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Cloudways Web Hosting

Cloudways Review 2021: Server Hosting Plans, Pricing, Performance, Pros/Cons and FREE Trial

Cloudways Review 2021: Server Hosting Plans, Pricing, Performance, Pros/Cons, & FREE Trial Offer

Disclaimer: This article may contain affiliate links, which means if you click on the link and make a purchase as a result, we will get a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you in advance if you do decide to use one of our links!

What is included in this Cloudways review?

In this review, I’m going to give you a comprehensive review of everything you need to know about Cloudways hosting.

I manage about 23 websites, including this one, all of which have been migrated to Cloudways hosting over a year ago.

My goal in this review is to help you understand the good, bad, and ugly of hosting your websites with Cloudways, so you can make the best decision for your business.

But, the long and short of it is, I love Cloudways so far and recommend it if you are looking for an easy-to-use fast VPS managed cloud host.

You can try it today for FREE – Deploy your FREE server HERE.

Don’t worry if you decide it’s not right for you, I’ve provided some good alternatives as well.

About Cloudways

Let’s start off by telling you a little more about the company itself.

What is Cloudways?

Cloudways is a cloud hosting service provider which provides you with access to the latest and fastest servers, near-zero downtime, 24/7 support, and more.

Cloudways is a cloud hosting service provider that offers managed hosting solutions for web applications. It helps businesses and developers to create custom-built cloud infrastructure, deploy high traffic websites and handle complex application deployments.

The company’s flagship product is the Cloudways Platform, an advanced cloud hosting platform with a variety of features that are designed to meet the needs of both small and large-scale web projects.

It helps businesses and developers to create custom-built cloud infrastructure, deploy high traffic websites and handle complex application

They offer a variety of services to small and medium businesses. The company has been around for over 10 years and is currently owned by the Dotfog Group.

Where is Cloudways located?

They offer over 60 Datacenters in 15 countries and 33 cities.

cloudways data center locations

Cloudways currently has two corporate offices:

MALTA

Tower Business Centre

2nd Floor Tower Street

Birkirkara, BKR4013, Malta

and,

PAKISTAN

140-H Allama Iqbal Rd

P.E.C.H.S Block 2

Karachi, Karachi City

Sindh, Pakistan

How does Cloudways work?

Cloudways is a managed hosting provider. It provides the service for individuals and businesses to run their websites on servers in its data centers.

The company also offers managed cloud services, such as VPS and dedicated instances, to its customers.

Cloudways provides the infrastructure for users without needing them to worry about the technical aspects of managing a server.

If you are a network administrator then no you probably don’t want to use Cloudways. I would recommend going straight to Digital Ocean, or AWS, or one of the other cloud hosts and do all the technical stuff yourself to set up your server.

I’m not technical so I’m willing to pay a couple of bucks more over the direct purchase to have a managed hosting experience.

Why Do You Need Web Hosting?

Web hosting is a service that’s necessary for people who have their own website. Web hosting provides the space to store files, share them with others, and keep them safe from hackers. With a web hosting company, you’re able to upload your website and use a server with its Internet connection so that it can be seen by the public at large.

What is Managed WordPress Hosting?

Managed WordPress Hosting is a service offered by web hosting providers that provide the infrastructure, support, and backup needed to run a website. Managed WordPress Hosters are responsible for installing and updating WordPress, maintaining the hosting environment, and providing remote access to support.

Managed WordPress Hosting is a service offered by web hosting providers that provide the infrastructure, support, and backup needed.

Cloudways vs. Traditional Hosting

Cloudways is different from traditional web hosts in that it provides a managed WordPress hosting service. Traditional web host providers do not invest much time to manage the security of sites hosted on their servers.

Cloudways is a company that has invested time to develop a managed WordPress hosting platform and provide excellent customer support.

Cloudways allows you to choose from 5 different cloud hosting providers:

  1. Digital Ocean
  2. Vultr
  3. Linode
  4. Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  5. Google Cloud

I personally run all my websites on a scaled-up Vultr High-Frequency Server and love it!

Traditional hosting companies typically run their own servers and you are limited to their infrastructure, whereas with Cloudways you can choose your preferred technology stack and manage it all through Cloudways’ easy-to-use interface.

What Can You Do with the Cloudways Console?

Pros and Cons of Cloudways

Ok, let’s get into the pros and cons you can expect with Cloudways hosting. Now, you will see I think the Pros greatly outweigh the cons, but that’s not to say Cloudways is perfect. Because nothing is.

Pros

Easy WordPress Migration Plugin

The first thing I loved about Cloudways was how easy it was to migrate over your WordPress websites.

Cloudways will do the first website migration for you at NO CHARGE, which is awesome! Especially if you only have 1 website. I was a little worried about knowing how to get my sites over.

But, like I said I have a few handfuls of sites, and thanks to the WP migration plugin, migrating them over is a breeze.

You literally just install the migration plugin, follow the step-by-step guide to copy and paste the needed information from your server and application console and you are good to go.

I was able to bring over about 23 sites in 2 sessions lasting about 3 hours in total.

So the easy website migration is a definite plus!

I will mention that I did have a new site built for me with PHP and while it’s great I can host it on the same server, I needed some help from my developer to create and push those site files over. I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to FTP protocols and databases.

But if you want to check out the FREE Trial of that Bio-Link Tool, check out the link shortener here.

Affordable High-Performance Cloud Hosting

Cloudways is a SaaS hosting provider.

The service provides cloud hosting, virtual private servers (VPSs), and dedicated servers.

Cloudways offers both Linux and Windows VPS hosting.

It also provides managed dedicated servers, VPSs, cloud servers, It supports PHP 7 out of the box.

FREE SSL Certificate Included & Easy To Install

Another great thing is that your servers come with FREE SSL certificates for unlimited sites. It is super simple to install as well.

You just go into your application (website) management panel and literally there is a section for SSL. I love that I can set this up right away and not get any of these redirect errors that can sometimes happen if you try to implement an SSL later in WordPress. Here is a screenshot of the SSL certificate option from the application management panel.

SSL FREE

Unlimited Websites and Applications

The great thing about setting up your web hosting with a VPS, or virtual private server, is that you can run more than one website on the same server.

I’m running all my sites on one server. Now I’m not on the lowest plan, but still running 123 websites for about 50 dollars a month and they are fast. The front end and back end are running much better than they were prior to migrating them over.

Most are not huge sites of course, but you get the point.

I’m also someone who tends to have new website wonder lust, so I get an idea, find a domain, and want to set up the website.

That is how this website came to be of course. I wanted to create a free tool to find domain names with social profiles that were also available. Instead of buying a domain and finding that none of the social media accounts were available.

NamingGenerator.com was born.

So if you are someone that is constantly building sites for affiliate marketing, lead gen, clients whatever. If you want to be able to manage them all from one place, I love Cloudways for that.

Spinning up a new site (application) on your server is literally as easy as clicking a button.

Add Application on cloudways

Easily Monitor Server Resources, Traffic, and More

Cloudways also makes it super easy to check the health of your server. You simply go into the server management panel and select “monitoring”.

Server monitoring panel

Here you can check your CPU usage, Ram usage, Disk Usage, and your bandwidth usage. If you click on the “Details” button you can then get details by website or application.

This is a great way to see how your server is performing as your traffic and sites grow. The good news is they make scaling as easy as touching a button! More on that.

Scale Server in Minutes At Click Of A Button

The virtual scaling feature is amazing. You can literally start with the smallest hosting package from your preferred cloud host, and then as your website demands increase simply scale the size and speed of your server with a touch of a button.

cloudways vertical scaling

As you can see I’ve used this button twice. But, I’m at a level now where I can scratch that new website itch a few more times with no problem.

But it’s super easy, you select your new tier, wait a few minutes and your server is scaled on the backend for you.

Control Over Server-Level Backups

Another great feature that I love is how simple it is to set up your own server-side backups. Again it’s as simple as going to the server management panel and selecting backups.

cloudways backup

Here you can select when your backs are performed, how often they are done, and how long you want them retained.

You can also do an on-demand backup, by hitting the “Take BackUp Now” button.

I also, love that it tells you how much the off-side backup size is, this was something I could never tell from my past VPS.

Self-Healing Servers

This is also something I love having. Cloudways calls it self-healing servers, but in essence, most server issues are automatically on the back end by self-healing server restarts.

This is very handy if for some reason something with your server is overloaded, the auto restarts will clean it up at least temporarily so your websites don’t crash.

Giving you time to see what is causing the issue with support.

FREE WordPress Cache Plugin- BREEZE

Breeze is developed by Cloudways to offer a better WordPress performance than other cache plugins in the industry.

It’s simple to use and comes pre-installed on Cloudways for no charge.

Block Storage Scaling

You can scale up your server storage at a click of a button without changing other server parameters which is great!

Launch More Than 10 Convenient Apps

Cloudways comes with multiple easy-to-install apps, including 1-click, which makes it easy to install a number of WP or Magento sits on a single server.

ALL PHP Apps supported

This would have never crossed my mind or made my list of Pros until about 2 years ago. I had an old site on my old VPS server, that was set up on PHP software in 2010.

My old VPS host contacts me and says I need to upgrade my server to new PHP, the older ones were no longer being supported and down went my site, the first one I ever set up.

That was actually the last straw in getting me to look for another host since I had been with them for like 9 or 10 years.

The good news is after a lot of research it led me to Cloudways so guess it’s not all bad.

If you want to check out all the features that Cloudways offers, click the link below and it will take you directly to the feature page.

24/7/354 Free Support

They do offer free online chat support with additional advanced and premium support options. More on those under cons.

Pay As You Go

There is no lock-in contract to worry about, you only pay for what you use monthly. So, if you don’t like it for some reason you can leave.

In fact, that was my initial plan, was going to try it, see how I liked it, and if it didn’t work out go over to WPX Hosting. But, I haven’t looked back and I’m not planning on going anywhere, any time soon.

Cons

Support Could Be Better

Ok, I’m probably being pretty harsh here, to be honest. I’ve used their support a lot. They have helped me with a lot of questions over the year.

They offer 24/7/365 Live Chat, which is what I use most of the time, and I want to say 90% of the time I get someone in less than 5 minutes, but there has been a few times where I needed to wait like 20 minutes.

They have an online ticketing system, but I’ve found that to be slower. But, it’s good if you need to send something off and don’t have time to handle it on live chat.

Their first inclination is to point you to PDF articles on how to resolve your issue. These are well done, but a lot of times I just want someone to do it for me.

I will say if you ask them, they have always helped do it for me, so again I might be being harsh.

You can get phone support but it’s an addon as part of their Advanced and Premium support, but these seem to be for bigger operations since they cost 100 and 500 a month respectively.

In fairness, they offer a lot of services, most of which I’m not even sure what they are.

No CPanel or Plesk

This one really isn’t an issue for me at all. But, I wanted to make sure I mentioned it. I really prefer the server and application management platform that Cloudways offers. It’s easier to access and easy to use.

