Everything You Need to Know About Hosting and Choosing the Right Web Host

What is web hosting?

All Web sites are stored on a server. Web site servers make the site available to users on the Internet. Web hosting is a service that stores or “hosts” web sites on servers.

“Web host” or “hosting provider” is the company that owns and maintains the server that hosts the site. In addition, these companies often provide useful resources, support and services such as domain registration and custom e-mail addresses.

Choosing the right web hosting for your site is an important process. The server affects the security, availability and performance of the site. Choosing the wrong plan or web hosting service can affect your site’s ability to expand and attract regular visitors.

Similarly, web hosting companies play an important role in keeping your site secure and ensuring that your site continues to function. If the host doesn’t provide proper customer support or poor server maintenance, your website could have problems.

Ideally, we recommend that you use a hosting plan that fits your specific needs and budget. Sure, you can choose the most expensive plan you can find, but unless you have a website that gets a huge amount of traffic, money is usually wasted.

If you’ve never signed up for hosting before, the range of services offered can be incredibly wide. So, we’ll introduce you to each type of hosting plan. Let me tell you about the best site for your site and how much you can spend on that site.

Different types of web hosting

The difference between web hosting plans is not just about cost and equipment. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the seven most common types of web hosting that users will use to help them make informed decisions.

Shared Hosting.

Shared hosting plans are the most common among website owners. In this type of plan, one server is shared by multiple users. This means that one computer (shared server) will host several (or hundreds) of websites.

You share resources with other users, but you cannot access that user’s files, personal information, or other data. The advantage of a shared plan is its low cost, because hosting providers can spread the cost of server maintenance across multiple users.

Shared hosting does not always have the best reputation, but the quality of service you receive will largely depend on your hosting provider. Some shared hosting plans are very limited, but others can cater to websites that receive a significant amount of traffic.

If you are in the market for web hosting, a shared hosting plan is probably the best option. There is a lot of competition in the web hosting world these days, so it’s not uncommon to find a shared plan for less than $5 a month.

Keep in mind that many web hosts want to tie users to multi-year contracts in order to get the best rates. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you’re confident in the web hosting you’re using, but it can be a threat if you’re signing up for your plan for the first time.

The benefits of shared hosting:

Finding a plan for less than $5 a month is not difficult.
Depending on the service provider, you can get excellent performance for small to medium-sized websites.

Disadvantages of shared hosting:

Shared plans often don’t work properly on high-traffic websites.
You often have to sign a multi-year contract to get the best rates.

Virtual hosting is the best place to go:

Newbies should choose shared hosting. Choosing the right provider will give you all the tools you need to work on your project and plenty of room to expand over time.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting

A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is one step above a shared plan in terms of performance and customizability. A VPS plan includes multiple virtual sectioned partitions on a single physical server. Each container or VPS acts as a complete system dedicated to the site.

In practice, a VPS provides a higher level of isolation between users, even if they share the same physical server. Nevertheless, this option can improve performance and security. In addition, depending on your hosting provider, you can set up your VPS from scratch to get exactly the resources you need.

If you know what you’re looking for, a single-core VPS with 1GB of RAM is enough to run a simple WordPress website. However, it can be difficult to determine the exact amount of resources needed for each new project. If you are new to web hosting, a VPS may not be an attractive option.

Since VPS hosting doesn’t allow you immediate access to a control panel, you may need to use the command line to set up the server and website. Without experience, this can be a complicated process.

Because VPSs vary across the board in terms of resources, prices can vary. Like shared hosting, it’s not uncommon for VPS to start at around $5 per month. However, if you’re planning to use a VPS, we recommend that you set aside more than $10-$20 per month for hosting.

Advantages of VPS hosting:

You can get a full dedicated resource for your website.
Depending on the hosting, you can customize the VPS according to your specific requirements.

Disadvantages of VPS hosting:

Calculating the amount of resources needed can be tricky.
Setting up a VPS often requires some technical knowledge.

The optimal place to host a VPS:

If you want full control of your server without spending hundreds of dollars on a dedicated plan, we recommend a VPS. This also becomes an attractive option because of its high level of customization options.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is where things start to get complicated. When people talk about “the cloud,” they usually mean a distributed VPS. Instead of keeping a virtual server on one computer, it’s hosted all over a network.

This computer network is what we call the “cloud.” The advantage of this setup is that you can easily use the network to expand server resources as needed. In addition, you don’t have to worry about downtime and data loss thanks to the built-in system redundancy.

All of this is great on paper, but cloud hosting is not always convenient for beginners. For example, many cloud hosting providers charge by the hour. “Spin up” an instance (the default VPS), set it up as needed, and then accumulate payments.

Cloud hosting can be very cheap or exorbitantly expensive, depending on the server configuration. This is the type of setup that some big Internet companies like Netflix use to boost their operations. But something like a Netflix hosting setup on a regular website would be unnecessary.

The benefits of cloud hosting:

Provides a high level of scalability.
You can configure the server as you see fit.

Disadvantages of cloud hosting:

Cloud hosting payment structures can be complicated.
Not suitable for users with no experience in setting up a server.

Cloud hosting is the best place to host:

If you want to reconfigure your server and provide a high level of scalability, cloud hosting is worth considering.