What are web hosting services?

If you've found yourself asking " What is a web hosting service and how does it work? " we've written a detailed explanation with all the information you need to help you understand the service before picking the right one for your website needs. In a nutshell, web hosting is a service that makes your site or web application accessible on the internet - and is generally considered as one of the most important elements needed when building a website of any sort. Web hosts maintain and run physical servers that house websites, and there's lots to choose from depending on your website's needs and your budget. From shared hosting, to VPS and WordPress hosting - the type of server space that you rent to store your website's data can be specifically tailored depending on the web hosting service you choose and what package you select from the provider.

What is shared hosting?

Shared hosting is a simple scheme where multiple websites are stored on the same web server (a type of computer). One benefit of shared hosting is its simplicity. You don't have to spend any time maintaining the server, because your provider does that. All you need to do is work on your own site. Sharing a web server means sharing the costs, too, and with sometimes hundreds of websites on the same server, that usually means rock-bottom prices. The big problem with shared hosting is you’re also sharing your server's system resources: CPU time, RAM, storage and network connection. There's only so much to go around, and the more sites on your server, the slower and less dependable your own website is likely to be. Shared hosting is still the best choice in many situations. If you're creating a simple blog, a site for family, a local club, anything with very light traffic where no-one will care much if the site is a little slow occasionally, the shared option is ideal. It's very easy to use, and you can get decent plans from many providers for around $2 to $4 a month. But if this is something more important, a web store, maybe a business site, then a slow or unreliable website will drive visitors away. It’s well worth upgrading to something more powerful.

VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting is a clever technology which divides a single physical server into multiple server environments. Log onto a VPS and you'll have access to what looks like the full server. This is far more complex than shared hosting, but it also gives you much more control. You can install any apps, tweak any server settings, even replace the entire operating system if you like. There will be other VPS environments on the same physical server (though not as many other accounts as with shared hosting), reducing your performance a little. But you'll have your own allocation of network bandwidth, RAM, storage and CPU time. These won't be shared with other customers, which means your site should see higher and more consistent speeds than you'll get with shared hosting. Upgrading is often very easy, too. If website traffic grows and you need additional resources - more CPU time, extra RAM, a higher bandwidth allowance - then you can typically add them to your plan in a click or two, and they'll be available almost immediately. This extra power comes at a price, but it might be much less than you think. Hostinger's cheapest shared hosting plan is $1.99 a month on the four-year plan; its cheapest VPS plan is just $2.99, again over four years. It's a very basic plan, but at $8.99 for a one-off month, it's not expensive to see if a VPS could work for you.

What is dedicated hosting?

As the name suggests, dedicated hosting is a plan where a physical server is dedicated to a single client. That means no more speed issues because you're sharing bandwidth, RAM or CPU time with other accounts: the entire system is yours alone. As you're renting the entire physical server, most providers allow you to build it with whatever hardware you need. You can typically choose your CPU, storage drives and type (cheap and high capacity HDDs, smaller but faster SSDs), operating system, bandwidth allowance and more. This can be expensive. Even budget providers like Namecheap charge a monthly $50-$60 for their most basic dedicated servers, and Liquid Web's top-of-the-range enterprise models might cost $500 or more (although they're aimed at huge sites which might have a million page views a month). There's more work involved in managing a dedicated server, too. With shared hosting, if your server crashes, the provider support team should notice and fix or reboot it. But if you're running the server, all that is up to you, unless you pay even more to the provider to handle it for you. If you absolutely need top performance and complete control of your server, though, a dedicated plan is probably the way to go.

What is WordPress hosting?

WordPress is a popular free platform which makes it easy to build all kinds of websites, from a simple one-page offering, to a blog, a professional business site, even a full web store. Many web hosting providers offer WordPress plans which simplify the process of setting up your site, and often include tools to boost speeds and keep the site running more smoothly. Buy a plan and WordPress usually comes pre-installed, for example, so you won't have to set it up yourself. WP Engine throws in some stylish WordPress themes, allowing you to create a gorgeous-looking site even if you've zero design skills. And most plans make at least some effort to automatically update WordPress with new patches as they arrive, reducing your site maintenance hassles. If your WordPress needs are very simple, you may not need a specialist WordPress hosting plan. Most shared hosting plans have easy WordPress installation and a handful of other relevant features, and Hostinger's all-in-one shared hosting product gives you all kinds of valuable extras - automated updates, a WordPress site-building wizards, performance accelerators, more - from as little as $2.99 a month.

What is managed hosting?

