All three put your website on a server. The difference is how much of the server is yours, and how much of it you have to look after.
| Shared hosting | VPS | Dedicated server | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | An account on a shared server | A virtual machine with reserved resources | A whole physical machine |
| Who maintains the server | The host | Usually you | Usually you |
| Control panel | Included | Optional, often paid | Optional, often paid |
| Root access | No | Yes | Yes |
| Software | Host’s stack (PHP, MySQL) | Anything you install | Anything you install |
| Skills needed | None beyond the panel | Linux administration | Linux administration |
| Typical use | Personal and small business sites, WordPress | Apps, custom stacks, busy sites | Very large or specialist workloads |
Shared hosting
The host runs everything below your account. You manage websites, email and databases through a control panel. The trade-off is fair-use limits and a fixed software stack. What is shared hosting?
VPS
A virtual private server gives you guaranteed CPU and memory and full control of the operating system. That control is also responsibility: security updates, firewalls, backups and email configuration become your job unless you pay for management.
Dedicated
Everything a VPS offers, on hardware no one else uses. It makes sense for sustained heavy workloads or strict isolation requirements.
Signs you’ve outgrown shared hosting
- You need root access, or software shared hosting doesn’t offer (Ruby apps, for example, aren’t supported on Traxio)
- You regularly hit resource limits after optimising the site (“508 Resource Limit Is Reached” and slowdowns under load)
- You need server-level configuration changes
Most sites never reach that point. A cached, well-built site on shared hosting handles far more traffic than people expect.
Traxio is simple, self-managed web hosting for 99p a month: the first 30 days are free with no card, then £0.99 a month.