Glossary

Hosting

Renting infrastructure to keep your website or application available on the internet.

Definition

Web hosting is the service that runs the servers your site lives on. Categories range from shared hosting (many sites on one server, cheapest) to VPS (a slice of a server with full control), to dedicated servers, to cloud platforms (elastic compute on demand). Each has different cost, performance and security characteristics.

Managed hosting handles updates, backups and basic security; unmanaged is cheaper but you do the operations work. For most small sites, a managed shared or VPS plan is a sensible default.

Example

You buy a $5/month VPS, install a web server, point your domain at the VPS's IP, and your blog is live. You're now responsible for keeping the server patched.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to know how to operate a server?

Not for managed hosting. For unmanaged VPS, basic Linux skills are essential.

Is hosting the same as a domain?

No. The domain is the address; hosting is the building. You typically need both.