But, if you are used to CPanel or Plesk from your other hosts, then you need to know you won’t see these here.

Off-Site Backups are an upcharge

There is a slight charge for off-site backups which is a little annoying, but It’s really tiny. I think like a fraction of a penny for every GB.

No FREE Email Included

Another item that was a bit annoying and honestly almost kept me from choosing Cloudways at first. In fact, I went back and forth with them and WPX Hosting for a few months because of this. WPX is the other hosting company I was close to porting my sites over to. They offer phenomenal support and are a really great hosting company as well.

But, I actually found a really cool workaround for email that I love. I ended up signing up for Hostinger at their longest cheapest plan. I think I paid like 50 dollars for 5 years of unlimited emails. Now I set up all my sites for email through them. I can make 100 email alias for every site, and their website is easy to use for email.

So, don’t let that deter you.

Also, you can just pay for their Rackspace Email Add-on, and you are good to go.

CDN Additional Charge

The CDN is super fast, but there is a small upcharge. The nice thing is you can add it to specific applications as you need it. I believe I pay 1$ extra per month on my sites running ads to get the CDN activated.

No Domain Name Registration

You can’t register a domain name on Cloudways, so you will have to manage your domains from a different registrar. This is what I typically do anyway. I use both NameCheap and Godaddy.

What are Cloudway’s hosting plans?

Cloudways’ hosting plans start from $5.5 per month for a basic shared account up to $60 per month with advanced options.

The company offers paid and free trial plans for its hosting services. This makes it really easy to whip up a new account and server to see test the UI for yourself.

How to Decide What Cloud Hosting Is Best for Your Needs

There are a lot of great hosting companies out there. So, you need to decide what you are looking for in your cloud host before making a decision.

Identify your hosting needs

Ask yourself these questions to better understand what your hosting needs truly are:

  1. How important are speed and performance?
  2. How many websites or applications do I want to manage?
  3. What are the start-up and scaling costs?
  4. Can this host grow and scale with my needs?
  5. What are my hosting must-haves?
  6. What did I dislike from my previous host that I don’t want to have again?

Launching Your Server is Easy

Once you’ve answered those questions and finished your research getting started with Cloudways is easy.

Just decide which server company you want to host your sites on. They are all solid choices, I use Vultr High-Frequency servers because speed is important to me, and was one of the main reasons I left my previous hosting company.

cloudways server options

If you want to see the pricing and options click the banner below, I linked it directly to the pricing options for you.

The Ultimate Managed Hosting Platform

Step #1: Create an Account on Cloudways

If you want to see the pricing and options click the banner below, I linked it directly to the pricing options for you.

The Ultimate Managed Hosting Platform

Step #2: Launch Server

Once you have an account, just hit create a new server, choose the setup, and Cloudways will spin it up for you in a few minutes.

I recommend following this step-by-step video on how to set up your server from WPCrafter. This is literally what I watched to get started.

Now it seems silly because it’s so easy to use, but for newbies like me, I highly recommend this video.

How to get started with a FREE trial for 3 days

It’s super easy to get started with a FREE 3 day trial of Cloudways. They offer it on every new account. So, I would suggest giving it a try and get a server started yourself.

You can see how easy it is to start a WordPress blog, Woocommerce store, PHP application and so much more.

Deploy your FREE server HERE.

cloudways hosting pricing

Hosting Alternatives

Like I said before there are a lot of great hosting companies out there, there are some duds too.

But if you are anything like me, the more research you do the better you feel about your ultimate decision no matter what it is.

So, below I’ve added a list of Cloudways alternatives. They provide some more traditional hosting models for both Shared and WordPress managed hosting.

Also, check out our Bonus Bundle for using any of our affiliate links if you are interested.

What is the Cloudways affiliate program?

The Cloudways affiliate program allows you to earn a commission for spreading the word and referring new customers to them.

Every host has an affiliate program, they can be one of the more lucrative affiliate niches to get into, however, it is very competitive as you might imagine.

I participate in the Cloudways affiliate program and have links in this article, if you find it useful and decide to use one of the links, then the site makes a small commission.

Thank you if you decide to use our link by the way!

Is Cloudways Good for E-Commerce Hosting?

Cloudways is the best cloud hosting for e-commerce and will be even better in the long run.

Here are some of the things they have that most other hosts don’t:

1. Cloudways is a hosted platform. This means that you do not have to set up your server and install Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl, or any other software on your own. They host it for you.

2. It is a managed hosting platform, meaning that it will handle all the updates and security patches for you.

3. They have a built-in shopping cart feature (it means that you can sell your products with no need to install shopping cart software on your own).

4. They also offer a powerful, simple, and SEO-friendly control panel that is easy to use. .\

Supported E-Commerce Platforms

What About Performance and Uptime?

Performance and uptime both matter greatly when it comes to your website.

The performance of your website is often measured in terms of bandwidth, response time, and load times.

All servers launched on Cloudways have dedicated resources to ensure performance.

It is built on SSD-based hosting, SSD drives are 3X faster for driving top performance.

Cloudways, a CDN (content delivery network) service, is an easy yet powerful way to get better performance and global response times. It can be integrated with a few clicks without any complicated technicalities.

They provide an optimized stack that includes Memcached, Varnish, Nginx, and Redis for delivering swift responses.

These metrics are important to understand and to keep an eye on. Uptime is also important because it can give you a better idea of how much traffic your website receives, which will help you plan for future growth.

Will My Site Load Fast?

My experience has been that sites consistently load very fast, on top of that you will notice an immediate increase in speed when it comes to the back-end of your website.

I noticed right away that when I’m in WordPress dashboard, everything is faster, including updates.

This will definitely improve your user and personal experience because you will spend a lot less time waiting for stuff to load.

A Global Network of Datacenters

Cloudways offers 62 data centers in 15 countries and 33 cities. Meaning you can choose the server location that is best for your business.

Every mile-second counts, so why have your content hosted across the globe if your visitors are coming from the main location.

With Cloudways you can tap into their global network of data centers to choose the one that’s best for you.

Information about Cloudways CDN

Cloudways comes with a paid CDN addon on option. You can add this on at each application level to improve the speed of your content.

Can I use the Cloudflare CDN instead?

Yes, you can use the Cloudflare CDN instead of Cloudways CDN

Your Website May Need to be Tweaked for Speed

Once you are on Cloudways there are many different options like Varnish, Breeze, Magento Cache, Redis support to make your websites even faster.

What about website protection from hackers?

No host or website is 100% protected but Cloudways includes a lot of great security features to help you protect your website from hackers.

  • Dedicated Firewalls- All servers are protected by OS-level firewalls to filter out malicious traffic attempts
  • 1 Click FREE SSL- we talked about this above
  • IP whitelisting – lets you create a list of whitelisted IPs for SSH and SFTP access
  • Security patching- They perform continuous security patches to the operating system
  • Bot Protection- with the help of their tech partner Malcare, they include a Bot protection feature for WordPress to help block brute force attacks and malicious botts and DoS

Application-Level Security

How is Their Customer Support?

Overall the customer support is there 24/7/365. It’s available through chat unless you pay for advanced or premium support which is pricy. But they definitely add enough support to turn hosting options that would be too complicated for the average joe into easy-to-use managed cloud hosting.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is I would really recommend using Cloudways as your manage hosting option. You will love the speed, how easy it is to launch and manage new websites. The cost is very affordable for the hardware and performance you are getting.

If you compare the Ram and CPUs to what you get at a lot of other great companies, you will come out ahead with Cloudways.

We hope this review was helpful. Thanks for reading!

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11 Best BlueHost Hosting Alternatives 2020- Full Comparison Guide

11 Best Bluehost Hosting Alternatives?

Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links and purchases made through these links will result in a small commission back to our site at no additional cost to you.

Webhosting is essential to running an online business or website as it provides the infrastructure for your site’s performance, stability, security, and growth. Bluehost is one of the most recognized hosting companies in the world, but we know sometimes you want other options, so, in this article, we look at 11 of the best hosting alternatives outside of Bluehost and compare them across a plethora of categories so you can make the best decision for your business.

Web hosts own a large number of powerful servers that provide reliable service to thousands of websites. Effectively, you rent server space when you sign up for a hosting plan. But a good web host isn’t just in the business to sell that server space – they are also selling their expertise in keeping their technology (thus, your website) running seamlessly, efficiently, and securely.

Bluehost is one such service provider. In fact, Bluehost is one of the biggest and most popular hosting companies in the industry. Naturally, though, some users want to know about the best Bluehost alternatives. If you want to pick up Bluehost, use our affiliate link to get some great bonuses.

It’s just good business sense and, besides, different businesses have unique requirements. In this article, we will give you a complete review of the top hosting BlueHost alternatives for 2020 and, possibly, beyond.

What are the best Bluehost hosting alternatives? At a quick glance, the best Bluehost hosting alternatives for 2020 are:

The functionality and overall quality of a website depend heavily on the software used to keep everything together. The software your web host uses can determine the range of features your website can have, your website’s user interface, and how your web content is updated. This is why the number one consideration in choosing a web host should be its ability to support all necessary applications, scripts, or software your website will be running.

Now that we’ve given you a quick list of top Bluehost alternatives, read on through the rest of this article to see exactly how each stack up in the areas that really matter to your website’s success. Do not worry if you aren’t familiar with all the hosting jargon or if you are not totally fluent about the different features mentioned here.

We have included a quick glossary of terms related to hosting features at the end of the article. You will surely become acquainted with and understand better which hosting features are relevant to the success of your website.

Our goal is to help you make the right web hosting decision. And as you decide on the right hosting provider for your website, make sure to do so through our links in order for you to receive our amazing bonuses, such as:

  • A free custom logo for your company designed by our team of graphics professionals
  • A free e-book: 27 FREE Website Tools that will Save You Time and Money
  • Video training courses on how to launch a successful website (more traffic and more income!)

BLUEHOST ALTERNATIVE HOSTING FEATURES

We did a deep-dive on each hosting alternative we listed and compiled their top user-interesting aspects that should help in making a decision at-a-glance.

SITE SPEED

Site Speed Hosting Feature Image

Site speed has to do with how quickly a website responds to web requests. Faster sites create happy users and studies have shown that when a site responds slowly, visitors spend less time there. Recent data show that faster sites don’t just improve user experience — but that an improved site speed translates to cost reduction. And now, site speed is no longer just a critical factor for visitors, but it’s now also a confirmed Google ranking factor. In the site speed aspect, several user tests have shown WPX Hosting and Kinsta as more consistent leaders of the pack.

11 BlueHost Alternatives Site Speed Comparison

HOSTING PRICE

Hosting Cost Money Image

Web hosting price is the aspect most (if not all) of us will first inspect when choosing a web hosting provider. But yes, it shouldn’t be THE deciding factor. When scrutinizing price differences across web host providers, it’s helpful to remember the age-old saying that we get what we pay for. Jumping on the lowest offer you see isn’t necessarily the best idea, especially if your website is relied upon to generate money. It is a much better approach to take a closer look at the features that each web host offers, and THEN compare prices.

