Shared Rental Server Service Comparison

What is a shared rental server?

Almost "Shared Rental Server = WordPress Server" nowadays

In the past, most of the sites developed by a company were hosted on a shared rental server, but nowadays, WordPress is used not only for blogs but also for corporate sites and e-commerce sites, and it has almost become "shared rental server = WordPress server".

The service side is also asking "How to make WordPress easy to use? So, there has been no major evolution in features other than WordPress in the last 10 years or so.

Of course, there are many other things that shared servers can do besides WordPress, but the world's websites are divided into two categories, "in-house development" and "WordPress", and companies that have the ability to do in-house development often use VPS, SaaS, or cloud services that include both, instead of shared rental servers.

Cost-effective if it matches "what you do

Shared rental servers are designed to provide the following features of the server

1. web server
2. PHP server
3. MySQL database server
4. mail server

The service is a cut-out and leased service that achieves cost reductions by accommodating multiple users on the same server.

Conversely, it is a highly cost-effective service, so if what you want to do matches what you want to do, it is actually a cost-effective server.

Points to consider when choosing a shared rental server

Initial cost + fee per contract term

As shared rental servers are services that do not differ greatly from one service to another, the first important factor to consider is the "initial cost + price per contract period.

Initial fees are generally between $10 and $30 for individual services, with some services exceeding $50. If you choose a plan with a monthly fee of a few dollars or so, the initial cost will account for a higher percentage of the total cost, making it less cost-effective.

The next important factor is the price per contract period. Shared rental servers are often subscripted with a long-term discount, which means "the longer you sign a long-term contract, the cheaper it gets," so the actual monthly fee will vary greatly depending on the length of the contract. In some cases, depending on the service, a 3-year lump-sum payment can be half the price of a monthly payment.

The disadvantage of the lower price is that it is difficult to switch servers under a long-term contract. This area is the biggest concern when choosing a shared rental server.

Know the minimum specs you need.

All shared rental servers have the same features, and server specifications do not vary greatly. However, there are a few things to consider

1. the number of domains that can be accommodated
2. storage capacity
3. data transfer volume

Note that these three points differ greatly depending on the service and plan.

In some cases, it is more cost-effective to sign up for multiple entry plans than to sign up for a higher plan simply because "the number of domains that can be accommodated is unlimited.

In this sense, it is important to have a clear understanding of the "minimum specifications necessary for you.

How to identify the best shared rental server for beginners

In the past, there was a segregation of servers into "shared rental servers for server beginners," "VPS for beginners and above," and "occupied servers for advanced users." Today, however, not all server beginners want to build Web sites or WordPress sites, and it can no longer be said that "shared rental server = server for beginners.

In such a situation, the points to distinguish a shared rental server that is easy for beginners to use are

1. simple fee structure
2. easy-to-use administration screen

First, choose a shared rental server with a price that makes sense for you, even without long-term discounts or promotions. It is important to make sure that you can switch at any time if you want to after using it.

Second, it is important that the administration screen is easy to understand. If you are a server novice, just understanding the technical terms can be a challenge, so choose a server that is simple and easy to use.

Be aware that some shared rental servers will try to incorporate your domain name into their services even if you just give them SSL.

How to choose a shared rental server for your business

If you are using a shared rental server for so-called business use, that is, for hosting a corporate website or a service website operated by a company, the important thing is "security.

Shared rental servers have minimal security features, but some services can only block IP addresses.

For business sites, the higher the security, the better, since they may store users' personal information.

Unlike VPS and dedicated servers, shared rental servers do not have detailed settings, so one criterion to consider is whether the service has security software such as a Web Application Firewall (WAF).

If an advanced WAF is installed, it can prevent attacks on the server and site before they occur. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)