What is web hosting, and what should you actually pay for?

Hosting is the computer your website lives on. Your domain is the address that points to it. They are separate purchases, often from separate companies, and confusing them causes a surprising amount of trouble.

The main types

Shared hosting

Many websites on one server, sharing its resources. Cheapest option, and adequate for a small brochure site with modest traffic. The trade-off is that a busy neighbour can slow you down.

Cloud hosting

Resources drawn from a pool that can scale. Better for traffic spikes, campaigns and growing stores. Costs more, and the pricing model is usually usage-based rather than flat.

Managed hosting

The infrastructure plus somebody responsible for updates, backups, security and monitoring. You are paying for the operational work, not just the server. For most businesses without an in-house technical person, this is the sensible choice.

What actually matters in a hosting plan

• Backup frequency, where backups are stored, and whether restores have been tested
• Whether SSL is included and renews automatically
• Server location, since a server closer to your visitors responds faster
• Whether a staging environment is available for safe changes
• The renewal price, not just the discounted first year
• How support is reached and what response time is actually committed

Claims worth ignoring

"Unlimited" storage and bandwidth are always limited by an acceptable-use policy — read it. "99.99% uptime" is meaningful only if there is a stated remedy when it is missed. And a very low first-year price with a much higher renewal is a marketing structure, not a bargain.