Shared hosting is one of the ways most website owners start out. It is inexpensive, easy to handle, and a commonplace arrangement for smaller websites. Eventually, though, there will come a time when you should consider moving up to dedicated hosting.

A dedicated hosting plan is more of a financial commitment than shared hosting, but the extra expense brings many benefits along with it.

As a shared user you have to split resources amongst your hosting neighbors. Whether you are a heavy resource user or others on the same server take a lot of the memory and power, you will probably find, at some point, that it is an inequitable arrangement. If you find that you are not getting the CPU power and RAM you need, a dedicated server can fill in the gaps and give you exactly what you need without having to worry about other’s requirements.

You should also think about the software and other features your website requires. If you want to offer SSL for transactions or sharing private data, for instance, it is difficult to arrange this with a shared host. Dedicated server plans make accommodations for your unique software needs, and give you ultimate control over all of the configurations of your server. It is designed just for you, and your needs dictate how the website will run.

You may want your own IP address, for a variety of reasons – keeping control over your online identity involves having your own identifier so your host neighbor’s actions do not reflect on you. This is one of the big benefits of dedicated hosting.

If you think dedicated hosting is the right choice for you, take a look at your budget and determine what you can afford. In most cases a dedicated hosting plan is well worth the increased expense, in exchange for privacy, security, and control.