Bluehost Alternatives Comparing 11 Webhost Pricing Plans

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

customer support call-centre-image

One of the web hosting features we need to look at first in a host is their reputation for customer support. What are the channels to contact them should you need support – chat, toll-free phone, email? All of the above? Are they staffed 24/7? Various user reviews have ranked WPX Hosting, SiteGround, InMotion Hosting, and WP Engine as the ones with the strongest customer support structure.

bluehost alternatives customer service comparison chart

WEBSITE MIGRATION

website Data Hosting Migration Image

Website Migration. Broadly, site migration is a term used by SEO professionals to describe any activity wherein a website undergoes key changes in areas that can significantly impact search engine visibility. Typically, these changes are related to the site’s location, platform, structure, content, design, or user interface. HostGator, Kinsta, and WPX Hosting have ranked well on top web hosts that offer free site transfers by user reviews.

11 bluehost alternatives migration services comparison chart

SITE BACK UP

Site Backup Image

 

Site Backup. Beyond taking the necessary security precautions to protect one’s website, regularly backing up your website is just good sense. That way, if something unfortunate and unforeseen does occur, you won’t have to start over from scratch. Instead, you can simply restore your site from a previous backup. In a nutshell, a website backup is a copy of all of your website data. Generally, the more data included in the data backup policy, the better. And website backups are ideally done on a regular basis. This way, you are able to restore your site from a backup that’s updated. Hostinger, HostGator, and InMotion Hosting made it to a Best Web Hosting Providers for 2020 list of a leading IT blog site.

11 bluehost alternatives site back up services comparison chart

SSL CERTIFICATE

SSL certificate image

SSL Certificate. A survey was conducted among 425 users to find out which web hosting features were a priority in choosing a web host provider. 25% named security as the most valued, citing security over other features like uptime and disk space. HostGator, InMotion Hosting, and GreenGeeks were among the Top 10 Best Free SSL Hosting Providers in the said study.

11 bluehost competitors SSL certificate policy comparison chart

WORDPRESS OPTIMIZATION

wordpress-optimized hosting image

WordPress Optimization. Whichever host you’re going to choose, keep in mind the 3 most important factors of what makes for a solid WordPress hosting: Speed (or “load time”), Uptime (at least 99.94% reliability), and Customer Support (WordPress expertise). With all three elements prioritized, Hostgator, Hostinger, and SiteGround were ranked as being among 10 Best WordPress Hosting Services.

11 bluehost competitor wordpress optimization comparison

SITE UPTIME

under maintenance image for site uptime

Uptime. By definition, uptime is the amount of time that the server hosting your website is up and running. A hosting provider that has a strong uptime reliability rate indicates that their servers perform well. Imagine a user lands on your website and it doesn’t load. Research has found that 88% of online consumers are less likely to re-visit a website after a negative experience earlier. Experts recommend overlooking a hosting provider offering anything less than 99.9% uptime rate, which is the industry benchmark these days. User reviews have listed HostGator, SiteGround, and DreamHost as top web host providers to consider for their near-excellent uptime.

11 web hosting uptime percentages comparison chart

FREE DOMAIN NAMES OFFERED

free domain-names-offered

A domain name, simply put, is the human-readable version of your website’s address. If you purchased your domain through your hosting provider, it is likely that you already have your website set up for you, as well. A number of web hosting providers offer domain names for free. Though this might sound like a good deal right off-the-bat, do not just jump at the offer. Take a closer look at the free options. It’s been studied that a URL that people trust AND remember is more likely to get clicked on, linked to, and shared, thus making it easier to build a brand with a trusted domain name extension (.com, .org, .net, etc.). BLUEHOST, HostGator, and DreamHost are consistently popular among web hosts that offer a free domain with their hosting plans.

11 webhosts offering free domain name comparison

CDN CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK

CDN Content Delivery Network Map Image

CDN or Content Delivery Network is another important factor to consider when deciding on a web host.  CDNs that store website files, videos, and images as close as possible to end-users reduce load times and increase a website’s chances at conversions. Several web hosting providers include a free CDN when you sign up for their services, typically in the form of a plugin found within the user control panel. In this aspect, SiteGround and Liquid Web are leaders in balancing performance boost with optimized hardware, programming languages, and caching tools.

11 hosting providers CDN offers comparison chart

SECURITY & MALWARE REMOVAL

website security malware warning-2168379_640

Security and Malware Removal. Keeping a website secure and protected from malware should be prime for any web hosting provider. In reality, though, not all web hosts offer free malware scans. And the ones that do might not automatically clean up infections that are detected. WPX Hosting and WP Engine are notable for being good WordPress hosts that offer free malware scans and clean-up.

comparing 11 bluehost alternatives in malware removal features

BANDWIDTH

bandwidth icon

Bandwidth. It is the amount of data you are allowed to transfer to and from your web server each month. This includes uploads and downloads, both HTTP and FTP. Bandwidth depends on your web page size, as well as the number of visitors to your website and the number of pages they visit. In a number of user reviews of web hosting providers who offer high bandwidth (balanced with quality of service and security), Liquid Web and InMotion Hosting are both excellent scorers.

compare 11 hosting providers for bandwidth limitations

STORAGE

storage image

Storage. A hosting plan that offers unlimited storage will allow you to host an unlimited number of files on your website’s server. This is ideal for large websites or sites that upload a high amount of images and media. Most of the Terms and Conditions of these plans will state, however, that bandwidth and storage are “unlimited” in so far as customers can use as many resources as is ‘reasonable’ or ‘normal’ for a small business website or blog. InMotion Hosting and DreamHost have been rated as top web hosting providers with above-par unlimited or unmetered offerings.

11 hosting providers storage comparison chart

 

BlueHost Hosting Alternatives Key Highlights

11 Web Hosting Companies Comparison Table

WPX Hosting boasts of their ability to provide its users with superior page loading speed through their OWN high-speed, custom Content Delivery Network (CDN, free for ALL WPX customers) and brand new and cutting edge SSD servers (all of which are owned, not rented) that are deliberately never overloaded with web accounts and sites. WPX Hosting’s optimized machines come with the guarantee that these perform very well, even under heavy traffic loads.

Kinsta is a fully-managed WordPress hosting provider that offer superior speed, daily backups, reliable security, and free site migrations, among many other features. Users are given the liberty to focus on growing their respective sites or businesses, as Kinsta hosting is always running, monitored, and scalability on-demand.

SiteGround offers reliable web hosting, managed WordPress hosting, high-performance WooCommerce hosting, and auto-scalable cloud hosting. SiteGround prides itself of providing starters with a full solution, including their choice of site builder, premium features, and reliable support. SiteGround also provides free automated WordPress migration with a user-friendly plug-in or expert-assisted migration for professional websites.

WP Engine Their commitment is to help users’ businesses forward faster with the first and only WordPress Digital Experience Platform. This platform provides a suite of site-building and management tools; cloud hosting and security; and optimization tools to help keep websites dynamic. WP Engine remains one of the top hosting providers because of their unparalleled speed, scalability, and security for websites that they host.

DreamHost. Known as one of the fastest and more reliable web host providers, DreamHost boasts of multiple data center locations, redundant cooling, emergency generators, and constant monitoring. With such, DreamHost offers a 100% Uptime Guarantee. They also have what they refer to as Custom Control Panel – an intuitive interface giving its users admin access to all applicable DreamHost products. Here, one can easily update domain information, add users, adjust email settings, gain access to promotions, and more.

Hostinger has been touted as a reliable, affordable web host that helps you get your business online quickly. Downsides to Hostinger, though, is that it lacks Windows servers, phone support, and dedicated hosting plans. With shared hosting, your website “lives” on a server with other websites. In other words, the sites share a single server’s resources. The disadvantage is that shared hosting is not very powerful, so your site may lag or even become unavailable. The benefit of this type of hosting is that costs are split, resulting in low-cost web hosting. This might be more ideal for blog start-ups and similar.

HostGator hosts over 8 million domains and is one of the most popular web hosts in the industry. With one-click WordPress installation, 99.9% uptime guarantee, and 24/7 customer support, HostGator is a smart choice for every website owner. HostGator is considered as one of the best web hosting for businesses.

GreenGeeks is a hosting platform that prides itself on delivering eco-friendly service at affordable prices. They offer a WordPress-specific plan with plenty of features. GreenGeeks is certainly an appealing option for environmentally conscious website owners. GreenGeeks achieves this by designing its platform to be extremely energy efficient and by investing heavily in renewable energy.

InMotion Hosting has been a known industry brand with reliable performance for business class web hosting. InMotion performs well on three big areas of uptime, speed, and support. They also provide a few additional features which can make user experience more convenient and enjoyable.

Cloudways’ hosting infrastructure allows users to focus on building great websites, rather than on the complexities of web hosting. Their managed hosting platform gives ecommerce businesses and digital agencies the flexibility and control in how their websites are hosted. They are known for flexible cloud hosting plans, rapid set-up times, excellent uptime, and as being backed by 24/7/365 support.

Liquid Web, signing up and launching a new WordPress website is very straightforward. Therefore, if what you need is a web host that will allow you to have your new site up and running without delay, Liquid Web is a way to go. Reasonably priced, yet they are known for their exceptional server speed and stability. Liquid Web likewise provides top-notch customer support in the industry.

 

Glossary Of Webhosting Terms

Not everyone is fluent in internet language but this should never deter any enterprising spirit from attempting to create an online presence. Very quickly, here is a review of the important technical terms that we touched upon throughout this article.

Bandwidth – In computing, bandwidth is the maximum rate of data transfer across a given path. It is the maximum amount of data transmitted over an internet connection over an amount of time. Bandwidth may be speaking about network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth. Bandwidth is often confused for internet speed when, really, it’s the volume of information that can be sent over a connection calculated in megabits per second (Mbps).

CDN – Short for Content Delivery Network. It is a system consisting of multiple servers, placed in different locations around the world. When you utilize a CDN with your site, all those servers across the globe will be loaded with static versions of your website’s files. This typically includes code like CSS and JavaScript, images, documents, videos, and other data. Not only will this make your site faster, but it can also help secure it and reduce bandwidth usage. In other words, one way to maintain a website’s speed and performance consistent is by using a CDN.

SSL Certificates – SSL (or Secure Sockets Layer) encrypts information being passed through your website. It keeps your visitor’s confidential information, such as their payment details, safe and protected. SSL certificates vary in security level and price.

WordPress optimization – This is the process of enhancing, tweaking, and customizing the WordPress set up in order to improve the website’s performance, make it faster, and more easily found. It consists of many elements, including having the right specifications, updates, optimizing databases, managing plugins, and others.

Uptime – The amount of time that a server has stayed up and functional. This is usually listed as a percentage rate, such as “99.9%” and such. Uptime is a good indicator of how good a web hosting provider is at keeping their systems up and running.

