What is shared web hosting?
In order to begin comparing the pros and cons of shared web hosting, we first must define what it is. In a very general definition, shared web hosting is basically the 'sharing' of resources on a web server. A shared web server can be best described and compared to people living in an apartment building. Each unit in an apartment building is allocated a fixed amount of space (single room, double room, etc) just as a web server allocates a fixed amount of space for each hosting account. After that, most of the resources become shared in our apartment building example. So as apartment dwellers share electricity, heat, and water, the shared web accounts share things like bandwidth, operating system, control panel interfaces, and security.

Shared web hosting - the good

• Low cost - Because a web server is being shared by multiple users, the hosting provider is able to spread the cost to every account. This allows the hosting provider to still make a profit while making it affordable to each customer. This is especially important if you just looking to have a personal web site and don't need all the bells and whistles that come with more expensive web hosting providers.
  
  
• Maintenance - If you had your own web server, you would be responsible for making sure everything is working properly. Also, if trouble does arise, you must be able to solve the problem quickly or else all you have is a website that isn't online. WIth shared web hosting, each hosting account doesn't require every account holder to have a hosting manager to manage the resources but rather only one person or a small team of people is needed to oversee the proper upkeep for the server. And this is provided by the hosting provider.
  
  
• No technical background required - This goes along with the maintenance aspect of shared hosting. When going with shared hosting, all of the backend support, mainly technical support, is provided for you. This means you don't need a Master's Degree in Computer Science in order to have web hosting.
  

Shared web hosting - the bad

• Limited resources - The first downside most will find with shared hosting is limited resources on a web server. This is especially an issue as the hosting provider signs up more and more hosting accounts. Each website being hosted will be fighting for priority use of the precious resources. You must trust that the web host will not add too many accounts to each web server and allow room for the existing sites to run efficiently.
  
  
• Limited options on administration software - Here, you are at the mercy of the hosting provider. They determine which operating system, control panel, and support software you will use as all hosting accounts must use the same. Although they are configured for each site, the overall software system is the same for everyone. Of course, a good hosting provider will have the latest updates and versions of all their software especially in security. This leads us to the next consideration.
  
  
• Reduced security - Sharing web space also means sharing the risks that go along with it. There is the chance that if one site goes down to due a crash, all the sites on the server will go down as well. It also works the other way. If the server goes down then every single account goes down. In terms, of viruses, spam, worms, etc, there is a higher chance of one of them entering through any of the websites being hosted and spread to the main account and then make its way to each and every account.

In Conclusion
By no means is the end all and be all of shared web hosting. The points offered here are just the most common considerations when searching for shared web hosting. Other considerations will come down to personal preferences and needs such as ecommerce or business sites. Then shared hosting may not be the best fit because these sites typically require more bandwidth and disk space. But that is best left to another topic of discussion where we can focus on that specific consideration.