Web Hosting vs Domain Name: What’s the Difference?

While closely related, web hosting and domain name registration are two different services. To create a website, you will need them both. Your domain name is the address of your website, and web hosting is the engine that powers your website.

Most beginners don’t know they are separate things. However, since both services work hand in hand, it’s essential to understand the difference before building a website.

In this article, we will cover everything you need to know about web hosting and domain registration – how they differ, why you need them, and more.

What Is a Domain Name?

A domain name is typically the address of your website that helps your visitors to find you online. In other words, if your website is a house, then a domain name is simply the address of that house.

If we get into the detailed explanation, then:

The Internet is a giant network of computers connected. So, IP addresses are assigned to each computer to identify them. The IP address is the combination of numbers separated with dots that typically look like this: 44.678.45.1.

However, the IP address is difficult to remember for humans to use and visit a website. Therefore, domain names were invented.

A domain name has words that make it easy to remember. So users don’t have to place a string of numbers in a search bar to visit a website. Instead, they can type in easy-to-remember domain names, for example, aeserver.com.

To learn more about domain names and extensions, look at Everything You Need to Know About Domain Extensions.

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What Is Web Hosting?

You can consider web hosting as a home for your website. It is the place where your website lives. With the help of web hosting, you can publish your website on the Internet. If you buy a hosting service, your service provider will give you a portion of their web server to store your website’s files and data.

When a user types in your website’s domain name, your web hosting service provider will be responsible for showing its content to the visitor.

Web hosting services also provide beginner-friendly tools (i.e. cPanel and others) for users to manage their websites without technical skills. Besides, a host usually offers website builders, customer support, and server maintenance to help users to create and maintain their website. In addition, a web host also provides security features to protect the server and your website from malicious attacks.

There are typically four types of traditional web hosting: shared hosting, dedicated server hosting, VPS hosting, and Cloud hosting.

Some web hosting companies, such as AEserver, also provide Managed WordPress hosting and domain registration to help you create a website even quicker and more efficiently.

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The Difference Between Domain Names and Web Hosting

Even though domain and web hosting are equally necessary for a website and often purchased together, they are actually two different things.

The main difference between a domain name and web hosting are:

• Web hosting is where all your website’s files are physically stored. In contrast, a domain name is the address of that location where your files are stored.
• You cannot build a website without buying a domain name first. But you can buy a domain name without creating a website.

How Are Domain Names and Web Hosting Related?

The domain name and web hosting are two different services, but they work hand in hand to make a website possible.

Basically, a domain name system is a massive address book that is updated frequently. An address behind each domain name is stored in the website’s file by a web hosting service.

Without a domain name, people can’t find you online, and without web hosting, your site cant exist online. Therefore, you must sync and point your domain name to your domain hosting after buying domain and web hosting.

We highly recommend buying domain and web hosting from the same company to reduce your work. This way, you don’t need to sync them manually, and you can start creating your website immediately. This is why many top domain registrars also offer web hosting services.

What do I need to build a website?

The most frequently asked question by beginners is, what do I need to build a website?

The whole post is about the answer to this question. 🙂

As we mentioned earlier, you need both the domain name and web hosting account to build a website.

If you buy a domain name, it will give you the right to use your domain name for a specific time, usually one year.

You will need web hosting to store your website’s files. After you buy hosting, you will need to configure the settings to point your domain name to the web hosting service provider. To avoid the hassle, you can opt for the same company for your domain registration and web hosting. Some web hosting companies offer a subdomain free of charge so that you don’t need a domain. However, subdomains don’t make your website look professional and cannot be customized.

Buying a custom domain name allows your website to have its own branding. And it also makes it easy for visitors to remember your domain name.

This may sound a lot if you are creating a website for the first time.

Thankfully, AEserver provides you with managed WordPress hosting, offering our users a fully managed solution and a free domain with other Linux hosting and windows hosting plan.

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Where to Get a Domain and Hosting?

Now that you have understood the difference and relation between a domain name and web hosting, let’s talk about where you can buy both.

The best and easiest option is to buy a domain and hosting from the same provider. The reason why people get confused between both the services is that often they are both offered by the same service provider, and that’s a good practice because:

• This is the most straightforward approach, especially when you’re getting started online.
• You can conveniently manage domain and web hosting from the same provider when your website is up and running.
• Connecting the domain to your host server is easy if the same company handles it.

On the other hand, some people want to keep their domain names and web hosting separate. The reasons can be:

• To reserve a domain name, but no intention to create a website.
• Already have a domain name and just in need of a web hosting solution.
• Hold the view that it may be easy to migrate the website to a new server if a domain name is registered with a third party.

Get Your Domain Name and Web Hosting From AEserver

Despite being completely different, some people don’t know the difference between a domain name and web hosting. However, both are crucial for website building and serve different functions.

AEserver is such a company that offers you a one-stop solution for all your web hosting needs at a reasonable cost. In addition, we provide a free domain with our UAE-based hosting plan and exclusive features for WordPress users to help them grow their websites.

We hope this article helped you learn the difference between domain and web hosting.

If you still have questions, you can contact our customer support, which is available 24×7 and ready to help you.