What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is the service that makes your website available to be viewed by others on the Internet. A web host provides space on its server, so that other computers around the world can access your website by means of a network or modem. There are literally thousands of web hosting services available today, ranging from free services with limited options to expensive, specialized business web hosting services. Which option you choose depends primarily on how you plan to use your website and how much you want to spend.

The 3 Main Types of Web Hosting:

Domains
SHARED HOSTING
Shared hosting means the domain takes up space in a web server along with other websites. Think of it as a partition in your hardrive. One site is located virtually in one partition in the server and each site shares the resources like memory, bandwidth and CPU provided by the host. This is the basic form of hosting suitable for domains that do not use extensive software and programs to run the site and can simply run on the standard features offered by the web hosting service. Because multiple websites share the resources, bandwidth is usually limited, and ideally, it should be equally distributed to the domains. For sites with high-volume traffic, which require higher memory, CPU time, and bandwidth, shared hosting may not be ideal.


VIRTUAL PRIVATE HOSTING (VPS)
Compared to shared hosting, virtual dedicated hosting relies on multiple servers where your domain will be placed. Your site will be located and split virtually in multiple servers. You will still be sharing the resources with other servers, but since your site will be occupying multiple servers, any sudden increase in bandwidth from other sites won’t slow down your site because you have alternative sources from other servers. This higher capacity is suitable for domains with low to medium traffic.

DEDICATED HOSTING
For medium to high traffic sites, a dedicated hosting will be ideal. No sharing of servers because your site has its own dedicated server where all resources, CPU time, bandwidth are for your site alone. You can get high levels of data traffic without server downtime problems. But of course, this type of web hosting service is more expensive than shared or virtual dedicated hosting.

* You may get more specific and lean towards "Wordpress" or "E-Commerce" platforms when developing your new website. The difference here is that these are aspects that can be found in any of the three main types of web hosting and are not really categories by themselves. That being said, some web hosting companies put a larger emphasis ang give you more resources related to said platforms. We outline top 10 web hosts for Wordpress and E-commerce on our site.

How Much Will It Cost?

Web hosting costs vary widely from company to company, from region to region, and obviously, depending on what services you require. Price is, of course, a concern for every business, but it's not the whole story. The most important thing is that you get the level of web hosting service your company needs. So, after you've narrowed the field down to a handful of web hosting companies that offer the services you're looking for, you can start comparing prices.
Acceptable price ranges are:

Shared:  $1 to $10 per month
VPS:  $10 to $50 per month
Dedicated:  $50 to $200 per month

Click Here to view our top 10 web hosting providers > > >

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