 

Indeed, there are many different factors to consider when looking for and finally deciding on a web host. The most critical elements are those that have to do with your website’s functionality, performance, and reliability. We should always remember that studies have shown that a slow-loading or unresponsive website drives visitors (and thus, potential clients) away. A website’s performance, reliability, and usefulness all can significantly affect the success of your website. If you choose the right web hosting service provider right out the gate, you are likewise saving yourself the headache of having to migrate your site to a different provider down the road. We hope we have been a big help in your journey to the finding the web hosting provider that’s best for you and your website’s needs. And remember, when you sign up with our web host partners through our links on our website, you get amazing bonuses such as free domain name, free custom logo for your company, free e-Book, and video training courses!

SOURCES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluehost

https://www.bluehost.com/

https://www.hostgator.com/blog/what-to-look-for-in-web-host/

https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/factors-consider-when-choosing-web-hosting-provider

https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/blogging/fastest-wordpress-hosting/

https://www.wpkube.com/wpx-hosting-review/

https://wpxhosting.com/knowledgebase/article/35/does-wpx-hosting-sell-ssl-certificates-or-can-help-with-ssl-integration-/?affid=375

https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/blogging/reviews/wpx-hosting/

https://wpxhosting.com/knowledgebase/article/163/does-wpx-hosting-offer-managed-wordpress-hosting-what-exactly-does-that-cover-/

https://www.lifewire.com/uptime-in-web-hosting-3467355

https://blog.resellerclub.com/what-is-wordpress-optimization/

https://kinsta.com/plans/?plan=visits-starter&interval=month

https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/blogging/reviews/kinsta/

https://www.verizon.com/info/definitions/bandwidth/

https://hostingfacts.com/hosting-reviews/siteground/

https://www.sitepoint.com/review-sitegrounds-migration-service/

https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/web-hosting-services/wpengine-pricing/

https://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/wp-engine-review/

https://www.dreamhost.com/wordpress/guide-using-a-cdn-with-wp/

https://sea.pcmag.com/hostinger-web-hosting/32141/hostinger-web-hosting

https://hostingfacts.com/hosting-reviews/hostinger/#:~:text=If%20a%20website%20takes%20more,that%20loading%20times%20are%20stable.

https://www.cloudwards.net/hostinger-review/

https://www.bitcatcha.com/hosting-reviews/hostgator/

https://themeisle.com/blog/greengeeks-review-for-wordpress/

https://hostingfacts.com/hosting-reviews/greengeeks/

https://hostingfacts.com/hosting-reviews/inmotion/

https://winningwp.com/liquid-web-hosting-review/

https://moz.com/blog/website-migration-guide#:~:text=A%20site%20migration%20is%20a,content%2C%20design%2C%20or%20UX.

https://www.cnet.com/news/best-web-hosting-providers-for-2020-dreamhost-bluehost-a2hosting-more/

https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/web-hosting-services/best/ssl/

https://websitesetup.org/best-wordpress-hosting-performance/

https://www.hostingadvice.com/how-to/best-cdn-hosting/

https://berkaweb.com/hosting/free-malware-detection/

https://mybloghosting.com/high-bandwidth-web-hosting-providers/

https://themeisle.com/blog/best-unlimited-hosting-plans/

https://sea.pcmag.com/hostinger-web-hosting/32141/hostinger-web-hosting

https://www.shoutmeloud.com/top-wordpress-hosting-offers-free-wordpress-host-migration-service.html

https://www.wpbeginner.com/hosting/inmotion-hosting/#:~:text=InMotion%20hosting%20has%20been%20a,they%20are%20a%20user%20favorite.&text=They’re%20offer%20our%20users,free%20domain%20and%20free%20SSL.

https://www.whoishostingthis.com/hostingreviews/liquidweb/#:~:text=Our%20Verdict%3A%20Outstanding%20Choice%20for,they%20offer%20very%20reasonable%20prices

 

 

 

 

Categories
Domain Names Web Hosting

Does SiteGround Offer a Free Domain?

Getting a free domain name as part of your web hosting plan is one of the best and most convenient ways to save money and time when starting a website. That is why if you are interested in SiteGround as a hosting provider, you first need to know if SiteGround offers free domains.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

Does SiteGround offer a free domain? No, SiteGround does not offer a free domain name. You need to pay for a domain name separately at about $15.95 per year. The company takes pride in providing consistently fast and reliable hosting plans. And just like other domain and web hosting service providers, the company also provides domain management services like domain transfers, domain registrations, and domain proxy.

 If you are interested in SiteGround as a domain and hosting provider or just want to know better alternatives, this article will help you make a more informed choice.

Siteground does qualify for our FREE bonus bundle of $1,474– which includes a Custom Logo.

What Is SiteGround?

SiteGround is a privately-held website hosting company that started in Sofia, Bulgaria. To date, the company offers web hosting, WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, cloud hosting, enterprise hosting, student hosting, reseller hosting, and domain registration services.

According to the company website, they host about 2 million domains on their platform. The company’s data centers are located in the United States, London, Germany, The Netherlands, Singapore, and Australia. They also have offices in the United States and all over Europe.

How Much Does SiteGround Cost?

SiteGround hosting plans cost between $15 and $40 per month. This monthly rate may further decrease if you get a discounted offer or if you available their yearly plans.

What Are the Different SiteGround Plans?

SiteGround has three main web hosting plans. They are the StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek plans. These web hosting plans differ on the number of websites they can host, their server space, and the number of monthly visitors.

All plans include features like free email, free CDN, managed WordPress, SSL, website backup, and a lot more.

What SiteGround Plan Is the Best?

The GrowBig premium plan is the most popular SiteGround web hosting plan. With this plan, you can host unlimited websites at only $24.99 per month.

This plan is ideal for those managing sites that get about 25,000 visits per month. It is also a good midway plan that provides premium server resources without having to pay for the more expensive GoGeek plan.

What Are the Advantages of Using SiteGround?

The primary benefits of using SiteGround lies in its speed and 100% uptime. Other benefits include:

 

  1. SiteGround has its own data centers all around the world.
  2. SiteGround offers free SSL certificates, free website backup, and free website transfer.
  3. SiteGround has top-notch customer service.
  4. SiteGround has its own plugins to help optimize your site’s speed.
  5. SiteGround has intuitive interfaces to make managing your site easy.

What Top Level Domains (TLD) Does SiteGround Offer?

If you are interested in a SiteGround domain, the basic .com domain costs $15.95 per year. Other available domains are .net, .org, .biz, .info, and .us. The company also offers country-level domains like .co.uk, .eu, .nl, etc. and special domains like .shop, .online, .blog, and .xyz.

What Are the Best Alternatives to SiteGround That Offers Free Domains?

When most web hosting providers offer free domain names, it can be difficult to sort through which companies provide high-quality service as well. With our comprehensive list below, we will help you decide what domain and web host provider to pick.

NameCheap

Be smart about your website startup plan and explore NameCheap first when looking for a SiteGround. The hosting company does not only offer one of the lowest domain name registration fees, but it also offers a free domain when you purchase a website hosting plan.

And, when you avail of any of our web hosting options, you will get up to up to $1,400+ worth of free bundle bonuses – including a free, professionally designed logo, business ebooks, and more.

BlueHost

BlueHost is another web hosting company that offers free domain names for every purchase of its hosting plans. Note that this free domain name registration is only valid for one year. The regular yearly domain registration fee will apply after that.

To some, BlueHost may be a bit pricey. But pick BlueHost if you have a high-traffic site that requires reliable speed and uptime. BlueHost costs between $3.95 and $7.99 per month. This rate may decrease if you pre-pay for annual, biennial, or triennial plans.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy is a publicly-traded web hosting company that also provides numerous services to websites. The company frequently offers plan discounts for new customers. Watch out for these offers from time to time, and you may snag your chosen domain name at a much lower cost.

GoDaddy has three hosting plans. They are the Economy, Deluxe, and Ultimate hosting plans. They cost about $8.99 to $16.99 per month.

Wix

Wix mainly leverages its drag and drop website builder and sophisticated website designs. But for your to get a free domain along with your hosting plan, you need to sign up for either their Combo, Unlimited or VIP premium plans. These hosting plans cost $8.50, $12.50, and $24.50 per month, respectively, and will give you a free domain for a year.

This provider is perfect if you want a delicately designed website or a portfolio site.

Weebly

Weebly is perfect if you want to start an online store or eCommerce shop. Domain names are free if you subscribe to a Pro, Business, or Business Plus. These premium plans cost between $12 and $38 per month when paid yearly.

The company also offers free domain names for Pro and Business plans for website owners. This costs between $12 and $25 per month when paid yearly.

SquareSpace

SquareSpace is a privately held company that provides website building and hosting services. It has four hosting plans; Personal, Business, Basic Commerce, and Advanced Commerce. Free custom domain names are available when you purchase an annual plan.

Annual plans cost between $12 and $40 per month, and you get to save up to $30 from the monthly fee.

FatCow

For an udderly cost-effective alternative to SiteGround, you may try out FatCow. The site offers one of the lowest web hosting fees at about $4.08 per month (if purchased yearly). The company also provides WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting – all plans include a free domain name during the first year. (Also, hats off to the company’s consistent bovine-related branding.)

The company may not provide the fastest speed and most reliable uptime, but it can compete in providing all the same services that other providers offer at half the cost. Pick this hosting provider if you are only starting a personal blog or company website that does not require a ton of space or bandwidth.

Whether you are looking to lower your website startup costs or just want to explore different domain provider alternatives, it pays to learn of all your choices before making a decision.

Let this short guide equip you with the right knowledge in choosing a good SiteGround alternative and make an informed choice for your online site.

Don’t forget to check our Free Web Hosting Bonus Offers and accelerate your site’s success.

Related Questions

Does SiteGround Offer a Free Trial?

No, SiteGround does not offer a free trial. Instead, it offers discounted monthly or yearly rates from time to time.

Can You Use a Domain From Another Provider With SiteGround Hosting?

Yes, it is possible to point your SiteGround hosting account to an existing domain name. If you have purchased a domain name from another register, all you need to do is take note of and update your web host’s nameservers or DNS servers in your domain account’s settings. For a step by step guide on how to do this, check this article on how to point your domain.

Does SiteGround have cPanel access?

Yes, SiteGround allows cPanel access. Upon subscribing to a SiteGround hosting plan, access to its custom cPanel Crystal is provided.

Categories
Domain Names How To Guides Resources Web Hosting

How to Create a Website for Cheap? Step By Step Guide

On average, creating a basic website will set you back between $50 to $200 per month. But if you want a more affordable website startup cost, this article will teach you how to make a website quickly and without spending too much.

How to create a website for cheap? Creating an inexpensive website involves choosing a bundled package that gets you more for each dollar spent when registering your chosen domain, subscribing to a web hosting plan, installing WordPress, customizing your site with a free WordPress theme, and establishing a good branding identity. Below are the seven steps you need to follow to create a good website for cheap.

