The Ultimate Guide to Web Hosting in India | 5 Best Types Of Web Hosting Explained [2024]

Choosing the right type of hosting for your website project can be tricky. Our Ultimate Guide to Web Hosting [2023 Updated] will help you understand different types of website hosting to help you choose the right type of web hosting for your site. 

If you’re new to web hosting, getting a steadfast managed hosting service is the best option to get started. Managed hosting services help to launch your website without having to go through the technicalities of complex hosting services like VPS and Dedicated Servers. Managed hosting services are services where the technical configuration and other complex server issues are managed by the hosting company. Managed hosting services and scalable and offer growing websites proper web hosting infrastructure to build, launch and grow their web projects easily.

Continue reading our ultimate guide to web hosting to know all the different types of web hosting and how to choose the best web hosting service suited to your website’s needs.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is an internet service that allows you to store, process, and access files, websites, and applications over the internet. Data storage servers and other hosting infrastructure are connected to the internet and are kept running 24×7 to make the files stored on these servers accessible on the internet all the time.

In simple words, if you build a website, all the files of your website are stored on data servers. When someone visits your website, data from these hosting servers is sent to their browser. The collective service of storing, processing, and transferring data over the internet is called a web hosting service.

Companies that offer data storage & processing servers for web hosting services are called web hosts.

When you opt for a web hosting service, you make your website accessible to users online with the help of data servers offered by web hosting companies. Any internet user can access your site anytime by visiting your domain on the browser when your website is hosted by hosting companies.

Most businesses do not have servers, and thus, they rent out server space from the web hosting company. As discussed earlier, a server is a technical resource where users store websites and applications. Reliable web hosting companies offer 24×7 online accessibility promises and technical support. Technical support by web hosting companies is essential when website owners do not have enough technical expertise to manage different aspects of website hosting. 

How Does Web Hosting Work?

The basic work of web hosting is to make your website accessible on the internet. Web hosting consists of data servers that are always running and are connected to the internet 24×7. These data servers make your websites accessible to visitors online. When a user on the internet visits a domain using a web browser like google chrome, the website stored on the web hosting data servers is retrieved from the servers and presented to the users online. 

Web hosting companies provide all relevant technologies to help your sites run optimally on the world wide web. Hosting companies also offer server management support services to website owners who don’t possess the technical expertise to manage a web server. With the help of technical support from web hosting companies, website and business owner can focus on growing their business instead of server technicalities. 

What are Different Types of Web Hosting?

Different types of web hosting services are available in the market to meet your needs. The most common types of website hosting services are:

1. Shared hosting
2. VPS Hosting
3. Dedicated Server Hosting
4. Cloud Hosting
5. Reseller Hosting

We’ll be discussing each type of web hosting service in detail below:

1. Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is a perfect web hosting option for small and new websites with low traffic. In the Shared Hosting service, all web files of different hosting account users are stored on the same server. Hence, all domains share server resources with multiple hosting account users. In a shared hosting service, server resources like CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM (Random Access Memory), and disk space of the server and shared among different websites hosted on the same server. 

As the server resources are shared among different web hosting account users, you will be getting a portion of the server at affordable costs. Because you are not leasing out the entire server the cost of server access will be distributed among different web hosting users. Hence, shared hosting services are affordable and a perfect hosting option for new website owners.

5 Best Shared Hosting Plans

Below are the 5 best shared hosting plans recommended by ABS.

• Bluehost Basic Plan – For single website
• Bluehost Choice Plus Plan – For multiple websites
• Hostinger Premium Shared Hosting – For single website
• Hostinger Business Shared Hosting – For multiple websites
• MilesWeb Shared Hosting Turbo Plan

2. Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting

As the name suggests, this type of hosting service has a virtual server within a main physical server. A big physical data storage and processing server is split into multiple smaller virtual servers. It is called a virtual server because the physical server is split not physically but virtually only in terms of server resources like CPU, RAM, and Disk Space. Each virtual server is allotted independent server resources like CPU, RAM, and disk space. A virtual server gives you the performance of a small dedicated server at an affordable cost. 

VPS hosting services are useful for growing websites because all their web projects are hosted within their own space on the server, despite sharing a physical server with other virtual server users. This VPS hosting service meets your expectations if you want a customized web hosting space. Handling the website’s traffic spike and managing the site’s performance are still affected by other server sites. Generally speaking, a VPS delivers better performance than shared hosting but lower performance than a dedicated server. VPS also requires a bit less technical expertise as compared to Dedicated hosting.

