The idea behind is to ensure privacy to websites while providing them with a service at reduced costs as compared to owning a completely selective or dedicated web hosting service. The cost of server maintenance is divided amongst the many hosts and this is a cost effective and efficient manner of conducting business. The design is such that there are many partitions of the same interface and this allows each site to have its own space on the server and exist as a separate entity despite of being placed on a single server.

The servers include system administration and thus is an ideal option for people who want maximum things being managed for them by the hosts however this is one of the main disadvantages when it comes to clients who enjoy seclusion and control.

There can be no shared hosting without server administration as it has to be shared by many clients and is impossible to manage otherwise.

The hosting is working over a control panel system. The various systems available are Ensim, DirectAdmin, Sphera, cPanel, Plesk, InterWorx, H-sphere and Helm.

The provider is the stake holder in this arrangement with maximum responsibility and thus the pivot of the system. It is impossible to have a successful shared web hosting service without an efficient provider.