Most projects start on shared hosting, and many stay longer than their needs justify. Cloud hosting is more than a larger package: its infrastructure, costs and scaling options differ.
1. How each works
Shared hosting: many websites share one server and its resources. It is inexpensive, simple and usually managed by the provider.
Cloud hosting: a website runs on virtual infrastructure with isolated CPU and RAM allocations and on-demand scaling options.
2. Performance and noisy neighbours
On shared hosting, another site’s traffic spike may affect yours. Isolated cloud resources can make performance more predictable. This matters when working on Core Web Vitals.
3. Availability and scaling
A shared server hardware failure can affect all its sites. Upgrading may involve moving to another package. Cloud platforms can provide failover between nodes and resource increases without moving the site, depending on the platform and service.
4. Security
Poor isolation on shared hosting can allow a compromised neighbouring site to affect others. Containers and virtual machines provide stronger separation. In either case, the provider must maintain patches and monitoring.
5. Cost
Shared hosting at around €3–10/month suits informational sites. As a store or application grows, extra upgrades, caching, CDN and premium support may cost more than a suitable cloud package.
6. Quick selection guide
- Blogs, landing pages and company websites: shared hosting is often sufficient.
- Busy online stores, booking systems and SaaS: consider Cloud VPS.
- Radio and WebTV sites with traffic peaks: consider cloud hosting, with streaming infrastructure separate.
If you are uncertain, start with shared hosting and define measurable thresholds for upgrading. See our complete server selection guide for VPS and dedicated options.
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