Answers: shared v. reseller v. dedicated

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This Hostgator thread was started by gwyneth on 2009-03-10 18:01:01:

Many of the questions in this category concern the differences between shared, reseller, and dedi accounts.

The fact that the space and bandwidth limits for shared accounts are bigger than for reseller accounts makes it harder for some people considering Hostgator to understand why shared hosting may not be suitable for them.

Limits of shared hosting: if you’re going to have more than one distinct e-commerce site, you can’t really do it with an addon domain (private certificates need dedicated IP numbers, and cPanel limitations mean that only one can be installed per cPanel account, and it needs to be on the main domain). You can either get a reseller account (and create as many cPanel accounts within it as you want) or a dedi.

Processor and resources: if you want to run a file download site or do intensive video or audio streaming, you’ll run into restrictions on a shared account or a reseller account.

Clients: if you’re reselling web space, you really need a reseller account or a dedi to make separate cPanel accounts. Even if you think your activities aren’t really reselling, there’s a good chance they might be.

Ecommerce: as mentioned above, a shared account is really suitable for only one ecommerce site. If you have several, by the time you rig out a reseller account and get certificates and dedicated IPs for several domains, you may find a dedicated server would be cost effective. It comes with five IPs, and you don’t need to pay HG to install certificates because you can do it yourself. You can also institute some security provisions not suitable on shared/reseller servers and work with some payment processors who require two-way ports that can’t be used on shared/reseller servers. Moreover, you can install anything you want on a dedi, so you can run Magento (which won’t run on most HG shared/reseller servers because of Inodb).

Power resellers: having a dedi allows you much more control over your accounts. You can install your own certificates and do a lot with WHM that’s not available on normal reseller accounts. You also learn a lot, and will probably feel more "pro" with a dedi. Many HG resellers have upgraded to dedis, and tend to post that they should have done it long before.

These threads discuss the types of accounts and compare various aspects of each.

Simple hosting (baby) or reseller account?

Really Dumb Question on space & Transfer

Can i do this?

Advantages of dedicated over reseller?

Why is dedicated server better than shared?

Dedicated Server

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