"Web hosting" covers everything from a $3 cPanel plan to a rack of servers you manage yourself. The word makes them sound like the same product. They aren't. Picking the wrong kind is how people end up paying for features they don't use or fighting limits they didn't know about.
Here's what each type actually gives you.
What a web host does
Every website needs a computer that's always on, connected to the internet and running software that answers requests. A web host provides some or all of that stack:
- Hardware and network: the machine, power, bandwidth and a public IP address
- Operating system: Linux updates and security patches
- Web server: Nginx, Apache or a runtime for your language
- Your app: code, builds, deploys and restarts
- The edges: domain, DNS, SSL certificate, backups, monitoring
The hosting types differ in how many of those layers they handle for you and how much control you keep.
1. Shared hosting
You rent a slice of a server alongside hundreds of other sites. The host runs everything up to the web server. You upload files, usually through cPanel or a file manager.
- Good for: WordPress, simple PHP sites, small business pages
- Cost: a few dollars a month at intro prices, often renewing at double or triple
- Limits: no root access, limited languages, a noisy neighbour can slow you down
If you write Node, Python, Go or anything that runs as a long-lived process, shared hosting will mostly get in your way.
2. VPS (virtual private server)
A virtual machine with its own operating system, CPU, RAM and public IP. You get root and do whatever you want with it.
- Good for: APIs, full-stack apps, databases, background workers, several projects on one box
- Cost: from about $4 to $7 a month for 1 to 2 GB of RAM at providers like Hetzner, DigitalOcean or Vultr
- Limits: you're the sysadmin. Updates, firewalls, backups and HTTPS are your job
A VPS is the best value for developers who run more than one thing. It's also the most work, which is the part tools like Docker and DomainDock try to shrink.
3. Cloud infrastructure (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure)
The same idea as a VPS with hundreds of extra services around it: managed databases, load balancers, queues, object storage. You pay for each piece by the hour or the request.
- Good for: teams that need scaling, compliance or specific managed services
- Cost: hard to predict. A small instance is cheap. Bandwidth, managed databases and load balancers add up fast
- Limits: steep learning curve and billing that punishes mistakes
Oracle Cloud's Always Free tier deserves a mention: it has included Arm instances with a generous amount of RAM at no cost. Idle free instances can be reclaimed, so treat it as a bonus, not a foundation.
4. Platforms (Vercel, Netlify, Render, Railway, Fly.io)
You push code. The platform builds it, runs it and gives you a URL with HTTPS. You never see a server.
- Good for: frontends, Next.js apps, small services, teams who don't want to run servers
- Cost: free tiers to start, then per seat, per usage or both
- Limits: free tiers often have strings attached. Render's free web services spin down after 15 minutes without traffic. Vercel's Hobby plan is for personal, non-commercial use. Heroku ended its free dynos back in November 2022.
Platforms are the fastest way to ship one app. They get expensive when you run many always-on services or a database per project.
5. Bring your own server (self-hosting)
Your hardware or your VPS, your software, your rules. This is the VPS option taken further: a home server, a Raspberry Pi with a public IP, an old laptop in a closet or a dedicated box.
- Good for: learning, privacy, running a lot of small things cheaply
- Cost: the hardware and electricity, or a VPS bill
- Limits: you handle everything, including the parts that aren't fun
Where "digital hosting" fits
People search for "digital hosting" or "digital web host" when they mean any of the above, often because of our domain, digitalweb.host. To be clear about what we are: DomainDock isn't a hosting company. We don't store your files or run your code.
We cover layer 5 for apps you already run. You bring a server from any of the options above that has a public IP. We give it an address like myapp.digitalweb.host, create the DNS record, serve it over HTTPS and check every 5 minutes that it answers. It's free, which makes a $5 VPS plus DomainDock a cheap setup for side projects that need to stay up.
How to choose
Answer three questions:
What are you running? Static files go to a static host or platform. A WordPress blog goes to shared hosting. Anything with a server process, a database or a worker goes to a VPS or a platform.
How many things? One app is cheapest on a platform's free or entry tier. Three or more always-on services are usually cheaper on one VPS.
How much do you want to manage? None of it: a platform. Some of it: a VPS with Docker and a gateway that handles domains and HTTPS. All of it: self-hosting with your own proxy and certificates.
| Type | You manage | Typical cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting | Files only | Low intro price | WordPress, PHP |
| VPS | OS and up | $4-$7/month to start | Multiple apps, APIs |
| Cloud | Anything you choose | Varies a lot | Scaling teams |
| Platform | Just code | Free tier, then usage | Frontends, single apps |
| Your own server | Everything | Hardware or VPS | Learning, many small apps |
Picked a VPS? Our step-by-step guide to deploying a project on a VPS walks through the setup. When your app is running, give it a free domain with HTTPS.