But databases need storage and connectivity, which is where app hosting comes in.

App hosting is the secret sauce that powers your app from behind the scenes, allowing you to store important data and functionality in the form of versatile databases that can be called upon by a user’s device, be it Android or iOS.

If this is your first time deploying an app for web or mobile, this might seem a tad complicated. But fret not!

This guide will tell you everything you need to know about app hosting so you can prepare for your startup’s big launch without server downtime or security incidents weighing you down.

Sound good? Let’s get started!

What Is App Hosting?

Mobile apps generally consist of two parts: The client-side (frontend) and the server-side (backend). The client-side is the user interface that runs on the user’s device, while the server-side manages the data, logic, and communication between the app and various services.

App hosting refers to the process of providing the necessary infrastructure and services to deploy, run, and manage an application’s server-side components. These components typically handle tasks such as data storage, user authentication, server-side processing, and more.

5 App Hosting Options to Consider

The server-side components of an app require a reliable environment to operate — mobile application hosting services provide this environment. Depending on the needs of the application and the needs of the developers, application hosting can involve various types of infrastructure, such as:

1. Traditional Hosting

With “traditional” hosting or dedicated server hosting, your application’s server-side components are hosted on physical servers, often managed by a hosting provider. The provider is responsible for maintaining the hardware, providing network connectivity, and ensuring uptime.

You could also host your app with a server you own and maintain. (If you don’t mind a hot server running in your bedroom 24/7.)

Advantages of Traditional Hosting

Consider traditional hosting like buying a gigantic pickup truck. It’s a high-performance machine. You’ll get full control over the server setup and configuration. You’ll generally get more CPU power and memory.

It’s certainly the best option if you need high scalability, high performance, and total control over the system and security.

But, if you’re looking for a daily driver, it may be a bit overkill.

Disadvantages of Traditional Hosting

If we could all spring for our own dedicated server, we’d probably do it.

The obvious limitation is pricing. Although prices vary by provider, renting (or buying) a dedicated server is pretty much always the most expensive option.

You’ll also need to know and understand a bit more about hosting and server configuration to get the most out of a traditional hosting setup.

2. Virtual Private Servers (VPS)

VPS hosting involves dividing a physical server into multiple virtual servers, each with its own operating system and resources.

This allows multiple applications to be hosted on a single physical server while maintaining isolation between them. VPS hosting provides more control and customization options than traditional hosting but still requires server management and maintenance.

To take our analogy from above, this is more like sharing a pickup truck.

Advantages of VPS

VPS is often considered a middle ground; You get a high level of customization and a decent level of performance.

This also makes it much more affordable than buying or renting an entire server, but for good reason.

Disadvantages of VPS

VPS hosting will always be limited by your share of the resources on the server. The way VPS hosting works is that the CPU power and memory is split across multiple sites or web applications.

You’re generally guaranteed a certain amount of resources, but you could experience real-time performance issues if, let’s say, your site goes viral or there’s a significant spike in traffic or users.

3. Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting services, such as DreamHost’s DreamObjects, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure, provide virtualized infrastructure and managed services to host and run applications.

Cloud hosting offers flexibility, scalability, and reliability, allowing developers to easily deploy and manage their applications without worrying about underlying hardware and networking.

Resources can be provisioned or released as needed, and costs are typically based on usage.

Cloud hosting (or cloud computing) is sort of the inverse of VPS. Rather than a single server being divided up into multiple instances, a cloud hosting setup will pull resources from multiple servers to provide the computing power you need to handle your current traffic or users.

Advantages of Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is, essentially, infinitely scalable.

In theory, there are no limitations to the resources you can pull for a specific project. This makes it ideal for site or mobile app hosting which might see big swings in traffic and users.

Pricing is also pay-as-you-go based on resources, meaning you only pay for what you use.

Disadvantages of Cloud Hosting

The downside of hosting a mobile app with a pay-for-what-you-use model is that if you get way more traffic or users than expected, your bill could also be higher than you expect.

4. Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

PaaS providers, such as Heroku or Google App Engine, offer a complete development and hosting environment, including the infrastructure, runtime, and necessary tools.

It’s sort of like leasing a pickup truck, but you can only drive it on certain roads. You don’t have to worry about maintenance or upkeep, but you’re also relying on the company to provide you with everything you need to get up and running with your app. Plus, you’re locked into using the tools and systems offered by the provider.

Advantages of PaaS

PaaS makes it super simple to start, build, and deploy a mobile app. With the right provider, you can be up and running in a matter of hours. You won’t need to tinker with servers or install a bunch of applications.

Most PaaS offerings are also pay-as-you-go.

Disadvantages of PaaS

Since you’re leasing the pickup truck and can only drive it on certain roads, PaaS has some limitations depending on your chosen provider.

For instance, they may or may not offer support for popular services like Docker or Kubernetes.

Certain software development kits (SDKs) may or may not be available.

Now, if you can find the right provider that aligns with your preferred tool stack, you can use PaaS as a SaaS solution for mobile app development, deployment, and hosting.

5. Mobile Backend-as-a-Service (MBaaS)

MBaaS platforms, like Firebase or Parse (now open-source), are specialized app hosting services specifically designed for mobile applications. They provide pre-built backend components, APIs, and tools to streamline mobile app development and hosting.

Think of services like user authentication or push notifications. MBaaS offers these out of the box.

It’s like a dongle for your laptop connected to a bunch of microservices you can tap into with a few clicks.

This means you have complete control over the front-end, and then you plug in the dongle to connect to back-end services. Bringing it back to the pickup truck metaphor, this would be like leasing a truck, but you can only drive it to certain destinations.

Advantages of MBaaS

Like PaaS, MBaaS is popular as a quick and simple solution that gets you up and running without much (or any) fuss.

It’s ideal for folks who aren’t super deep into backend coding and setup, and who don’t want to deal with managing relational databases and wiring up microservices.

It’s kind of like a template for app development.

That doesn’t make it a bad choice for more advanced users, but it can be limiting.

Disadvantages of MBaaS

While many of the larger MBaaS providers have a lot of flexibility and tons of extensions or services, you’re still limited to what they offer.

That limits the amount of customization you can do and the amount of control you have over the environment and app performance, and generally relies heavily on the provider to ensure everything goes smoothly.

Choosing the Right Hosting Infrastructure

So before we look at specific providers, it’s important to identify the infrastructure that’s right for you. Looking at the options above, there are some key considerations.

Scalability

Is your mobile app going to be as big as Flappy Bird? (Flappy Bird? Anyone?)

Then you’ll need an option that allows for scalable performance.

If you know, for sure, that you’ll be getting a lot of traffic and need a lot of resources, then dedicated or VPS hosting is probably best for you.

If you’re not 100% sure how much traffic you’re going to receive or you know it will fluctuate, then you’ll probably want a pay-for-what-you-use option: Cloud hosting, PaaS, or MBaaS.

Performance

Are you running state-of-the-art, resource-intensive tech that’s going to eat up tons of computing power? Better go with a dedicated server for your quantum computing mobile app. (Okay, I know. Quantum-computer-powered mobile app hosting isn’t a thing. Yet.)

If you’re running an average application, then any of the other hosting options will probably suffice.

DevOps & Frameworks

Here’s the big question: How did/will you build the world’s hottest new mobile app?

Chances are, you have specific ideas about the languages, frameworks, microservices, and overall architecture you will use.

Consider finding a PaaS or MBaaS that aligns with that stack.

If you can’t find the right provider, you’ll need to get a bit more custom and look at cloud, VPS, or getting a “dedi” (that’s slang for dedicated server).

If you don’t have any allegiance to particular tool stacks and you’re willing to learn whatever it takes to get your app up and running, then PaaS or MBaaS are probably the best options.

Choosing an App Hosting Provider

Every app has its own requirements in terms of performance, scalability, security, and functionality. While there’s no shortage of options to meet these requirements, the abundance of hosting providers does not make it easy to pick the right one from the bunch.

The section above may have helped you narrow down which hosting option is right for you, but now there are a bunch of different providers offering that specific solution.

Let’s say you’ve landed on cloud hosting, but there are 20 different vendors that offer some flavor of cloud computing products.

How do you choose?

Unless you want to sign up for a trial with every single one of them to see which one works out best (hey, we’ve all been there), you’ll want to research a few key factors to help you narrow it down.

Here’s a primer on the factors you need to consider to choose the right hosting solution for your app:

Performance and Reliability

Perhaps the most crucial feature of any hosting product is its performance (in reality and not just on paper) and its reliability when users are trying to access your app.

Do some digging. Look for information on the location and number of data centers that the provider has, see which CDNs they connect with, and read real user reviews to get a sense of how often there are issues with uptime or latency.

Look for providers that offer service level agreements (SLAs) with uptime guarantees and clear procedures for handling outages and downtime.

Security

Assess the provider’s security measures, such as data encryption, user authentication, access controls, and regular security updates. Ensure the provider complies with relevant data protection regulations and industry standards for your specific use case.

Look for certifications like ISO27001, SOC1/2/3, or other seals of approval.

You may also want to do a bit of digging to see if this particular host has experienced past security issues and how they handle legal or government requests.

Cost

Understand their pricing model (e.g., pay-as-you-go, fixed monthly fees, or tiered plans) and evaluate whether it aligns with your budget and expected usage patterns.

