While there are literally tens of thousands of hosting providers in the world, we believe they can be broadly grouped into three categories, namely: managed hosting, self hosting & built-in hosting. In this article we’ll be looking at these main types of hosting providers and discussing some pros, cons and an example or two.
Managed hosting #
Typically this is where you purchase web hosting through a web design agency or through a web developer.
The agency/developer will resell server space they rent from a data centre and will likely manage most of the aspects of hosting for you.
Example: us! Feel free to check out our hosting plans.
Pros: everything is often managed for you, no technical skills are required.
Cons: tend to be a bit more expensive than sourcing hosting yourself.
Self hosting #
No, we don’t mean where you have a web server sat in your office or in the corner of your bedroom*, we mean where you manage the hosting package yourself going direct to a hosting provider/reseller.
Essentially it’s cutting out the web design agency. It gives you more control over the hosting but does usually mean you’ll have to manage all aspects of hosting such as email administration, code version (i.e. PHP) control, installing SSLs etc.
Example: our self-hosting plans.
Pros: prices are relatively low.
Cons: some technical experience maybe required.
*This is an option of hosting, it’s just not a very popular one (like, at all). It costs a lot and you’ll likely have to carry out your own server maintenance.
Built-in hosting #
What we mean by ‘built-in hosting’ is that the web hosting is normally attached to a DIY website builder. So, you’ll use a company’s software to build your website but in order to have your website live, it’ll need to be hosted on their platform. Where you’d pay a monthly subscription, part of that should cover the hosting fee.
Examples: wix.com, squarespace.com
Pros: often “low” prices as it’s bundled in with the web building software.
Cons: limited to only building websites on their software and often locked in (can’t transfer your website away).
Hosting cost of each provider? #
The price can vary a lot from provider to provider. We’ve recently written an article about how much web and email hosting costs which may help you be prepared and understand what effects the price.