Domain Hosting vs Website Hosting – What’s the difference?
Oh, how I wish someone had thought to give these different names! If you’re confused by these two terms, please know you are not alone. This is confusing to so many people.
To have a website on the internet you need both Domain hosting and Website hosting. And yes, they are two different things.
I’ve touched on this quickly in the Web Design Glossary, but I wanted to expand on it, as the question of what the difference is between the two terms is one I get a lot.
Website hosting
Your website is made up of a collection of files: HTML pages, images, CSS files and other files. These all work together to make your website work and give it its style.
When you purchase Web Hosting, you are renting space on a web server for all your web files to be stored. It’s the home or storage space for your website.
Those servers are also responsible for sending out those files so they can be viewed by your website visitors.
Domain hosting
Domain Hosting is a service that provides your domain name (ex. example.com), so that visitors find you, and get to your website.
So, what is a domain name?
A domain name is the unique name that you type into a browser to get to a website. You can think of it like a street address that guides people to your website's location, but it's not the content on your website.
Domain name are actually aliases of IP (internet protocol) addresses, which are a unique bunch of numbers given to each website. They generally look something like this: 172.217.3.196
Domains were made to be more people-friendly than IPs. A string of numbers might be easy for computers to remember, but not so easy for humans. It’s like having to remember a street address instead of the GPS coordinates of a place.
What is the difference between a domain name and a URL?
A URL (universal resource locator) is the web address for a specific web page. It contains the domain name, but also has other components which give a more exact path to a particular page.
Do I need to purchase both domain & web hosting for my site?
Some website hosting companies do provide a free subdomain. For instance, Squarespace provides you with a free subdomain (ex. sitename.squarespace.com) when you sign up for a trial website. If you are a small business, I would recommend that you have a custom domain.
Why?
A custom domain will make you look more professional.
It helps you promote your brand.
It’s better for SEO.
Some of my clients even buy more than one domain, getting the .ca & .com versions of their sites, or different spellings of their name. That way they even get visitors who make typos in the browser.