But take that one level deeper and make sure that you calculate how your costs might tally up based on your real-world requirements. Since hosting pricing can sometimes be complex, you’ll want to carefully consider how the fees might add up before deciding which is most affordable.

Support

Consider the level of support and maintenance offered by the provider. Look for providers with comprehensive documentation, responsive customer support, and proactive monitoring to address potential issues before they impact your app.

Ease-of-Use

Evaluate the provider’s user interface, management tools, and automation options to ensure they are easy to use. This can streamline your app deployment and maintenance processes.

Reviews

Messaging on the website is one thing, but hearing from real customers will tell you what to expect.

Check reviews, case studies, and testimonials from other developers and businesses using the provider. This can give you insights into the provider’s strengths and weaknesses and help you make a more informed decision.

How to Implement App Hosting

Due to the inherently technical nature of app development, it can be a bit more complex to configure a hosting environment so that it’s able to support the server-side components of a mobile or web app. So here’s a quick overview of the process to help you get started:

1. Choose a hosting provider: Based on your application’s requirements, scalability needs, cost, and other factors, select the appropriate app hosting provider and type (e.g., traditional hosting, VPS, cloud hosting, PaaS, or MBaaS).
2. Sign up for an account: Register for an account with your chosen hosting provider, and select the appropriate plan or resource allocation based on your needs.
3. Set up the hosting environment: Depending on the provider and hosting type, you may need to configure the server environment, install an operating system, set up a web server (e.g., Apache, Nginx), and install necessary runtime environments and frameworks (e.g., Node.js, Python, Ruby on Rails).
4. Deploy your application’s server-side components: Upload your application’s backend code and files to the hosting environment using the provider’s recommended deployment method (e.g., Git, FTP, or provider-specific tools). This includes server-side scripts, database files, and any required dependencies.
5. Configure the database: If your application uses a database, create and configure the database instance (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB) according to your application’s requirements. You may also need to import your database schema and initial data.
6. Set up domain and security certificate: If you have a custom domain for your application, configure the DNS settings to point to your hosting provider’s servers. Additionally, install and configure an SSL certificate to enable secure HTTPS connections.
7. Configure security features and access controls: Implement and configure security measures such as user authentication, data encryption, and access controls to protect your application and its data.
8. Test your deployment: Ensure that your application is running correctly on the hosting environment by testing its functionality and performance. Address any issues or bugs that arise during testing.
9. Monitor and optimize: Once your application is live, continuously monitor its performance and resource usage. Identify bottlenecks and optimize your hosting environment as needed (e.g., by adding resources, implementing caching, or using a content delivery network).
10. Plan for scaling and disaster recovery: Develop strategies for handling increased demand and ensuring application availability, including redundancy, failover mechanisms, regular backups, and disaster recovery plans.

Evaluate Before You Invest

If you invest in a solid hosting environment from the start, you can enhance your app’s performance, reliability, scalability, and security, leading to happier and more satisfied users. However, with the amount of options out there in the wild, it’s important to carefully consider your app’s requirements and establish evaluation criteria that help you choose the right platform for your hosting.

At Dreamhost, we’re all about web hosting with purpose. We believe that with the right tools and support system, every developer can bring their dreams to life.

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The post Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Hosting an App for the First Time appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Every website is stored on a server. Your site’s server makes it available to users on the web. In turn, web hosting is the service of storing a website — or ‘hosting’ it — on a server.

Your ‘web host’ or ‘hosting provider’ is the company that owns and maintains the server that hosts your site. In addition, these companies often provide helpful resources, support, and services like domain registration and custom email addresses.

Selecting the right web hosting services for your site is an important process. The server impacts your site’s security, availability, and performance. Choosing the wrong plan or web host could affect your site’s ability to expand and attract repeat visitors.

Similarly, your hosting company plays a crucial role in keeping your site safe and making sure it stays up and running. If your host offers poor customer support or doesn’t maintain its servers well, your website will likely suffer for it.

Ideally, you’ll want to use a hosting plan that fits your specific needs and your budget. Of course, you can opt for the most expensive plan you can find, but it’s usually a waste of money unless you have a website that gets massive amounts of traffic.

If you’ve never had to sign up for hosting before, the sheer range of services available can be intimidating. That’s why we’re going to introduce you to each type of hosting plan. We’ll talk about which might be the best fit for your site and how much you can expect to spend on it.

7 Different Types of Web Hosting

The differences between hosting plans go well beyond costs and hardware. With that in mind, let’s look at the seven most common types of web hosting you’ll run across so that you’re well-equipped to make an informed decision.

1. Shared Hosting

Shared hosting plans are the most common for website owners. On this type of plan, a single server is shared among multiple users. That means a single computer (a shared server) will host several (or even hundreds of) websites.

Although you’ll share resources with other users, you don’t have access to their files, private information, or any other data. The upside to shared plans is that they tend to be cheap since hosting providers can divide server upkeep costs among multiple users.

Shared hosting doesn’t always have the best reputation, but the quality of the service you get will depend largely on your hosting provider. While some shared hosting plans are very limiting, others can handle websites that get decent amounts of traffic.

Shared plans are probably your best options if you’re in the market for starter web hosting. The world of web hosting is so competitive nowadays that it’s not uncommon to find shared plans for below $5 per month.

Remember that many web hosts want to lock you into multi-year contracts to get the best rates. That’s not necessarily a bad thing if you’re sure about the web host you’re using, but it can be intimidating if this is your first time signing up for a plan.

Pros of shared hosting:

• It’s easy to find plans for less than $5 per month.
• Depending on your service provider, you can get excellent performance on medium or small business websites.

Cons of shared hosting:

• Shared plans often don’t perform well for websites with heavy traffic.
• For the best rates, you’ll often have to sign up for a multi-year contract.

Who is shared hosting best for:

As a beginner, shared hosting should be your go-to option. With the right provider, you’ll have all the tools you need to get your project going and plenty of room to scale up over time.

2. Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting

Virtual Private Servers (VPSs) are a step above shared plans when it comes to performance and customizability. On a VPS plan, a single physical server will contain multiple virtually-partitioned sections. Each container, or VPS, acts as a complete system devoted just to your site.

In practical terms, VPSs provide a higher degree of isolation between users, although you still share the same physical server. Nevertheless, this setup can enhance performance and security. Plus, depending on your hosting provider, you might be able to configure your VPS from scratch and get precisely the resources you need.

To give you an idea of what you’re looking for, a single-core VPS with 1 GB of RAM is enough to run a simple WordPress website. However, figuring out the precise amount of resources you need for each new project can be tricky. This might make a VPS a less attractive option if you’re new to web hosting.

With VPS hosting, you may not get access to a control panel out of the box, which means you might have to use the command line to configure your server and set up a website. If you don’t have experience, it can be a complicated process.

Since VPSs are all across the board when it comes to resources, prices can vary. Just as with shared hosting, it’s not uncommon to find VPSs starting at around $5 per month. However, if you plan on using a VPS, we recommend budgeting at least $10-20 per month for hosting.

Pros of VPS hosting:

• You get fully dedicated resources for your website.
• Depending on your host, you might be able to configure your VPS to your specific needs.

Cons of VPS hosting:

• Calculating the amount of resources you need can be challenging.
• Configuring a VPS often requires some technical know-how.

Who VPS hosting is best for:

If you want full control over your server without spending hundreds of dollars on a dedicated plan, consider using a VPS. The high level of customizability also makes it an attractive option.

3. Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is where things begin to get a little trickier. When people talk about the “cloud,” they’re usually referring to distributed VPSs. Instead of having a virtual server stored on one computer, it’s hosted on a whole network of them.

That network of computers is what we call the “cloud.” The advantage of this setup is that, with a network, you can easily scale your server’s resources as needed. Plus, thanks to the system’s built-in redundancy, you won’t have to worry about downtime and data loss.

This all sounds excellent on paper, but cloud hosting is not always newbie-friendly. For example, many cloud hosting providers charge by the hour. You “spin up” an instance (essentially a VPS), configure it to your needs, and start accumulating charges.

Cloud hosting can be either very cheap or incredibly expensive, depending on your server configuration. It’s the type of setup that some massive internet-based companies, such as Netflix, use to power their operations. However, you probably don’t need anything like Netflix’s hosting configuration for a regular website.

Pros of cloud hosting:

• It offers a high degree of scalability.
• You can customize your server as you see fit.

Cons of cloud hosting:

• The payment structures for cloud hosting can be complicated.
• It’s not well suited for users who don’t have experience with configuring a server.

Who cloud hosting is best for:

If you like tinkering with your server’s configuration and want a high degree of scalability, cloud hosting is worth looking into.

4. Dedicated Hosting

So far, we’ve only discussed hosting plans where you share servers with other users. Servers are expensive, so if you desire a private one all to yourself, you’ll pay a premium for it.

With a dedicated server, you’ll get exclusive access to a single server (or sometimes more than one). That means you’ll have complete control over its configuration, and the web hosting provider simply houses it for you.

Dedicated servers are basically the top-of-the-line options for web hosting. At this level, you can expect to pay at least $100 per month, and prices only go up from there.

If you’re launching a new website as a hobby, a dedicated server would be overkill. This hosting solution only makes sense for businesses and established websites that need access to powerful hardware.

Pros of dedicated hosting:

• You get a whole server to yourself.
• In most situations, you can configure your server to your liking.
• DreamHost users get uncapped bandwidth.

Cons of dedicated hosting:

• It’s an expensive option.

