Shared Hosting Overview | A Small Orange Support

<h2>What is Shared Hosting?</h2>

<p dir="ltr">Shared hosting refers to creating a website that resides on the same server as other websites. Your created website is placed or “sits” on a part of the server. The server’s resources, storage space, internet bandwidth, and memory, are shared among all of the other sites it has stored on it.</p>

<h2><span id="docs-internal-guid-8b8634e7-988a-116f-b893-889704d5ad2c">Why would I choose this plan?</span></h2>

<p>A shared hosting plan is best for users who want to handle the front-facing part of a website and expect a minimal to average amount of users to come to their page.</p>

<h2><span id="docs-internal-guid-8b8634e7-98ab-b654-f98a-be44b7395783">How do I get started? </span></h2>

<p>Most shared hosting environments use a web-based control panel and content management system (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_management_system" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="Content Management System">CMS</a>). These are usually the first things shown when a user logs into their account. Through these two systems, a user can edit their website and use preloaded blog software like Wordpress, Softaculous, and Ghost to add more customization. We use cPanel for our shared hosting plans.</p>

<h2><span id="docs-internal-guid-8b8634e7-98ae-9ca9-1004-3d810c19587d">Who handles the technical stuff behind the scenes?</span></h2>

<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-8b8634e7-98ae-9ca9-1004-3d810c19587d">We do! With shared hosting the job of managing the server, installing server software, and doing security updates belong to A Small Orange. Our 24/7 customer support is always there if you feel something isn't working correctly or just have questions.</span></p>

<h2><span id="docs-internal-guid-8b8634e7-98af-3b8f-6cc1-ec23a84c9546">Can I add my own custom software to the server? </span></h2>

<p>It depends. Almost all web applications that work on a standard web server will work just fine on a shared hosting server. If it’s REALLY customized and is something that requires extensive backend changes it may be better to use a <a href="http://asmallorange.com/hosting/dedicated/#hybrid" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="Dedicated Server">dedicated server</a>.</p>

<h2>Will other people's websites affect mine?</h2>

<p dir="ltr">No, they don’t have access to your site and you will not have access to theirs. When a lot of small websites are grouped together on a shared server the website traffic is balanced. You shouldn't experience any downtime at all - we maintain 99.9% uptime.</p>

<h2><span id="docs-internal-guid-8b8634e7-98b0-69bb-7284-268908b8d71b">Where do I sign up or get more info?</span></h2>

<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-8b8634e7-98b0-69bb-7284-268908b8d71b">Check out our <a href="http://asmallorange.com/hosting/shared/#tab-two" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="Shared Hosting">Shared hosting</a> plan page and see which plan is right for you. Get in touch&nbsp;with us if you have questions about the plans, how to order, or how to get rolling with your new account.</span></p>