Step 1: Choose a Domain Name

A good business domain name should be memorable and brandable. You may use your business or company name as the domain name. Or, you may explore different word and phrase combinations first using our free domain name generator tool.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

Using our domain name generator also allows you to search for the availability of your chosen domain as a username in various social media and membership sites. Feel free to experiment with different names before finalizing your domain. Always check whether the name matches the branding identity you want to create for your site.

Step 2: Register Your Domain

Once you are confident with a domain name, it is time to register it. Domain registration is needed to validate the website owner’s identity and to ensure that your site is linked to the right address on the internet.

Choose between affordable domain name registrars like BlueHost, NameCheap, and GoDaddy. These domain registrars often offer reduced annual plan rates compared to paying for the service at a higher monthly fee.

Upon registering your domain name, you will need to provide basic account information like name, address, and contact number. If you want to keep this information private, you may subscribe to domain name proxy service or domain privacy service.

Bonus Tip: You can save money on registering your domain name by getting one free with some of our hosting providers. Check them out here.

Step 3: Get a Web Hosting Plan

The next step is to get a web hosting plan. You need a web host to store all the data and files that are needed to run your website on a server. Most new websites do not need a ton of bandwidth or storage space, so go for a shared hosting plan for now. You may gradually upgrade your hosting plans once your site evolves.

As we have mentioned earlier, you can purchase web hosting plans that also offer free domains. Doing so allows you to save on the monthly domain registration fees.

Take advantage of this discounted pricing with any of our bundled web hosting options. Sign up for a NameCheap or Bluehost hosting plan, and you will get one free domain name on top of other benefits. Or, get WooCommerce hosting through SiteGround, and you will get free email services.

Explore all our web hosting options here. Also, qualify for $1,474 Dollars in FREE bonuses if you use one of our hosting options.

Step 4: Download WordPress

When you sign up for a web hosting plan, you need to decide if you want to build a website from scratch, use your web host’s website builder, or use WordPress. To save on time, effort, and money, we recommend downloading WordPress instead.

As a content management system, a self-hosted WordPress dashboard looks just like a regular WordPress.com blog. If you’re already familiar with the platform, using WordPress for your website will be a breeze. And if it’s your first time using WordPress, learn from hundreds of online tutorials on how to use its intuitive interface.

Remember, you may choose a regular shared web hosting plan and install WordPress yourself. Or, you may sign up for a WordPress hosting plan right away and do away with the hassle of installation.

To save more on your WordPress hosting monthly fees, take a look at our WordPress hosting solutions through WPX Hosting, WP Engine, and Kinsta.

Tip: If you purchased your domain from a different domain service provider, make sure to take point your domain to your web host.

Step 5: Select a Free WordPress Theme

By choosing a self-hosted WordPress site, access to the thousands of website themes on WordPress is at your fingertips. However, if you want your site to stand out, we suggest using the customizability options that the Astra WordPress Theme offers.

Astra is a customizable, responsive, and fast theme that will fit your new WordPress website. With it, you can change the layout, color, typography, headers, and a lot more.

With a free customizable WordPress theme, you not only deduct precious dollars on your website startup cost but also edit the theme’s design without much restriction.

Step 6: Set Up Website Branding

Having a clear brand identity is important for any business. More so, when starting a website. And nothing defines your website brand more than a well-designed logo.

To save up on the logo design cost, you may create your own logo using free online logo generators. Another cost-saving way to get a free customized and professional website logo is by signing up for any of our website hosting options. It’s a great deal considering you are already paying for monthly web hosting.

Check Out The Logo Bonus Here

Step 7: Start an Email List

Upon setting up your domain name, web host, website design, and logo, you need to start thinking of how to grow your site. One way to do that cost-efficiently at the beginning is by creating an email list.

With an email list, you can directly inform anyone (with their permission, of course) of any posts, updates, or changes to your website. Most email marketing software like AWeber, MailChimp, and SendinBlue are available for free for the first 1000-2000 subscribers.

Take advantage of these offers while you are building your list. You can upgrade your email marketing plans later on as your site grows.

Our Web Hosting Bonus Bundle That Will Save You Money

Creating a website for cheap does not mean ending up with a subpar site. With our web hosting options, you get to decide which service suits you and your business best. And then reap additional benefits for free.

Our Bonus Bundle gives you up to $1,400 more value in the form of professional logo design, ebooks, six mini-courses, and a website traffic course – all for free.

You do not have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars unnecessarily when creating a website. You also do not need all the bells and whistles of customized design and other functionalities of a business website from the get-go.

In the beginning, you just need a website that you can afford, with a willingness to learn and improve along the way.

Related Questions

What Is the Cheapest and Easiest Website Builder?

The cheapest website builder is WordPress. It is also the most commonly used content management system in the world today. It’s relatively easy to learn by watching a few tutorial videos or trying out the free WordPress.org blogs. WordPress hosting costs about $3 per month.

What Is the Cheapest eCommerce Website Builder?

The cheapest eCommerce website builder is Square Online. With Square Online, you can start an online store for free and with no monthly fees. They do charge a 2.9% + ¢3 transaction fee. Other eCommerce website builders may not charge transaction fees, but they make up for it through monthly fees and a decreased number of products.

Is WordPress Really Free?

Yes, WordPress is free. You can download the WordPress software for free. However, to use this content management system on the web, you need to have a web hosting account. In your web hosting account, install WordPress, and you can begin customizing themes, adding plugins, posting content, and tracking your traffic.

What Is the Difference Between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?

The main difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is their web host. WordPress.com is owned and hosted by WordPress, the company. When you sign up for WordPress.com, you will get a free WordPress.com subdomain. On the other hand, WordPress.org allows you to download the WordPress software and lets you install or host it on your web host. With a self-hosted WordPress account, you can use your own domain name.

 

Categories
Domain Names How To Guides Resources Web Hosting

I bought a domain name, now what?

The most profitable websites today did not end with their founders just picking the best domain name. In their early days, for sure, a lot of grit and learning went into the process. And now that you’ve acquired a domain name, preparing for and executing the next steps is crucial.

So, after purchasing a domain name, now what? The next step after buying a domain is to start getting your website ready. This involves choosing a web host, redirecting your domain to your host, picking a content management system, setting up your official email address, starting social media accounts, planning your content, and so on. This set of steps is the most common order of tasks that you should do after getting your first domain.

 In the next few paragraphs, we will further explore the process and provide best practice tips to get your website started.

What Is a Domain?

A domain name acts as your address on the world wide web. This set of letters and/or numbers is what distinguishes your business from your competitors. That is why it is essential to choose a brandable, memorable, and typically short domain.

Check out this article if you want to learn more about choosing the best domain name for your business.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

What To Do After Buying a Domain?

Choosing a good business domain name and buying that domain name is only the beginning. Outlined below are your next steps. Do them right, and you’ll be on your way to running an equally profitable website.

1. Get a Web Host

A domain name is just an address on the internet. It does not include the files and visual appearance of your website. You need a web host to complement your existing domain name.

Check out the best web hosting offers from industry leaders here and the incredible bonus bundle you can get through our site.

A website host is a company that provides data storage and bandwidth allocation services (among other things) for websites and webpages. A matching web host for your domain name allows you to have a server that stores all data about your website.

A few examples of web hosting providers are NameCheap, GoDaddy, BlueHost, and DreamHost. Also, if you prefer, you may purchase a web hosting plan from your domain registrant company itself.

2. Point Your Domain to Your Web Host

This next step applies if you have a different domain name registrant and web hosting, provider. For your website to appear every time someone types in your domain name on a browser, you need to point your domain name to your web host.

To do that, you must obtain the DNS servers or Name servers of your web host. Go to your web hosting account’s Settings page and look for the name servers. It usually looks like this ns1.domainsample.com, ns2.domainsample.com.

Once you have that, log in to your domain name’s account. Look for the Domain Manager section of the Settings page and update DNS servers or Name servers with the information you have obtained earlier.

For a step-by-step guide on what to do if you buy a domain from one company and use it at another web host.

3. Pick a Content Management System (CMS)

After pointing your domain to your web host, it is time to build your website properly. Most web hosting providers will give you CPanel (backend) access and allows you to install whatever content management system (CMS) you like.

The most commonly used CMS on the web today is WordPress. Other content management systems, like Drupal, Joomla, SquareSpace, and Wix also exist. Some web hosts also have their own website builders. Choose a CMS that you know your way around.

4. Put Up a ‘Coming Soon’ or ‘Under Construction’ Message

As soon as your domain name is properly pointed to your web host, anyone searching for your domain name can begin accessing your website. Setting up an ‘Under Construction’ sign lets any visitor know that you are actively preparing for your site’s launch. This is also a perfect opportunity to create buzz and start an email list.

While you are busy picking what content management system or web hosting plan to use, placing a ‘Coming Soon’ or ‘Under Construction’ sign on your website puts your site to good use. Doing so means that you do not have to worry about leaving an empty website. Instead, you can focus on planning your content and subsequent website launch.

5. Get a Matching Email Address

Now that you have a new domain name, you must also get a matching email address. For example, if your chosen domain name is www.domainsample.com, you must also own any email address under that domain.

From a business perspective, an email address like janedoe@domainsample.com looks much more legit and trustworthy than a janedoe@yahoo.com one. Getting an email address that matches your domain name also allows lets your customers know that you and your business owns the domain.

6. Pay Attention to Your Website Structure and Layout

Right after buying your business domain is the perfect time to refine your website’s structure. Use this time to finalize your website’s look, choose a theme, and even permalink structure. Pay attention to all the nitty-gritty stuff like plugins, on-page SEO, caching, etc.

You want all the backend stuff all figured out before you officially launch the site.

7. Review Your Content Plan

A well-thought-out content plan is important for any website. Do not forget to review the keywords or topics you want to target. And if you are already ahead in planning your content, you may begin the writing process. If your resources allow, you may even delegate the content creation tasks to your writers.

All the seven steps outlined above are the must-dos after buying a domain name. You do not have to follow them in chronological order. But they must all be done before you officially launch your website.

Can I Get a Domain and a Web Host From Different Companies?

Yes, it is possible to buy a domain from one company and subscribe to a web hosting plan from another company. When you have different web hosts and domain name registrants, you will need to sync or point your domain to your web host.

Doing so will make it possible for your website content to appear once you search for your domain name.

Read more here.

Can I Purchase a Domain Without Hosting?

Yes, you can buy a domain name without a hosting plan. Web hosting plans and domain names do not have to be bought together.

Just remember that with only a domain name, your domain name is considered a parked domain. Anyone who accesses your domain name on a browser will see a parked domain message. Or, without a hosting plan, a domain may be pointed to non-self-hosted sites.

But if you want to create your own website and have your domain name pointed to it, you will need to subscribe to a separate web hosting plan.

Related Questions

Can You Own a Domain Forever?

The short answer is no. Domain names are typically sold for one-year up to ten-year periods. But technically, if you hire a domain proxy service, they can keep track of your domain name and keep renewing and re-registering it before your ownership of the domain expires. Domain proxy providers can keep on doing this permanently, and you will essentially own the domain name forever.

