Every website you visit on the internet is stored somewhere on a server. That server must be accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That is exactly what web hosting entails: the space and infrastructure that ensure your website is always online and accessible to visitors.

How does web hosting work?

When you build a website, it consists of files: HTML, images, databases, scripts, and so on. Those files need to be stored somewhere so that a browser can retrieve them the moment someone types in your domain name. A hosting company makes server space available, ensures a stable internet connection, security, and technical maintenance, so that you can focus on your website itself.

The main types of web hosting

Shared hosting With shared hosting, you share a server with several other websites. This is the most affordable option and ideal for smaller websites, blogs, or startups. The downside: you share server resources, which means performance can fluctuate if another website on the same server draws a lot of traffic. VPS hosting

A VPS (Virtual Private Server) offers you your own protected section of a physical server, with guaranteed resources. This provides more control, speed, and flexibility than shared hosting, without the cost of a full dedicated server.

Dedicated server

Here, you rent a full physical server exclusively for your website(s). This offers the most computing power and control, but is also the most expensive option and requires more technical knowledge.

Cloud hosting

With cloud hosting, your website does not run on a single server, but on a network of multiple servers. This ensures high reliability and scalability: if there is more traffic, more capacity is automatically deployed.

What should you look for when choosing a hosting package?

Storage space and bandwidth: how much data is your website allowed to use and how many visitors can it handle?
Uptime guarantee: aim for at least 99.9% uptime.
Customer service: is there Dutch-language support and how fast are responses?
Security: SSL certificate, backups, and firewall are essential. Scalability: can you easily upgrade as your website grows?

Shared hosting or a VPS?

For a simple business website or blog with a limited number of visitors, shared hosting is usually more than sufficient. Do you expect a lot of traffic, use heavy applications such as a webshop, or do you want more control over the server configuration? Then a VPS is a wiser choice. We discuss this difference in more detail in our blog post about shared hosting versus VPS.

Conclusion

Web hosting is the foundation of every website. The right choice depends on your budget, technical knowledge, and the expected growth of your website. Unsure which solution best suits your project? At Mediawax, we are happy to help you figure it out.