Application data and host definition

Server hosting is an IT service, typically offered by a cloud service provider that provides remote access to off-premises virtual or physical servers and associated resources for a monthly subscription or usage-based price.

Server hosting lets IT teams provision and start by using application and data servers. But without the up-front cost, delays, and labor of purchasing, setting up, managing, and maintaining physical server hardware themselves, onsite.

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Today, organizations of all sizes use server hosting for all kinds of workloads—everything from development and testing, to application delivery, to backup and disaster recovery. Compared to purchasing and managing servers on site, server hosting offers the following:

Faster server deployment and application delivery: While purchasing, installing, and configuring a server onsite can take weeks. A cloud service provider can provision, configure, and deliver a hosted application or data server in minutes. Enabling you to bring the solutions that are powered by the server to market faster.

While smaller variations exist, server hosting offerings fall into three general categories:

Shared server hosting

In shared hosting—the most basic and cost-effective form of server hosting—the resources of one physical server are virtualized and made available to multiple tenants (users or company accounts) in equal proportions. Shared hosting is ideal for basic, personal websites and web apps that have little traffic, few technical requirements, and limited performance or security requirements.

But, because all tenants are allocated a finite amount of an individual server’s capacity, providers do not allow websites to scale beyond a certain limit. And shared hosting is the server hosting model most susceptible to “noisy neighbors”—tenants whose applications unexpectedly consume more than their share of resources, causing performance problems for other tenants. For more information about shared hosting, see “What is Cloud Hosting?” and "Web Hosting: An Introduction."

VPS hosting

VPS (virtual private server) hosting offers a next-level multi-tenant hosting—each tenant shares some, but not all, of the resources of a single hardware server and gets a little more control over the hosting environment. Each VPS runs its own operating system (OS) and applications, and it reserves its own portion of the machine's resources (memory, computing, and so on).

VPS provides more control over system specifications, guest operating systems, and the overall software stack. It’s also the most easily and affordably scalable form of server hosting. Making it an excellent choice for e-commerce systems, email servers, CRM, and other applications that typically bear moderate or spiky traffic.

Dedicated server hosting

Dedicated server hosting is single-tenant hosting—the server has exclusive access ALL the resources of a single hardware server. Compared to the other forms of hosting listed above, dedicated hosting provides the greatest level of isolation from other servers and customers who are hosted by the cloud or IT service provider. You can choose among three dedicated hosting models:

A dedicated host provides sustained single-tenant access to an entire hardware server and all the software that is installed on it. This model provides the maximum amount of hardware flexibility, transparency, and control over workload placement, and it also offers some advantages for hosting bring-your-own license software.

Selecting the best server hosting solution for your organization means weighing the following factors:

Cost (upfront) and ongoing: While virtually any server hosting solution lowers your IT costs compared to running services on-premises, some server hosting models save more than others. Dedicated server hosting typically costs more per month than shared or VPS hosting, and bare metal hosting can sometimes require a substantial up-front investment.

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Learn more What is cloud hosting?

Learn about how cloud hosting makes applications and websites accessible using cloud resources and a network of connected virtual and physical cloud servers.

Learn more What is a virtual private server (VPS)?

Learn what a VPS is and how it differs from other forms of hosting common in cloud computing.