Read more about buying a domain permanently here.

Do I Really Need a Web Host?

Yes, you need a web host to make your website available on the internet. A domain name (your site’s address) and a web host (your site’s storage) work hand in hand to make your site readily accessible online.

Can I Host My Own Website?

In essence, yes, you can host your own website. But this is not advisable since computers need to be highly specialized for this function. You will need your computer to be online all the time and be able to allocate the amount of bandwidth and storage that your site needs. The bigger your website, the more resources in terms of energy, storage, and bandwidth it will need. And this is something that a home setup cannot keep up with.

 

Categories
Domain Names How To Guides Resources Web Hosting

Can I Buy a Domain From One Company and Use It at Another Web Host?

The first step in beginning a website is choosing a good business domain name. Step two is getting a web host. But what if your domain registrar and web hosts are different? Did you just waste money paying for these website building essentials? Or is there a workaround?

Can you buy a domain name from one company and use it at another web host? The short answer – Yes. You can purchase a domain name from one company and point it to another web hosting provider. Doing so is all possible since domain names and website hosting plans can be purchased separately, and also if you own both the domain and the hosting plan.

Paying for a domain name from one registrar and then using that domain at another web host may sound complicated. But don’t worry. In this article, we will guide you on the process and answer more relevant questions about domain names, hosting, and website building.

What Is the Difference Between a Domain and Hosting?

Let us clear up the confusion about domain names and web hosting.

First, a domain name is the series of letters, numbers, and hyphens typed in the search bar of a browser and then redirects you to a website or web page. A domain name is unique to each website. It is also called a URL (uniform resource locator).

In contrast, web hosting refers to the service provided by companies (web hosts) where server space is allocated to a specific website. Web hosts allow its users to store, record and manage files relevant to running a website.

Can You Buy a Domain Without Hosting?

Yes, you can purchase a domain without a web host and vice versa. However, with only a domain name, there is no way for you to save and manage the files needed to run a website.

You can still keep the domain name as yours by turning the domain into a parked domain.

Where Do I Buy a Domain? And How Much Does it Cost?

Domain names are sold through domain name registrars. These registrars are accredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), and they will list your personal information as the owner of the domain in the ICANN registry. A few examples are BlueHost, GoDaddy, NameCheap, DreamHost, FatCoz, and many more.

When buying a domain name, you are essentially paying for the domain registration fee. The yearly fee can be as low as $1 to $20 or more. The domain name registration fee will increase depending on the top-level domain (whether .com, .org, .co.uk, or other country-specific domains), keyword, and whether or not the site has an existing owner.

Where Do I Buy a Web Host? And How Much Does it Cost?

A quick Google search will tell you that there are multiple web hosting providers available today. In fact, most domain name registrars also offer web hosting services, and vice versa. Web hosts typically bill every month, but you can still pay yearly or biennially. Some web hosts even include free domain names.

To save you time searching for the best web hosting provider, feel free to check our web hosting options that can save you money and offer as much as $1,474 in bonuses!

Tips For Buying a Domain

Before you take the plunge of buying a domain, keep in mind these best practices when choosing a suitable domain name:

1. Choose a Short Domain

Shorter domain names are quicker to type and easier to remember. Go for two to three words in your domain name. If you are using your business name as your domain, omit words like Inc, corp, or company.

2. Go for a Brandable Domain

A brandable domain name is a memorable one. Pick a domain name that matches your business image or your personality. You may also choose a domain composed of made-up words that can be distinctly associated with your brand or site.

3. Select a Top-Level Domain

Next, always go for top-level domains like .com, .net, or .org. These are the most popular TLDs, and, often, website visitors trust websites with these top-level domains more.

Also, if you are opening a local online store or an area-specific blog whose target audience are people living in a specific location, you may choose a geographic domain or TLDs like .au, .co.uk, or .kr.

4. Match With Your Website and Business Names

Choose a domain name that matches your website and company names. Doing so is especially important if you want to establish or if you already have a good branding identity for your business.

Matching website URL and website names also make it more convenient for your page visitors to remember. Check out this article for more tips on choosing the best domain name for your business.

How to Point a Domain Name to Another Web Host

Now that you have picked a good domain name and subscribed to a web hosting plan, the next step is to make sure that your domain is pointed to the right web host.

Here are the steps to do that:

1. Find Out Your DNS Servers or Name Servers from Your Web Host

To accomplish this step, you can either ask your web host’s support team or tinker around your web hosting account’s Control Panel.

A name server will look like ns1.domainsample.com, ns2.domainsample.com. Web hosts may have two to three name servers, so make sure to note them down exactly as they were written.

2. Go to Your Domain Registrar Account to Update the Settings

Next, log in to your domain name registrar account. Then, go to the Settings page and look for the Domain Manager option. Click the option to modify or change it and enter the DNS Servers or Name Servers you’ve noted earlier.

Remember that different domain registrars will have different button names and process of changing the DNS servers. To ensure that you are updating the correct setting, you may directly consult your registrar’s Help Page or ask the support team.

And that’s it! When done right, typing your domain name or URL in a browser’s search bar will redirect you to your website.

Now that you’ve learned that purchasing domain names and web hosting plans from different companies is okay, you can finally start building your website (if you haven’t begun yet!). If you need help in choosing a domain name, use of online domain name generator. It’s free.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

Related Questions

Can You Buy a Domain Owned by Someone Else?

Yes, you may purchase a domain owned by someone else. But be prepared to pay more for the domain. As of 2019, the most expensive domain name sold was for Voice.com at $30 million.

Can You Buy an Expired Domain Name?

If a registrant or domain owner does not renew a domain after a thirty-day grace period, the domain name will go into an auction for seven (7) days. You may purchase the expired domain during the auction period. Most high-value domains will fetch a large sum during this time.

However, if the expired domain is not sold during the auction period, it is considered either a closeout domain or a dropped domain. In both cases, the domain name is listed back in the Registry.

Does Buying a Domain Name Get You an Email Address?

It depends. When you buy a domain name, some domain registrants offer packages that include free email addresses while some do not.

How Different is Domain Forwarding From Domain Masking?

Domain forwarding and domain masking both are services offered by web hosts and domain registrants. With domain forwarding, anyone entering your domain name on a web browser is redirected to your website. In this service, the entered domain name will change to your website’s domain name or URL. For example, mysampledomain.com may be redirected to mynewdomain.com, and the page visitor will see the new domain name.

In comparison, with domain masking, the originating domain name is retained once the page visitor is redirected to the new website. For example, mysampledomain.com may be redirected to mynewdomain.com, but the page visitor will still see mysampledomain.com as the domain name.

Sources:

 

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/what-2012-02-25-en

https://domains.google/learning-center/how-to-come-up-with-a-good-domain-name/

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190618005248/en/MicroStrategy-Sells-Voice.com-Domain-30-Million

 

 

 

Categories
Web Hosting

What Is The Difference Between Web Hosting And WordPress Hosting?

Domain Name. Check.  What’s next? It’s choosing a hosting service provider. But, often, anyone who is just starting their business or personal websites are inundated with choosing between a web host and a WordPress host.

What’s really the difference between hosting and WordPress hosting. Web hosting is the umbrella term for all website storage and maintenance services provided by companies to individuals or organizations. A web host allows website owners to link their sites to the World Wide Web. WordPress hosting, on the other hand, is a type of web hosting where the hosting provider only provides web hosting services to a website that runs on the WordPress content management system (CMS).

It can be summarized that all WordPress Hosting services are web hosting services, but not all web hosting services can be a WordPress Hosting service.

At first glance, there may not be that much of a difference between these types of web hosting. That’s why we’ve dug deeper into the pros and cons of using each type of hosting service. Read on to find out more and help you decide whether choosing a regular web host is better (or not) than a WordPress host.

Check out our list of preferred hosting and WP hosting service providers here, each of which qualifies you for $1,474 in FREE bonuses.

What Are the Advantages of Web Hosting Providers?

1. Centralized Website Management

Internet web hosting offers its users access to a Control Panel where you can make backend changes to your site. You can do things like change your site’s theme, appearance, domain access, add plugins, and even create URL redirects. There are more things you can do, and the degree of customization will depend on your web hosting provider.

2. Website Uptime

Another advantage of using web hosting is the increase in website uptime. With a web hosting subscription, you do not have to manually check and maintain your website’s uptime, as this will be monitored by your web host.

3. Website Security

Most web hosting companies today include another layer of security to your website. Web hosts will track spam, logins, and other forms of inauthentic behavior for you.

4. Storage Space and Bandwidth

Storage space and bandwidth are all taken care of when you have a web host. This means you do not have to personally monitor how much bandwidth or file storage your site needs.

5. Peace of Mind

The most important edge of using a web host is the peace of mind it offers. With it, you can focus on content creation or marketing while your web host manages the backend stuff.

What Are the Advantages of WordPress Hosting?

As we have mentioned earlier, WordPress Hosting is another type of web hosting. So this means that when you get WordPress Hosting, you will also enjoy all the advantages of using a website.

The upside is that if you choose further pick WordPress Hosting, you also get the following benefits:

1. Resource Allocation

When web hosting companies offer WordPress hosting, they do so by making sure that only other WordPress-run websites are maintained within a server. This means that with a WordPress web hosting plan, your website is stored with other WordPress-run websites — and all resources (i.e., bandwidth, storage, security, etc.) are shared and allocated for the same types of sites.

2. Website Security and Uptime

Regular web hosting services already offer increased security and uptime. But, with WordPress Hosting, your web host can readily manage, update, and protect your site since they will be dealing with the same types of databases or content management systems.

3. Ease of Use

According to a survey by W3Techs, WordPress is the most popular content management system in 2019 for the tenth year. It’s estimated that about 30% of the world’s websites run using WordPress. By choosing WordPress hosting, you get an intuitive and easy way to post, edit, and share content online.

How to Choose a Web Host

So now that you’ve chosen a personal or business URL and bought a domain name. (If you do not have a domain name yet, check out our free Domain Generation Tool). The next logical step is to choose a Web Host. But if you’re stumped on how to do that, here are a few tips on how to get the web host selection a breeze.

1. Determine what type of website you want to run.

To land the best web host, you must know what type of website you want to run. Is it a personal blog? An eCommerce site? Or a membership site?

2. Find out the type of server you need.

After being clear on what type of website you want to run, you must next decide on what kind of hosting server will best fit your needs. Often, shared hosting servers will suffice blogs and small niche sites, while dedicated servers are ideal for eCommerce and membership sites.

3. Set a budget.

Don’t forget to set a budget along the way. This is especially important for new entrepreneurs or website owners as you do not want to overspend. Look into different web hosts that offer hosting plans.

4. Choose a content management system.

Next, choose website-building and content management systems. You may select a web host that offers these two services in a bundle and save you money and time in setting up a website. On the other hand, you may choose a web host that only offers web hosting while you will be on your own in creating your website. Do what works for your skills and site.

