What is Web Hosting? And its Types

Web hosting is an online service that enables you to publish your website or web application on the Internet. When you sign up for a web hosting service, you basically rent some space on a physical server where you can store all the files and data necessary for your website to work properly.

A server is a physical computer that runs without any interruption so that your website is available all the time for anyone who wants to see it. Your web host is responsible for keeping that server up and running, protecting it from malicious attacks, and transferring your content — such as text, images, files, etc. — from the server to your visitors’ browsers.

Types of Web Hosting Packages

1. Shared Hosting

This type of hosting is the most common answer for most web hosting needs and it’s an excellent solution for most small businesses and personal blogs. With this type of hosting, you’re sharing one server with other clients. Websites hosted on the same server share all its resources, such as memory, computing power, disk space, and others.

• Pros :
• Low cost, excellent for small online business websites
• No need for specific technical knowledge
• Pre-configured server options
• User-friendly control panel — hPanel
• Maintenance and server administration is taken cared for you

• Cons :
• Little or no control over server configuration
• Traffic surges on other websites can slow down your website

2. VPS Hosting

When you’re using a Virtual Private Server — or VPS for short — you’re still sharing a server with other users. However, your web host allocates an entirely separate partition for you on that server. This means you get a dedicated server space and a reserved amount of resources and memory. In fact, VPS hosting can be great for medium-sized businesses with a rapidly growing number of websites and traffic.

• Pros :
• Dedicated server space
• Traffic surges on other websites have no effect on your performance
• Root access to the server
• Easy scalability and high customizability

• Cons :
• More expensive than other types of hosting
• Technical and server management knowledge is a must

3. Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is currently the most reliable solution on the market. With cloud hosting, your host provides you with a cluster of servers — your files and resources are replicated on each server. When one of the cloud servers is busy or encounters a problem, your traffic is automatically routed to another server in the cluster. This results in little to no downtime, which is excellent if you own a very busy website.

• Pros :
• Little to no downtime
• Server failures have no effect on your website
• Allocates resources on demand
• Pay-as-you-pricing strategy — you only pay for what you use
• More scalable than other web hosting types

• Cons :
• Hard to estimate the actual costs
• Root access is not always provided.

4. WordPress Hosting

WordPress hosting is a particular form of shared hosting, created for WordPress site owners. Your server is configured specifically for WordPress and your site comes with pre-installed plugins for crucial tasks, such as caching and security.

• Pros :
• Low cost and beginner-friendly
• One-click WordPress installation
• Good performance for WordPress sites
• Customer support team trained in WordPress issues
• Pre-installed WordPress plugins and themes

• Cons :
• Recommended only for WordPress sites, which can be a problem if you want to host more than one website on your server

5. Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting means that you have your own physical server that’s dedicated solely to your website. Therefore, you’re given incredible flexibility over how you want to manage your website. You can configure your server as you wish, choose the operating system and software you want to use, and set up the whole hosting environment according to your own needs.

• Pros :
• Full control over server configuration
• High reliability and security options
• Root access to your server

• Cons :
• High cost, more oriented towards larger businesses
• Technical and server management knowledge is a must