What Is Web Hosting? How to Choose the Best Web Host

More than 10,000 websites are created every hour. With such staggering growth, the internet has almost 1.1 billion websites. Every one of those websites needs web hosting — a server to store the website files, databases, and content.

Every website uses some form of hosting, from enterprise behemoths to small business websites. Web hosting is the piece of the puzzle that makes a website online and accessible to all internet users at all times.

Businesses and people require reliable, secure, and speedy web hosting, which we’ll cover in this article. You’ll learn the basics of web hosting, providers to consider, and how to set up hosting for your website.

The importance of web hosting should not be understated. Web hosting is the engine that powers the entire internet, facilitating the accessibility of all websites and apps.

When a user types in a domain name, the browser finds and communicates with web hosting servers to deliver all the content and data required to return a website to the user.

Web hosting is the real estate of the internet. Specifically, web hosting functions more like the retail landlord of the internet.

Let’s say you have a retail business idea and would like to launch it on a bustling street in your town. You could build a storefront from scratch, but that would require significant upfront capital, time to construct the retail store, construction expertise, and an empty lot for the building.

It’s easier, more affordable, and faster to launch your business if you simply find a vacant retail store and rent from the owner/landlord.

Web hosting works the same way as renting physical retail space, except you’re renting server space and presenting your business on the internet.

Building your own server is possible, but that requires time, upfront capital, technical expertise, server management, and a place to put the server.

Hosting companies offer an alternative as the landlords of the internet: an affordable lease to a server — one where you can place all website files and pay a monthly fee for minimal upkeep on your end.

After you lease web hosting space, you’re ready to present your digital business to the world. The servers (robust computers maintained entirely by hosting providers) store your website files.

When someone types in your URL, the browser requests the appropriate files, and it accesses the databases stored on the servers to return the completed website to the user.

Web hosts sell various hosting options, all using different types of servers, pricing models, and server resources.

We explain every type of web hosting below to help you select the one that fits your budget and allows for enough server resources like RAM, storage, and CPU.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting, the least expensive type of web hosting, provides a budget solution where multiple websites share the same server. The resources from that server — CPU, storage, and RAM — also get shared amongst the users.

Shared hosting works best for small businesses and websites that experience low to moderate traffic. It’s ideal for personal blogs, smaller retail shops, startups, and any business getting started on a budget.

Consider shared hosting if you’d like the cheapest hosting or if you lack technical knowledge to take on higher-performance hosting like VPS or cloud hosting.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting

A virtual private server (VPS) uses shared hardware, but the hosting model separates all users into virtualized environments, simulating a dedicated hosting experience.

Each blocked-off section of the server is called a VPS, which provides unique customization options that are separate from those of other users on the server. For instance, you can add your own operating system and use dedicated resources with a VPS.

Pros of virtual private server hosting:

• Blocked off from other users on the server
• Greater customization and control
• Improved security
• Greater scalability
• Resources dedicated to each user

Cons of virtual private server hosting:

• Still limited to the resources provided by the main server
• Pricier than shared hosting
• Requires technical knowledge

VPS hosting makes sense for businesses that have outgrown shared hosting. It’s also recommended as a starting point for most eCommerce sites since shared hosting has too many performance risks. We like it for developers and growing businesses, too.

Go with VPS hosting if you expect moderate to high traffic to your app or website, especially if you want a balance between price and performance.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting, perhaps the most difficult yet powerful form of hosting to consider, involves an entire physical server leased to one business. This gives the user complete control of the server, the highest security potential, and fully dedicated resources.

Pros of dedicated hosting:

• Peak security potential
• Maximum performance potential
• Unlimited customization options and full control
• Completely dedicated resources, increasing reliability and performance
• Impressive scalability

Cons of dedicated hosting:

• Usually the most expensive hosting option
• Constant server maintenance
• Advanced technical skills required
• Although it’s always possible to scale, cloud hosting is actually a more dynamic way to do so

Businesses choose dedicated hosting when they require absolute control and support for high-traffic websites or apps.

Enterprise organizations choose dedicated hosting for its custom configurations and robust security elements. It’s ideal when uptime is paramount or when data security is essential.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting works similarly to VPS hosting; it uses virtualized servers but instead spreads those virtualized servers across a network of physical servers.

This leads to greater scalability, redundancy, and performance when compared to shared and VPS hosting. You could also argue that it’s a more cost-effective way to achieve scalability than dedicated hosting.