5. Choose a domain.

Don’t forget to select the best personal or business domain name. Most web hosts bundle a free domain with a hosting plan, saving you money. Just make sure you choose a domain name that is brandable, short, and memorable.

6. Research different web hosting platforms.

There are hundreds of web hosting companies available today. And choosing just one may easily overwhelm you. That’s why you must take the time to research each web host’s available plans and offerings.

What are the different WordPress hosting platforms?

As the number of sites increases every day, so does the number of platforms that host them. Narrow down your choices and take a look at our thoughtfully crafted list of reliable web hosting platforms:

1. Kinsta

If you’re looking for a premium web host for a WordPress site, Kinsta is the way to go. With its Google Cloud-powered servers, you can host blogs to enterprise websites from as low as $30 per month.

2. WP Engine

WP Engine offers a robust hosting infrastructure that is perfect for business owners and companies. The web hosting company’s main draw is its managed WordPress hosting service. The company also offers free website migration, CDN, cloud hosting, development tools, and a lot more.

3. WPX Hosting

Looking for increased speed for your WordPress website? Then, WPX Hosting may be the WordPress hosting service you are looking for. Each plan includes free malware removal, free unlimited email addresses, free SSL certificates, up to 5 WordPress website installs, and free website migrations.

4. Siteground

Siteground offers both regular website hosting and managed WordPress hosting. Both types of web hosting are available in three pricing tiers — costing between $6.99 and $14.99 per month. With a managed WordPress hosting plan, you will also get automatic WordPress installation, a WordPress migration plugin, managed security and updates, and site speed optimizations (courtesy of Google Cloud).

Now that you know the difference between WordPress web hosting and regular web hosting, you can pick out the most optimal hosting plan for your website. Heed the tips and choose from the best WordPress hosting platforms we’ve shared above. It’ll only be a matter of time, and you’ll see your site’s success.

Related Questions

What is the difference between shared WordPress hosting and managed/dedicated WordPress hosting?

With a shared WordPress host, your WordPress-run website is stored in a server with other sites that also runs using the WordPress CMS. While with a managed WordPress host, only your website or set of websites is stored and managed within a specific server. The latter typically costs more since your website/s is the sole user of the server’s space, bandwidth, and other resources.

Is WordPress hosting free?

No, WordPress hosting is not free. Hosting providers charge between $3 to $15 or more per month depending on the server type, bandwidth, number of sites, storage, etc.

Sources:

https://w3techs.com/blog/entry/web_technologies_of_the_year_2019

https://domains.google/learning-center/how-to-choose-a-web-host-in-4-steps/

Categories
Domain Names Web Hosting

Where to Buy a Domain Name Without Hosting?

If you are looking to buy a domain name for your new website, there are a few different options you can take to make that happen. Often the question, becomes, where can you buy a domain name without hosting.

In this article, we will show you the best places to buy a domain name without hosting, plus some other important information you should know before making the purchase.

Where is the best place to buy a domain name without hosting? Here is a list of 6 industry-leading domain registrars where you can purchase a domain name only, without additional hosting:

  • DOMAIN.com

No matter which you decide to use, we recommend starting your search with our FREE domain name generator tool. It will save you countless hours of time and frustration while helping you find a better domain name more quickly.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

Each of these companies offers quality domain name registration services without needing to purchase additional hosting. They each have their strengths and we will go through what they offer in more detail in the remainder of this article.

Also, if you need hosting for your website, you may want to consider getting your domain name through the hosting deals we have listed on our NamingGenerator.com home page.

We have offers that will allow you to get your domain name for FREE, plus we are offering some great bonuses when you purchase through one of our affiliate hosting links.

We will design a FREE custom logo for your new website, plus give you a FREE E-book on 27 FREE website tools as well as access to various website training courses to help speed up your success!

 Read the remainder of this article to compare these individual domain registrars and pick the best one for you.  Plus, we will answer other related questions.

How Do You Choose Between Different Domain Name Registrars When You Don’t Need Hosting?

 Before we go deeper into where you can get a domain name. It’s important you understand what you need to consider when choosing a domain registrar without hosting.

ICAAN Accredited

 Make sure your domain registrar is ICAAN-Accredited. Any entity that wants to offer domain name registration for Generic Top-Level Domains or gTLDs needs to be ICANN accredited.  This ensures they have the technical, operational, and financial wherewithal to be a registrar business. You can learn more about ICAAN here.

Cost

You will want to make sure that you are getting competitive pricing when choosing a domain name registrar. If you are buying a domain without hosting, you will still need to purchase web hosting to store and serve up your website content. So, make sure you don’t over pay for your domain name. Some registrars may have cheaper pricing on certain extensions and be more expensive on others. So, it’s important you keep an eye on cost.

Duration Options

 You will also want to make sure you find a registrar that offers flexible duration terms.  So, you can pick what works best for you and your business. Sometimes you can get different pricing based on the length of time you purchase your domain for, so make sure you look at that as well.

Included FREE Services vs Add on Fees

Each of these domain registrars is going to do what they are intended to do, meaning secure your domain for you and forward it to your desired website location. But some will include standard services in their cost while others may charge additional fees.  So, make sure you read the terms and understand what you are getting.

For instance, some will charge for privacy which means your name and contact number will be hidden, some include it free. Some may include and SSL with the domain, others might charge an add on fee.  Neither is necessarily better than the other, just make sure you understand what you are looking for and what you are getting.

Domain Portability – How easy is it to transfer your domain

 Understand how each domain registrar handles domain transfers. Do they make it easy, is it free or do they charge?  Something to keep in mind before choosing your domain registrar.

User Interface

 Most Domain Registrars make their interface easy to use, but some are better than others. So, make sure you take this into account if it’s important to you. Now in reality if you only registrar your domain with these companies and host them elsewhere, you probably won’t be in your domain registrar’s website often, once you set up your site.

History & Track Record

 Considering domain registrars have been around a long time, you really are better off considering industry leaders with a long track record of success and reliability. So, make sure you take this into account when picking a company.

Ok, let’s keep these criteria in mind as we look at the different Domain Registrars listed above in more detail.

6 Best Domain Registrars To Buy A Domain Without Hosting

 Remember to start any domain search off with our FREE domain name generation tool to find the “best” domain name instantly.

Domain.com

domain.com image

Domain.com has been around since 2000 and is one of the world’s top players in domain registration. They specialize is affordable domain names, web hosting, email, ssl, and other website site services today.

Do They Offer Domain Registration Without Hosting?  Yes

Cost: They offer some domains as low as $2.99/year. & .Com Domains are $9.99 year.

Additional Features they offer:

SSL – Secure your website with Lets Encrypt Free SSL

Privacy – They offer WHOIS Domain Privacy to protect your masks your personal information

DNS control – Keep total control of Domain Name Servers for the life of the domain

Transfer Lock – Protect your domain from unauthorized Transfer or “hijack”

 

NameCheap.com

namecheap image

 

Do They Offer Domain Registration Without Hosting?  Yes

 Cost: They offer some domains as low as $1.28/year. & .Com Domains are $8.88 year.

Additional Features they offer:

 SSL – Secure your website with Positive SSL Free for first year

Privacy – They offer FREE WHOISGUARD protection for Life

Customer Service- They pride themselves on great customer service

FREE DOMAIN WITH HOSTINGCHECK OUT OUR NAME GENERATION TOOL TO FIND OTHER GREAT FREE DOMAIN OFFERS.  (NOTE: if you use our free tool and claim a free domain through one of our hosting affiliate offers, we will have our graphic designers create FREE custom Domain LOGO for your website! Plus give you two other incredible FREE bonuses)

BLUEHOST

bluehost image

Do they offer domain registration without hosting?  Yes, you can buy domains only at Bluehost under the domains tab pictured above. If you do need hosting they will also give you a free domain when you purchase hosting.

(Reminder, if you choose to use our affiliate link to purchase hosting and get a free domain name through Bluehost, we will give you a FREE custom logo for your new site, plus a free e-book and training courses to help you speed up your website’s success)

Each domain includes:

Easy Management

An easy to use control panel which makes it simple to get your domain name deployed.

Auto-Renewal

Keeps your domain from expiring accidentally. You can switch this off to the manual at any time if you want.

Domain Lock

Keep your domain from unauthorized transfers so you can unlock it for transfers at any time. So, register any domain you are interested in, and Bluehost will store it until you are ready to use it.

24/7 Expert Support

You will have access to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if you purchase your domain through BlueHost.com.

You can purchase domain privacy through them to protect your personal information, and you can get certain domains like .website for as little at $1.99/year

Bluehost has been around since 2002 and is one of the most recognized names in hosting and domain registration. They are a good option if you want to purchase a domain without hosting because they also offer a courtesy 30 days if your domain were to expire, where they will hold it for you just in case you want it back.

GoDaddy.com

godaddy image

GoDaddy.com is probably the most famous domain registrar out there, made famous by its tradition of Super Bowl ads.

They have over 78 Million Domains under management, making them the worlds largest registrar.

Does GoDaddy offer Domain Registration without Hosting? Yes, you can purchase and manage your domain names with Godaddy.com without purchasing web hosting.

Widest Selection on The Web

No matter how obscure your domain extension might seem, you have the best shot at finding it with Godaddy.com

24/7 Support

You can call them night and day for support with any domain related questions.

Privacy Protection

They offer privacy protection and business protection as an added option.

Their cheapest domains start at special pricing for $0.99/Year.

Remember make your domain name search faster, with our random name generator.

DynaDot.com

dynadot image

Dynadot.com might not have the same commercial name recognition as some of the other players above, but they’ve been big players in the space since 2002.

Do they offer domains only without hosting? Yes, you can purchase a domain only from Dynadot.com

FREE domain parking

They offer free domain parking with up to 10 email aliases.

FREE one-page website builder

They include a free one-page basic page builder with each domain, and allow you to do FREE ownership change in and out of Dynadot.com accounts.

FREE Grace Period

They offer a free domain return grace period.

ICAAN Accredited

They are an ICAAN accredited domain registrar.

Auction Domains

They also offer a domain auction service where you can bid and purchase unavailable domains.

Other Related Questions To Purchasing Domains Without Hosting

What are You Actually Buying When You Buy A Domain Name Without Hosting?

It is important you fully understand what you are buying when you purchase a domain name through any registrar.  A domain name is your website’s address or location on the internet.  It allows users to find your website content by typing in your unique domain.  A domain is the alphanumeric representation of your website’s IP address.

It’s a lot easier remembering a catchy domain name like Google.com, than an IP address for each and every website you want to visit. The registrar isn’t actually selling you ownership to the domain, but it is selling you the service of forwarding that domain to your desired website.  That’s why when you purchase a domain you select of the length of time from 1-10 years.  You can extend the domain as much as you like once you own it before it expires.  But you don’t actually own the domain name.

So, when you purchase a domain name without hosting, you are purchasing the rights to that domain name for the designated length of time you choose.

