If you are a complete beginner at developing a website, you will come across the need to figure out the difference between website and domain. We often see how many people get confused between these two terms. To help you overcome confusion, we will share the domain vs. website difference with you.
What Is Domain?
As the first part of understanding the difference between domain and website, you will need to know what domain is all about. When you visit a website, you will be entering a name on the address bar. The name of a website is called the domain name.
Every website on the internet is associated with an IP address. When you enter the domain name, you will be loading the IP address, and the website will be made visible on the web browser. Due to the presence of domain names, you don’t have to memorize IP addresses. Imagine the hassle you will have to go through to remain the addresses of different websites you visit daily. You can overcome this struggle with the assistance of a domain name.
You will need to hold a user-friendly domain name when setting up your website. Some of the most popular domain names that you can find out there include YouTube.com, Amazon.com, and Google.com.
What Is a Website?
As the next step of domain vs. website comparison, let’s focus on the website. A website is a text file displayed to the users who are browsing the internet. Websites are developed for many different purposes. For example, you can create a website to share information, sell something, or offer many other products or services.
it’s best to read our article on how to see every page on a website .
What Is Web Hosting
Web hosting is where you will be hosting all the website files. In other words, you may call it the home to all files that you have to keep the website up and running. It is essential to locate the best hosting to host your website. That’s because web hosting speed would eventually contribute to the website’s overall performance.
We don’t recommend you go ahead with shared hosting as the website’s resources are shared with many others. That’s why we encourage you to proceed with using dedicated hosting. Or else, you may also proceed with VPS hosting.
What Is Different Between Domain and Website
What is the difference between domain and website? When you make a cross-comparison between web hosting vs. domain, you will be able to discover multiple differences. Let’s briefly look at the differences to iron out all sorts of doubts that you have in your mind.
A domain name is nothing but an attractive address, which anyone can use to identify an email address or a website. The domain name will mask the IP address. On the other hand, a website is something that people will see after they hit the address bar and enter the website.
To better understand the difference between web hosting and domain, you should consider a website as a file document. This would be a physical file, which you are keeping within a filing cabinet. A single document would usually contain one page or more than one page. It is also possible to find different tables, pictures, and other options within the documents. However, the domain would be the specific location of the document in a drawer. You will be accessing the particular site to get a hold of the document.
In a realistic world, websites are pretty much complicated. However, you can use this understanding to picture the differences better. Then you can decide what you need to get so that you will be able to proceed with getting the most out of your website.
as follows, you understand hosting vs. domain name in this article.
How Are Domain Names and Web Hosting Related?
As you cross-comparison between domain and website, you should also figure out how they are related. Both web hosting and domain names are two completely different services. However, you will need to make sure that both are available to proceed with loading a website.
You may consider a domain name as a large address book. This address book is getting updated consistently. When you look behind a domain name, you will discover an address within the hosting web service. It stores the files of the website. Without having access to a domain name, it would not be possible for you to locate a website. On the other hand, you will not be able to develop a website when you don’t have hosting. You need to keep these differences in mind and determine the available web hosting vs. domain options.
What Do I Need to Build a Website? Domain Name or Web Hosting?
If you want to build a website, you need to have web hosting and a domain name. During this step, the understanding you have of the difference between domain and hosting will be advantageous. You will need to purchase both of these before developing a website.
When you purchase only the domain name, you will have all the rights to continue using it. In most instances, the domain name will be locked to your name for one year. You will need to renew the domain name to continue using it in the future.
You will also need web hosting to store the website files. There are multiple hosting providers available to help you get web hosting. You will need to look at your requirements and proceed with getting the best web hosting option available.
We strongly encourage you to purchase hosting and domain from the same service provider. Then you will be able to get a bundled deal to receive better returns in the long run. If you are starting to develop a website for the first time, this may look like a lot of work. However, the service providers will help you with making your life easy as you go ahead with getting the best returns at the end of the day.
Conclusion
Now you have answers to the question, “what is the difference between domain and hosting?” With this understanding of the domain and hosting differences, you can decide what you will need to get the maximum returns from your domain and website purchase. Based on that, you will secure a great overall experience with website development.