Do you want to know the difference between domain and hosting? What is a domain, what is hosting, and how are they different?
A domain name and web hosting are two things that are required together to set up a website. They’re often confused right when starting out because you need both of them to get started.
In this article, we’ll explain what domain and hosting are, how they work, and how they’re different from one another.
What is a Domain Name?
A domain name is your website’s address on the internet where people can access your website. It’s the text that internet users type in the browser’s URL bar to visit your site.
For example, the domain name of our website is monsterinsights.com.
Domain names primarily have two parts, separated by a dot. The first part is your brand name or word of your choice (such as MonsterInsights), which can have any combination of letters and numbers. The second part is called a domain extension, and it just means .com, .org, .net, .com.uk, and more.
Each domain is a unique web address. This means that there can be only one monsterinsights.com in the world.
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is the storage location where your website content files live. It’s like the home of your website.
If your domain name was the address of your house, then the actual house is your hosting server. You need both a domain name and web hosting to create a website.
When a user tries to access your website by entering your web address (domain name) in the browser’s URL bar, the domain name points them to the files stored in the web server.
Domain Name vs Web Hosting – The Difference
Domain names and web hosting are two different things; however, they’re closely connected. You need both a domain name and a web hosting account to create a website. This means that you can’t build a website without either one of them.
To get started, you can choose a domain name and register it with a domain registrar company. With most domain companies, you can register a domain name for a minimum period of 1 year. You’ll then need to renew your domain before it expires to continue using it.
Next, you can buy a hosting plan and link it with your domain name. After that, you can install a website software (like WordPress), install tools and plugins, and add content to your website.
Can I Buy Domain and Hosting from the Same Company?
Yes, you can. You can buy a domain and a hosting account from the same company or from different companies.
If you buy both a domain and hosting from the same company, the setup process becomes a bit easier as you don’t need to change the domain name settings. That is why many companies have started offering both the services together.
Bluehost is one of such companies that offers both domain and hosting services at a reasonable cost. It’s offering an exclusive deal for WordPress users which provides you a free domain name at the purchase of any WordPress hosting plan.
Typically, a domain name costs around $14.99 per year, and a web hosting plan costs around $7.99 per month. However, our Bluehost WordPress hosting deal allows you to buy hosting for as low as $2.75 per month, which is 60% off the usual price. It also gives you a free domain name and free SSL certificate.
Using Bluehost not only makes the website setup process easy, but it also helps you save some money.
If you want to register a domain name from a different domain company, here are some of the top domain registration companies:
And, if you want a Bluehost alternative for web hosting, here are a few of the top hosting companies:
We hope this article helped you to understand the difference between the domain name and hosting. You may also want to see our guide on Shared vs VPS vs Dedicated vs Managed WordPress Hosting Explained.
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Very helpful 🤠👍
very useful
Very valuable info share .Thanks
very important info and easily understand . thank you
This is truly helpful 🙂
Great knowledge from monster insights, keep up the goodness
Very helpful.
Now I can differentiate between domain and hosting.
Apart from using word press for web design which other software is alternative for word press?
Hi James – Check out 8 Best Website Builders for Small Businesses