Shared hosting puts your websites in an account on a server shared with other accounts. A control panel handles domains, email, databases and SSL certificates, and the provider patches the server. It suits standard sites with modest traffic. Every shared account has resource limits; ours are stated as numbers in your quote, so you know when you would outgrow it.
How shared hosting works
One server runs a web server, a database server and a mail server for many accounts. Each account has its own home directory, its own databases and its own login, and an isolation layer keeps accounts from reading each other's files or taking all the CPU. The server answers for many domains at once using name-based virtual hosting: it reads the domain from the request and serves the matching site.
You work through a control panel. From there you add domains, create databases, set up mailboxes, choose the PHP version, schedule cron jobs, read logs and restore backups. The operating system, web server software and security updates are handled at the platform level, which is the main reason to choose shared hosting: there is no server for you to maintain.
BroadNet Cloud quotes shared hosting on established supplier platforms. The control panel, the software versions available and the supplier and region are confirmed in your written quote.
Who shared hosting is for, and when you will outgrow it
Good fit
- Company and brochure sites, blogs, portfolios.
- Small online stores on WordPress with WooCommerce or similar PHP apps.
- Domain email for a small team.
- Agencies hosting many small client sites with a login per client.
You have outgrown it when
- You regularly hit CPU or process limits at busy times.
- You need software the panel does not offer: Node.js daemons, Redis, a search engine, Docker.
- You need long-running processes or background workers.
- Your database is large and busy enough that other accounts' load affects it.
The next step is usually a virtual server, or managed hosting if you still want no server work.
Fair use, explained honestly
"Unlimited" in shared hosting has never meant unlimited. Disk and bandwidth may be advertised that way, but every shared account is limited by the resources that actually run your site. These are the ones that matter:
| Limit | What it controls | What you see when you hit it |
|---|---|---|
| CPU share | How much processor time your account may use at once | Pages slow down under load, admin screens lag |
| Memory | RAM available to your PHP processes | Errors on heavy pages, failed imports or plugin updates |
| Concurrent processes / entry processes | How many requests run at the same moment | Server busy or "resource limit reached" errors at traffic peaks |
| Disk I/O | Read and write speed for your account | Slow backups, slow database queries |
| Inodes (file count) | Number of files and folders | Uploads and updates fail even with disk space free |
| Email sending rate | Messages per hour per account or mailbox | Mail queued or rejected |
Our approach is to put these in the quote as numbers, alongside the number of sites, databases and mailboxes, disk quota and backup retention. If your site needs more, you can see it in the numbers before you buy, and the quote states what happens when a limit is reached.
Worked example: will my peak fit the process limit?
Assume your busiest minute brings 300 page views, each uncached page takes 0.5 seconds of PHP time, and 80 % of views hit a page cache. Uncached requests per second = 300 x 0.2 / 60 = 1. Concurrent PHP processes needed is roughly requests per second x seconds each = 1 x 0.5 = 0.5, well inside a limit of 10 or 20. Turn caching off and it becomes 300 / 60 x 0.5 = 2.5: still fine. A sale that brings 3,000 views a minute uncached needs about 25, and that is where shared hosting starts returning errors.
What you can specify
| Item | What is defined |
|---|---|
| Websites | Number of domains and subdomains Confirmed at quote |
| Databases | Number of MySQL or MariaDB databases and any size cap |
| Storage | Disk quota and file-count (inode) limit |
| Resources | CPU, memory, concurrent processes, I/O per account |
| Mailboxes, storage per mailbox, sending limit per hour, webmail, IMAP/SMTP | |
| SSL | Automatic certificates for every domain on the account |
| Languages | PHP versions selectable per site; other runtimes where the panel supports them |
| Access | Control panel, SFTP, SSH where offered, cron jobs |
| Backups | Frequency, retention and self-service restore Confirmed at quote |
Email and SSL done properly
Email that gets delivered
Mail from your domain is judged by the receiving provider. Three DNS records do most of the work: SPF lists the servers allowed to send for your domain, DKIM signs each message, and DMARC tells receivers what to do when the first two fail. Gmail's sender guidelines require SPF or DKIM from all senders, and SPF, DKIM, DMARC, one-click unsubscribe and a low spam rate from anyone sending more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts. We help set up these records for domains on your account.
Shared hosting mail is right for person-to-person email. For newsletters or high-volume app notifications, use a dedicated sending service: the hourly sending limit on a shared account exists so one account cannot damage the server's reputation for everyone.