Who dedicated hosting is best for:

Dedicated hosting is the go-to choice for websites that require the very best when it comes to performance and have the budget for it.

5. Managed WordPress Hosting

Managed WordPress hosting is a little different from the other options here. It’s not a type of plan, but rather a kind of service. With managed WordPress hosting, your provider takes care of a lot of the day-to-day maintenance tasks that would otherwise fall on your shoulders. Those tasks include backups, security monitoring, software updates, and more.

It’s important to understand that managed hosting plans can come in every flavor; There are managed shared plans, managed VPSs, and even managed dedicated servers. In all of these cases, you pay a little extra so you don’t need to worry about the nuts and bolts of hosting.

You don’t need a WordPress-specific plan to set up a website with the platform. However, these plans tend to be optimized to provide better performance and make your life much simpler. So if you plan on using WordPress, this hosting can be a smart pick.

On top of WordPress-specific plans, there are also entire hosting platforms that only work with this CMS. Often, that means they have WordPress experts on staff as a part of their support teams, which can be a nice perk. Best of all, WordPress hosting plans are typically priced about the same as their more generic counterparts.

Pros of managed WordPress hosting:

• It often comes with some level of managed service.
• You get access to WordPress-specific perks, such as free plugin licenses and one-click installations.

Cons of managed WordPress hosting:

• It’s only valuable for WordPress users and limits your ability to use other platforms.

Who managed WordPress hosting is best for:

You can set up WordPress on any type of web hosting plan. However, if you want a plan tailored to the CMS from the ground up, WordPress hosting can be an excellent investment.

6. Reseller Hosting

If you run a business that revolves around building websites, such as a development or design agency, you’ll probably have to deal with hosting. A lot of clients don’t quite understand how hosting works and could use help getting everything set up and working.

Reseller hosting offers a solution for those situations. In a nutshell, you get access to an account that lets you provide hosting to your clients. Those clients pay you directly, and you’re responsible for managing their accounts.

Most web hosts that offer reseller accounts enable you to charge whatever you wish for hosting. This means that if you run a web development agency, you can transform hosting into a source of recurring revenue.

However, reselling hosting is not for individual projects or regular users. If all you’re looking for is a plan enabling you to set up a website of your own, then you’ll want to consider another option on this list.

Pros of reseller hosting:

• You can set up hosting accounts for third-party users and charge them directly.
• You’re in complete control of the hosting experience.

Cons of reseller hosting:

• You’re usually responsible for billing clients, which comes with a lot of responsibility.
• In most cases, you’ll have to take care of maintenance and support tasks independently.

Who reseller hosting is best for:

If you run a business that needs to help web hosting for clients, it can make sense to offer that service in-house. With reseller hosting, you can bill clients directly for hosting and take care of maintenance for them while having another company provide the infrastructure.

How to Choose a Web Host (15-Point Checklist)

There are many aspects to consider when choosing a hosting provider, and the process can seem overwhelming at first. That’s why we’ve listed the 15 most important questions to ask when making your choice!

1. How Reliable Are the Host’s Servers?

Performance and uptime can make or break your website. Your website’s performance influences Search Engine Optimization (SEO), bounce and conversion rates, and how trustworthy your site appears to visitors. We’re not exaggerating when we say that your server’s reliability directly impacts your website’s bottom line.

Any provider you consider should have an uptime guarantee of at least 99%. This ensures that your website is rarely unavailable for your visitors. At DreamHost, our uptime guarantee is 100%, per our Terms of Service.

It’s also wise to see what performance-related features a host offers. These can include built-in caching, access to a Content Delivery Service (CDN), and more.

Rather than taking claims and reviews at face value, you can test the host’s responsiveness for yourself. For example, if you know a website that’s hosted by the company you’re interested in using, just enter that URL into Google’s PageSpeed Insights. If possible, you may even want to get access to a test account or sign up for a free trial and use it to conduct further testing.

2. Is It Easy to Upgrade Your Plan?

If you’ve created a website with all the elements it needs to succeed, chances are it’s going to grow. With any luck, you’ll see an increase in traffic and conversion rates. This will likely mean you’ll have to upgrade your web hosting plan.

Most new sites start on a shared, low-cost plan. However, as your online presence expands, you’ll need more resources, bandwidth, and disk space to maintain your site for all its users. A host that offers easy upgrades to a Virtual Private Server (VPS), Managed WordPress, or Dedicated Hosting plan can make this process smoother.

If you choose a host that makes it challenging to change your plan, you could find yourself migrating to a new provider just a few months after launching your site. This can ultimately be a waste of time and money.

3. Can You Easily Add a Domain?

As your digital brand grows, you may want to expand your current site or start a new one altogether. Alternatively, perhaps you simply like collecting domain names and getting into website flipping.

Whatever the reason, if you’re going to purchase additional domains, you’ll need a host that makes it simple to acquire and manage them. Choosing a provider that offers unlimited domains ensures that you won’t ever run out of space.

For instance, with DreamHost, you can add as many domains and subdomains to your shared, VPS, or dedicated hosting plan.

4. Are There Significant Differences in the Sign-Up and Renewal Costs?

It’s important to choose an affordable host. When you sign up, you don’t want to be roped into a plan that’s more expensive than you can afford. With this in mind, it’s important to note that most hosting companies offer sign-up deals for new customers, but renewals may cost more.

Make sure to look into your potential host’s renewal fees as well as the initial sign-up costs. Some difference between these two is an industry norm, but you’ll want to keep the difference as low as possible and avoid a higher renewal rate.

5. Does the Host Have a Generous Refund Policy?

In an ideal world, you’ll choose the perfect host the first time around, your website will flourish, and you’ll never need to cancel your service. Unfortunately, things don’t always go according to plan.

If you need to cancel your hosting for any reason, you’ll want to avoid excessive fees. It’s also wise to choose a host that offers a free trial period, so if things don’t work out in the first few weeks of service, you can cancel without penalty.

6. Is There a One-Click Installer?

As the most popular CMS on the web, WordPress often receives additional support from hosting companies. Managed WordPress plans and WordPress-related features can be especially helpful if this is the platform you’ll use.

A particularly useful feature that some hosts offer is a one-click WordPress installer. It allows you to sit back, relax, and let your host install WordPress for you.

7. Will Your Host Provide Email Addresses for Your Domain?

You might be used to having your personal email handled through Google or another service — That’s one reason why email is often an afterthought for your business and website.

If you want your email to match your website’s name, you will need a host for that service too. Sometimes an email address will be included in your hosting plan, with limited usage. However, if you plan on using email marketing to reach your audience, exploring your email hosting options is highly recommended:

There are pros and cons to combining your email host and your web host. Unless your host has provisions for protecting one or the other, you could face an “if one goes out, they all go out” scenario. This means that if your web host crashes, it will take your email with it as well.

On the other hand, keeping both services in the same place can simplify your life, and a reliable host should be able to avoid those kinds of problems. Fortunately, DreamHost offers several options for email hosting. Whether you are looking for a standalone email host, or a web hosting plan that includes secure email, we have you covered.

8. Will You Have Easy SFTP Access?

Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) is a vital tool for website maintenance. At some point, you’ll likely have to use it to resolve an error, customize your site files, and carry out different tasks.

Your host should provide credentials so that you can use an SFTP client, such as FileZilla. This information should be easy to locate so that you can access it anytime:

Additionally, some hosts will provide their own FTP clients for your use as well. This is a nice perk, and can be an easier and more secure option than third-party clients.

9. How Difficult Is It to Find and Edit .htaccess?

For WordPress users, the .htaccess file is a crucial part of your site. It contains a wealth of configuration information that influences permalink structure, caching, 301 redirects, file accessibility, and more.

You may need to edit .htaccess at some point to resolve an error, tighten security, or carry out other tasks to improve your site. This is not the easiest task, since .htaccess is a hidden file.

Even if you can find the file, editing it via SFTP can be risky — It’s helpful if your web host provides a file manager for editing .htaccess since this can minimize the risks to the rest of your site.

10. What E-Commerce Features Are Included?

All websites have the same basic needs. However, if you’re running an e-commerce site, you’ll need some unique features.

For instance, you’ll probably want more frequent backups and a CDN to reach customers around the world.

A specialized e-commerce website hosting plan can provide the support your online store needs at an affordable rate. For example, you might want a plan designed specifically for WooCommerce:

Some plans — including our e-commerce plans — will even pre-install WooCommerce and the Storefront theme for WordPress retailers. With these configurations taken care of, you can focus on growing your business.

11. Can You Easily Navigate and Use the Control Panel?

You’ll be spending a lot of time in your hosting control panel. Being able to navigate around your account easily can make website management much less challenging. Plus, you won’t have to rely on support as much while figuring out tasks such as billing and upgrading.

Choosing a host that offers a custom control panel can save you a lot of headaches in the long run. The DreamHost panel is designed to be user-friendly so you can easily find information on your site, contact support, or edit your account information:

Since you’ll likely be the primary administrator on your website, you’ll want to find the best option for you. To do this, consider checking out demos or tours of the control panel before you contract a host.

12. Are SSL Certificates Included?

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates are vital for keeping your site and users safe. This is particularly true if you deal with sensitive information such as credit card details.

Adding an SSL certificate to your site is usually an additional expense. However, some hosting providers will include one in your plan at no extra cost. Choosing one of these hosts saves you extra money while helping to keep your site secure.

