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Capterra Glossary

Hosting (Web Site Hosting, Web Hosting, and Webhosting)

Hosting, also known as website hosting or web hosting, is an online service that provides both businesses and individuals a platform to store website files and make them accessible to other internet users. Web hosting service providers charge a fee in exchange for space on their web server to store website data, such as images, videos, documents, and HTML files. Web hosts also provide access to tools and services that allow customers to customize and manage their websites as they see fit. In shared hosting services, a website shares server space with other websites, whereas dedicated hosting services do not share server space with other websites. Cloud hosting services are most optimal for growing businesses, as they host a website using multiple servers.

What Small and Midsize Businesses Need to Know About Hosting (Web Site Hosting, Web Hosting, and Webhosting)

SMBs with limited budgets can use shared hosting to access the tools and services they need to get their company website up and running. However, as a business begins to scale up, its website may need more bandwidth and storage space than what a shared web hosting service can provide. In such instances, SMBs can switch to cloud-based web hosting services to scale up their company website as needed.

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