A Breakdown of Hosting Services Offered in 2016

In the world of technology, it is safe to say, things move quickly. The web hosting industry is no different. Whilst the fundamentals remain the same, there are often changes in the industry as new technology is released and new services are offered to the public.

In this article we’re going to run through some of the hosting services you’ll find if you were to visit any of the top web hosting companies out there in 2016. Sure, every host is different and you’re always going to find different products and services with each host you view but for the purpose of this article we’ll just cover the more popular options out there.

If you are considering switching hosts perhaps this article will also provide some food for thought and assist you in making the switch. Purchasing web hosting can often be confusing with so many companies offering the same sort of products for ultimately a similar sort of price. To assist with that you should know specifically what you’re looking for. Hopefully this article will assist with that.

Shared Hosting

You will seldom find a web hosting company that doesn’t offer shared hosting in some way, shape or form. Unless you’re solely searching for an enterprise level solution you’ll encounter shared hosting plans on each and every web host out there. It is by far the most common type of web hosting plan on the market and can be used for hosting small, personal, bedroom based websites right through to company websites generating thousands of visitors per day. It is the one size fits all,  go to package for many webmasters.

Reseller Hosting

There are two user groups when it comes to reseller hosting. The first being those who want to use it for its true purpose and resell hosting services – usually to their clients and there are those who simply run a lot of websites and they want to host and control each individual account all from one central web hosting administration panel. Reseller hosting packages have been around since web hosting was invented and given there is always a need for people to resell hosting as part of their own service plans and packages you can expect it to be around for a good while yet. There are also some great deals to be had where you can get a plan for just a few pounds more a month than a traditional shared account.

Cloud / VPS

Virtual private servers or VPS were traditionally software based servers that allow the administrator to split the physical components of a given server into chunks, controlled by software and allocate those to a group of sub-users of the system. These days however pretty much all virtual private servers are cloud based meaning you don’t need to be confined to the physical limitations of a given server.

Online Backup

Lots of hosting companies are now offering online backup and storage as part of their service plans as they realise that lots of businesses simply want to store their data online, especially in the cloud and they don’t all have a need for a traditional web hosting account. If you’re a hosting firm, have a good connection to your countries Internet backbone and have lots of storage space available then this is a good add on service to utilise the spare resources you have at your disposal.

App Specific Hosting Plans

By this I mean services designed and targeted to specific app groups like Magento Hosting or WordPress hosting and such. Lots of these applications perform the best with specific server configurations in place. The hosting firms out there realise that and are beginning to tailor accounts to suit the needs of specific applications.

Conclusion

If you’re planning to take out a new web hosting plan there is always going to be much to consider. The package is one thing and perhaps the most important, but you’ll no doubt be presented with a lot of choice in terms of those who can offer it. For example, if you’re looking for shared hosting then you’ll seldom find a company that doesn’t offer shared hosting. So knowing what product to buy is only going to take you so far. You should also read reviews to find out if the firm you’re planning to use is reputable or check the various uptime monitors out there to see how your chosen host performs against its peers.