Types of Web Hosting

Websites are hosted on servers, which are powerful pieces of hardware that house websites and data related to those sites.

Every component of your website is stored on a server and accessed through your web host. This includes elements like files, text, images, videos — everything.

Servers are physically located in data centers, which are typically run and managed by different web hosting companies.

Web hosts provide the technology and server space required for your website to be accessed on the Internet. This allows users to search for your site and view your web pages online.

Different Types of Web Hosting

All websites are different. That’s why there are different servers to meet their needs.

Multiple websites might share a single server. Meanwhile, some websites have a server to themselves.

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges when setting up a website is deciding what type of web hosting plan you’ll use. There are a lot of options to pick from, and they vary widely in price, so you’ll need to be sure you’re making the right decision.

Choosing the best web hosting plan isn’t just about the cost, though. An e-commerce site will have different needs than a WordPress blog, just to give you one example. Selecting a plan that offers you the right level of resources and features is essential, so you can set up your website for success from the start.

In this article, we’ll explain the different types of web hosting plans you can choose from, discuss their pros and cons, and help you decide between them. Let’s get right to it!

What Is Web Hosting?

Every website you’ve ever visited lives on a server. Most web servers are computers, much like the ones you’re used to, only configured from the ground up to display content online and handle web traffic.

When you sign up for web hosting services, you’re essentially renting server space — or in some cases, the whole computer — from a provider. You can use that space and a limited amount of resources to build and maintain a website that anyone can visit.

The concept is very simple on paper. However, hosting plans vary a lot in what they offer and how they work. For example, trying to run your site on a web server with only 512 MB of RAM or an old single-core processor would be as painful as trying to work on a computer with similar specs.

As your website grows, so do its requirements. That’s why when you look for hosting, you can find a broad range of plans that range from inexpensive to bespoke.

Various hosting plan options

Ideally, you’ll want to use a type of plan that fits your specific needs and your budget. Opting for the most expensive hosting plan you can find works, but it’s usually a waste of money unless you have a website that gets massive amounts of traffic every day.

If you’ve never had to sign up for hosting before, the sheer range of web hosting services available can be intimidating. That’s why throughout the next few sections, we’re going to introduce you to each individual type of hosting plan. We’ll talk about which might be the best fit for your site, as well as how much you can expect to spend on hosting solutions.

7 Different Types of Web Hosting 

The differences between hosting plans go well beyond costs and hardware. For example, in some instances, you’ll find entire hosting services built around specific platforms such as WordPress Hosting. With that in mind, let’s look at the seven most common types of web hosting you’ll run across, so you’re well-equipped to make an informed decision.

1. Shared Hosting

Shared hosting plans are the most common choice for website owners. On this type of plan, a single server is shared among multiple users. That means a single computer (a shared server) will host several (or even hundreds of) websites.

Although you’ll share resources with other users, you don’t have access to their files, private information, or any other data. The upside to shared plans is that they tend to be cheap, since hosting providers can divide server upkeep costs among multiple users.

Shared hosting doesn’t always have the best reputation, but the quality of the service you get will depend largely on your hosting provider. While some shared hosting plans are very limiting, others can handle websites that get decent amounts of traffic.

VPS Hosting

VPS stands for “virtual private server.” This hosting type is a step above shared web hosting. When a website outgrows its shared plan, it’s common for owners to upgrade to VPS hosting.

With a virtual private server, your website will still be sharing a single server with other websites. However, the number of websites you’ll be sharing it with is significantly lower.

The main server is split into multiple virtual servers—hence the name. These virtual servers can be customized by individual websites.

For those of you who want to run custom configurations on your server, you can get optional root access with your VPS hosting plan.

Your site will perform better due to having more resources. This means you’ll benefit from faster loading times and higher uptime rates. You won’t have to worry about another website causing your site to crash.

Most websites do not need a dedicated server (we’ll get to that next). But a VPS gives you some of the benefits of dedicated hosting at a fraction of the price.

A virtual private server is like renting an apartment on your own. You won’t be sharing a kitchen, bathroom, living room, or other common spaces with any roommates. This gives you much more freedom and flexibility to do what you want with the space.

Dedicated Server

Dedicated servers are typically considered the best choice in web hosting. That’s because you have a dedicated server that belongs to you, and you alone. You typically get more benefits with dedicated hosting too such as more uptime and faster speeds.

