As the title suggests (though estimates vary), Linux servers are more predominant in the web hosting industry. Any web hosting provider Dubai will attest to the fact that Linux does have a great majority over Windows servers. So why is it the more preferred hosting server?

There are many reasons. Let’s start with the most common facts about Windows and Linux.

Linux vs. Windows

When it comes to the PC market, Linux has always been watching helplessly as Windows grew. Because there aren’t many people who use Linux, they think using a Linux server for hosting would make things complicated. But there are reasons why majority of the hosting servers run on Linux. 

Affordability

For starters, Linux servers are more affordable compared to Windows servers, as Linux is an open source OS. Because there are no licensing costs to use Linux, hosting companies tend to favor Linux more in their servers. They can drop prices and gain a competitive edge in the market. However, they may offer control panel tools that need to be paid for. 

The affordability factor also extends to the software required to serve a website, namely Apache, PHP and MySQL which are all open source. In addition to this, Linux is also the ideal choice for slower machines which means hosts can get more use out of older machines by running them on Linux. 

Meets industry standard

The hosting industry standards develop with the growth of the industry. As of now, Linux servers adhere to present industry standards with robust management and maintenance tools. To work in the Linux hosting industry, technicians should know their way around the OS. For users, the cPanel tool effectively hides the complexity of the OS, making the system easy to use.

Why Windows servers still exist then?

There are still many Windows servers in the market, and people would obviously start wondering why Windows would still be around if Linux is that good.

Here’s why.

• Applications developed using Windows-only languages like .NET or ASP requires a Windows server to run them
  
• Windows servers can run almost anything that a Linux server can
  
• Windows and its interfaces are more familiar to people compared to Linux. So many people are still willing to bear the costs to use Windows
  

Conclusion

Linux servers are cheap, robust and has been providing a consistent experience between hosts over the years. Even the smallest shared hosting account can benefit from Linux servers as they are very much scalable. 

For shared environments, Linux server works quite similar to a dedicated server. The wide community of the open source platform attests to the fact that any technical issue with Linux can be solved in a matter of minutes.