While creating a website, in addition to designing your site and choosing what to put on it, you’ll also need to pick a suitable web hosting plan. This might seem like a simple task. However, it can be quite difficult.
There are quite a few different types of hosting you can choose from, including shared, VPS, cloud, dedicated, and managed web hosting. There is also reseller hosting, but it’s a little bit different from the other Hosting services as it is not only hosting for your website but also a service you can sell for a commission. You can read more about reseller hosting if you want to find out what it’s all about.
However, for now, we’ll stick to the five main types of Hosting and show you what they can do for you. And after reading this, you’ll be able to see what each web Hosting service has to offer and decide which is the best choice for you.
So, without further ado, let’s begin.
What Is Web Hosting?
Before we get into the main topic, we’ll cover the basics of web hosting so that you know what it is and why you need it.
Web hosting is a service that allows you to put your website online. Without it, your website will only be available to you, and no one else will be able to find it.
When you buy a web hosting plan, your website will be put on a server that will transmit your website online. Those are the essentials of web hosting.
The web hosting service you get can affect your site in a number of ways. For example, it can affect your website’s speed which is important for your traffic and the number of visitors you get. Your web hosting can also affect how much content you can put on your site.
Also, every web hosting plan is different, and there are many types of services you can get. For example, some types are suitable for smaller websites, while others can support large websites and in-house systems. That’s why it is critical for you to know about all the different types of Hosting services there are.
Types of Web Hosting
The five main types of web hosting you can get include the following:
- Shared Hosting – Shared Hosting is the most common type of Hosting that most people get. With this type of Hosting, your website is stored on a server shared among multiple users. Hundreds of websites can share a single server at the same time. This type of Hosting is the most affordable web hosting option, making it ideal for those who are just starting off online. It offers the least amount of bandwidth, data, and features, but it’s good enough for small websites without many visitors.
- VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting – VPS Hosting is one step above Shared Hosting. You’ll still share a server with other people, but this time, you’ll get your own dedicated spot with your own resources and better isolation. In other words, your site’s performance and the resources you’ll get to use won’t be affected by other users as they would with Shared Hosting. And while we’re talking about virtual servers, we should mention that there is another virtual server option you can get – VDS. The main difference between VPS and VDS is their price, but both are ideal for medium-sized websites with a larger number of visitors.
- Cloud Hosting – Cloud Hosting is a type of web hosting that hosts your website on a whole network of virtual servers. It is highly scalable and suitable for businesses that need to increase or decrease their resources frequently. For example, if you have a business that booms during the holidays or summer, cloud hosting might be good for you since you’ll be able to increase your bandwidth easily to handle the increased number of visitors. After the season is over, you can go back to your normal plan so that you don’t pay for additional resources you won’t be using.
- Dedicated Hosting – With Dedicated Hosting, you’ll be getting an entire server just for yourself instead of getting a space on a server shared with others. It is a more expensive option and is suitable for large websites with a lot of traffic. If you get a Dedicated Hosting plan, you can configure your server to your liking and customize it to fit your needs.
- Managed Hosting – Managed Hosting is not really a type of plan. Namely, it is a type of service. If you get Managed Hosting, your Hosting provider will take care of your server maintenance, setups, updates, etc. It is suitable for those who don’t know how to manage a server or don’t have the time to do it themselves. You can get managed shared, VPS, and Dedicated Hosting.
Last Words
As you can see, there are enough types of web hosting services for everyone. So, to choose the right one, you need to determine what kind of website you want to create, how much content you want it to have, and how many visitors you expect to get on a monthly basis.
After you determine all those things, you’ll easily be able to decide which hosting service is right for you and your site!