Shared Web Hosting, also know as multi-tenanted hosting is when your website is hosted on a server with other users and their websites. As you are sharing the same server, you are also sharing the cost. It is for this reason you can expect to pay from as little as a few pounds per month.

One of the obvious benefits of shared hosting besides the cost is the management. The provider would usually have a large dedicated server with a web hosting control panel installed (we currently offer cPanel and Plesk) and the provider would manage the server and the control panel. This leaves you free to manage your website. Here at QuickHostUK, we’re actually a fully managed shared hosting provider. What this really means is that we’ll manage absolutely everything except for your website content and development. Is your website slow? We’ll figure out why. Does your website have security issues, or has been hacked in the past? We’ll give it an audit and secure it. Does your website behave unexpectedly or display errors? Again, we’ll investigate it and figure out why.

While this is great for some, it’s not ideal for everyone. Let’s dig a little deeper.

If you’ve ever used shared hosting I’m sure you’ll be aware that as your websites and emails will be sharing the same server as other users, you can also expect to share the same problems. It’s unfortunate but true.

For example, if one user on the shared server sends one email that is marked as spam in the recipient’s inbox, the server’s IP can get blacklisted and cause email deliverability issues for everyone sharing the server. What does QuickHostUK do about spam? We make every effort to eliminate spam by enforcing a strict zero spam policy and we even offer SpamExperts email filtering to all shared customers for free! However, as with any spam filter, it cannot be guaranteed to catch 100% of spam. Also, spam can be subjective. The email that was hypothetically marked as spam could have been completely legitimate and the recipient simply no longer wanted to receive them. Another huge source of spam in the industry is hacked websites & mailboxes. When a website or mailbox is hacked it can be used to send out hundreds of spam emails per hour. If you’ve ever been hacked I’m sure know how devastating it can feel. What does QuickHostUK do about hacking? It’s for this very reason that we utilise CloudLinux and their Imunify360, the industry’s best cloud-based website, and email firewall. We use it on all our shared web servers so our customers can have peace of mind that their websites and emails are safe. We also offer Constant Data Protection (CDP) backups which backup your entire account 4 times per day!

Further to this, there is a multitude of other issues that can arise from shared hosting that can potentially affect your websites and email. If another site on the same shared server as you gets attacked, for example, by a DDoS attack, then that can take down the entire server and everyone with it. Or, if another site gets hacked, this can lead to a cross-site or server-wide hack, which can leave every user’s site at risk. What does QuickHostUK do about attacks? We offer website (D)DoS protection, intrusion detection, malware detection & removal as standard with all shared hosting and reseller hosting plans. And just in case a hack attempt is successful, we containerize each web hosting account into its own secure container. So if a site were to be hacked, the hack cannot leave that account’s webspace and cannot affect the server as a whole or any other website hosted on it.

More often than not shared hosting is fine and offers plain sailing. We have invested a lot into making our shared platforms as fast and secure as possible.

As mentioned above, shared hosting is great for some but not for everyone. If you demand a website hosting with 100% guaranteed up-time without the issues inherent in shared hosting, perhaps for your business, you should consider a fully managed cloud server or a fully managed dedicated server. This way your sites & emails will be hosted on their own secure server without the risk of anyone else in a shared environment affecting it.