The colocation hosting service is almost like dedicated hosting – it provides lots of upgradeable resources, better security, and reliability, but it also requires some technical knowledge. With colocation you don’t use the servers of the hosting company, you have to buy them by yourself (or rent them): the hardware and the software of the web server are all yours and you actually pay to rent space in the data center and to have the ability to use their Internet connection.
Colocation hosting is suitable for big sites with lots of traffic and is often deployed by various mid-size or bigger web companies. The colocation hosting service is also utilized by startup hosting companies that can’t afford to build their own data center and hire a big team of IT specialists. Colocation hosting offers much greater security than standard hosting, total control, and flexibility, so you can use your own hardware and make any other configurations you want. Colocation centers have not only high-security standards but air-conditioning systems and redundant backup generators that provide power in case of an outage.
Colocation Hosting Prices & Fees
Colocation hosting is more expensive than regular hosting, but if you need lots of resources and very high bandwidth, you could actually save money placing your server at a colocation data center. Sometimes you might need to pay extra fees for the bandwidth you’re using. However, the charges for the bandwidth usually come with the predefined packages for the entire hosting service, and their prices could range from very low to very high. When you exceed the limit of the package the extra charges take place.
It’s important to check all additional charges when you pick your colocation hosting provider. And as the price depends mainly on the traffic you should carefully consider all factors when you decide to use colocation hosting. It might also be necessary for you to make additional payments for various services that you might need at some point: remote technical support and reboots, fees for additional IPs and domains, backups, etc.
Unmanaged Colocation Hosting
Just as it is with dedicated hosting if you want managed colocation hosting you’ll have to pay more for the entire server administration and tech support. If you choose unmanaged hosting you will have to do the entire hardware and software administration on your own and pay only for the physical space in the colocation center, the power, and for the bandwidth. In this case, it’s important to find a colocation center physically closer to the place your company is based.
Managed Colocation Web Hosting
If your colocation hosting service is fully managed the physical location could be anywhere and you will not need any extra people to manage the server. You should make your research and see if the colocation hosting providers offer all services related to the server administration, so you will have nothing to worry about.
Colocation vs Dedicated VPS
Colocation hosting is great for big developing companies that can afford to buy their own servers. They also need to assemble their own pro team of server administrators and support or pay large fees for managed colocation hosting. If your web business isn’t that big you can initially try dedicated VPS hosting. VPS is more powerful than shared hosting and is quite cheaper and easier to manage than colocation.