13. How Often Will You Have to Renew Your Subscription?

Many hosts require a monthly subscription from their customers. If the fees are low enough, you might not mind having to pay monthly. However, this option isn’t always the most cost-effective.

Other hosts will offer one or even three-year plans. By paying for a longer term upfront, you can often save some money down the line. When comparing prices between hosts, make sure to consider this:

Don’t forget that you’ll have to renew your domain name as well. This is usually an annual occurrence, although you can find options for two- and three-year registrations here at DreamHost. You might also sign up for an auto-renewal program so you won’t forget to renew your domain.

14. Does the Web Host Offer Easy Site Backups?

We all like to think the worst will never happen to us, but it’s best to be prepared. Accidents and attacks happen, and if your site has been compromised, you’ll want a way to restore it.

Backups ensure that you have a way to bring your site back if it’s lost. While many methods are available for backing up a website, one of the easiest is to do it through your web host. It’s even more convenient if your host offers automated daily backups for your site and one-click on-demand backups.

15. Can You Quickly Access Support 24/7?

Your relationship with your web host will hopefully be a long one. Reliable customer support is vital to a mutually beneficial relationship. Ensure your host has multiple contact methods and a 24/7 support team can guarantee that someone will be available whenever you need help.

Additionally, specific support for WordPress, e-commerce, or other niches can come in handy. Choosing a host with a knowledgeable team will ensure that your site has the best support possible.

For example, if you opt for DreamPress, our WordPress-specific managed hosting, you’ll get priority access to our elite squad of in-house WordPress experts.

When Should You Upgrade Your Hosting Plan?

If you already have hosting, you may wonder if it’s time to upgrade your plan. Based on the pros and cons we explained in the previous section, you may already be leaning one way or the other.

However, here are some of the signs you might need to think about evaluating new web hosting providers:

Your site’s performance is suffering.

Speed and performance play a huge role in search result rankings and user experience. Most people expect any site they visit to load in two seconds or less — If yours is slower than that, you may need a hosting plan with more resources.

You can test your site’s performance easily with Pingdom, GTmetrix, or WebPagetest. You’ll also want to make sure your website is optimized for speed.

Your site is experiencing too much downtime.

The importance of uptime is clear — if people can’t visit your site, there’s a good chance they won’t try again. Believe it or not, expecting about 99 percent uptime on your site is completely reasonable. If that’s not what you’re seeing, you may be getting more traffic or using more resources than your current hosting plan can handle.

You’re concerned about security.

Shared hosting is fairly secure as long as you’re using a quality hosting company. Regardless of the plan, you should always take steps to secure your site. That being said, as your site grows, you may find the advanced security features offered by non-shared hosting plans can help you sleep a little bit easier at night.

Your current plan doesn’t provide enough space or resources.

As you add more content, attract more traffic, and generate more user activity, your site will take up additional space and require more server resources.

If even one of the above scenarios applies to you, it’s worth looking into other hosting options. A simple upgrade to a larger, more comprehensive plan might be all you need to eliminate these problems and ensure the best possible experience for your users.

Find the Right Web Hosting Service

When it comes to choosing a web host, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. There are many factors to consider, and your decision could ultimately determine your website’s success or failure.

However, if you go into your web hosting search with your needs clearly outlined, you’ll eventually find the best provider for you. Asking careful questions about the quality of the host’s services and equipment, the additional features it offers, and its pricing will steer you in the right direction.

Are you interested in reliable hosting for your website? DreamHost plans are affordable solutions that include performance and security management features. Check out our hosting packages today!

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Neither one is inherently better than the other — it all depends on your website’s unique requirements. You may need super-tight security, lightning-fast speed, a low price point, or scalable resources. By carefully considering the pros and cons of each option, however, you can have your cake and eat it too.

In this post, we’ll explain what VPS and shared hosting are and the main differences between them. Then, we’ll show you how to make the right choice for your website. Let’s get started!

What Is Shared Hosting?

With shared hosting, your site shares the same physical server with many other sites. It’s kind of like an apartment building: you get one unit in a larger structure. While you each have individual living spaces, you may share communal resources like a courtyard, garden, or pool with your neighbors.

There is no reason to be concerned, though. No one using the server can see what others have on it. With a shared hosting plan, you simply share some of the physical resources with other users.

This option tends to be the cheapest because providers can serve many customers from one machine. Shared servers offer customers less bandwidth, management flexibility, and performance, but the hosts take care of all technical configurations, maintenance, and security.

What Is VPS Hosting?

A step up from shared servers is Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting, which offers more room to grow and fewer restrictions. This version of online real estate is similar to living in a condo. You’ll still share the physical server with a few others, but resources are partitioned off and dedicated to each user.

When you own a condo, you can make changes to your living area such as knocking down a wall. Similarly, virtual private servers allow you to modify the server to your liking. The level of customization lies somewhere between a shared plan and a dedicated server.

As we mentioned earlier, you’ll share server space but have your own resources. Since you don’t have to compete for computing power, there is less worry about other websites using up too much bandwidth or storage and slowing down your site.

If your website deals with secured data or resource-heavy applications, VPS hosting may be the way to go. These plans are typically more costly than shared hosting but still quite reasonable.

7 Key Differences Between VPS and Shared Hosting

If you’re creating a website for the first time, it can be difficult to choose the right hosting option. To help you decide between VPS and shared hosting, let’s discuss some of the key differences. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, so let’s take a closer look at exactly what that entails.

1. Performance

As a website owner, it’s important to create a site that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. However, if your web pages aren’t optimized for fast loading, these factors may not matter.

47% of online visitors expect web pages to load in under two seconds. That means if your website buffers for a longer amount of time, these users will likely be unsatisfied and quickly leave the page.

If you run an e-commerce website, you probably already know how important it is to retain customers. When your visitors experience an unsatisfactory loading performance, 79% of them are unlikely to return to your website.

Ultimately, this is not a lot of time to waste. Choosing the right hosting package is a serious business decision when you consider that mere milliseconds can determine whether people will do business with you.

A VPS hosting plan is almost always going to be faster than a shared hosting plan simply because your users don’t have to queue up with other sites’ visitors to access yours.

To illustrate the difference, imagine a carnival with different food vendors. If everyone had to stand in the same line to get to the vendors, the wait would be longer than if each food stand had its own line.

To put it simply, if your site is relatively small, a shared hosting plan will likely do perfectly fine. However, if your site is larger or is relied on for business and revenue growth, you’ll probably notice the difference.

VPS hosting offers more computing resources and processing power, which can boost the speed of most sites and, thus, increase conversions. Several VPS reviews emphasize performance and reliability when comparing DreamHost with our competitors.

2. Reliability and Stability

When we talk about the availability of a web host, we’re not checking its calendar or relationship status. Rather, we’re examining how often you can expect your website to be working properly. This includes any loading issues because of server or networking problems.

This directly correlates to the uptime of a server, or how often the server is up and running. Uptime is listed as a percentage, and, generally, anything 99.9% and above is considered excellent.

Uptime is important for any website because it determines whether your online presence will be available and open to visitors whenever they appear. This can be especially crucial for professional portfolios, business sites, and e-commerce stores.

Keep in mind that problems can arise with servers in both shared and VPS hosting plans. Much of this depends on the quality of the server hardware and software, as well as the provider’s expertise, support, and management practices.

However, with a VPS hosting plan, fewer customers exist on each server. Each partition can be configured and customized for a particular website or application’s requirements. This extra attention means each VPS is typically more secure and stable.

In a shared hosting environment, there are many websites that could potentially overload the server. A VPS resides in an independent hosting environment and, thus, there is no worry about whether other accounts can affect access to your site.

DreamHost is one of a select few providers that delivers a 100% uptime guarantee, meaning our data centers have a reliable, modern, and redundant infrastructure. In the rare case that your website experiences unexpected downtime, DreamHost will reimburse you the cost of a full day’s worth of hosting expenses.

3. Security

In a shared hosting environment, there is typically more risk for security breaches. Simply because there are more sites on a server, there are more opportunities for attackers to gain entry. Additionally, shared hosting customers are usually the least experienced with web hosting precautions, meaning that server vulnerabilities could be caused by your hosting neighbors.

When one customer sharing the server forgets to update WordPress or has a page that becomes compromised, it can impact other sites on the same machine. Just like performance and reliability, however, the risks can vary wildly depending on how much the hosting company has invested in the security of its servers.

DreamHost, for example, offers Let’s Encrypt SSL/TLS certificates on all domains it hosts. This means that data passed through each site is always safely encrypted.

Websites that deal with a lot of user data or payment information may benefit from choosing VPS hosting. This option offers robust security features that are usually managed by seasoned professionals, so you have less to worry about when it comes to securing sensitive information.

To understand this, consider what it would be like to purchase home security. Basic options come with a few sensors and signs that deter people from breaking in. More sophisticated options, however, include cameras and other monitoring devices that provide additional protection — this is more like a VPS hosting environment.

The world-class security engineering team at DreamHost, lovingly known internally as Nightmare Labs, helps keep websites running smoothly without breaches. By ensuring that your site has the latest patches and security upgrades, you can rest assured that your site is protected.

4. Price

In shared hosting, the cost is split among the many users of the shared server. For this reason, you can generally expect these plans to be more affordable. A VPS plan provides more resources and tends to be more reliable, so it often costs more.