What Happens Next, When You Buy A Domain Name Without Hosting?

Once you purchase the domain name through a registrar. If you don’t forward it to a website on a web host it will be parked for you for FREE by most quality registrars.

This means a simple one-page website that says website coming soon will be put up if someone visits that domain name.  This was a solution that came out of domain squatting rules. Rather than have the domain owner have to put up a quick website, the best registrars will do that for you at no extra charge.  This is one of the reasons we recommend the registrars we do, among many.

Does It Matter It Matter Who You Buy A Domain From?

 In the end, it doesn’t entirely matter who you purchase a domain through when it comes to ownership. Once you buy it through a properly ICANN accredited company it is yours as long as you maintain ownership.

There are some differences in Price, Terms, Duration, and Management that are dependent on the Registrar you choose.  If you want, you can read our complete article on: Does it matter who You Buy a Domain Name From?

We make it easy to find the perfect domain name and best deals from reputable domain registrars with our NamingGenerator.com FREE tool.

 

Can I Keep A Domain Name Without Hosting?

 Yes, you can keep a domain name without having a web hosting. You just need to keep renewing your domain name before it expires when the initial leasing term comes upon renewal. Your domain registrar will often just keep your domain name parked for you.

So, if you have a project in mind that but really want to secure the domain name for it now. Use our domain name generator tool and grab it before someone else does.

 Can You Have a Website Without Buying A Domain?

 So, this is kind of a tricky question.  Everyone website on the internet has a domain, that is how people find the site. Just like each page on that site has a unique URL. There are no exceptions to this.

Now if what you are really wondering is do you need to necessarily purchase a unique domain to have a website, the answer is no. There are platforms that will allow you to build webpages, sales funnels, or e-commerce sites using their assigned domain if you don’t want to purchase your own domain.  However, if you really want to build out a long-term web asset, we highly recommend you find your own domain.

Could you host a Shopify store on the domain like AmazingBenders.shopify.com or a winning sales funnel on a domain like fatburnerpills.clickfunnels.com, or an award-winning media empire on something like GaryGazzette.wordpress.com, well technically yes?

But, it doesn’t exactly exude the most trust or brand viability.  So, if you are debating getting your own custom domain, or just using a subdomain on a platform like the examples given above, we highly recommend getting your own if you can swing the 10-15 bucks a year.

Get started with your own custom domain today.  Find it for Free Here

Categories
Domain Names Web Hosting

Can You Buy A Domain Without Hosting?

If you are new to creating websites or just learning more about the process, one of the most common questions a lot of people have is, can you buy a domain name without hosting?

In this article, that is exactly the question we plan on answering, along with some other closely related domain questions.

So, can you buy a domain name without hosting? Yes, you can absolutely purchase a domain without buying hosting. When you purchase a domain directly through a registrar you are purchasing the right to use that domain for a designated period of time. You can forward that domain to an established location or set up a website for that domain which would require hosting.

 In the remainder of this article, we are going to explain the differences between purchasing stand-alone domains through a registrar and buying your domain along with hosting.

We will also show you the best way to buy your domain using both methods. If you are ready to find and purchase your domain you can skip right to our FREE Domain Name Generator to quickly find the best available domains.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

Continue reading to find out more about this as well as some reasons you may choose one option over the other…

What Is The Difference Between A Domain Registrar & Hosting Company?

 Before we go any further we want to clearly lay out the difference between a domain registrar and a hosting company, because we find a lot of the confusion over the main question above comes from misunderstanding the differences between the two.

Domain Registrar

A domain registrar is a company that manages the reservation of domain names as well as the assignment of IP addresses to that domain address. If you want to buy a domain without hosting, then you will need to purchase (Lease) ownership of the domain through a domain name registrar.

Hosting Company

A web host or hosting company provides the services needed for your website to be viewed on the internet.  It stores your website content and makes it accessible to users that visit the site.

The Best Way To Find a Domain Name- With or Without A Hosting Company.

Whether you want to find a new domain name through a domain registrar or through a web hosting company, the good news there is an easy way to find a great available domain quickly.  The easiest and fastest way to find a great domain name with or without hosting is by using a Name Generator. Our tool instantly gives you tons of available domain names that you can registrar.  We also, give you great registrar and hosting deals to buy that domain at a discount.

So, if you want to find a great domain name quickly, use NamingGenerator.com FREE tool and then pick from our discounted domain name registrars.  If you need a hosting company to store and serve your website, we also bring you some of the best hosting deals from the biggest hosting companies on the planet.

On top of that, if you do need hosting and decide to buy it through one of our hosting partners. We will give you some great bonuses. We will provide you with a custom logo design, a free e-book with free website tools, and video courses to help you grow your website faster.

Related Questions

 In this section, we are going to cover some additional related questions to domain registration.

Can I Keep A Domain Name Without Hosting?

You can register a domain name and keep ownership over it without creating a website.  Some registrars will provide FREE domain parking. You can continue to renew your domain as long as you like, the minimum is 1 year at a time. Sometimes, this a great option if you are looking to purchase multiple domains and develop them over time, or flip them for higher sums.

What is the advantage of buying a domain name without hosting?

 When you buy a domain name without hosting you get the advantage of keeping the two entities separately.  So, if you need to move your website to a different domain, you can quickly migrate the site and change the name servers. This helps limit the risk if something were to happen to your hosting company.

Also, when you purchase a domain name only, you are only paying the registrar for the service to point your domain name to the location you desire.  This is cheaper than hosting a site. But you will need hosting elsewhere.   If you are ready to find your domain and registrar it for a discounted price- find in it now with our domain name generator.

What is the advantage of buying a domain name with hosting?

If you decide to purchase your domain name through a hosting company there are some distinct advantages.

If you get your domain with hosting you can often get your domain name for free. In fact, when you use our FREE Domain Name Search Tool we have taken the time to bring you some great deals from the best hosting companies in the industry.  Many of which will give you a FREE domain name when you buy hosting through our link.

Also, it will be easier to manage since you don’t have to manage name servers from a separate domain registrar.

We also added some additional advantages to getting your domain through one of our hosting offers.  If you do, you will get a FREE custom designed logo for your new website. Along, with a couple of other great bonuses, including a FREE e-book and video training courses.

So, either way. If you are ready to find and get your next domain name- head over to our Name Generator and start your search.

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Web Hosting

Why Do You Need A Website Host?- Ultimate Guide

If you are thinking about starting a website you might be a little confused about some of the technical aspects of getting a new website online. One of the most common questions people have is: Why do you need a website host?

In this article, we will answer that exact question and help you understand what a host is, why it’s needed, and what the best way to choose one is.

So, why do you need a website host? Every website on the internet needs a web host because a website host is a server (or computer) that stores your website’s content. The website host allows other users on the internet to call up and access your website information.

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Find the Perfect Domain and Save On Hosting Here

In the rest of this article, we will go a little deeper into what a host does, why it’s important to the overall success of your website, and how you can get the best deal on web hosting.

What Type of Websites Need A Host?

Sites that need a web host are called self-hosted sites. An example of this would be a self-hosted WordPress site. These sites are typically recommended for most businesses or digital marketers as you have full autonomy of everything on your website. 

A self-hosted website allows you to not only customize a website in any manner you wish, but it also gives you full control over monetization and analytics.  Anyone that plans on running a business from their website is highly encouraged to use a self-hosted website. 

There are many content management systems that you can use on your self-hosted website, the most common is WordPress.

What Type of Website Doesn’t Need A Web Host?

If you don’t want the flexibility and customization of a self-hosted website, then you could choose to use a website builder like Wix.com or a funnel builder like ClickFunnels or Kartra. 

These services typically come with a monthly fee that is far more expensive than hosting your own website. ClickFunnels and Kartra both start at around $99 dollars a month for their starter package.  And, while they are powerful pieces of software, they do limit your ability to customize beyond the features included on the software.

What’s The Difference Between A Domain and Host?

We explained earlier that a website host houses your website’s content so other people can access it. 

So, what is the domain? A Domain is your websites unique address online. This is how internet users find your content.

As an example, the domain name for this website is NamingGenerator.com.  So, when you or anyone clicks on a domain link like the one above anywhere on the internet, or types in the domain name directly into your browser, you will be taken to this same site every single time.

If we keep using our site as an example, our host houses all the content and programming related to NamingGenerator.com. 

NamingGenerator.com is a FREE software utility that instantly helps you find the perfect domain name for your new website. 

Wow, I just realized this is getting really meta…but, I digress.

One of the hardest parts about starting a new website is finding a great domain name that is actually available. So, we created our domain name generator and availability tool. This free utility instantly gives you available domain name ideas that are ready for the taking.

If you are looking to start a new website, try out our FREE Domain Name Tool Here.   

How Can a Host Affect Your Website’s Success? And, How To Choose…

Here are some things you want to keep in mind when picking a website host.  There is a lot to choose from and they are not all created equal.  One of the great things about our Name Generator is that we’ve also identified some of the biggest names in the hosting industry. So, you can quickly see your hosting options, secure your domain more cheaply, and ensure you are getting a quality hosting provider.

Uptime

There is nothing worse than having a website go down do an unreliable host.  Companies can lose a lot of money if a website goes down for even a few minutes.  The first thing you want to look for is a reliable hosting company, with at least 99.9% uptime. So, when looking for a host make sure you pick a reliable well-known company.

Speed

Your user experience is really important.  Not only to keep your visitors happy and coming back but to keep them on the website when they are there. Google has admitted that speed is so important that they’ve included it in their ranking algorithm. They, know that a slow website will have users bounce off with poor user experience. So, they only want to reward sites that have fast loading times with rankings.  So, make sure you pick a hosting company that can deliver your website in a fast and effective manner.

Scalability

You want to pick a host that can grow with your business and website. As traffic increases, the load on your web server will increase.  You want to make sure you have a hosting company that can handle spikes in your traffic and allows you to grow as your business dictates.

Cost

Website hosting is something you are going to need for the life of your site. So, if you can secure top quality hosting at affordable cost, then that’s a win. We have accumulated a list of great hosting offers. You can check it out here.

Security

Don’t risk your website or customers’ data by putting it at risk with a less secure server.  Not only can this damage your business and website’s reputation. But, it can leave you liable if important information somehow gets compromised. It’s also important for SEO and ranking that your site is secure, or google will limit your rankings.

Are You Ready To Start A New Website?

If you are ready to start a new website then do it the smartest way possible.  Try our FREE Name Generator to:

  1. Instantly Find The Perfect Available Domain Name.
  2. Use One of Our Discounted Hosting Deals to Secure Your Domain & Hosting
  3. Claim Your 3 FREE Bonuses
    1. FREE Custom Website Logo
    2. FREE E-book- 21 FREE Website Tools That Will Save You Money & Countless Hours
    3. FREE Video 24 Hour Ranking System.
    4. FREE 6 Mini-Course Library

Start Your New Website Today! With Our FREE Name Generator Tool!