Hosting is an online service that makes your website accessible on the Internet. When purchasing a hosting web, you are renting space on a server that stores all of your website’s files and data for it to function properly.
Web hosting providers provide the technology and the resources necessary to keep your website running efficiently and securely.
These are responsible for keeping the server running, applying security measures, and ensuring that data such as text, photos, and other files are correctly transferred to visitors’ browsers.
In this article, you will learn what web hosting is, how it works and what are the different types of hosting available.
What is hosting?
Hosting is a web hosting service that allows you to publish a website or application on the Internet. When you hire a hosting service, you basically rent space on a physical server where you can store all the files and data necessary for your website to function correctly.
How does hosting or web hosting work?
And server It is a physical computer or machine that runs 24/7 so that your website is available all the time to anyone who wants to view it.
Your web hosting provider is responsible for keeping the server up and running, protecting it from malicious attacks, and transferring your content (such as text, images, etc.) from the server to your visitors’ browsers.
When you decide create a web page new, you have to find a hosting company that will give you space on a server. Your hosting provider stores all your files, media, and databases on the server.
Every time someone writes your domain name in your browser’s address bar, your server transfers all the files necessary to service the request.
You can host yourself your website, but requires extensive technical knowledge. Self-hosting involves installing and configuring a web server from scratch, including equipment, infrastructure, hardware, and software. Additionally, you will have to take care of maintenance.
A web hosting service provider guarantees that your website works optimally and with better security protocols. Plus, it simplifies the many complex aspects of website hosting, from software installation to technical support.
What types of hosting exist?
With the many web hosting options available, it can be difficult to determine which one is best for your website.
Most hosting providers offer different types of web hosting, both free web hosting as paid, to be able to meet the needs of different clients, whether you want to own a large online business or create a blog personal simple.
The ideal is to start with the simplest hosting plan. Once your site has more traffic, you can upgrade to a more advanced plan. You can consult the Hostinger prices to have a general ideal of the different hosting plans we offer and its costs.
Let’s see what types of hosting exist.
Shared Hosting
With shared hosting, multiple users share the same server resources, including memory, processing power, and storage space.
Thanks to its simplicity and low cost, shared web hosting is a great solution for small businesses and personal websites that don’t require advanced setup or high bandwidth.
Therefore, shared hosting is an excellent type of hosting for beginners who need a cheapest hosting for a start.
Advantages:
- Cost effective, perfect for web pages small businesses
- No specific technical knowledge required
- Pre-configured server options
- Server maintenance and administration is carried out by the provider
Disadvantages:
- Little to no control over server configuration
- Increases in traffic on other websites can slow down your site
Hosting VPS
With this type of web hosting, your website also shares a physical server with other users, but the web hosting provider creates a virtual partition for each user. Thus, a site hosted on VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting obtains an assigned amount of computer resources.
He hosting VPS It is a great type of hosting for medium-sized sites, e-commerce stores, and large blogs with rapidly growing visitor numbers.
Advantages:
- Dedicated server space
- Increases in traffic on other websites do not affect your performance at all
- Server root access
- Easily scalable and highly customizable
Disadvantages:
- Technical knowledge to manage it
- Although relatively affordable, some users may have to hire a developer to manage the virtual server, which increases overall costs.
Cloud Hosting
The cloud servers They are currently the most reliable solution on the market. This hosting service uses several virtual servers to host sites. So, if one web server experiences high traffic or a problem, another web server will take over and keep the web page running.
Hiring cloud hosting relies on a cluster of web servers to function, companies with multiple websites and large-scale sites such as e-commerce stores can make the most of it, as it provides little or no downtime. inactivity.
Advantages:
- Low chance of downtime and hardware failure
- Use load balancing to manage high traffic and prevent DDoS attacks
- It is scalable. That is, your website is not limited to the resources of a single server.
Disadvantages:
- Root access is not always provided
- The price is higher than a shared solution or VPS
Hosting WordPress
He hosting WordPress provides an optimized server environment for WordPress, which helps your site load faster and minimize potential issues. However, other types of web hosting still work for websites built on this popular content management system (CMS).
Typically, the best WordPress hosting plans come with features such as pre-installed themes, plugins for basic functions like storage hidden and security, and other tools.