Pros of cloud hosting:

• Maximum scalability potential
• Unique pay-as-you-go pricing model
• Peak redundancy and reliability
• High levels of availability and uptime
• Less maintenance when compared to dedicated hosting

Cons of cloud hosting:

• Cost variability
• Potential security issues thanks to the distributed nature of the cloud
• The entire infrastructure needs internet connectivity to work
• You need technical expertise

Cloud hosting offers flexibility and scalability. Its redundant nature (never relying on a single point of contact) promises higher rates of uptime.

We like cloud hosting for startups, for those that like cost variability (since you only pay for what you use), and if your business intends to grow or fluctuate in traffic.

An eCommerce store, for instance, may experience seasonal fluctuations in traffic. Cloud hosting handles those changes well.

Managed Hosting

Managed hosting is an additional service added to the main types of hosting, most notably VPS, cloud, WordPress, and dedicated hosting.

When something says “managed hosting,” you must be very careful to figure out exactly which type of hosting is included because the word “managed” does not describe the type of server provided.

Having said that, managed hosting is a premium service in which the hosting provider maintains and manages most aspects of the server so you don’t have to. The management depends on the host but often includes automated backups, security, performance monitoring, and physical server maintenance.

Pros of managed hosting:

• Lower potential for user error
• Enhanced security measures
• Expert management of the server and infrastructure
• Minimized technical burden for the user
• Allows non-technical users to take advantage of VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting
• Preset essentials like backups, performance monitoring, and firewalls

Cons of managed hosting:

• Adds an extra cost to whatever main hosting package you select
• Lowers the amount of control you have over the server configuration
• Makes you more dependent on the hosting provider

You might consider managed hosting to minimize the amount of technical work required for your business. Instead, you pass it all off to the provider.

This assists non-technical users and virtually any business that needs the benefits of a VPS, cloud, or dedicated server without the extra hassle.

Colocation Hosting

Colocation hosting is a rental service offered by some hosting providers. In this service, the user rents space at a data center, not a server.

That user then has full control over the space within the facility, so they can house their own servers and tap into the infrastructure of the data center — using everything from security to cooling.

Pros of colocation hosting:

• Access to professional data centers and the already-built infrastructures
• Full control over your server hardware
• Maximum reliability and security
• Scalability — add more hardware and expand into other spaces within the data center

Cons of colocation hosting:

• High upfront costs
• High ongoing expenses
• You have to manage and maintain the servers
• Physical access depends on your provider

Consider colocation hosting if your business has unique hardware requirements. Colocation hosting makes sense for enterprise businesses that may not be ready to make the jump to house their own servers.

WordPress Hosting

WordPress hosting is similar to managed hosting in that it doesn’t tell you the type of server used. Instead, it’s an add-on service with extra features for those using the WordPress content management system.

Your hosting provider, for example, installs WordPress for you with WordPress hosting. It’s also common to receive pre-installed WordPress plugins for security, along with WordPress optimization tools, WooCommerce support, and even prebuilt WordPress themes.

Pros of WordPress hosting:

• Pre-installed WordPress CMS and other plugins
• Enhanced security and performance features for WordPress
• Automated updates for WordPress and its plugins
• Regular backups of your WordPress website

Cons of WordPress hosting:

• You need to have a WordPress site to use it
• More expensive than standard hosting
• You often have to dig around to find out the hosting type (shared, VPS, cloud)
• It’s often unnecessary, considering it’s fairly easy to install WordPress and its plugins
• Less customization and more potential reliance on the provider

Only opt for WordPress hosting if you’re running, or intend to run, a WordPress site.

It’s a nice luxury for small businesses and bloggers using the WordPress platform, but remember that many features are easy to implement yourself (such as installing WordPress and WooCommerce).

But, if you want a hassle-free WordPress experience, WordPress hosting offers excellent performance optimization for the platform (which is often a pain to handle yourself).

Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting, a wholesale hosting package sold to smaller hosting businesses, allows resellers to repackage hosting resources and sell them to niche users.

Reseller hosting often includes billing tools, branding and white-labeling features, and significant price cuts so that resellers can make a profit.

Pros of reseller hosting:

• A potential way to make money with hosting
• Simplified tools for managing clients
• Additional revenue stream for web designers and developers
• Scalable
• White-labeling

Cons of reseller hosting:

• Virtually no control over server settings
• An initial investment is required before you get customers
• You still have to manage customer support
• You have no control over the reliability of the hosting

The top reason to consider reseller hosting is to complement a business you already have, most notably by offering hosting to web design or development clients.

Otherwise, reseller hosting can work to launch a hosting business, but the space is crowded unless you create a unique selling proposition and target specific hosting customers. Either way, reseller hosting is for making money, not for hosting your own website.

Once you decide on the type of hosting you’d like to pursue, research web hosting providers with similar offerings. Each host tries to stand out with unique features.

Yet, it’s always important to at least look for the basic features of any web hosting provider.

