To begin with are the levels of hosting and costs involved.
Local (Usually Free – It’s your computer)
Local is partitioning your computer, so as to be able to deploy an “AI” Development Environment along with your normal operating system. WAMP is a bundle of the Apache Server (Environment), MySQL (Database Wizard), PhpMyAdmin (Manage Database) and PHP (Developmental Scripting).
http://www.easyphp.org/save-easyphp-devservervc9-latest.php?d=direct
Shared (Sometimes Free to $50/mo)
Shared is complete partitioning for multiple Development Environment users, each having their own interface with the Development Environment. Hostgator is great for shared hosting.
http://www.hostgator.com/shared
Managed ($35/$75)
Managed’s partitions are Customized or Tailored for the users. WpEngine has seemed to succeeded well at this for wordpress developers.
http://wpengine.com/
Virtual Private ($50/$100)
Partitioned, but each partition has dedicated environment.
http://www.dreamhost.com/servers/vps/
Dedicated ($75/$200+)
The server is yours alone.
http://www.rackspace.com/
Cloud (Rates vary By the moment)
Multiple Servers Networked for use.
http://aws.amazon.com/ec2