Advantages:
- Low cost and suitable for beginners
- Good performance for WordPress sites
- Customer Support Team Trained on WordPress Issues
- Pre-installed WordPress templates and plugins
Disadvantages:
- It is a type of hosting recommended only for WordPress sites
dedicated server
Dedicated server hosting designates a physical server for each web page. By opting for dedicated server hosting, you can configure the server, choose the operating system and software you want, and customize the entire hosting environment to your specifications.
Renting a dedicated server is as powerful as having your own on-site server, but with the added advantage of getting professional assistance from your web hosting provider.
Therefore, dedicated server hosting is ideal for large online businesses that have heavy traffic on their websites.
Advantages:
- Full control over server configuration
- High reliability and security options
- Server root access
Disadvantages:
- High cost, more geared toward larger companies
- Technical and server administration knowledge required
How to choose the best hosting provider?
As your website grows, you may need more storage space, bandwidth, and other types of resources. In that case, you can choose more advanced accommodation, such as cloud hosting or VPS.
Therefore, make sure the provider offers a variety of hosting services so you can upgrade at any time. Additionally, there are several factors to analyze when it comes to choose a hosting provider.
control Panel
With a hosting control panel, you can manage your hosting service without having to log into the web server. Therefore, it is better to go with web hosts that provide an easy-to-manage user interface for users of all skill levels.
Our hPanel It allows you to manage your files, create a complete backup and install applications associated with your website, quickly and efficiently.
Hosting availability time
If web servers are poorly maintained or unstable, frequent and unexpected downtime can seriously affect your business and the trust of your customers. Therefore, make sure the host you choose delivers on the uptime guarantee they promise.
An uptime guarantee and fair terms of service reflect hosting companies’ commitment to keeping their systems up and running.
Technical specifications
In addition to choosing a hosting service with enough disk space, processing power, and bandwidth, you should look for other features that will help your website run smoothly.
At Hostinger, our servers are powered by CloudLinux and we adopt technologies LiteSpeed to speed them up.
Online reviews
Look for website hosting reviews that provide in-depth information about the different hosting service providers.
Most of the hosting reviews They include information about uptime and speed, so you can see the real performance of the provider’s servers.
Here you can read an evaluation of the best hosting services for WordPress.
Security
Check that the hosting provider is well-equipped with advanced security measures that help protect your site and its data from malware or DDoS attacks.
They can include access management, malware detection, automatic backups and updates.
24/7 customer support
24/7 customer support is very helpful if your website experiences unexpected delays, crashes, or even security breaches. Check if the hosting service also offers support resources such as tutorials and knowledge bases.
Additional services
A great hosting plan offers excellent value for money if it contains free add-ons and features such as a SSL certificate, an account of professional mail or one content delivery network (CDN).
What is the difference between hosting and domain?
In addition to signing up for a web hosting service, the next step in creating a website is to find and buy a domain.
While web hosting allows you to rent server space for your site, the domain is the address of your site. Hosting and domain They are two different parts, but equally essential for any website.
While hosting is used to store your website, a domain acts as the digital identity of the website, allowing people to easily access it.
A domain usually consists of the name of a website and a domain extension such as .com, .org the .net. Likewise, there are many other options and new domain names like .xyz, which are among the most popular alternatives today.
A domain and web hosting account can be purchased from the same provider or from different providers. Many hosting companies, such as Hostinger, also offer domain registration.
For a start, choose a domain name and check its availability.
Domain name checker
Immediately check domain name availability.
Once you find a unique domain name, register it with a domain registrar. If it is not the same company you chose to host your site, purchase a hosting plan and then write down the domain name.
Another option is to purchase hosting that includes the registration of a domain free, a much simpler and more affordable solution.
However, if you are not satisfied with your service, you can transfer your site to a new host. You just have to make sure that the company is compatible with your website framework.
Conclusion
Creating a website involves many decisions, including how and where to host it.
Whether it is an online business, a blog or another type of website, the first step to creating your presence on the internet is to hire web hosting. Hosting is a service that allows your website to be available online.
Learning the basics of web hosting and the types of web hosting services will help you find a reliable and cost-effective solution for your website.
When considering different hosting services and providers, keep your needs in mind and analyze the pros and cons of web hosting companies.
At Hostinger, we offer a 30-day money back guarantee, free web migration, integration with various CMS and hosting coupon codes to make our plans even more affordable.