What Is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is the service that provides the computing resources needed to make a website available on the internet. Your domain name is the address people type; hosting is the server environment that stores or generates the website and responds when a visitor requests a page.

A hosting plan typically provides storage, network connectivity, processing resources, and a control layer for managing the site. Depending on the plan, it may also include email, backups, SSL certificates, security features, databases, staging environments, or managed software updates.

Main types of web hosting

Shared hosting places many customers on the same server environment and is usually the simplest entry point for small sites. VPS hosting allocates a more isolated share of server resources and gives the customer more control. Cloud hosting spreads workloads across cloud infrastructure and can make scaling easier. Dedicated hosting gives one customer a physical server. Managed hosting describes a service level in which the provider handles more administration on the customer’s behalf.

These labels overlap. A managed WordPress plan, for example, may run on cloud infrastructure while hiding most server administration from the customer.

What should you compare?

Start with the website’s requirements rather than the provider’s marketing. Consider expected traffic, application type, storage, geographic audience, support needs, backup requirements, security, and how comfortable you are managing a server.

Price matters, but renewal pricing, migration costs, paid add-ons, resource limits, and support can materially change the real cost. For business sites, reliable backups and a workable restore process can be more important than a small difference in monthly price.