As a beginner, you may think that a domain and web hosting are the same. It may seem that way because you need both to launch a website. However, the confusion between Domain vs Hosting may come from a web hosting provider that sells domain names and web hosting services together. This may seem like a single service when, in fact, they serve differing purposes.
It is essential to understand the difference between a web domain and web hosting to make informed choices regarding costs, performance, and control over the website in the long run. Knowing the service that each one provides allows you to make the right service selections, avoid costly upgrades, and establish correct website configurations from the beginning.
Key Takeaways
- Although a domain name and web hosting services are critical to have a website online, they serve different purposes.
- The domain is the web address. The web hosting service stores the website and provides the content to visitors.
- It is possible to register a domain name and get web hosting from the same service provider or even from different service providers as long as you configure the DNS correctly.
- Selecting a strong domain name and a good hosting package increases the site’s credibility, performance, and ability to grow over time.
- Having an understanding of burning issues like costs, ownership, renewals, and website control helps avoid errors when building a website.
Get Your Domain and Web Hosting
Ready to build your website with confidence? Start by choosing a reliable, easy-to-manage domain name that perfectly fits your brand. With affordable hosting, Ultahost makes getting online simple and stress-free.
What Is a Domain Name?
A domain name is a name that is easy to remember, easy to spell, and easy to communicate. This is the part of a website address that comes after www. For example, www.example.com is a website where the highly memorable part of the website address is example.com.
Domain names are linked to an IP address. An IP address is a number that is associated with a domain name. When a user types a domain name into a web browser to access a website, the browser goes to the server that is associated with the IP address and retrieves the files of the requested website.
Some well-known examples of domain names are:
Domain names also come with a variety of domain extensions, also known as top-level domains (TLD), which are located to the right of the domain name. The most frequently used TLDs are .com, .org, and .net. There are also country TLDs (top-level domains) which include .us, .pk, .uk, and .ca.
What Is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is when a company or an individual stores their website on a computer that is called a server. The computer server runs 24/7 and stores all the website documents. The website documents include all the content and images, as well as the databases and the code of the website.
When you type a domain name into your computer, the hosting server sends that website’s information to the user’s browser. This takes place automatically, and when the hosting server is configured correctly, the user will experience seamless loading. The user will be able to see text pages, images, and functions of the website.
There are 4 primary types of web hosting available:
- Shared hosting: Shared hosting is the most affordable option. Multiple websites share the costs of running a server.
- VPS hosting: VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. This type of hosting gives you a server that has exclusive resources for your website, making its performance better than shared hosting.
- Cloud hosting: Multiple cloud servers are leveraged to provide you with optimal website performance.
- Dedicated hosting: Dedicated hosting is the opposite of Shared hosting. Here, one entire server is dedicated to just one website. You will also have the most control over the server when it comes to customization and its features.
The hosting servers manage and store the website’s information. The website’s data, its files, the relevant databases, email accounts, the security settings, server-side software, the backups, and everything else necessary to keep the website running are solely the responsibility of the hosting, not the domain name.
Domain vs Hosting: Key Differences Explained
If you are trying to put a website online, you will always need a domain and a hosting service. Despite the fact that one is a hosting service and the other is a domain, in order for one to function, they need each other.
- Domain vs Hosting – Ownership and purpose: A domain name is something you register and own for a specified amount of time, usually one year, after which you renew domain. It serves to give your website an identity, providing it with a unique and memorable address to visitors on the internet. Conversely, web hosting is a rented service. It secures the necessary physical and technical means to keep your website’s files and make them accessible online.
- Domain vs Hosting – Cost differences: Domain names usually have low pricing and offer a renewal price that is steady, which varies depending on the type of extension one selects. Hosting, on the other hand, costs more as it comes with server space, bandwidth, as well as other features like security, maintenance, and customer service.
- Domain vs Hosting – Technical Roles: The domain primarily acts as an address. Typing the domain name into a browser triggers the internet to know which website to access. Hosting, on the other hand, is responsible for the actual website delivery.
- Domain vs Hosting – Mutual Dependency: Domains and hosting are able to exist on their own, but for a website to work, you will need both. A domain won’t lead you anywhere without hosting, and hosting is useless without a domain for people to access your site.
Do You Need Both a Domain and Hosting?
In order to make your site public and accessible to visitors, a domain and a hosting service have to work together.
A domain name does not have website data; it is just a name and does not create web pages, store images, or run apps. Without hosting, there will not be any dynamic content on your site, and visitors will not be able to see anything if they try to access your domain.
If you have hosting without a domain, your website may exist on a server, and it may be accessible via a temporary URL or an IP address. While it may be useful to access your site during load testing and development, it is not useful when your site is public. Addresses like those are hard to remember and are not ideal for branding.
When a domain and hosting are combined, they make a website operational. The domain makes sure that visitors are sent to the right server, and then the hosting server provides the files and other data of your website to the visitors’ browsers. Together, they make sure that your site is accessible and ready for the world to see.
| Symbolics.com is the first domain name ever registered with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) on March 15, 1985. This also goes to show how timeless some registrations can be, as this domain name is still active. |
Can You Buy Domain and Hosting Separately?
Of course! You are more than able to buy your domain name and web hosting from different service providers. In fact, many website builders tend to do that. Domain name registrars specialize in management, while other hosting companies do management based on server performance and website reliability. For you, the user, as long as you have control over the domain’s DNS settings, the location where you bought your services doesn’t matter.
