For businesses big and small, choosing the right web-hosting solution is challenging. Plenty of hosting options are available, and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Shared hosting is the most common option and involves sharing limited resources with other websites. In the end, this limits the control and power that businesses have over their websites.

Fortunately, another option is available: a dedicated server with dedicated resources that aren't shared with other websites. However, what are the advantages of choosing dedicated web-hosting solutions? Knowing the benefits makes it easier to understand why dedicated servers are growing in popularity for businesses and for personal use alike.

A Dedicated Server Doesn't Share Resources

In most cases, space is what comes to mind when business owners think about web-hosting resources. However, the resources also include the server's random-access memory and central processing unit. When websites have dedicated web hosting, they don't have to share any of these resources. As a result, they won't experience much slowdown during spikes in used bandwidth.

In general, websites that receive low to medium amounts of traffic benefit the most from shared hosting. If they receive a lot of web traffic, it's in their best interest to invest in dedicated hosting. A dedicated hosting option is the best way to prevent server slowdowns during heavy traffic use because more resources are available.

Dedicated Servers Allow for Administrative Control

When dealing with a shared server, individual website owners aren't given administrative control over the server. This makes sense because multiple websites share the same server. Thankfully, this isn't the case with dedicated hosting solutions.

With a dedicated server, the owner of that server gains root access to it. This allows the owner to customize the server using any configuration style. For example, the owner can install programs directly onto the server. He or she can closely monitor server usage as well. Then, the owner can quickly spot potential problems before they affect the website.

Access to a Unique IP Address

Each server has its own IP address, which is a numeric identification of each server's internet location. If there are multiple websites on the same server, they all share the same server IP address. What does that mean for business owners? When their websites share the same IP address as spam sites, they could have lower search engine results pages or SERPs.

With dedicated hosting, however, this isn't a problem. That server gets its own IP address and only shares it with one site. For an e-commerce site that processes credit cards, having a unique IP address is important. It ensures the safety of not only the website but also the clients that visit the website.

Higher Percentage of Uptime

When using shared hosting, website owners have no say when the server goes down for maintenance. With dedicated hosting, the owner can choose when to do maintenance so that the downtime is more convenient for the business.

While no server can have a perfect 100% uptime, companies can get close to this with dedicated hosting. In general, dedicated hosting offers an uptime of close to 99.9%. To sweeten the deal, these solutions allow website owners to choose when that 0.1% downtime occurs.

Having a higher uptime is good, especially for businesses that sell goods via their websites. Any time the websites are down because of server maintenance, they lose possible sales. As a result, it's best to choose a server that has the highest uptime.

Enjoy Higher Security With Dedicated Hosting

The last and most important benefit of dedicated hosting is the higher level of security that comes with not using a shared server. As mentioned, shared servers can hurt the SERPs of websites. The reason is that search engines can blacklist the server's IP address.

Websites that are on the same server with a website that has its IP address blacklisted suffer the consequences as well. This often happens on websites that get hit with copyright infringement.

The bad news doesn't stop there. Authorities have the right to shut down entire servers. It doesn't matter what other websites use the severe as long as one of them broke the law. Unfortunately, most websites don't know if they're sharing a server with an illegal internet website. This makes it nearly impossible for websites on a shared server to protect themselves.

Businesses and Websites With a Lot of Traffic Should Consider Dedicated Hosting

Numerous advantages come with dedicated hosting solutions. For big businesses or websites that receive a lot of traffic, the benefits far outweigh the pitfalls. Honestly, the biggest drawback is the higher price tag. Shared servers are the cheapest way to get a website online. However, not having to share a server with other websites is often worth the higher price tag alone.