What is Web Hosting?
Where your site lives. You rent a room on a computer that is always on, so the page is visible around the clock.
Web hosting is where your website actually "lives". For a site to be visible online around the clock, all its files must sit on a computer that is always switched on and connected to the internet. That computer is called a server, and web hosting is the service that rents you space on it. The name is very descriptive: just as a hotel rents rooms to guests, web hosting rents space to websites.
You usually share the server with many other sites, a bit like several guests staying in the same hotel but in different rooms. For a typical business site, that is plenty. Larger sites with heavy traffic may need their own, more powerful setup.
Web hosting is not the same as your domain — your address on the web, like yourcompany.co.uk. The domain is the address; web hosting is the house the address points to.
Why is web hosting important for your business?
Without web hosting, your site simply does not exist online. But it is about more than just "being there" — good hosting makes the page load quickly, stay up without outages, and stay protected against attacks. Poor hosting can make the site slow or sometimes unavailable, which costs you visitors.
The quality of hosting also affects security. A serious provider takes backups, keeps software updated, and helps if something goes wrong.
Web hosting in practice
Say you have just had a site built for your consultancy. The files that make up the site are uploaded to web hosting, and your domain — yourconsultancy.co.uk — is pointed at that hosting. When someone types in the address, the site is fetched from the server and shown in their browser.
You pay an ongoing fee, often monthly or yearly, to rent the space. Many agencies handle both hosting and maintenance for their clients, so you do not have to think about servers and can focus on your business.
Common questions about Web Hosting
What is web hosting?
Web hosting is where your website's files are stored so the site is visible online around the clock. You rent space on a server — a bit like renting a room in a hotel for your site.
What is the difference between web hosting and a domain?
The domain is your address on the web, like yourcompany.co.uk, while web hosting is the house the address points to. The domain shows the way; web hosting stores the site itself.
How much does web hosting cost?
Simple hosting for a typical business site often costs only a few pounds to tens of pounds per month. The price rises if you have a large site with heavy traffic or need extra performance and security.
Related terms
Serverless
There are still servers — you just do not need to worry about them. Someone else has the headache. You have the app.
API
Application Programming Interface. Think of a waiter who takes your order (request) and brings the food (data) from the kitchen (server).
Cache
Stored data that loads instantly instead of being fetched again. Often the reason your site feels fast — or why changes do not show up.
CDN
Content Delivery Network — copies of your site spread around the world so it loads quickly wherever your visitors are.
Cloud
Someone else's computers. Servers in massive data centres you rent instead of own — AWS, Google Cloud, Azure.
Database
Where all your data lives — users, orders, everything. Lose the database and you lose everything, which is why we back it up.