What Are Website Hosting Services?

To exist on the internet, the data that makes up every web page must be stored somewhere. A web hosting service is provided by a company—known as a web host or web host provider— that owns servers and offers you the chance to rent space on one of them to create, store, and maintain your website online.

While businesses and individuals can have their own in-house servers, it may be challenging to configure and maintain them if they don’t have the expertise. Therefore, you can count on the web host to manage the servers and offer different hosting packages to suit your needs.

How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Service for You

The best web hosting service must meet the following standards:

Provide Reliable Service

Your website must be online at all times for your business to thrive. As such, the web host must provide reliable uptime—the percentage of time your website is accessible. The industry standard is 99.9%.

Be Compatible with your Needs

The service must match your online website needs, such as fast speeds or e-commerce support.

Offer Unmetered Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the amount of data transferred in a certain time, calculated in bits per second (bps). A web host may offer unmetered bandwidth, which means they won’t monitor the amount of data you transfer. A metered bandwidth limits how much data you can transfer, and the web host may shut down your website if you exceed your data cap or charge you for the additional data transferred.

Ensure Security

Web hosts must provide secure hosting by protecting their servers from cyberattacks, data loss, and distributed-denial-of-service attacks (DDoS). The best web hosts also provide physical security for their servers, such as access control and redundant data centers.

Our Top 3 Hosting Services

#1

Visit Site

Pros

• Designed for beginners
• Intuitive dashboard and cPanel control panel
• Excellent managed WordPress plans

Cons

• No uptime guarantee

Bluehost offers high-quality web hosting including shared, VPS, managed WordPress, and dedicated server options. Its packages are backed by a range of features, a great knowledge base, and attractive introductory discounts. It’s also very easy to use, and it comes with a cPanel control panel for easy management. Overall, it’s a beginner-friendly option worth considering.

#2

Visit Site

Pros

• Highly competitive pricing
• Reliable service
• Fast-loading websites
• Responsive live-chat support
• Offers multiple types of website hosting

Cons

• Bare-bones knowledge base
• No phone support

Hostinger provides an ideal mix of fast speeds, reliable uptime, and affordable pricing. It offers everything from inexpensive shared hosting plans to powerful VPS (virtual private server) hosting. You can build a site quickly using the Hostinger Website Builder, and there’s 24/7 live chat support available. Overall, Hostinger is easily one of the top choices for web hosting available today.

#3

Visit Site

Pros

• Affordable pricing
• User-friendly interface
• Free website migration
• 24/7 customer support
• Multiple hosting options

Cons

• No phone support
• No central pricing page

Namecheap is a feature-filled, cost-effective website hosting solution with plans to suit businesses of all sizes. You can quickly build your site code-free with its customizable templates and drag-and-drop editor, and get a custom email address for professional use. There’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee, 24/7 support, free website migration, and a free SSL certificate to secure your website.

Types of Hosting Packages

When looking for web hosting, you will find several common types of packages.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting means multiple website owners are using single server resources, but none of them has access to anyone else’s data. This type of plan is best for lower-traffic sites, and it’s affordable.

VPS Hosting

A Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting package involves a single server that is partitioned into virtual spaces. Each virtual space provides websites with dedicated resources and storage space that no one else shares. You may also be able to configure some of the settings to your needs.

Dedicated Hosting

With dedicated hosting, your website will be operating on its own server. The server can be installed in-house or stored by the web host. Dedicated hosting is better for larger businesses with high traffic that need their websites to have the best performance.

WordPress Hosting

If you wish to build your website and blog on the WordPress platform, some web hosts offer WordPress hosting that comes with one-click WordPress installation, fast site loading speeds, top-notch security, automatic backups and updates, and a variety of templates, themes, and plugins.

Pricing

When deciding on a web host, factor in the type of hosting package you need, initial subscription discounts, extra add-ons, subscription length pricing, the cost of website builders, and bundled services, such as domain name registration, which may be offered free as part of some paid packages.

While different packages can vary a lot in terms of features and pricing, in general, you can expect shared web hosting to cost about $2-$15 per month, whereas VPS plans can range from $5-$450 per month. WordPress hosting packages can be priced as low as $1-$30 per month. Dedicated hosting tends to be more expensive, and package prices range from about $80-$1000+ per month.

Quality Features

To evaluate which web hosts are good quality, pay attention to the following traits.

Uptime

Your website should be accessible at all times, and you should ensure your potential web host provider guarantees at least 99.9% uptime.

Customer support

Comprehensive customer support from your web host is crucial for getting solutions for any challenges you face.

Loading times

Slow website loading time will cost you customers, so check for reliable speeds, storage space, and bandwidth to make website experiences seamless.

Server location

Confirm that your web host has servers near your location, because the distance data travels to reach your customers will affect your website’s speed and data transfer.

Cybersecurity Features

Web hosts must secure their servers and guard against hackers. They should also provide automated data backups to guard your data from permanent loss. Here are a few more vital cybersecurity features to consider getting from your web host.

Two-factor authentication (2FA)

Two-factor authentication (2FA) will provide additional protection and help prevent criminals from stealing your data, even if your website’s password is compromised.

Free SSL certificates

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) provides encryption between the server and the browser—displayed as a padlock on the web address bar—enabling visitors to feel safe on your site.

DKIM, SPF, & DMARC

Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM), Sender Policy Framework (SPF), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) are all email authentication protocols. These protect against scams and hacks by validating an email’s source, protecting emails in transit, and determining what to do with unauthenticated email messages.

Easy Update Manager

Easy Update Manager is a plugin for updating WordPress automatically, making it easier to protect your site from bugs and security vulnerabilities.

Bottom Line

Web hosting services are essential to keeping your website up and running, and good ones offer helpful site management tools. The best web host service will be reliable, guarantee uptime, deliver sufficient bandwidth, and provide security. Finally, look for adequate customer support and value for money to ensure you get the ideal website for your needs.