Shared web hosting is probably the most common type of web hosting available, and is also very popular with affordable web site hosting plan providers.
Shared web hosting, sometimes referred to as virtual web hosting, involves sharing one server (its CPU, memory, operating system, bandwidth, software, etc) among several different clients. Your web hosting company will allocate the different resources and accounts necessary to share the server. Although this means that you don't have any control over the server itself, you are able to control all aspects of your website using a control panel.
The one main advantage to shared web hosting is its price - it is normally the most affordable web site hosting plan, and is normally more than adequate for small to medium size businesses and individuals. Also, because hardware and software prices are falling rapidly, the common view of a shared affordable web site hosting plan as a subscription to poor performance is simply not applicable anymore. From hard drives and RAM to CPUs, the exponentially increasing power of hardware combined with its decreasing cost means that web hosting companies can offer users of shared web hosting better value for money.
Despite this, there are other things to consider. If your website is going to need large quantities of system resources (CPU time or RAM, for example), then shared web hosting is probably not for you - providers won't want your website using up resources that other clients need. Also, if you require certain software, drivers or plug-ins to be installed, it is unlikely that a shared web hosting provider would accommodate you - these things could adversely affect their other clients. Unfortunately, while shared web hosting providers, even affordable web site hosting plans, include technical personnel who are meant to do their best to keep the servers healthy, there is always more risk that your website will experience downtime. If you don't want to take this chance, then shared web hosting is out of the picture.