However, it comes with a catch: This is the most expensive type of web hosting.

Since you won’t be sharing resources or anything else with other websites, your site will operate at peak performance.

Websites being hosted on a dedicated server have complete technical control over the server settings. You choose the software, configurations, and anything else you need.

If you get a dedicated server, you should expect extremely high uptime rates and lightning-fast loading speeds. You won’t have to worry about traffic from other websites impacting your performance.

A dedicated server is like owning a house. If you want to build a fence, plant a tree in the yard, build a patio, or renovate the kitchen, everything is completely up to you.

Cloud Server

Cloud servers are like a hybrid version of a VPS—but more cost-effective.

Cloud hosting plans come with multiple remote servers. Each server has different responsibilities. If one of the servers is compromised or has a problem, the other servers on the network will take over those responsibilities and pick up the slack.

That’s what makes cloud web hosting such an appealing alternative to traditional web hosting.

With cloud servers, your website will have higher uptime rates and won’t have as much unexpected downtime due to server errors. Your site will remain fluid and perform at a high level.

With traditional hosting, there is always a constant dilemma between server resources and price. You don’t want to overpay for a plan with resources that you’ll never use, but at the same time, you don’t want to exceed the resources of a lesser plan and negatively affect the performance of your website.

Unless you know exactly how many pages views your site will get per month, then this is nearly impossible to predict.

But website traffic is never an exact science. At times, you’ll experience spikes or surges to your site—which is great news. You just need to make sure your plan can accommodate that traffic.

That’s why cloud hosting is the ultimate solution to this dilemma. The best cloud hosting plans allow you to scale your resources on demand.

You pay for what you use, and you can always adjust these resources within your admin dashboard.

Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting involves selling hosting services to clients. As such, it is definitely not for everyone. If you’re building a small website from scratch or just looking to host a website on your own, you’ll want to look elsewhere.

But if you want to sell web hosting to other sites, then you should look into reseller hosting plans.

Reseller hosting is basically white-label web hosting. You buy hosting from a provider and then resell those services to your clients.

As the reseller, you get to choose the pricing options for your clients. Since you’ll be paying wholesale rates to the provider, then you have the opportunity to make substantial profit margins.

LINUX HOSTING

Linux hosting is a type of web hosting that uses the Linux operating system. It has been gaining in popularity because it can be cheaper and easier to manage than other types of web hosting. In this article, we will discuss what Linux web hosting is, who should use it, how to choose a host for your website, and how you can get started with Linux hosting today!

Most shared web hosting services use Linux as the operating system, and because it's free most cheap web hosting providers use it as it's more affordable than other types of operating systems. The LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) bundle is a preferred web server configuration because it's open-source and works for the majority of applications on the Internet.

Linux hosting is a type of web hosting that allows you to build your website on the Linux operating system. This article will discuss what this means, why it is important, and how it can be used to set up your site.

The most popular types of Linux hosting are LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) or LEMP (Linux Nginx MySQL PHP). These types of servers are often preferred because they allow for more control over the server and therefore provide better security and performance than other options like Windows-based hosting.

Linux hosting is what we do at Hostgator. We offer a variety of Linux-based products and services that will help you manage your web presence in an efficient and cost-effective way. The Linux web hosting services include the following!

Linux is definitely a top contender in the server market today. As web hosting providers begin to boom, quality Linux hosting can be difficult to find.

 After months of searching for a cheap and reliable Linux hosting service, I finally found one. By combing through hosting companies' discussion forums and by personal experience, I have come up with the following list of quality Linux hosting options for webmasters on a budget

cPanel Hosting

cPanel is a Linux-based control panel used to conveniently manage your web hosting. The system operates similarly to a desktop application. With cPanel, you can perform actions from a user-friendly dashboard instead of running complex commands

cPanel hosting is essentially Linux-based web hosting that includes an installation of cPanel. The hosting plan provides a cPanel account to control your web hosting elements.

With that in mind, cPanel web hosting can be used in different types of hosting, including shared, dedicated, and managed WordPress hosting.

This control panel is a good choice for beginners looking for a straightforward control panel solution. However, just like other hosting control panels, cPanel has its benefits and drawbacks.