What is Domain and Hosting?
Difference Between Domain and Hosting
A Domain name is an address of your website that Internet users type in a browser to access your website. Whereas Web hosting is a type of Internet hosting service that provides storage space to individuals or companies to make their website accessible worldwide.
What is a Domain Name?
A domain name is identifying texts which appear as a part of your website’s address. It depends on the domain extension you have used for your website.
You can classify a website category using top-level domains. There are more than 5000 types of top-level domains that you can register. This number is continuously increasing. For example: .pro, .co, .in, .us, .ca, .academy, etc. Although the popular top-level domains are .com, .net, .org, etc.
A domain name is often confused with a website, yet they are two different entities. It is also described as your website name that serves as an address for other people to access your website on the Internet.
Domain names have mainly been divided into two parts separated by a dot. The first part is the brand name, which can combine numbers and letters, like Monster135, whereas the second part is a domain extension like .com, .org, .net, .UK, etc.
What Are the Main TLDs for Domains?
A Top-Level Domain (TLD) is the last section of a domain name or the short part which follows the dot. TLDs are also called domain suffixes.
ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is responsible for managing domain names and IP addresses. ICANN categorizes TLDs as follows:
- Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD)
- Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD)
- Infrastructure Top-Level Domains (iTLD)
- Sponsored Top-Level Domains (sTLD)
Types of Domain Extensions
Some of the most popular TLDs are:
- .com – Commercial
- .net – Commercial
- .org – Commercial
- .edu – Educational facilities like universities
- .gov – For government agencies/entities
- .mil – Military
What is Web Hosting?
A web host is an internet hosting service that allows individuals or companies to make their website accessible worldwide. According to your budget and specifications, many hosting service providers offer various hosting services.
Web hosting is the storage and delivery of the files, which make up a website. Website files are hosted on a server that allows the website to be displayed on the Internet. We can think of web hosting as your website’s home and the domain name as the address to get there.
As web hosting services actually host your website, it is the first thing, along with a domain name, that you need before it can be built. Every website on the Internet needs web hosting.
What are the Types of Web Hosting?
There are different web hosting services provided by web hosting companies. Here are four types that are widely purchased by website owners.
- Shared Hosting: In a shared hosting plan, you share the server with other website owners. That means you share the physical server as well as some software applications with other users.
- Dedicated Hosting: Dedicated Hosting is a private hosting plan where you get the complete web server. Here, you are neither sharing your server nor resources. However, your purchase hosting cost will be high.
- Collocated Hosting: In this hosting service, you buy your server but locate the server on the hosting provider’s premises. You will be completely responsible for your server. In these kinds of hosting plans, you also get full control and access rights.
- Cloud Hosting: Cloud hosting allows you to automatically increase/decrease server resources based on your website traffic. The billing is done on a per hour basis, and there is no fixed cost involved in it.
It is the most in-demand hosting type for web apps currently in the market, as developers do not need to worry about their hosting infrastructure. The term cloud is derived from the network diagram, where a cloud symbol denotes network infrastructure. - VPS Hosting: It is ideal for people who need more than a shared plan but still do not require a dedicated server because of a strict budget.
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. This means it is your server, but virtually there are many more VPS’s on a single machine. You can have VPS hosting packages if you want to learn server management. - Reseller Hosting: It provides the ability to host multiple domains/websites. Hosting services may be resold to other parties. Reseller hosting accounts share a server with other reseller accounts.
- Managed WordPress Hosting: WordPress Hosting is a hosting package for people who want to build their sites on the back of the popular WordPress Content Management System (CMS) from WordPress.org. Managed WordPress hosting server providers know the CMS in and out so they can easily troubleshoot your WordPress problems.
What is the Difference Between Web Hosting and Domain?
The easiest way to understand the difference between domain and hosting is to think of them this way:
If a domain name is your house’s address, then web hosting is the actual house that the address points.
A domain name is an address forwarding service. You need to type the address of the website they wish to visit. It directly points to the IP address, which contains your website.
The main reason behind using a domain name instead of IP addresses is that names are easier to remember than long string numbers. An IP address is a series of numbers, such as 155.155.234.45. This IP address points to the location on the server, which includes your website files.
So, we can say that the domain name points to your IP address, which points to your website. That way, users around the world can easily access your website by just typing your website domain name into their web browser.
How a Domain and Web Hosting Work Together For building a Website?
Domain and web hosting work hand in hand. Imagine that your IP address and the domain name act as an address of your website, and web hosting is the actual house.
Without web hosting, your websites cannot exist on the Internet. A domain name acts as a boundary to sync that points to your web hosting provider.
How a Domain Name and Web Hosting are Co-related?
Domain names and web hosting are two different services. However, they work together to create a website. A Domain Name System (DNS) is similar to a massive address book, which is constantly updated and contains information about various domain names assigned to different entities.
There is an address of the web hosting service behind each domain name for storing the website files. Without domain names, people can not find your website, and without web hosting, you can’t build a website.
Important things to consider while selecting the Web hosting Provider
Here are some important things you should focus on while selecting your Web hosting provider:
- Customer support: Pre/Post-sales support is a vital factor, as it helps you create and maintain your website efficiently.
- Pricing: You should check the pricing and plan to ensure that your company does not need to bear the burden of huge web-hosting costs.
- Datacenter location: It is another important factor. Suppose you are looking to buy hosting in your country. For example, You should also opt for a hosting provider who has a data center in the UK or a nearby location like France or Germany.
- Hosting Reviews: You should research the web hosting provider and check various sites’ reviews before selecting the hosting service.
- Speed: Speed is very much important, especially in the early stage of your website development. If your website responds slowly, it could cost you thousands or maybe millions in lost potential sales. If you want a fast web host, you should select the web host, which meets the requirements of the core web vitals.
Important Things to Remember While Choosing a Domain Name for Your Website
Here are some important things you should remember while selecting a domain name for your website:
- Evaluate the purpose of your website. For example, you want to create a website for your business, plan for personal use, or create a website for your organization.
- You need to make sure that your website’s domain name must be unique and not yet registered.
The domain name should be easy to remember and not too long. - Do not buy domain names that are similar to existing sites or what we call trademarked domain names.
- Avoid including numbers on domain names.