Once you find a host with the essentials, look into other bonus features you find useful for your business. Consider automated backups, privacy protection, and managed hosting services.

Every business is different. Switching hosts in the future might be difficult, so do your best to pick the right one.

The most popular web hosting providers have high standards for reliability, security, and ease of use. They’re the most popular for a reason.

Options such as GoDaddy, HostGator, and IONOS also make it relatively affordable to host any website of any size. To start your research, look at the most popular web hosting providers below.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy, the host to more than 15% of all websites, offers several types of web hosting for you to combine domain name management and web hosting into one dashboard.

GoDaddy provides shared, VPS, WordPress, and managed hosting options. It’s a scalable hosting provider for small businesses because you can start with basic shared hosting and upgrade to a more robust shared plan for higher-traffic websites.

After that, there are upgrade options to virtual private servers.

On top of that, GoDaddy offers several free features, including free SSL certificates, email addresses, and domain names when you sign up for hosting.

Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services, the largest cloud hosting service in the world, offers affordable cloud hosting access and high speeds for anything from mobile apps to websites.

AWS has a pay-as-you-go model. Therefore, it’s perhaps the most affordable way to get high-speed hosting.

However, you must have technical knowledge to configure and manage an AWS server. Otherwise, you might opt for a managed cloud service that uses AWS, such as Cloudways. Companies like these act as middlemen between customers and major cloud providers.

Google Cloud Platform

Similar to AWS, Google Cloud Platform is a cloud hosting service with a pay-as-you-go model.

It requires technical knowledge to use. But it provides some of the fastest, most affordable hosting on the market.

Like AWS, you can circumvent the technical aspects of Google Cloud by choosing managed cloud services such as Cloudways or Kinsta.

IONOS

IONOS sells everything you need to build a website, including just about every type of hosting: shared, VPS, dedicated, managed, WordPress, and cloud hosting.

It’s well known for its $1 per month introductory hosting plan, which applies to six months of shared hosting.

VPS hosting starts at just a few dollars per month. Thanks to its myriad of hosting plans and extra features, IONOS is one of the most scalable hosting providers.

HostGator

HostGator, a provider of shared, VPS, dedicated, reseller, eCommerce, and WordPress hosting, caters to those who would like built-in features instead of a piecemeal hosting configuration.

Its shared hosting comes with malware scanning, the Cloudflare CDN, and an email inbox.

Not to mention, you can always upgrade to increase site performance or add a feature like automated backups.

Choosing the right web host and plan requires assessing your website’s requirements and examining your budget. It’s also important to plan for growth.

1. Assess Your Website’s Requirements

Your website’s requirements set the standard for which type of hosting you need. That’s why it’s crucial to forecast things such as traffic, types of content, and special software needs. Perhaps you expect to see low traffic initially but an increase within the first six months.

Shared hosting may work for you at first, but it’s probably better to opt for VPS hosting to prepare for the surge.

As for content, you need a reliable server to support media-heavy websites. If your site is filled with images, videos, or many pages, consider a high-performance shared plan or something more powerful like cloud or VPS hosting.

2. Determine Your Budget

It’s essential to determine your budget to balance the cost of hosting with the necessary features. Cloud hosting makes this easy — since it has pay-as-you-go pricing — but not every business needs the performance offered by cloud hosting.

Therefore, you should figure out which features you absolutely must have, then find the host and pricing plan that offers all those features at the lowest price.

3. Plan for Growth

Planning for growth means anticipating future needs. That requires a web hosting provider with a scalable infrastructure.

A web host with only three pricing plans may make it tough to scale up in the future. The goal is to forecast future traffic, content, and software needs.

Ideally, your host sells multiple hosting types — shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated — along with various plans within those hosting types for upgrades and downgrades.

4. Research the Web Host’s Reputation and Reviews

For popular hosts, you should have no problem researching host reputations and user reviews. There are hundreds of review sites that collect hosting reviews directly from customers.

You can also look for professional reviews from online publications. You might even ask professional contacts which hosting options work for them. During your research, look for mentions of customer support, performance, security, and user experience.

Once you’ve chosen a web host, selected a plan, and signed up for an account, it’s time to configure your web hosting account.

More advanced plans, like those with VPS hosting, require additional configuration. Shared and managed hosting plans have most elements set up.

All hosting plans, however, need to complete some initial steps, such as registering a domain and installing a content management system.

How to Register a Domain

Choose a domain by visiting your hosting provider’s domain page. If your provider isn’t a domain registrar, you can buy a domain from any domain registrar and link it back to your current host.

For example, GoDaddy has a page where you can type in a desired domain name and check its availability. Complete that process with your host or domain registrar, then purchase the domain name.