Shared hosting accounts are generally very simple to operate, but higher end products - WordPress, VPS hosting, dedicated servers - often require running all kinds of maintenance tasks. You might need to test and update WordPress plugins, install operating system patches, spot and troubleshoot server errors, maybe reboot a server if it locks up or crashes. Buy a managed web hosting plan and some or all of these tasks will be carried out by your hosting provider's regular support team. You'll potentially save real time and hassle, and if problems do crop up, they'll be speedily addressed by the people best qualified to fix them. Sounds great-- so why would anyone do anything else? Cost, mostly. Hostwinds' 4-core 8GB RAM VPS costs $59.99 fully managed, for instance, but only $38.99 for the unmanaged DIY version, a big drop in price. One key message here is to keep this in mind when comparing WordPress, VPS or dedicated plans between hosting providers. Host A may look seriously cheap, but are you comparing a managed with an unmanaged plan? Be sure to check the small print. There's no precise definition of 'managed', either, so don't simply assume a managed plan means you'll have absolutely no maintenance to do. Every provider has its own definition of what's covered and what isn't, so check it out, make sure you understand exactly what's covered before you buy.

What is email hosting?

One of the big advantages of registering a domain is you can have your own custom email address (Steve@thebestbuilder.com is far more impressive and business-like than builder457@gmail.com.) But it's not always as easy as you might expect. You probably won't get email when you register a domain, for instance. Most hosting plans include some email support, but it may not be as powerful as you need, especially for business use. You'll often see strict limits on Inbox size, the number of accounts you can create, even the number of emails you can send a day. Email hosting is a service which allows you to send and receive emails via a custom domain. You don't have to buy email hosting from the same provider as your web hosting, and in fact you don't need web hosting at all: just register a domain, buy an email hosting plan and you're ready to start creating and using all those name@yoursite.com email accounts. Signing up for email hosting may get you a better service. The top providers give you plenty of Inbox space, support large attachments, don't hold you back with annoying usage limits and provide built-in spam, phishing and malware filters to keep you safe. This could be a feature well worth adding to your hosting line-up, and it's generally inexpensive; many email hosting plans cost around $1-$2.50 a month. But if you currently have a budget shared hosting plan, keep in mind that upgrading might get you better email features and a bunch of other goodies, too. Check your provider's hosting feature lists to find out exactly what you get.

What else should I consider when picking a web host?

Three or four-year hosting plans can have appealingly low prices, but they don't always work out. If you're unhappy with a host, or your site grows and the old plan can't handle the increased traffic, you may have to buy something else early. It's safer to sign up for a year (or even less), at least initially, and perhaps choose a VPS or similar plan where it's easy to add more resources as required. Uptime (the percentage of the day that your website is available) is a key stat for any serious website. If a potential customer can't find or use your website, at best they'll think you're unprofessional, at worst they'll give up on you entirely and go elsewhere. Web hosting providers often quote uptime figures such as '99.9%', but these don't always cover the issues you might expect. Check the small print carefully for any hidden catches. Look for a Service Level Agreement (SLA), too, especially for dedicated and other high-end hosting plans. These go beyond vague website promises to guarantee uptime, support response times and other elements of the service, and describe the compensation you'll get if the target is missed. And if you're looking for more specific advice on one type of hosting in particular, chances are we've an article that can help. Get started with our guides to the best free web hosting , best WordPress hosting , best VPS hosting , best managed hosting and best Minecraft server hosting . Each article has links to other guides and reviews where you'll find out more.

Web hosting features explained

Domain name . It’s the address people type in their browsers to visit your website, like techradar.com. Many hosting plans include one domain name for free for the first year of registration. Choose a .com domain to establish your credibility or .online for an affordable alternative. SSL certificate . This feature encrypts the connection between your website and your visitors’ browsers, preventing hackers from accessing it. Hosting providers usually provide one for free from Let’s Encrypt . Some also offer a premium version as an add-on, which can provide a better warranty and level of verification. Unmetered bandwidth . This means the hosting provider won’t monitor or cap the amount of data transferred, so there’s no need to worry about extra bandwidth usage fees once the website’s traffic grows. Each company has a different policy on unmetered resources, so make sure to read their terms and conditions beforehand. SSD disk space . Compared to HDDs, SSDs are a much more reliable storage solution. They’re less prone to disk failures and can serve data twenty times faster, speeding up your website’s performance. cPanel . With this control panel, new users can manage their hosting via an intuitive interface – no technical skills required. You can access different features, check out your resource usage, and configure the domain’s settings within a few clicks. WordPress auto-installer . This feature lets you set up WordPress in a few clicks from the hosting’s control panel. That way, there’s no need to download and upload the CMS files yourself. Website migration . Most hosting providers allow transferring an existing site from another host to their servers. Typically, you have to insert some information about the website, submit a ticket to their customer support team, and wait a few hours for the migration to initiate. Custom HTML and CSS . The control panel should provide access to your website’s files, including HTML and CSS, via the file manager or an FTP client. Feel free to edit them to customize the site’s front end to your liking.

Best web hosting 2023: Our experts review the top services

Best web hosting 2023: Our experts review the top services | TechRadar