Hosting your own website is a huge undertaking. There are people who advise against even thinking about it. The internet is almost wholly biased against the idea, or so it would seem from the sheer number of articles and posts that suggest the best way to go is with a hosting provider and wash ones hands off of the whole idea.

But, there are certain advantages as well as disadvantages to hosting your own website. Below are listed the main ones you should consider before going one way or the other:

THE ADVANTAGES

1. You own your server and everything on it. There is no dispute about it. We are, of course, talking about all original files and documents that are copyrighted or attested to being your own creations.
2. You have absolute control over your server. You can do anything you want with it and configure its software and hardware the way it pleases you or as is required by your website.
3. You have a faster response time from your own tech staff. As long as you have competent web and/or server administrators there will be no downtime due to the slow response time from a tech support staff that has to be contacted via tickets, email or phone calls. With your own staff you can have someone on standby 24/7 and work on it without having to wait your turn.
4. You can monitor and detect any intrusions if you keep keen eye on your traffic. This is in comparison to hosting providers that have to monitor the traffic to and from their hundreds and thousands of clients’ websites and the activities and goings on in their accounts. Even with the most sophisticated security software and hardware in place, you have to admit, it is a daunting task. With your own server you do not have that problem – anything out of the normal and you will soon be aware of, and hence, be able to thwart it.
5. You can host whatever you want on your own server. You know all those rules and regulations that state you are not allowed to upload or use certain types of files or scripts? Well, you don’t have to worry about those – it’s your server so you can just about go crazy with whatever you want put on it.

 THE DISADVANTAGES

1. The first thing that stands in your way when you opt to host your own site is the cost. Although you would think it would cost more to pay others to do work for you, it doesn’t really apply in this case. Web hosting prices have gone down a lot these past few years – there are providers that let you have space on their server for less than a dollar per month! If you were to go solo, you would have to pay for hardware, software and staff – even if you’re doing it yourself you should consider the amount of time and energy you are investing in the job.
2. Second is the job itself – do you really want to spend the day tinkering with a server? You should especially ask yourself that question if your business has nothing to do with web hosting. Because, unless you are you will need to go out of your way to do the job (or hire someone who will do it for you).
3. Then, there is the issue with available bandwidth. There is no way you will get away with your normal internet subscription. You will need to go for an ADSL broadband connection at the very least. It will work for a while, until your traffic starts to rise and then it is time for a T1 connection. This will add to your bills and, when it is not be optimally utilized, it becomes a total waste of resources.
4. You will need to keep up-to-date with all matters in the tech world. Whether it is updates to your software, improvements made to hardware you are using or new methods of server attacks and what you can (and should) do to prevent them – you will simply be overwhelmed with keeping in sync.
5. In case of a crash you will not have the advantage of a redundancy plan – another server taking over your hosting until the main one is back online. That is unless of course you actually do have a server up in a separate geographical location (because that is the ideal way to do it – you won’t achieve much if a power surge fries both your servers plugged into the same power source). The same goes for backing up and saving your data. You will need to have separate storage spaces for your backup devices of choice; again, preferably away from your server location.

So, there you have it – it is all up to you to make the ultimate decision. Choose carefully.