Future of Shared Web Hosting?

[kkrajdurai]

I had another post that started to drift into this topic, and it's interesting to me...so I wanted to see what shared hosting providers thought.

Here's the premise:

• Basic Shared Hosting (single IPV4, unlimited domains, Cpanel) seems to mostly sell for $10 a month. That's ignoring any intro pricing, etc.
• There are now many reputable VPS providers in that same price range. And the top most and the Cheapest CloudBebo, Vultr, Digital Ocean, IwStack, Ramnode, etc. All have 512MB to 1GB memory VPS offerings in the $5-$10 month range. All are well reviewed, stable, etc.

The only thing that seems to keep the VPS providers from trouncing shared hosting is Cpanel. Do you see a point where the VPS providers add on whatever functionality is needed to attract the current customers of shared hosting?

Personally, I think a lot of what Cpanel does could be replaced, in the VPS space, with software like docker, or perhaps added functionality into tools like openvz or proxmox. The basic things that are missing seems like a relatively short list to me. Domain management, filesystem browsers, database creation/management, automated creation of wordpress sites, etc. All exist in one form or another, just not in a cohesive way like Cpanel. 

And, because they would operate on a VPS, a lot of the complexity associated with Cpanel could be skipped. No need to separate different paying users, all on a single linux instance, mysql database mgmt is simplified, etc.

Anyhow, the high level question:

Is shared hosting going to be replaced by VPS services any time soon? Or I am missing some key reason they won't?

 

[telephone]

Is shared hosting going to be replaced by VPS services any time soon? Or I am missing some key reason they won't?

Nope, shared hosting won't be replaced. There are two main reasons for me:

1) Majority of people just want their site to work. They don't care about the technology, only the outcome.

- Shared hosting is simple. The user doesn't need to learn about linux, 0day exploits, server management, best stack to run, etc...

2) Shared hosting is highly profitable compared to VPS (this is debatable). You can literally oversell by 1,000% without disastrous consequences.

 

[Criot]

There'll probably always be people who just want to put in their URL and access their website, they don't want to have to install control panels, fix issues, purchase licenses etc. Web hosting will probably always be suitable for a range of people who can't manage their own servers and don't have high budgets for their requirements. I personally can't see web hosting disappearing any time soon.

 

[cubixcloud]

As a network engineer for over 12 years, some times I just want things to work.   That demand of web hosting (www hosting, shared hosting, website hosting) whatever folks call it now will never go away.

VPS hosting is has it's place and that place is usually determined by customer's needs.

 

[DomainBop]

2) Shared hosting is highly profitable compared to VPS (this is debatable). You can literally oversell by 1,000% without disastrous consequences.

PayPal's virtual goods policy makes it literally possible to oversell a VPS node by 1,000% without any disastrous financial consequences...just ask the kids at the daycare in Buffalo.

(on a related note: PayPal's virtual goods policy also makes it possible to run a ponzi scheme where you rent dedicateds from Hetzner for 49 euros monthly and lure in suckers with a $19 monthly offer that is payable annually only...just watch the Uniwebhosting drama that's unfolding this week after Hetzner pulled the plug).

Personally, I think a lot of what Cpanel does could be replaced, in the VPS space, with software like docker, or perhaps added functionality into tools like openvz or proxmox.

Technologies like Docker will take a big chunk out of the shared hosting space, but end users ("end user" = person renting a VPS) won't be the primary users of these technologies.  The primary users will be service providers using Docker like technologies to offer SAAS services to people who formerly would have gone for shared hosting to host their blog, store, image gallery, or other app.

VPS providers

I've been saying this for a couple of years, but VPS providers need to adapt to changing times and those who continue to rely on the limited functionality offered by SolusVM will be history in the not to distant future if they don't adapt.

That demand of web hosting (www hosting, shared hosting, website hosting) whatever folks call it now will never go away.

I once said the same thing about gopher...   I don't like to use the word "never" when forecasting technology trends.

 

[cubixcloud]

I once said the same thing about gopher...   I don't like to use the word "never" when forecasting technology trends.

I see your point about "never" however, I believe we will always have web hosting long as online shopping is a hot commodity. 

 

[souen]

Basically as others said, having a big chunk of the underlying technology already set up is a nice plus, and lets you focus on developing the website/web applications. Less time spent on maintaining a mail stack just to get some mail functionality with your domain.

Many non-profits and small businesses might not have the budget for IT staff, but they might be able to pay a designer/developer on a one-time basis to make a site and install it for them, then just pay for the domain and hosting.

 

[httpzoom]

I think comes to this. most people don't care how it works, they just want to know it works and since overselling shared hosting is easier (lets not forget cheaper) than over selling VPS, it still makes sense to have a shared host model.

Docker is interesting and it application can also eat into the VPS space IMHO, but I think the price point to run docker is not lower than runing a collection of OpenVZ VPS.

Just my thoughts.

 

[host4go]

Let me chip in.

shared hosting is as simple as it gets. And comes with allot of nice ready to use extras.

Auto installers with hundreds of softwares in a range of categories that appeal to businesses and home users.

Let´s not forget the DIY site builders, the "SEO" *cought*sitemap builder*cougth*, and allot more features that you all know about so there is no point for me to list... all these with no fuzz, it´s a simle point and click.