If you have a resource-intensive web project and are looking for affordable dedicated hosting services but don’t have the required technical knowledge, then you have an option to host websites with the help of managed VPS hosting services. Thereby, you will enjoy hosting operations at similar costs to shared hosting and hosting infrastructure like dedicated hosting servers. With reliable VPS hosting servers, you will get full root control over servers.

Thus, get best-in-class managed VPS server to scale your online presence and generate valuable output.

5 Best VPS Plans

Below are the 5 best Virtual Private Server (VPS) plans recommended by ABS.

• A2 Hosting VPS Mach 8 Plan – The perfect barnacle between managed and unmanaged VPS hosting.
• Bluehost VPS Enhanced Plan – Best for new sites that are scaling rapidly.
• Liquidweb VPS 8GB Plan – For websites that require absolutely zero downtime.
• Hostgator VPS Snappy 4000 Plan – For websites that require more SSD space.
• Hostinger VPS 4 Plan – Most budget-friendly yet reliable VPS hosting.

3. Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting services give full-root control to website owners. So, the website owner gets entire control over servers and the server is exclusively rented for your website. It is an important thing that many enterprises look for. Enterprises that deal in volumes of websites and applications need full root and admin access over the server. With a Dedicated Hosting Service, they easily control everything from security to the operating system. The cost parameter is something that can hold small business owners back from leasing such server resources.

When you get dedicated hosting, you’re renting out the entire server for your use. This results in making dedicated hosting more expensive than other hosting services. Big websites or organizations that have a high volume of online traffic and are looking for full root control over servers opt for dedicated hosting services. In a dedicated hosting service, if you are looking for technical assistance, most web hosting companies offer it at an additional cost. So, opt for managed dedicated hosting services and host your web applications hassle-free.

5 Best Dedicated Server Plans

Below are the 5 dedicated server hosting plans recommended by ABS.

• InMotion Dedicated Server Hosting Elite Plan – Best overall dedicated server hosting plan
• DreamHost Dedicated Server Enhanced Plan – A fully managed dedicated server plan
• AccuWeb Dedicated Server Classic Plans – Best budget-friendly dedicated server plan
• Ionos Dedicated Server Intel & AMD Plans – Cheap pay-per-minute dedicated server hosting plans
• Bluehost Dedicated Server Premium Plan – Best resource allocation dedicated server hosting plan

4. Cloud Hosting

In today’s advanced world, cloud infrastructure is gaining popularity at a rapid pace. Cloud hosting uses a cluster of servers interconnected with one network. Hence, running web applications in this connected hosting infrastructure gives your web files maximum scalability and accessibility. 

Hosting servers are prone to malfunctions and experience technical glitches while handling resource-intensive websites and applications with high traffic volatility. With the help of cloud hosting services, users get hosting resources that are spread across several servers, reducing the chance of any downtime due to a server malfunction.

If your site grows over time, cloud hosting resources are scalable, and your website or app can consume as much resource as required. Basically in cloud hosting services, the available hosting resources are infinite to help you with scalability. But you only pay for the amount of hosting resources used by your website or application over a period of time.

5 Best Cloud Hosting Plans

Below are the 5 best cloud hosting plans recommended by ABS.

• Digital Ocean managed Cloud Hosting Plan – The plan that offers maximum CPU performance per dollar
• Nexcess Cloud Hosting Plan – Best cloud hosting for eCommerce websites & applications
• Elementor Cloud Hosting – Best cloud hosting plan for WordPress-based websites
• DreamHost Cloud Hosting Plan – Best for fully custom development requirements
• AWS & GCP – Cloud hosting solutions suitable for maximum scalability

5. Reseller Hosting

In the hosting business world, A reseller hosting provider can be considered a hosting wholesaler and the reseller can be considered a hosting retailer. Reseller web hosting is a type of hosting where a small hosting company (the retailer) rents servers and other resources from a big hosting company (the wholesaler). A small hosting company then retails these servers to its clients for a profit.

Reseller hosting is suitable for small web service companies that offer their web services locally to their clients. Reseller hosting is very beneficial for small hosting businesses as they don’t have to invest a  huge amount in the initial hosting infrastructure setup. Reseller hosting providers offer 100% white-labeled reseller web hosting services so that resellers can put their brand name and run a small but branded hosting business.

