Web hosting is the service that makes your website accessible on the internet. A hosting provider allocates space on a physical or virtual server, stores your website files (HTML, CSS, images, databases), and serves them to visitors when they type your domain name into a browser.
Types of Web Hosting
- Shared Hosting — Multiple websites share the same server and its resources. Cheapest option; suitable for small sites with low traffic.
- VPS Hosting — A physical server is partitioned into multiple virtual machines. More resources and control than shared hosting.
- Dedicated Hosting — An entire physical server exclusively for your site. Most expensive; highest performance and control.
- Cloud Hosting — Resources are spread across multiple servers in the cloud. Scales up or down on demand. Pay for what you use.
- Managed WordPress Hosting — Hosting optimised and managed specifically for WordPress sites.
Key Hosting Metrics
- Uptime — Percentage of time the server is online. Look for 99.9% or higher SLA.
- Bandwidth — Amount of data transferred per month.
- Storage — Disk space for files and databases.
- Server location — Closer to your audience means lower latency.