Dedicated hosting

This form of hosting allows customers to lease pre-configured, high-end equipment and connectivity from the provider. Offering greater flexibility than shared hosting and less responsibility than colocated hosting, the customer generally retains control over their hosting environment. They choose their operating system and software and tailor it to their needs. The provider, however, remains responsible for administration.

Customers using a dedicated hosting solution require an overall competency in IT and server administration issues. It also requires a more significant investment of finances, time and human resources than shared hosting.

Managed hosting

An advanced type of dedicated hosting (see below). Unlike basic dedicated hosting, managed hosting offers system level administration and support, comprehensive Internet infrastructure and extensive services that relieve IT departments of many critical, but costly responsibilities. These services typically include advanced monitoring, load balancing, elevated security, data storage, stress testing, industry-leading technical expertise and content delivery. The provider owns the data centers, the network, the server and other devices, and is responsible for installing, maintaining and monitoring them. The customer retains full control of their operating systems and applications. This balance of responsibilities allows for levels of security, scalability and uptime that far exceed basic dedicated hosting and other hosting options.

Although seemingly expensive, managed hosting is the smart and cost-effective hosting solution for those needing 100% network uptime, responsiveness, technical expertise and a secure, high-end infrastructure. The cost of building and maintaining these capabilities in-house is far too demanding for most IT budgets and staffs.

Colocated hosting

For webmasters who desire complete control over their server, colocated hosting is an option. The provider offers only space for a server on their rack and usually a low performance bandwidth. The customer is responsible for everything else — purchasing, configuring and maintaining the physical hardware (servers, firewalls, etc.), software and the operating system.

Setting up and maintaining a colocated server is not a simple undertaking. It demands that the customer have a great deal of IT expertise and time. Any extra services or assistance by the provider also incurs extra costs.

Shared hosting

Sometimes known as virtual hosting, this is the most basic and the most inexpensive of hosting alternatives. With shared hosting, numerous customers host their websites on one server, sharing the cost of an Internet connection that's generally faster and more secure than dial-up connections. An range of basic bundled services at a low monthly fee makes this a popular choice for first-time webmasters.

While economically sound, this type of hosting typically cannot handle large amounts of storage or traffic and the provider offers little to no IT services or flexibility.