If you can’t find the domain name of your choice, try a new search or select a unique top-level domain (domain extension) — such as .online, .me, or .store — that still fits your brand.

Tip: Be aware of copyright laws when choosing a different domain extension to register an already-taken name under the .com extension.

How to Link Your Domain to Your Host

If you’re using the same company for hosting and domain registration, the provider should have a one-click button to link any purchased domains to hosted websites.

If you’ve purchased a domain name from a third-party registrar, first request your website’s DNS records from your hosting provider. You can often find them in the dashboard. They usually come as two A Record IP addresses or domain names.

Copy those records and open the dashboard for your domain registrar. Select your domain, and go to “Advanced DNS” or “DNS Settings.” On Namecheap, for instance, you’re looking for “Advanced DNS.”

Add the A Records, and fill in the Host information and Values given by your hosting provider. Make the TTL field “Automatic.”

When you’re done, be sure to save the changes. Sometimes, it takes a few hours to register. Eventually, you can visit the domain name and see your website in a browser.

How to Install a CMS

A content management system, or CMS, allows you to add and edit content such as webpages, blog posts, and images on your website.

You can install a range of content management systems to a server; most hosting providers, for example, offer one-click installation buttons for the WordPress CMS.

To install WordPress, go to your host’s dashboard.

Managed hosts like Kinsta provide an option to install WordPress when you sign up for hosting. Bluehost does, too, but it’s also available as an option in the cPanel dashboard, just in case you’d like to install WordPress later.

Regardless of your hosting provider, find the button to install WordPress. Click on it to proceed.

Walk through the process of creating login credentials for your WordPress site.

You should also fill in your domain name and site title when prompted.

At the end, you’ll receive links to the backend of your WordPress site, which you can click through to log into the site and access the WordPress dashboard.

Other Basic Configuration

Most businesses should configure additional settings or set up email and domain name privacy. It all depends on the features you get from your hosting provider, but here’s a list of other settings to configure:

• Email: Create emails for everyone in your organization. Make inboxes and point inboxes to desired clients, such as Outlook or Apple Mail.
• FTP: Go to the FTP section to learn how to access your website in case the dashboard becomes inaccessible.
• Plugins: Install essential WordPress plugins for SEO, performance, security, content creation, and web design.
• CDN: Some hosts provide a free CDN but require you to turn it on. A content delivery network is essential for speeding up your website, especially if it has lots of media.
• Security and Privacy: DDoS protection, SSL certificates, firewalls, and more. Make sure your host has these turned on by default. If not, find out how to activate them from customer support.

It’s also wise to make yourself comfortable with the hosting dashboard. Click through every button to understand where to find features for privacy, email, and performance statistics. The more familiar you are with your dashboard, the better you can manage your website.

Issues may arise during your web hosting journey. Planning helps to avoid these issues, but you may have to troubleshoot at some point. Here are some common problems you may encounter and our troubleshooting tips.

Downtime

If you encounter unexplained website downtime, contact your web host immediately. Downtime causes often include maintenance, cyberattacks, or server overload.

Sometimes, you simply have to wait until the issue is resolved by the host. You can, however, prevent excessive downtime by choosing a reliable web host with the highest possible uptime guarantee.

It’s also wise to consider backup servers or upgrade to a more redundant, reliable hosting type such as cloud hosting.

Slow Loading Times

A slow loading website may have something to do with your hosting provider — or thanks to an overloaded shared server.

Start your diagnosis with tools like GTMetrix and Google PageSpeed Insights. Use their recommendations to improve performance with tactics like caching, image optimization, and minification.

Otherwise, consider upgrading to a higher-performance hosting plan.

Security Breaches

Preventative measures include regular updates to your website, WordPress, and plugins.

You should also use strong passwords and a firewall.

To prepare for a security breach, turn on automated backups for your website, and practice the restoration process to minimize downtime when a breach occurs.

Technical Support

Whenever you encounter an issue with web hosting, it’s essential to communicate efficiently with customer support.

Best practices include:

• Logging any error messages that appear
• Writing detailed descriptions of the issues encountered with your site
• Outlining all the steps you’ve already taken to try to fix the problem.

We recommend sending screenshots to customer support whenever possible.

A rapidly evolving space like web hosting always offers exciting trends. From AI to green hosting, there’s a lot to get excited about in the future.

Your journey with web hosting may start with a fledgling website on a shared server, but it could expand into a robust dedicated server or a managed cloud hosting plan. Regardless of your path, web hosting is here to stay as the backbone of the internet.

We encourage you to continue researching web hosts and plans that may help your business scale. Also, keep an eye on emerging trends to ensure you have the best technology possible for a high-performance, secure, and scalable website.