Therefore, from the standpoint of pricing, shared hosting is usually going to be the most economical option overall. At DreamHost, shared hosting plans start at $2.59 per month and increase depending on the features and billing cycle you choose.

VPS hosting plans come with more premium features like increased performance and customizations for online businesses. The VPS hosting plans at DreamHost start at $10 per month, offering a range of varying storage and RAM allocations.

5. Managed Services

So far, we’ve talked about what constitutes shared servers and virtual private servers, but we’ve yet to talk about who manages them. It’s important to know that most of the time, shared servers are managed, which means that expert employees of the hosting provider will ensure the servers are updated and secured. Shared hosting technicians can also assist with tasks such as migrations, backups, monitoring, updates, and maintenance.

A VPS can be either managed or unmanaged, with the latter referring to a service where the company only assists with problems with its server or network. For example, the customer would be responsible for installing and maintaining software and configurations.

When selecting a VPS host, you can expect more features and support with a managed plan. To decide between a managed and unmanaged VPS, you’ll need to evaluate how much time you want to invest in maintaining the reliability and performance of your site, along with your technical ability to do so.

At DreamHost, we offer managed VPS, so you can be assured that you will get high-quality assistance from the 24/7 technical support team. This can help you easily diagnose and resolve unexpected performance and security issues on your website.

6. Scalability

Scalability is how well your hosting plan will accommodate the growth of your website. This is often the make-or-break feature when deciding between shared or VPS hosting. There are several aspects to scalability, including storage and server capabilities.

A shared hosting plan is well suited for low-to-medium traffic websites, particularly if the visits are spread out over the course of the month. As your site grows, or if its traffic tends to arrive in large bursts, a shared server may not be able to keep up with the increased workload. A VPS hosting plan will provide more guaranteed headroom with resources dedicated to your site, and your site alone.

Resources can often be adjusted to adapt to various traffic trends. For instance, e-commerce stores will likely need more bandwidth to handle the rush of shoppers on Black Friday. Therefore, if you expect to add a lot more content and traffic, a VPS hosting plan is typically a good investment.

Some website owners opt to go with an affordable shared hosting plan initially. This way, they can test an idea and then switch to a VPS plan later. If you anticipate rapid growth, however, you may want to consider starting out with a VPS host right away. When user demand starts to exceed server resources, there is no other option but to upgrade your plan.

7. Customizations

On a shared hosting plan, your server will be pre-configured and optimized for most users. If you’re a beginner, you may not want to modify your server environment at all. In this case, shared hosting may be right for you.

To optimize your website’s performance, you may want to have more control over your installed software. With a virtual private server, you generally have fewer restrictions as far as customizing and installing applications on the server. Unlike shared hosting, you’ll be able to set up new software and customize it to your needs.

Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. With access to the server’s software and settings, you don’t want to inadvertently delete the wrong file or misconfigure a critical component. If you’re new to web development, you may want to start with a shared hosting plan until you learn the ins and outs of these skills.

How to Decide Between VPS and Shared Hosting

With shared hosting, you won’t have to worry about upgrades because most of them are done automatically. Since you won’t need to maintain your own server, no technical expertise is required.

Moreover, shared hosting can be a great choice if you have minimal traffic or are just looking for hosting that’s easy to maintain. This type of plan can be well-suited for:

• Blogs and personal websites
• Small to midsize companies
• E-commerce sites expecting up to 500 visitors per day
• People who are planning start-ups

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Like shared hosting, VPS hosting offers a number of its own advantages. Since you’re in full control of your server, you can configure it in any way you please. This can be extremely useful for seasoned WordPress developers.

You’ll also enjoy a tremendous amount of bandwidth and storage that is entirely yours. VPS hosting provides easy backups and scalability, and you can run numerous batch files with your shell access.

Here are some common cases in which a virtual private server is probably appropriate:

• Businesses that are expanding rapidly beyond shared hosting
• Companies that expect a substantial increase in traffic in a short few months
• Businesses that plan to host numerous websites in the near future
• High-traffic websites in need of extraordinary bandwidth and security

In short, VPS hosting is great when your site is going through rapid growth and expansion as it can keep up with your success. Meanwhile, shared hosting is a terrific entry point into web hosting, allowing you to enjoy affordable hosting as your business develops.

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When to Upgrade from Shared Hosting to VPS Hosting

If you’re already using a shared hosting plan, you might wonder if it’s time to move on to VPS hosting. Fortunately, there are a few warning signs that can indicate your site is ready for this change.

It’s probably time to get serious about switching when:

• Your website receives a large number of daily visits
• You need additional resource allocation like RAM, CPU, disk space, or bandwidth
• Your website takes longer than 3 seconds to load
• You receive a lot of unexpected downtime

Whenever you notice any of these factors, it could be time to switch to a VPS. Shared hosting is ideal for smaller websites that need fewer resources, so you should upgrade if your site needs more.

Additionally, you’d be wise to consider scalability. If you plan to host multiple websites for your businesses, you can upgrade to a VPS to accommodate this development. In general, think about what your website currently needs, as well as what it will require for future growth.

Choose the Right Hosting Plan

Ultimately, choosing the wrong type of server can result in a lack of resources. This could be in the form of storage space, scalability, or affordability. However, you can easily avoid this by selecting the best hosting plan for your website.

You’ll want to make sure you evaluate your site’s current needs, as well as your plans for the future. Shared hosting can be a beginner-friendly and cost-effective option for smaller sites. Meanwhile, virtual private servers can provide better security, reliability, and customization options, which is ideal for larger sites with higher traffic.

Want to try VPS or shared hosting? At DreamHost, we offer a variety of both options. That means no matter your budget, required resources, or growth potential, you’ll be able to find a suitable plan for your site!

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Let’s start with the basics: shared hosting and dedicated hosting. Neither system is going to be right for everyone, so you’ll need to identify your needs and do your homework. Fortunately, we’re here to explore the different options and help you make an informed choice.

In this guide, we’ll go through a full rundown of shared hosting vs. dedicated hosting. Let’s get started!

Shared Web Hosting

With shared web hosting, one physical server is shared by several users who tap into the same resources. Everyone shares the cost of storage, bandwidth, and other features. Web neighbors can’t access other accounts or websites, so the system is safe and secure:

Credit: Seobility – License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Its cost-effectiveness and ease of use make shared web hosting a popular choice. Your web host will set up your server and install the necessary software.

All you have to do is upload your website or application. Using the simple control panel, you can create and manage your database, email account, and other tools for doing business.

Shared hosting may be an ideal solution if:

• Your business is small to mid-sized.
• Your traffic is limited to a few hundred monthly visitors.
• The content on your website is frequently updated.
• You have no earthly idea how to configure a server, install and upgrade its software or perform technical maintenance.

At DreamHost, we offer affordable shared hosting plans for WordPress sites. Plus, our plans come with a free domain name!

Why Choose Shared Hosting?

If you’re new to web hosting, a shared platform is great for learning the ropes. It’s perfectly adequate for businesses and websites with light to moderate web traffic which don’t require complex customized server configurations.

You could think of it like a large house shared by several roommates. Expenses for things like food, cleaning supplies, and electricity are divided. If the fridge stops working, the kind landlord lives right next door. The arrangement saves everyone money, and things work out nicely, provided no one drinks directly from the milk carton.

Dedicated Web Hosting

With dedicated hosting, you’re the sole user on the server. Its capacity and resources are all yours. This gives you much more control over its configuration and overall operating environment. There’s also a wider variety of services and software to choose from.

Not every business needs all the bells and whistles that dedicated hosting provides. Still, it might make sense under the following circumstances:

• Your business is continually growing and adding products or services, so you need the control and flexibility to customize the server, choose your software and adapt the system to changing needs.
• Your website features a significant amount of video streaming and high-resolution photos.
• You want a unique IP address that you don’t have to share with other websites.
• Your business handles extremely sensitive transactions, requiring enhanced security features.

If you’re looking for a dedicated server, we offer fully-managed dedicated hosting. You’ll have root access to your server, along with 24/7 monitoring and support to keep things running smoothly.

Why Choose Dedicated Hosting?

Understandably, having a dedicated server all to yourself costs more than shared hosting. After all, there are more features and resources to choose from. Unless you have excellent technical skills or strong tech support in your company, you’ll probably need a package that includes building and maintaining the equipment.

These additional features come at a price, but they’re worth it for clients who need complete control of the operating environment and a little extra security. Furthermore, dedicated hosting can be a better option if you have a high-traffic site that’s continually growing.

Choose the Best Hosting Plan for Your Website

Shared hosting and dedicated hosting come with their own pros and cons. On the one hand, shared hosting is an affordable option that’s perfectly suitable for small to medium businesses. You also won’t need to worry about configuring your server.

By contrast, a dedicated server offers superior performance and gives you complete control over your server’s configuration. It’s an excellent option for larger businesses, high-traffic sites, and tech-savvy users.

At DreamHost, we offer both shared hosting and dedicated hosting plans. Contact us today to find out which service is right for your website!

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Fortunately, dedicated hosting boasts several important advantages over shared hosting since your site has room to roam on its own physical (dedicated) server. This means that you can expect speedy, reliable performance. Plus, you get more control over your server configuration, enabling you to create a highly customized, highly secure environment.

In this post, we’ll look closely at dedicated hosting — we’ll discuss its pros and cons as a hosting solution before showing you how to get started. Let’s jump right in!