Reseller web hosting providers also make the end client billing task easier and extend technical support to resellers. As a result, clients of resellers do not have to worry about technical errors and web hosting-related operations.

Best reseller hosting plans

Below are the best reseller hosting plans recommended by ABS.

• ResellerClub Pro Reseller Plan – Best reseller hosting plans to get started
• GreenGeeks RH-80 Plan – Best reseller plans to start scaling your business

Which Web Hosting Service is Right for You?

After reading about different types of web hosting services, you may have a question – which hosting is best for me? When it comes to choosing web hosting services, opt for a hosting plan that meets your hosting requirements. Evaluate whether each hosting plan caters to your web hosting needs or not. 

Choosing the right web hosting plan requires proper planning about the following factors:

• The number of websites that you are planning to host
• The amount of disk space and RAM you require
• The bandwidth (data transfer) limit you require
• And lastly, your budget

Beginners and small-scale websites that have less web hosting budget should go for shared hosting services. However, if there is a potential for websites to generate more traffic, opt for VPS hosting services. And finally, website owners looking for entire control over servers must opt for dedicated hosting services. Reseller hosting services are only for users looking to start their web hosting business.

How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Plan?

Below we have shared some parameters based on generic web hosting requirements that will help you choose the right hosting service. Follow these parameters to decide which web hosting and plan you should go for. 

Let’s have a look:

1. Determine your Technical needs

First, always remember that choosing web hosting services is not only meant to use server resources. Web hosting services also include different technical aspects like domain registrations, SSL certifications, the quality of bandwidth you are taking, and many more. So, you will have to search for web hosting plans accordingly. 

Different technical aspects that users should not overlook while web hosting plans are as follows:

• Domain Name: Domain is the online identity of your site. Like google.com or facebook.com are domains of Google and Facebook respectively. Do you already have a domain name for your site, or do you need a new one?
• What kind of website do you want to host? Do you want to host a blog or a business website or an eCommerce store? Do you need a specific blogging platform like WordPress or an eCommerce platform like Magento or Opencart?
• how many websites do you want to host? Will you be hosting a single website or do you need a hosting plan to host multiple websites?
• Do you have enough technical resources to manage all kinds of web hosting aspects? If not, are you ready to pay the web hosting company for this extra technical support?
• Are you looking for a specific control-panel based hosting like CPanel hosting?

2. Consider the size and potential Growth

Web hosting providers have different web hosting plans depending on the traffic and space that you are renting. If you are expecting more website traffic and visitors count, upgrade your existing hosting plan or purchase plans offering more server space and other hosting resources. Hence, scaling your websites in the future will not be a challenging task. Thus, while choosing a web host, keep the future requirement of technical resources and hosting resources in your mind.

3. Compare Hosting Services

Although there are different web hosting services available within each company, you must still compare plans with other web hosting companies. Comparing web hosting services will give you a better idea about which kind of web hosting service is essential. Evaluate all kinds of hosting services with different server configurations based on bandwidth, SSD disk space, RAM, I/O, and others aspects. Based on the number of your web files, web hosting companies will guide you with the best web hosting plan. You can contact the sales team for more clarifications on their web hosting services. 

4. Compare Bandwidth Amounts Between Hosts

No matter which web hosting service you are buying, do not ignore the important aspect of hosting, which is bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of data being transferred between the hosting servers and the end user browsers. Different bandwidth options are available with different hosting companies. Some service providers offer unlimited bandwidth, while others set limits. 

The more your web hosting bandwidth, the more amount of data your server will process. Therefore, if you expect to get a good amount of traffic on your site, you should prefer a higher bandwidth plan. In such cases, VPS hosting and dedicated hosting services become reliable web hosting service options, and both these web hosting services are configured for higher bandwidth.

5. Check out the Technical Support Options and Reviews

Undoubtedly, web hosting operations are technical activities, and users require more technical knowledge. After all, users will be managing technical operations on servers. However, managed server support by web hosting companies is also available. They give 24×7 customer support assurance via chat and email. 

Final thoughts

Web hosting services are crucial to give your site maximum uptime and make them accessible to internet users worldwide. Hence, choose the right hosting plan to scale your website’s efficiency and generate more traffic and leads. Also, do not forget to buy control panels and add-on features. 

Those add-on features help in building your sites’ operation, managing domains, and many such important functions. Thus, pick a reliable web hosting provider.