WordPress Hosting vs. Buying a Domain?

Question

I want to make a website that runs WordPress. When I purchase my domain name, do I need to make sure that I purchase WordPress Hosting? What is the difference between WordPress hosting and buying a plain domain name without WP hosting?

Thanks!
Luke

Answer 1

A domain name and hosting are two separate things. If you want to host your own website, you usually want both though, so they are sold as a package.



Hosting is a piece of hard drive on a computer that's online 24/7. It's where you upload your website files, so they are always available for viewing. Since those computers have really long, ugly web addresses, you also get a domain, then point it at the hosting.

Think of it like this: hosting is the actual house, it's where you put your furniture and your clothes and your stuff (i.e. the website files). The domain is the street address you tell your friends, so they can find your house.



Wordpress needs PHP support and a mySQL database. Since those two are the most common choices, 99% of hosts offer those in their basic web hosting plans. Those plans usually come with a free domain on top.

To set up Wordpress, you can either use the "one-click installer" in the host's admin interface, or you upload Wordpress yourself and set it up by visiting your domain.



Wordpress hosting is a plan specifically geared to host a wordpress site. It's usually a bit cheaper, but it only supports Wordpress.



TL;DR:

Compare Wordpress hosting with the cheapest standard hosting, and pick which ever is cheaper.

As an example, basic hosting from 1and1.com is 0.99/month the first year, then 6.99/month.

Their basic wordpress hosting costs exactly the same but limits you to a single wordpress installation.



So here I'd pick the general hosting plan, because you could add a 2nd domain and run a 2nd wordpress website on the hosting plan you already have.

Answer 2

Some hosting companies may have optimizations for WordPress, but I'm not sure how big a difference that is for a typical wordpress website, or if it is just marketing that web hosts do to say they can host WordPress sites, any web host that has PHP, MySQL can run WordPress, that means almost if not every commercial web host in the world, so you don't need specific WP hosting. You really should just look for the best value, great overall support, great speed and bandwidth, a great web host, then check if they have PHP and MySQL as due diligence.



The domain name, www.yourwebsite.com, as others mentioned is a separate item you can buy at a totally different place, you bind them together with the DNS addresses your webhost provided, they look like IP addresses, there is a primary and a secondary DNS address. To hook them up, go ti the place you bought your domain name, be it namecheap or or wherever, login, find where you can enter the DNS, then just copy paste 2 lines into text fields and hit save. You'll get a message about change needs typically 24-48 hours to take effect, but if you type in your domain name into a web browser after a few hours, it will typically be online already if not, just wait longer, you'll see the placeholder index.html file your web host placed into the root of your website when everything is connected.



Web hosts with cPanel has a special feature to install popular apps like WordPress, but you don't have to use that, you can download from Wordpress.org, work on it, or hire someone to work on it on their local development machine, then upload via FTP to your web host.



It also doesn't matter which you buy first, domain name or web hosting, just hook up the DNS.

Answer 3

The domain name is similar to a logo you see on the store.

The hosting is similar to the actual space where you put all your products inside the store.



If you buy just the domain name, it's like you're standing on the street, with the logo of your store on a board, but with no space to put your products (the WordPress files).



If you don't have a hosting account, your domain will most certainly display a page with ads, of your company from which you bought the domain.



The WordPress files need to be stored on a computer that's publicly accessible. That's the web hosting - a rented computer.



Sergiu Funieru

Answer 4

Some hosts include wordpress hosting.



I'd suggest you learn how to host a website yourself with a VPS and install Wordpress on that.

Answer 5

Got a WordPress-based site? Wordpress hosting means its got a quick and easy setup for WordPress users. If you're not basing it on Wordpress, you don't need Wordpress hosting.

Answer 6

The domain name and the hosting are seperate issues. Most domain name registrars offer website hosting also, it might be easier but might offer less flexibility. You can have a separate registrar and and a different web host. There are very different web hosts and it is good to look at reviews, there are numerous sites that post reviews, TMinus Sites, WordPress.org or Top Ten Reviews should cover all the reviews of any web host you might need.

Answer 7

Ok, thank you all for the answers! Sorry I got back late, this is the first time I have used Yahoo Answers and I couldn't figure out how to get back to my question lol XD.



Luke