How can you compare this with the VPS offer? well, you can't!.

Don't get me wrong, VPS are awesome, love it, use it, can't get enought of them, but Shared is the deal for the majority.

And by the way, I already saw Shared accounts outperform VPS´s.

 

[MightWeb]

Yeah, no, shared hosting will not disappear. It's not just a question of price either - even if managed VPS's would come at aroudn that pricerange, they'd still fall short of the services a lot of web hosting companies provide. Keep in mind that whilst a VPS is all good and dandy, the hosting proivders specialize in their field, they employ technology that is beneficial for the singular cause of web hosting, and they can market it as such.

 

[TierNet]

Shared hosting will be there in future because there are many clients out there who do not require a VPS or Dedicated Server for their personal or small websites. So, they wont pay more for a VPS or a Dedicated Server and would stick to the good ol' Shared Hosting!

 

[River]

I'd say the majority of people who are trying to get a website up and running are people who want their site to work, be reliable, and be simple and not too time consuming to get up and running. That's where cPanel is proven and trusted.

Most business owners don't have time to learn how to use, secure, and manage a VPS just to get their website online. They just want it online, and if they get a fancy, easy to use control panel, server management and guarantees if something goes wrong, they will pick that over the unmanaged vps geared towards webdevs.

 

[jclutter]

Shared hosting wont go away, the users do not want to mess with the server or keep it up to date/secure.

 

[redswitches]

It won't go away it might improve may be something like hourly billing and auto scaling features may be implemented but ya many people sometimes just want the thing to work!.

 

[drmike]

Missed this thread.

Shared will remain strong.  It's simple with cPanel.  Humans like simple.  Tech sucks horribly with complexity. 

Those in VPS and cloud-like instances have specialized needs or are uber nerds.

Biggest threat to shared are all these free hosting services.  Facecrook has made the lazy small business owner lazier and smaller free range pie to grab at.  "My hosting is free on Facecrook"... 'it does everything we need'.... Common refrain.

 

[NetDepot-KH]

The basic demands is still however you gonna have a great idea in order to attract customer to your company and this is a pain I believe?

 

[X3host]

This isn't right shared hosting come with cpanel you can look at google and you'll find most of hosts use cpanel because the client doens't care about the price ! there is alot of hosting providers buy web hosting with high prices but in the future maybe everything will change to better or another things appear to compete shared hosting or vps's we now want to live our present : )

 

[Dillybob]

Missed this thread.

Shared will remain strong.  It's simple with cPanel.  Humans like simple.  Tech sucks horribly with complexity. 

Those in VPS and cloud-like instances have specialized needs or are uber nerds.

Biggest threat to shared are all these free hosting services.  Facecrook has made the lazy small business owner lazier and smaller free range pie to grab at.  "My hosting is free on Facecrook"... 'it does everything we need'.... Common refrain.

LOL. I fucking love your posts mike. 'Facecrook'.

I'd like to emphasize a bit on what telephone said.

I helped my indian friend across the street start up his own site for his restaurant that was opening. All he wanted was it to 'work'. No need for VPS, iptables, or any of that shit. Just wanted a site that had PHP enabled. Sharedhosting will never die out because we always have debby down people that are lazy fucks.

Now, I do sound like an extremist by saying that but it's true. Some people just want to pay $ and be done with it. It fits special needs though as this indian guy had no time to learn coding or whatnot just wanted a website for his business. So I guess in a sense they are not really 'debby downed', but still arrogant imo that they don't want to learn it.

So with that said, the future for shared hosting is stronger than ever. Saturated.. but won't die out. And shitty hosts like HostGator will continue to take advantage of the industry and suck in as many retards as they can.

Edit: Oh hey that kind of reminds me of CVPS...

 

[joepie91]

I don't really get the arguments being raised here.

• It's easier: this isn't necessarily the case. There's no reason a VPS service could not be delivered at a similar level of automated management, it just hasn't happened yet (within this price range).
• There's more features: same thing. It just has to be built. No reason shared hosting is unique in this.
• It has better performance: false. Depends entirely on the provider and how they build/manage their nodes. Again, no inherent advantage.
• It's cheaper: false. Depends on the provider, as was mentioned in the OP.
  

Overall, I don't really see how shared hosting "will never die out" - all of these arguments are arguments about the current state of VPS hosting, but that says nothing about what could be implemented in the future.

Yeah, no, shared hosting will not disappear. It's not just a question of price either - even if managed VPS's would come at aroudn that pricerange, they'd still fall short of the services a lot of web hosting companies provide. Keep in mind that whilst a VPS is all good and dandy, the hosting proivders specialize in their field, they employ technology that is beneficial for the singular cause of web hosting, and they can market it as such.

That's a lot of words, and absolutely zero substance. You didn't mention a single example.

 

[securewebcloud]

A Shared host is just a VPS with cPanel divied up for clients. Cpanel is the target solution for many webmasters who don't know the network and hardware side of hosting sites too well yet. I built 50 or more sites with cPanel and Godaddy successfully before I logged into my first VPS by SSH or even knew what df -h was. So webmasters will always need shared hosting in my view.