An Introduction to Dedicated Hosting

With dedicated hosting, you get a physical server that’s exclusively available to you. This setup contrasts with other hosting solutions like VPS and shared hosting that require you to share resources with other websites on the server:

Image Credit: Seobility

Since the server hosts only your website, it can deliver your web pages much faster than one that has to process requests for multiple websites. Plus, you will be free to configure your server exactly how you want it.

Better yet, you can create a more stable, secure environment for your website since you have your own server. There’s less risk of downtime and cross-site infection since your site is the only one hosted on that hardware.

Also, because you have plenty of resources at your disposal, your server is in a better position to handle even the sharpest traffic spikes. This means that dedicated hosting is an excellent option for large websites or businesses that want to scale up.

When to Consider Dedicated Hosting

Now that you know more about dedicated hosting, let’s consider whether it could be a good match for your website.

You Have a Large, High Traffic Website

Dedicated hosting is an excellent choice for large websites. The server is fully equipped to handle many simultaneous requests, such as those from high-traffic websites or large e-commerce stores. This way, you get consistently speedy site performance.

With alternatives such as shared hosting, other websites on the server can compete with your site for bandwidth, causing pages to load slowly during periods of particularly heavy traffic. With dedicated hosting, your bandwidth is your own, and you can expect reliable, fast response times for your applications operating in real-time.

Your Focus Is on Security

When you’re the only one with access to your server, you have full control to deal with online threats and attacks. This factor is crucial if your website handles sensitive user data like payment details or personal information that can be the target of hacking attempts.

Conversely, on a shared server, if one website is the victim of a targeted attack, your site can also suffer the consequences. When sites are on the same server without proper barriers, it’s easy for one website’s vulnerabilities to spread across to yours. Since dedicated hosting provides an isolated server, you are effectively quarantined from anyone else.

You Can Stretch Your Budget

While there are many benefits of dedicated hosting, the perks come at an additional cost. It’s nearly always more expensive than other options like shared hosting or VPS. Therefore, if you’re on a tight budget, you may not be able to afford a dedicated server.

However, at least with dedicated hosting, you know that you’re getting enormous value for your money. No other hosting option can come close to dedicated hosting in terms of performance, control, and versatility. These factors can make it worth the cost if you have room in your budget.

You Want Experienced Management Options

Dedicated hosting is a great choice if you’d rather focus on growing your business and don’t want to spend time monitoring how well your server is performing. You can rest assured that your hardware is functioning at full capacity. Plus, hosts manage your server 24/7, so you don’t need to worry about whether your site is up or down.

You’re Anticipating Major Growth

If you’re expecting a period of growth, it can be a good idea to start out with the hosting you will need rather than a plan that’s just sufficient for the time being. This way, you can avoid the hassle of having to migrate servers at a later date.

Then, everything is already in place when growth occurs. While other hosting options enable you to scale up, there can be upper limits to the amount of resources you can access. Plus, this transition can involve a sharp price increase.

The Advantages of Using Dedicated Hosting

Before you decide whether dedicated hosting is right for you, let’s take a look at some key benefits of using it:

Security

You can manage your own security and software updates. Plus, there’s no risk of sharing a server with malicious or infected websites.

Traffic

Since you have plenty of resources at your disposal, the server can handle traffic spikes while maintaining smooth performance.

Performance

Resources are abundant, so performance is speedy. This is important since visitor abandon rate has been shown to increase by 32% when page load time goes from one to three seconds.

Customization

You’ll have complete control over your server and hosting environment. Therefore, you can configure it exactly how you like.

Root Access

This feature gives you control over all ports. Plus, it enables you to access any file on the server, modify any file, and install/delete server-wide applications.

To sum up, dedicated hosting can be an excellent option if you want more control over your server. This hosting solution can boost speeds, tighten security, and provide full access to ports and files.

The Drawbacks of Dedicated Hosting

While there are many benefits to using dedicated hosting, it’s also important to be aware of its limitations:

Cost

Dedicated hosting is one of the most expensive options, especially when compared to shared hosting. If you don’t think you’ll use all the resources, you’ll probably be able to find a more cost-effective solution.

Responsibility

While hosts can provide guidance, you’re typically the one responsible for the security and maintenance of your site. Therefore, an unmanaged dedicated server isn’t the greatest option if you don’t have the time or expertise to set up and maintain a server.

Resource types

Dedicated hosting may not always be suitable (or may just be overkill) depending on the type of resources that your site needs. For instance, dedicated hosting is beneficial for serving large media files, running many scripts, and accommodating high levels of web traffic.

If you decide that dedicated hosting isn’t suitable for your website, you might consider other solutions. VPS hosting offers a moderate degree of server customization, along with adequate security and resource isolation at a fraction of the cost.

What to Consider Before Choosing a Dedicated Web Host

Every host will offer different options to customize your server. However, when dealing with dedicated hosting, here are some of the most critical factors.

Server Type

You can use dedicated servers for emails, websites, and gaming. Additionally, you can find standard servers for small to medium-sized businesses or choose an enterprise solution.

Storage Solutions

Since additional storage is a perk of dedicated hosting, you’ll want to verify that the server suits your requirements. At DreamHost, you’ll get access to 2 TB of file storage and RAID storage. Plus, with multiple hard drives and RAID 1 redundancy, if one fails, there’s another available to pick up the slack with no unexpected downtime.

The Number of Cores

A Central Processing Unit (CPU) that offers multiple cores enables you to run multiple processes simultaneously. Therefore, the server delivers excellent performance even with the demands of powerful applications.

Random Access Memory (RAM)

RAM determines how your site functions. The amount you’ll need depends on various factors, such as how many transactions you process, how much traffic you have, and how many applications you run.

However, you’ll also need to decide whether you want to opt for managed or unmanaged hosting. For example, with managed hosting, your host will take care of the technical aspects of maintaining your server. Sometimes, these processes may even include backing up your site and monitoring for security risks.

At DreamHost, we provide managed dedicated server hosting. This plan is the ideal gateway to dedicated hosting. You can still benefit from having your own server with root access, greater memory, faster speeds, and 100% uptime:

Furthermore, with a managed solution, you can rest easy with DDoS protection, constant monitoring, and 24/7 support.

By contrast, unmanaged hosting providers require that you handle monitoring and maintenance tasks yourself. This often includes administrative work, backups, and security. As a result, unmanaged hosting is best suited for users with advanced knowledge and time to spend on website maintenance.

Your Dedicated Hosting Solution

There are many hosting options available for your website. Shared and VPS hosting are both popular choices. However, they’re not always the best for a growing site. With dedicated hosting, you will enjoy smooth, stable website performance. Plus, you can configure your server exactly how you want it.

While dedicated hosting costs can be a little higher, having access to your own server can reduce security vulnerabilities and better handle sharp traffic spikes. Unlike other hosting plans, dedicated servers provide root access, which gives you full control over your server files.

If you lack the technical expertise or simply aren’t ready for the work involved in running your own server, managed dedicated hosting is a great option. You can enjoy plenty of storage space, DDoS protection, and full administrative access at DreamHost. What’s more, you can count on our team of experts to handle maintenance tasks like security and backups. Check out our plans today!

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Our dedicated hosting plans are the ideal solution for high-traffic sites that require fast speeds and consistent uptime.

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But fret not, beginner. This guide will answer all your burning Virtual Private Server questions. Ready to learn everything there is to know about a VPS hosting environment? Let’s dive in!

What Is a Virtual Private Server?

First, let’s define what VPS actually stands for — virtual private server.

In layman’s terms, a server is a powerful computer that stores all of the data and files that make up your website. When someone types your domain name into their web browser, that powerful computer “serves up” your website to the searcher’s screen.

Now for the virtual aspect: VPS uses virtualization technology to split that one powerful server we just talked about into multiple virtual servers. Think of it this way: it’s one piece of physical hardware that functions like several separate servers.

The word private means just what it implies. Your virtual server is reserved for you, so you won’t have to share RAM, CPU, or any data with other users.

How Does VPS Work?

VPS Hosting simulates the experience of a dedicated server even though you’re still sharing the physical server with other users.

Your web hosting provider installs a virtual layer on top of the operating system (OS) of the server using virtualization technology. Separating the server into individual compartments with virtual walls, this layer allows each user to install their own OS and software.

Because a VPS separates your files from other users on the OS level, it truly is a private server. This means your website lives within a secure container with guaranteed server resources — think memory, disk space, CPU cores, etc. You don’t have to share any of it with others.

How VPS Compares with Shared Hosting & Dedicated Hosting

To truly understand how VPS works, it’s important to get familiar with some of the basics of web hosting, including other common plans. Here’s a brief breakdown of the differences between shared, dedicated, and VPS hosting.

1. Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most common form of web hosting and works well for many new website owners. When you purchase a shared hosting plan, you’re sharing key resources like CPU, RAM, and hard drive space with other website owners using that same server.

Let’s use an analogy to make understanding this concept a little easier.

Think of a shared server as a large apartment complex, and all of the individual apartments are rented by other website owners. All of you need a place to live — just like your website’s files — but going out to buy a huge family home would be too expensive for your needs. Sharing common areas and utilities in an apartment block helps keep costs down. And the same is true for shared hosting.

There are a few downsides to shared hosting, though, mostly because you’re sharing. For instance, if someone else on your shared server has a huge spike in traffic, that could affect your website’s performance. However, if you’re just getting your website off the ground and don’t have huge traffic volume, shared hosting is a great way to get online!

