So, what exactly is web hosting? In simple words, web hosting a service where you able to rent space on the internet to store all of your website data. If you are new to the web development or blogging field, you would have definitely came across this question. If you have created some basic website, you would know that your website consists of some html, CSS, Javascript, images and database on your local computer. If you have it on your own local computer, only you can access your own website on your browser but no one else can. This is definitely not practical if no other people can access your website except you.
So, to make your website accessible to others what you would need to do? All you need to do is, host your website so that others all around the world can access it. To host your website you have two options, in the first option you can host it on your own computer but the problem is that, if your computer shuts down, people will not be able to access your website anymore.
So, what you would do is, pay some third party hosting providers such as, Godaddy, Namecheap, Hostinger etc. These providers will give you a server on which all your website data will be stored. The data centers of these hosting providers are on 24/7 so they can run your website’s html, CSS, javascript, images and database files any time of the day without any issues. So your website will be running 24/7 and anyone who wants to access your website can basically just go to the link which your website’s url and he will be able to browse through it.
There are 3 types of web hostings you can get for your website.
1. Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is a cheapest hosting you can get, it is beginner friendly and best suited for websites having less traffic. If you are a beginner and your website is getting say less than a thousand visitors at a time, we recommend you to host your website on a shared hosting.
2. VPS or Virtual Private Server
If your website is getting more than thousand visitors at a time, the shared hosting may not be able to handle them all and your website might not even load for your visitors. This is the time where you should upgrade to VPS or virtual private server.
3. Dedicated Server
Dedicated server is the most expensive one among the hostings. Dedicated servers are mostly used by big companies such as Amazon, Google etc, where they get millions of visitors. Until and unless your website is getting the amount of traffic that your virtual private server is not able to handle anymore, you do not need to upgrade to dedicated server.
Following are some of the most used and trusted hosting providers you can go for.
- Godaddy
- Namecheap
- Hostgator
- Hostinger
- Bluehost
- Dreamhost
- Siteground
- A2 hosting
- GreenGeeks
- InMotion
- WPEngine
- Nexess