Hosting types compared: shared, VPS, dedicated, cloud and managed
How the main types of hosting differ in what you get, how they bill and which workloads they tend to fit.
This table compares types of hosting, not providers. It shows what each type usually includes, how it is usually billed in India and the workloads it tends to fit. There are no prices or rankings here: prices vary by region, configuration and date, and the right choice depends on your workload and your team. Use it to shortlist a type, then compare written quotes within that type with the server cost estimator and the selection checklist.
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| Hosting type | What you usually get | How it is usually billed | Tends to fit | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting | Space on a server shared with many other sites, control panel, email, one-click apps | Monthly or multi-year prepaid plan, often an introductory price, usually in INR | Brochure sites, small blogs, basic business email | Renewal price far above the offer, resource limits, noisy neighbours, limited backups |
| Managed WordPress or app hosting | Shared or container platform tuned for one application, with updates, caching and staging | Plan by sites, visits or storage | Business websites and small stores on one CMS | Overage on visits or bandwidth, plugin limits, export format |
| Unmanaged VPS | A virtual server with fixed vCPU, RAM and disk; you have root access | Fixed monthly price, bandwidth often included up to a cap | Small apps, staging servers, teams that can run Linux | You patch, secure and back up; overage on bandwidth; performance varies by host |
| Managed VPS | VPS plus provider-run patching, monitoring and backups | Monthly price above unmanaged, sometimes per server | Firms without a sysadmin that need more than shared hosting | What 'managed' covers; response times; restore help at night |
| Dedicated server | A whole physical server in the host's data centre | Monthly or yearly rental, setup fee, extras for IPs, RAID and bandwidth | Steady heavy workloads, licence-bound software, predictable load | Hardware failure handling, slow scaling, minimum terms |
| Public cloud (IaaS) | On-demand VMs, disks, networking and many managed services in regions such as Mumbai or Hyderabad | Pay per second or hour per resource; data transfer out and many extras metered; often USD | Variable or growing workloads, short projects, teams that can manage cost | Egress, idle resources, snapshots, complex bills, FX on dollar bills |
| Public cloud with commitment | Same as on-demand, at a discount for committing to usage | 1- or 3-year reserved instances or savings plans, upfront or monthly | Servers that will run most of the year | Paying for capacity you stop using; region and family limits |
| Managed cloud (MSP) | A cloud account run by a partner: setup, monitoring, patching, backups, cost reports | Cloud usage plus a management fee (flat, per server or a % of the bill) | MSMEs that want cloud without hiring cloud engineers | Fee basis, who owns the account, exit and hand-over terms |
| Colocation | Rack space, power and connectivity for servers you own | Per rack unit or rack, power and bandwidth, yearly contract | Firms that already own servers and need a proper facility | Hardware capex, remote-hands charges, refresh cycles |
Caveats. The descriptions are typical patterns; individual plans differ. 'Managed' means very different things between providers, so ask for the list of tasks the provider performs and the response times in writing. All prices on this site are illustrative unless a guide gives a dated figure from a provider's own price page.
Check at the source. GST rates on the CBIC GST site; cyber security directions on CERT-In; the DPDP Act and Rules on MeitY and the e-Gazette; payment data rules on RBI. Provider prices on each provider's own pricing page for your region, on the date you buy.