Pros and Cons of Separate vs Bundled Services
Purchasing a domain and hosting services separately from different providers is more flexible in the sense that you can control your entire website ecosystem, choose the best registrar and hosting services based on performance. However, you do have to deal with a more complicated setup than if you were to purchase them together, which a lot of companies do. For beginners, purchasing them separately can be more advantageous cost-wise and can give you more services to play with, but in the long run, you may end up increasing costs, which is the main downside.
How to Connect a Domain to Hosting
When you want to link a domain with your hosting account, it requires an update to your domain’s DNS settings and then pointing it to your hosting server. This generally involves adjusting the nameservers given by your hosting provider. Once everything is done, the DNS may take a few minutes to 48 hours to fully propagate. After that, your domain name will be able to load your site faster from the hosting server.
How to Choose the Right Domain Name
The best domain name is also the one that best suits your brand, establishes authority, and garners trust.
Branding and Memorability Tips
When choosing a domain name, it is best to keep it short, simple, and easy to remember. It is also ideal to avoid numbers and hyphens, and to keep the overall structure simple to ensure that users don’t get confused. When a name is clear, it will be simple for users to share your site with others.
SEO Considerations
The best practice is to insert a keyword right before the domain name extension; however, that practice has changed over the years, with a loss of reliability. Keywords within a domain do not add much added value; however, the value added is in the trust and authority of the brand name, as the focus of search engines is on the level of value and quality of the content on the hosted website.
Choosing the Right Extension
A website’s domain extension plays an important role in how the website is perceived. For the vast majority of businesses, .com is the best option and is the most reputable and recognizable. For niche projects, considering an industry-specific extension can be beneficial. Additionally, if the audience is local, using a country-specific extension is most appropriate.
How to Choose the Right Hosting Plan
Finding an ideal hosting plan is the first step to making sure that the website operates effectively and has room to grow.
Launch Your Website with Fast & Reliable Hosting
Your domain is just the beginning, strong, dependable hosting is what brings your website to life. With high-performance servers, built-in security, and expert support, Ultahost makes it easy to host your site with confidence.
Website Type Considerations
Since the host is a necessity in order for the website to run, the consumer should consider what type of website they are building in order to best determine the type of hosting they will require. Shared hosting will be sufficient for a personal blog. This large host will allocate resources to a small audience efficiently without straining the website. However, almost all other websites will require resources for greater control. These include eCommerce stores, membership sites, and web applications. These require VPS or cloud hosting.
Traffic and Scalability Needs
Choose a hosting plan that can be upgraded easily to accommodate growth when anticipating traffic. Hosting plans that can be easily upgraded are referred to as scalable hosting. These will prevent slowdown and downtime.
Performance, Security, and Support Factors
Performance, security, and support go hand in hand. Your hosting company must perform well for you to have good performance. A good host will have solid-state drives and optimized software for the platform you are using. Speed is an important performance indicator. The most important performance indicator of all, however, is solid-state drives. Extra security features, such as a firewall and malware protection, will improve security greatly and are a must when choosing hosting. Lack of support when issues arise will impact hosting greatly, especially for less technical consumers.
Common Domain vs Hosting Mistakes to Avoid
One of the biggest issues of website setup is the small mistakes that new consumers overlook. These issues can save a lot of time and frustration.
Choosing Cheap but Unreliable Hosting
Spending money on affordable hosting plans looks tempting, but they can offer poor servers that can get slow, offer poor customer service, and have constant downtime problems that can make hosting bad for business. Be smart and spend money on solid hosting.
Ignoring Renewal Prices
Providers have to advertise new client deals, but what they fail to show is the hidden increase in price for renewals on your new client deal. You have to pay attention to the new client deal to make sure that the renewal price isn’t going to spike over what you think the service is worth. Be sure to watch the domain and service hosting prices when you are in the process of purchasing the new service.
Always register your domain and hosting under your own account—even if a developer or agency sets up your website. This ensures full ownership and control, makes future migrations easier, and protects your website from access or renewal issues down the line.
Hamza Aitzad
WordPress Writer
Forgetting Domain Ownership and Control
Your domain needs to have your name on it, specifically your account and not an administrator’s account. If you lose administrator access and control over your domain, you can really lose control of the domain providers, and it will be difficult to manage the domain in the future.
Domain vs Hosting: Final Thoughts
To get a website going is a big, important step that separates the great from the good. Getting a domain is good, but to really get your website off the ground, you need to get a service that can host your content. The benefits of having a host service your website are that your content will be visible to the users and accessible on the web.
Selecting an appropriate domain name and a dependable hosting plan tailored to your website’s objectives, anticipated traffic, and budget fosters a solid foundation for sustained growth and performance.
FAQ
What’s the difference between Domain vs Hosting?
A domain is your website’s address on the internet, while hosting is the service that stores your website’s files and makes them accessible online. Both are required for a website to function properly.
Can I change hosting without changing my domain?
Yes, you can switch hosting providers without changing your domain name. You simply update the domain’s DNS or nameserver settings to point to the new hosting server.
Is free hosting a good idea?
Free hosting can be useful for testing or learning, but it often comes with limitations such as ads, slow performance, and weak security. For any serious website, paid hosting is a more reliable and professional option.
How long does it take to connect a domain to hosting?
Connecting a domain to hosting usually takes a few minutes, but DNS changes can take up to 24–48 hours to fully propagate worldwide.
Can I buy a domain now and get hosting later?
Yes, you can register a domain name without purchasing hosting immediately. The domain will remain reserved under your ownership, and you can connect it to a hosting plan at any time when you’re ready to launch your website.
