created on a single server but it is managed in such a way that every user will have dedicated speed and bandwidth. This is bit more expansive but really good one for medium size business.
Dedicated Hosting: This type of hosting is very similar to virtual dedicated hosting but here complete machine will be allotted for you. They are more expansive than virtual dedicated hosting and should be considered when you have a very high web traffic to your web portal.
Collocated Hosting: This is very difficult to set you dedicated resources like high-security against fire and vandalism, regulated backup power, dedicated Internet connections and more. So collocation is the option which allows you to put your machine in a service provider’s premises to avail all the available facilities. This is also a very expansive option and should be opted when you have very high Web traffic to your web site.