Looking for an entry-level plan? Check out our affordable shared hosting packages.

2. Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting is the opposite of shared hosting. Rather than pooling resources (and sharing the costs) with other website owners, you have one dedicated server that is reserved for your website only.

Sounds great, right? The catch is that it’s more expensive, but you get 100% control over your resources and can customize the software to meet your individual needs. This type of hosting package is best for websites with robust technical demands. For example, dedicated hosting could be right for you if:

• you are getting large amounts of traffic each day.
• you need to install your own operating system.
• you are handling thousands of financial transactions.
• your website requires custom software.

Need a powerful solution? Check out our dedicated hosting plans.

3. VPS Hosting

VPS hosting sits squarely between shared and dedicated. When you choose VPS, there will be other websites hosted on the same hardware as yours (remember that powerful server we talked about earlier?).

But — and it’s a big one — your website is the only domain allocated to your particular virtual compartment. And that means you get your own operating system, dedicated storage, powerful CPU, scalable RAM, and unlimited bandwidth.

With a VPS, you are getting many of the benefits of a dedicated server — for an affordable price. In short, VPS hosting can give you more bang for your buck.

We Know You've Got Lots of VPS Options

At DreamHost, we’ve never been comfortable fitting in with the crowd. Here are a few ways our VPS offering stands apart: 24/7 customer support, an intuitive panel, scalable RAM, unlimited bandwidth, and SSD storage. Plans start at $10/mo.

Choose Your VPS Plan

When Should You Switch to VPS?

The best way to evaluate whether or not you need to upgrade to VPS is to take stock of your website. Here are eight tell-tale signs it’s time to go virtual.

1. You’re Worried About Security

If you need enhanced security features, advanced monitoring capabilities, more backup space, improved website reliability, or plan on taking any form of online payment, then you may want to consider VPS. With VPS, you get reliable resources and can count on top-notch security features.

2. You Start to Experience High Traffic Volumes

If you are just starting your website and don’t receive very much traffic, then shared hosting is the ideal solution. However, if your website’s audience is consistently growing, you’ll want to consider upgrading. You don’t want to run the risk of your website running slowly or, even worse, your server crashing because it can’t handle the traffic. If you anticipate an increase in visitors, do yourself a favor and switch to VPS.

3. Your Website is Consistently Running Slowly

Shared hosting is not meant for websites that use large amounts of RAM. As your website grows and you add more and more content, you will start to see a decrease in your website’s load times. As soon as this happens, it’s an indication that you are maxing out your limits. Upgrading to a VPS will enable you to scale your website without having to worry about slow load times.

4. You Have An Online Store

The moment you plan on running an online store is the moment you should upgrade your hosting plan. Why? Because with VPS, you have a secure and dedicated virtual server where you are more likely to pass a PCI compliance test. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard was established by major credit card brands to protect against cardholder data theft.

If you are accepting credit cards on your website via a payment gateway, you want to do everything you can to ensure the safety of your consumers’ financial information. Since VPS is more secure than shared hosting, it’s the better option for ecommerce websites.

Related: The 10 Most Popular Online Payment Gateways for Your Website, Compared

5. You Need To Install Custom Software

Shared hosting is great for website owners who build their site with WordPress or other common Content Management Systems. However, if you reach the point where you need to install custom software, use a custom server configuration, or engage in any other advanced programming, then you’ll want a hosting option that affords you more control.

Similarly, several standard tax, billing, bookkeeping, and other integrative programs require around-the-clock server availability as well as high-speed internet. To run these applications successfully, you’ll need either a VPS or dedicated hosting account.

If you operate on a shared server, you’ll only run into frustration when you learn advanced actions are forbidden or that apps don’t have the support needed to function properly. Instead of dealing with this potential problem, upgrade to VPS hosting and immediately gain more control over your programming actions.

6. You Run Into Server Errors

Do you encounter “Service Unavailable” errors, any 50X errors, or the “Internal Server Error” often? When you see errors, it’s likely that your potential customers are too. While you can troubleshoot downtime issues, there is simply no room for server errors if you’re running an online business. Pre-empt this problem by upgrading to VPS.

7. You’re on a Budget

While it’s true that a dedicated hosting package can address many of the problems on this list, it’s important to remember that a dedicated plan is a much pricier option. If you need to improve your bandwidth, increase your security, and get more RAM, then the most affordable option is to opt for VPS hosting.

8. You Build Websites For Your Clients

Is it part of your job to build websites for your clients? With a VPS, you can host an unlimited number of domains all while making sure you have enough RAM for each site to function properly.

How to Choose the Best VPS Hosting Plan for Your Website?

Now that you know what a VPS is and when you should upgrade, let’s talk about what makes a great VPS plan and how to find the best web hosting provider. After all, you wouldn’t trust your website with just anybody, right?

Self-Managed Versus Managed VPS Services

When selecting VPS hosting, you usually have two plan options:

1. Self-managed VPS service (sometimes called unmanaged VPS)
2. Managed VPS service

You need to be familiar with server administration, troubleshooting, and managing the applications, software, and services installed on your VPS if you choose a self-managed service.

If you are either unfamiliar with these admin skills or you just want your hosting company to take care of it for you, then opting for a managed VPS plan is the way to go.

All of DreamHost’s VPS plans are fully managed, meaning you can skip worrying about the nitty-gritty technical details and focus on what really matters: creating great content for your website. If you’re looking for root access, though, consider opting for DreamHost’s cloud hosting.

Linux/Windows

You might think this tip might fall into the obvious category, but it’s worth sharing: Make sure the hosting package you select is compatible with your operating system. DreamHost, for instance, doesn’t offer Windows hosting since most of our users prefer to run a Linux VPS.

Reliability

The VPS hosting service you select should have uptime ratings of 99.5% and above. Anything lower from your web host is simply unacceptable. For the record, DreamHost boasts one of the industry’s highest uptime scores at 99.98%. Stop it, we’re blushing.

Hardware

When purchasing a VPS hosting package, make sure your service provider offers the latest and greatest in hardware, including solid state drives (SSD) — the fastest storage technology. SSD makes running high-speed applications easier thanks, in part, to the lack of moving parts.

24/7 Customer Support

When it comes down to it, you simply don’t know when you’ll experience a site meltdown. So make sure you purchase a VPS hosting package from a company that offers 24/7 customer support.

Backup Service

Imagine you are revamping your site when something goes wrong and you lose everything because you forgot to backup your site. Shivers. This is an all-too-common occurrence, and it can cost you money, time, and more than a few gray hairs. Make sure when you purchase VPS service, you choose a provider that makes backups easy.

Ready for Your Own Private Server?

Made it all the way to the end of this guide? Well, pat yourself on the back because you are a VPS beginner no more!

What it all boils down to is this: If your website is growing and beginning to attract some well-deserved attention, you’ll want its performance to keep pace. And that means it’s time to increase your site’s resources by upgrading to a VPS server.

While VPS hosting is more expensive than a shared plan, the benefits of this kind of hosting solution give you a lot of bang for your buck – without having to spring for a much-pricier dedicated hosting plan.

Take Charge with Flexible VPS Hosting

Here’s how DreamHost’s VPS offering stands apart: 24/7 customer support, an intuitive panel, scalable RAM, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited hosting domains, and SSD storage.

Choose Your VPS Plan

The post What Is VPS? A Beginner’s Guide to Virtual Private Servers appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Shared hosting is an inexpensive and simple way of making a website available online, regardless of your experience with web hosting. Especially if this is your first time creating a site, shared hosting is often your best bet. 

DreamHost has been a top-notch hosting company for more than 20 years, and we offer two fantastic shared hosting plans — Shared Starter and Shared Unlimited — that can be a great help when getting your new site off the ground. 

In this quick-start guide, we’ll take you through the benefits of using shared hosting and explain why DreamHost’s plans are such strong choices. We’ll also show you how to get your website going and even offer a list of resources to help you learn more. Let’s get to it!

A Brief Introduction to Shared Hosting

In case you’re unfamiliar with the jargon involved in web hosting, let’s start from the top. A web host is a company where you can buy server space to store your website. This is how your site becomes publicly available. When a visitor tries to access your site, all the necessary data is sent from the web server to that visitor’s device.

This is all pretty straightforward. However, things do get slightly more complicated when you start to consider the different types of web hosting. There are many varieties, and they differ in how they’re set up, what resources they provide, and more.

In this post, we want to take a close look at shared hosting packages. As the name suggests, this is a type of hosting where your site shares a server and resources with a multitude of other users. For this reason, shared hosting is usually the least expensive option. What’s more, it comes with several key benefits.

For one, shared hosting is usually aimed at beginners or those who don’t want to spend too much time on the technical aspects of hosting. As such, these plans will generally be the easiest to set up and manage. This makes shared hosting perfect for smaller sites, such as blogs or portfolios that don’t require a lot of upkeep.

Here at DreamHost, we offer our own shared hosting plans — Shared Starter and Shared Unlimited.

Shared Starter is a fantastic and highly affordable starter plan for users building their first websites. Shared Unlimited offers everything in Shared Starter and includes unlimited site storage, subdomains, and more, as well as email and a pre-installed SSL certificate. This makes it perfect for serious users ready to take their websites to a more professional level.

