Shared hosting is a web hosting architecture where a single physical server hosts multiple user accounts. All websites on the server share a common pool of resources, including CPU time, RAM, disk storage, and network bandwidth. The hosting provider is responsible for server maintenance, software updates, and security patching, making it the most cost-effective entry-level solution.
How it works
Resource isolation is typically achieved through file system permissions and web server configurations (e.g., Apache or Nginx virtual hosts). Since resources are not strictly dedicated, a spike in traffic or a poorly optimized script on one site can impact the performance of others. This phenomenon is known as the "noisy neighbor" effect.
Shared hosting is best suited for specific use cases:
- Personal blogs and portfolio websites;
- Small business sites with low to moderate traffic;
- Development environments and staging sites;
- Standard CMS installations like WordPress.
A typical shared hosting environment might allocate between 512 MB and 2 GB of RAM per account. If a site exceeds these soft limits, the server may return a 508 Resource Limit Is Reached error or throttle the account's processes to protect overall server stability.