Shared Hosting
Shared web hosting is the most common level of hosting today. Shared hosting means that you share a web server with other web sites. This in no way means that you share the same files or domain or anything like that, but that other web sites are hosted on the same server. The number of sites hosted per server typically ranges from a few dozen to a few hundred or more depending on hardware used.

Unix or Windows NT / 2000 shared hosting?
It is a very common misconception that if a person uses Windows on their PC, as most of us do, that they must need Windows based web hosting. What OS you have on your PC has nothing to do with what OS your web host plans needs to be running.

The server type needed is easiest determined by the types of programming languages your site uses. If your site uses just HTML pages, then most likely Unix hosting is your best bet as it tends to be slightly cheaper than Windows hosting. If your site uses perl, PHP or Python, then Unix is also your best bet.

Dedicated Servers
Dedicated servers are for those that want or need total control of their server. Dedicated servers cost considerably more than shared hosting and are for the experienced developers. Believe it or not, dedicated servers rarely include as many bells and whistles as shared hosting. In most cases, those that need dedicated servers typically know that they need it, so if you are questioning, then most likely shared hosting is your best choice. Dedicated servers typically range from $200 to $1,000 per month depending on hardware used.