Web hosting may be the internet’s most underspoken pillar. Everything you love about being online—podcasts, memes, articles, tweets, websites, online gaming, Netflix and YouTube content—lives on a server that an individual or company pays to keep up and running so that you can access it. In short, web hosting is an invisible, essential element of the online experience.If you’re considering building a website, there are several basic web hosting aspects that you should be familiar with before starting the project. Although it’s relatively easy to sign up and use a provider’s supplied website-building software to swiftly create an attractive, functional front end, there are a lot of related terms and concepts to wrap your head around. As you’ll soon see, some of it is confusing, if not contradictory. Here’s what you need to know about web hosting before opening an account.
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1. There’s a Big Difference Between Hosting TypesIf you’ve spent time on a web host’s website, you’ve probably seen terms like shared, VPS, dedicated, cloud, WordPress, and reseller. They represent the different web hosting types, but not every web host offers them all. Plus, the hosting types differ from one another in significant ways.Nearly every web host offers shared hosting, the cheapest form of web hosting. With shared hosting, your website shares a server and server resources with many other sites. If you want to keep your web hosting budget small and don’t expect much traffic, shared hosting is the way to go. You should expect to pay $10 or less per month for this web hosting tier. Since you’re sharing resources with other sites, you should be prepared for the occasional slowdown should one of your site-mates attract many visitors. Free web hosting is available if you’re on a tight budget, but it has notable caveats (typically ads and extremely low server specs). Larger businesses that expect big site traffic should pick VPS or dedicated hosting, each offering increasingly powerful server specs. VPS hosting is like a high-powered version of shared hosting, except that far fewer websites share a server’s resources, which are also more segregated. VPS hosting costs more than shared hosting, but you should pay less than $100 per month.Dedicated hosting places your site on a server all by itself so it can leverage the server’s full power. This is the most expensive type of hosting; you may end up paying $100 per month or more for this raw power.Reseller hosting lets you start a branded web hosting business without worrying about building the infrastructure from scratch. WordPress hosting lets you build a site in an environment that caters to the world’s most popular content management system. And cloud hosting? That’s an entirely different beast that lets you easily scale website power across multiple servers, though not every web host offers it. Yet, the pricing for these hosting tiers is all over the place, so shopping around is vital.Web hosts generally offer lower rates for longer commitments. For example, a server plan could cost you $10 per month, but may drop to $8 if renewed annually instead of monthly. Granted, you are expected to pay the entire bill up front, but it could save you precious dollars in the long run. Note, however, that this is not universal and largely depends on the web host. For example, a handful of HostGator’s shared and WordPress plans are costlier when renewed in longer blocks. Do your due diligence and check each provider’s renewal rates to verify pricing. Don’t be afraid to contact customer service or chat for clarification. Check out our various explainer articles (linked to in the paragraphs above) for a deeper dive into each hosting type.
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2. Bandwidth Isn’t the Same as Data Transfer”Bandwidth” and “data transfer” are frequently used interchangeably to define the amount of data that your website serves to visitors, but technically, the terms do not have the same definitions.Bandwidth represents the total amount of data that can be transferred at one time. In contrast, data transfer is the throughput or the actual amount of information that can be used over a given period of time—typically a month. Think of it like this: a web host may have a maximum of 5GB bandwidth, but depending on your hosting plan, your site may only allow 1GB of monthly data transfers.Note: If your website exceeds its allotted monthly data transfers due to a Reddit hit, for instance, a web host may slow your site’s data transfer speeds or charge you a fee as a penalty. It may even prompt you to upgrade to a higher web hosting tier. It’s good to know your site’s data limitations before you run into situations like this.3. Unlimited Isn’t Quite UnlimitedWeb hosts entice you to sign up for their hosting plans by tempting you with unlimited storage or monthly data transfers. It’s generally not a completely honest deal. The “unlimited” storage or data transfer boasts nearly always have limitations that vary by company. FatCow, for example, offers “oodles” of disk space and states that there’s no cap on a user’s content—as long as that person remains fully compliant with the company’s terms of service and utilizes storage “for the normal operation of your FatCow website.” It’s just like the bottomless shrimp buffet: Eventually, a restaurant will cut you off if they don’t simply run out of shrimp first.Unlimited storage and data transfers are typically associated with shared or WordPress plans, and they let you run wild…within limits. You’ll be in good standing if your blog gets a steady stream of reasonable traffic (whatever that may mean!). However, you shouldn’t expect to upload or stream 50TB of data per day. The average Jane is likely dabbling in some questionable activities with data usage that high, and the company will likely flag you for it.You should consult a web host’s terms of service or a customer service representative to learn exactly what you can and cannot do within the scope of your plan’s unlimited offering. For example, DreamHost states on its website that the company doesn’t track “bandwidth or traffic, so you never have to worry about pesky overage fees.”
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4. The Hard Disk Drive/Solid-State Drive Trade-OffIf you want to sign up for shared web hosting, you’ll likely receive real estate on a traditional hard disk Drive (HDD) server. The advantage of an HDD-based server is that it can offer large storage amounts on the cheap. As you move up the hosting ladder to more powerful offerings like VPS and dedicated hosting, web hosts let you build a site on a solid-state drive (SSD).
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SSD-based servers are lightning-fast storage units. However, SSD technology is still relatively pricey, so SSD-based servers typically have much smaller storage totals than HDDs. You’ll rarely see 1TB SSD servers, which is a number that’s commonplace in the HDD arena.The SSD vs. HDD discussion is lengthy and goes well beyond the scope of this article. For more, read SSD vs. HDD: what’s the difference?5. A Linux Server Will Do…Most of the TimeNearly every web host offers Linux as the operating system that powers their servers. In fact, I don’t think we’ve reviewed a web host that lacked the free, open-source OS. Even if you aren’t familiar with Linux, you don’t need to do any special work on the back end to build a website. Website builders make building sites a breeze.That said, if your site needs the ASP or ASP.NET scripting frameworks, it needs the Windows Server operating system. That’s because the scripts you write and webpages you produce will only function in a Windows-based environment.There’s an additional benefit: Microsoft apps, such as Office or Outlook, easily integrate with the server. The downside? Windows servers are incompatible with Linux-based, open-source software unless you do some tinkering. In addition, Windows servers cost approximately $10 to $20 more than their Linux equivalents, but if you need Microsoft’s tools, it’s a small premium. Linux vs. Windows: how to pick the best server OS for your website breaks down everything you need to know about these operating systems.For more web hosting tips, check out the best courses for learning how to build websites and 10 easy but powerful SEO tips.
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About Jeffrey L. Wilson
Managing Editor, Apps and Gaming
Since 2004, I’ve penned gadget- and video game-related nerd-copy for a variety of publications, including the late, great 1UP; Laptop; Parenting; Sync; Wise Bread; and WWE. I now apply that knowledge and skillset as the Managing Editor of PCMag’s Apps & Gaming team.
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About Gabriel Zamora
My career has taken me through an eclectic assortment of fields, and connected me with people from all walks of life. This experience includes construction, professional cooking, podcasting, and, of course, writing. I’ve been typing up geeky takes since 2009, ultimately landing a freelancing position at PCMag. This blossomed into a full-time tech analyst position in 2021, where I lend my personal insight on the matters of web hosting, streaming music, mobile apps, and video games.
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