Certificates that renew themselves
Each domain gets a certificate issued and renewed automatically through the ACME protocol. Automation matters more every year: under CA/Browser Forum ballot SC-081 the maximum lifetime of public TLS certificates falls in stages, to 47 days from March 2029. Manual certificate renewal is becoming impractical, and on shared hosting you should not have to think about it.
Reference configurations
| Shape | Sites / databases / mailboxes | Typical fit | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single site | 1 / 2 / 5 | A company site or blog | Price shown at quote |
| Business | 5 / 10 / 25 | A main site, a store and campaign sites | Price shown at quote |
| Agency | Many accounts, one per client, under one reseller login | Web agencies and freelancers | Price shown at quote |
Resource limits for each shape are listed in the quote.
Use cases
A professional services firm
A ten-page site, a contact form and eight mailboxes. Traffic is low and predictable; the value is not having a server to look after, and having email and the website on one bill.
A small store
A WooCommerce store with a few hundred products fits comfortably with page caching. Watch the process limit during sales; the worked example above shows the arithmetic.
An agency
Separate accounts per client mean one hacked plugin does not expose every site, and each client can be handed their own login. Heavy clients move to a virtual server individually.
Shared hosting compared
| Question | Shared hosting | VPS | Virtual server | Managed hosting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Server to maintain | None | Yes | Yes | None; BroadNet maintains it |
| Root access | No | Yes | Yes | Agreed in scope |
| Resources | Per-account limits | Bundled, CPU shared | Reserved | Sized to you |
| Included | Run your own | Run your own | If in scope | |
| Best for | Standard sites | Custom stacks, light load | Custom stacks, steady load | Critical sites, no ops team |
See the virtual hosting comparison for a fuller side-by-side, or VPS hosting.
Responsibility matrix
| Task | BroadNet | Supplier | You |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server hardware and operating system | - | Owns | - |
| Web, database and mail server software | Oversees | Patches | - |
| Account set-up, DNS, email records | Owns | - | Approves |
| SSL issuance and renewal | - | Automated | - |
| Website software (WordPress, plugins, themes) | - | - | Owns updates |
| Content, mailboxes and passwords | - | - | Owns |
| Backups | Confirmed at quote | Stores | Keeps own copy |
| Support and escalation | Owns | Fixes platform faults | - |
Most shared-hosting compromises come through outdated plugins and reused passwords, both on the "You" side. Keep your site software updated and turn on two-factor login for the control panel.
Support terms and how buying works
Your quote states contact routes, staffed hours, severity levels and response targets, plus the backup terms and renewal date. See support for how this works in general.
- List what you host. Domains, databases, mailboxes and rough monthly visits, via the configurator or contact.
- Get the written quote. Limits as numbers, panel, backups, support and price.
- Accept and move in. We create the account and help move sites and mail. Lower your DNS TTL a day ahead so the switch is quick; the migration guide lists the steps.
Frequently asked questions
Is shared hosting secure enough for a business site?
For most business sites, yes, provided accounts are isolated from each other and you keep your own site software updated. The common compromises come from outdated plugins and weak passwords rather than the server itself.
Do you offer unlimited sites or storage?
No. We state the number of sites, databases, mailboxes and the resource limits in your quote. Numbers you can check are more useful than "unlimited" with fair-use small print.
What happens if my site gets a traffic spike?
Requests above your account's process or CPU limit are slowed or briefly refused rather than taking the server down. Page caching raises how much traffic fits within the limits considerably.
Can I send newsletters from shared hosting?
Small volumes only. Hourly sending limits apply, and large sends belong on a dedicated email sending service with its own authentication and reputation.
Do I get SSH access?
Where the platform offers it, yes, without root. It is confirmed in your quote.
How do I know when to upgrade?
Watch for resource-limit errors at busy times in your control panel statistics, slow admin pages, or the need for software the panel does not support. Those signal a move to a virtual server or managed hosting.
Sources
- Email sender guidelines, Google
- RFC 7489: Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC), IETF
- RFC 6376: DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) Signatures, IETF
- RFC 8555: Automatic Certificate Management Environment (ACME), IETF
- Baseline Requirements for TLS Server Certificates (incl. Ballot SC-081 validity schedule), CA/Browser Forum
Related
Last reviewed . Facts on this page are checked against the sources listed; anything not yet contracted is marked “confirmed at quote”.