by 
There are certain essential tools for startups that all entrepreneurs should adopt or invest in, but one of the most important investments that any company will ever make is in their website.
Aside from investing in an attractive, responsive design that is user focused, you also need to consider a good web hosting company to suit all of your website needs, which is essential for high-quality performance.
The question that almost immediately arises when thinking about web hosting is naturally how to know which option is the best fit for your company. Not just the company itself, but whether your site should be hosted on a dedicated server or cloud server is also a very good question that should arise.
The answer to this question has a lot to do with how your website functions. Obviously if you have a high level of web traffic, like an e-commerce site, you will require more RAM, CPU and disk space for a site that is purely informational. Other features, however, are strictly a business decision.
Dedicated Server
Dedicated servers tend to be a good investment for companies that require top performance at all times. If your business can potentially lose revenue for even a few seconds of downtime, again like an e-commerce site, then this can be a good option. Another draw for dedicated servers is close proximity to your market. For example, if you have a business that caters to a foreign market, having your site hosted overseas within that market means that your target demographic can access your site faster.
The major pro is superior performance; however, the cons are that you are always paying for the entire hosting package, even if you don’t actually use all of the space or features. Plus, even though you start with a good amount of space, once you grow to use all of the space, future growth past this point is incredibly limited; there is a limited amount of scalability with dedicated servers.
Cloud Server
On the other hand, cloud servers have unlimited scaling ability, so you are able to grow your business indefinitely. You also only pay for what you use, instead of paying for an entire hosting package that you don’t utilize. Also, unlike a dedicated server, there are no physical software updates to deal with that may interrupt the service.
The downside, however, is that scaling can be expensive on a cloud server. When you start out and your demands are low, it is very affordable over a dedicated server. But, paying for use can become a hurdle as much as a help, because when you have to start paying for higher usage, there isn’t a capped price.
Ultimately, however, choosing the right host for your website is really all about finding a suitable fit for your company’s needs. You first need to figure out how much space you require and how quickly you want to grow. From there, you then need to do research into individual companies and find one that you can work with for the long run.