These plans have been specifically tailored to be as easy as possible to get started with and use — especially Shared Unlimited, which gives you everything you need for a successful website right out of the gate. We’ll get into the finer details soon. However, if you’re looking for a simple and painless way to get your website off the ground, suffice it to say that DreamHost has you covered.

Of course, we’d be remiss not to mention that we also offer a number of other plans. Large, complex sites sometimes require more robust hosting services. If that sounds like you, then you might want to check out our managed WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, and WooCommerce hosting. If shared hosting sounds intriguing, however, read on for all the details.

Related: How to Choose a Web Hosting Provider — 15-Point Checklist

Why DreamHost Shared Hosting Is a Perfect Choice for Your Site

The DreamHost shared hosting plan contains everything you need to get your site online. This plan is specifically tailored to make it easy and fast to sign up and publish a site, even if you have no prior experience.

In short, if you want to create a website with minimal fuss and worry, you’ll want to consider this plan. Aside from the benefits we’ve already mentioned, it also includes:

• Unlimited websites. Create as many websites as you want or need on one plan, and all with unlimited data and storage.
• Free domain. Claim your own piece of internet real estate, and establish your online presence with a free domain name. This saves you an average of $10—$12 per year.
• Guaranteed 100% uptime. You never have to worry about your site being down at a critical time with our reliable servers. 
• WordPress pre-installed. WordPress is the most popular platform for building a website. The flexibility of WordPress makes it easy to bring your site to life just as you imagine it. We can install the platform for you so that everything is ready to go when you are.
• WP Website Builder. Our simple site creation wizard makes building your WordPress website easier than ever. The drag-and-drop editor and free professional templates help you get up and running in no time.
• Free Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. Security is vital in today’s online world. The Shared Unlimited plan includes a free SSL/TLS certificate so you can secure your site and enjoy peace of mind. With this perk, you’ll save an average of $20 per year.
• Unlimited email @ your domain. Send and receive as much email as you need — this is ideal for business use and highly-active websites.
• Access to 24/7 support. Get support whenever you need it. Never worry about being stuck on your own.

While we’re confident that you’ll enjoy shared hosting with us for these reasons and more, we do offer a 97-day money-back guarantee. Therefore, you can feel safe and secure in giving us a shot and see for yourself if we live up to your expectations!

Let DreamHost Shared Hosting Power Your Site

Our Unlimited Shared Hosting plan gives you everything you need to thrive online — we throw in a domain, SSL certificate, email address, and privacy protection for free!

Sign Up Today

How to Get Started with DreamHost Shared Hosting (In 6 Steps)

Getting started with DreamHost couldn’t be easier. To show you how it works, we’ll walk you through every step of the process, from creating an account and choosing a plan to building and securing your website.

Step 1: Sign Up for Your Hosting Plan

The first step to getting started with DreamHost and bringing your website to the world is to sign up for one of our hosting plans. The role of the web host is to give your site a physical server to house its data and enable visitors to access it. 

We offer a wide variety of hosting plans, but shared hosting is one of the most popular and cost-effective options. Shared hosting has your website living on a server with other sites, making it more affordable. However, those other sites never have access to your data.

For most users, our Shared Unlimited plan is the best way to get started with your website, especially if you want to use WordPress. We pre-install WordPress for you, and you’ll get unlimited traffic and the ability to build as many websites as you like.

To sign up for your new Shared Unlimited plan, click on the blue Sign Up Now button underneath the feature list. You’ll be taken to a wizard that will walk you through purchasing your plan and creating a DreamHost account.

Simply follow the steps to get everything set up. You can opt to register a domain right away during the process or save that task for later. Which you choose is totally up to you — there’s no right or wrong way to do it. 

The DreamHost account creation is on the third page (Secure Checkout). Below that, you’ll find additional options you can configure for your new site.

If you’re planning on using WordPress to build your site, we highly recommend checking the boxes to pre-install the platform and use the WP Site Builder. This can greatly streamline the process of getting your site up and running.

Step 2: Explore the DreamHost Panel

Once you’ve created your account and purchased a hosting plan, you can log into your DreamHost control panel (using the email and password you provided during signup).

The user panel is your home base for all things related to your websites, domains, and hosting account. Along the left side, you can find all of the available features and functions:

• Domains. The Domains menu is where you’ll access your existing domains or register new ones.
• WordPress. The WordPress menu provides access to any WordPress services you’ve added to your account, such as our DreamPress managed hosting. You can also add new installations of WordPress from this menu.
• Mail. The Mail menu provides you with everything you need to manage your unlimited email services.
• Users. The Users menu is where you’ll find options for adding and managing additional users you’ve added to your account.
• MySQL Databases. If you ever need to access your MySQL databases, you can use this option, found under the More menu.

There’s plenty more to explore in the panel, so we recommend taking a few minutes to click on the various links and get acquainted with where things are located.

Step 3: Register Your Domain

If you didn’t register your domain during the initial signup process, you should do so now. Your domain name gives your site its primary URL and carves out its unique place on the web. No one else can use your domain once you’ve registered it.

Your Shared Unlimited hosting plan includes a free domain registration credit. You have one month from signup to use the credit, so if you’re unsure what domain you want, you can take a little time to think about it. However, you can’t start building your website until your domain is registered.

To register a domain, head to your DreamHost panel and navigate to Domains > Registrations.

From there, you can search for the domain you want. If it’s available, you can add it to your cart.

Keep in mind that it can take up to 72 hours for your domain to become accessible once you purchase it. So if you’re in a hurry to get your site online, it’s best to take care of this task as soon as possible.

Step 4: Customize Your WordPress Site

With your domain registered, you can start building and customizing your WordPress site. We highly recommend using our WP Site Builder tool, as it makes the process much more pleasant. If you didn’t enable this option when signing up, you can contact support any time to have it turned on. 

The easiest way to access your WordPress dashboard and admin page is to simply navigate to yourwebsitename.com/wp-admin in your browser, where “yourwebsitename.com” is your site’s domain name. You can also access the dashboard by clicking the link in the email you received when setting up your account.

If you enabled the WP Site Builder, you’ll be greeted by a “getting started” wizard the first time you log into your dashboard. This wizard will walk you through three quick steps to begin building your site.

When you’re finished, you’ll land back in your dashboard, with a new item available in the menu: Inspirations. From there, you can edit your WP Site Builder theme and make other changes.

Step 5: Increase Security With an SSL/TLS Certificate

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and its successor, TLS (Transport Layer Security), are protocols that help enable secure data transmission online. Sites using SSL/TLS have “https” in the URL, and most browsers display a padlock icon in the address bar to indicate that a site is using this security feature. 

We offer a free SSL/TLS certificate for personal websites. E-commerce sites can take advantage of our partnered offer with Sectigo Verified SSL. No matter which offer you’re using, you’ll follow the same steps to add the certificate. 

Open your DreamHost panel and navigate to Domains > SSL/TLS Certificates.

From this screen, you can manage any existing certificates on your sites or add a new one by clicking the Add button. After that, simply follow the instructions provided.

Step 6: Set Up Your Email

Finally, we recommend setting up email on your domain to take advantage of the unlimited email that comes with your Shared Unlimited plan. This gives you a simple and reliable way to communicate with website visitors and customers.

To access your email settings, go to your DreamHost panel and click on Mail.

There you’ll find options for accessing your email, adding new email addresses, managing spam settings, and more. To set up email on your new domain, navigate to Webmail and follow the instructions within.

5 Helpful Resources for Learning More About Shared Hosting and WordPress

If you’re anything like us, you could probably spend all day reading about WordPress. Whether you’re as obsessed as we are, or you just want to know more about how to use DreamHost and WordPress together, we’d like to leave you with some handy resources.

These will surely become useful as you create and manage your site with DreamHost.

1. The DreamHost Knowledge Base. To learn more about DreamHost, what features we offer, and how to use them, our knowledge base is your ultimate guide. Here you’ll find thorough and clear information and support for any issues that may occur.
2. DreamHost’s WordPress Tutorials. This free e-course is intended to help you learn how to use WordPress. It includes guides on everything related to the platform and technical tutorials for developers and other advanced users.
3. DreamHost Academy. This is our free guide to help you create your new website. We break down the process step-by-step, so you can get started quickly and understand what you’re doing at the same time. There are also guides available for growing traffic and optimizing your site.
4. DreamHost Support. If you have any questions or need help with an issue, our customer support team is always there. They’re available 24/7 to help you out, and they’re so good at it that they’ve even won awards! You and your site couldn’t be in better hands.
5. WordPress Support. If you want to discuss anything related to WordPress or need help with something specific to the platform, the official message board is another valuable destination.

At this point, you should have everything you need to make your shared hosting venture a successful one. If you have a question or encounter any problems, you’ll want to check out our knowledge base first. We’ve also created a series of guides to help you identify and fix common WordPress errors:

• How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress
• How to Fix Syntax Errors in WordPress
• How to Fix the WordPress Not Sending Email Issue
• How to Fix the Error Establishing Database Connection in WordPress
• How to Fix WordPress Error 404 Not Found 

DreamHost Shared Hosting Guide

When it comes to shared hosting, there are plenty of options out there waiting for you. However, by choosing DreamHost, you’re putting yourself at the very front of the line. 

The DreamHost Unlimited Shared hosting plan is the least expensive way to get your website out of your imagination and onto the ‘net, without making any compromises in the process. Do you have any questions about DreamHost’s shared hosting or how to get started? Let us know!

The post Shared Hosting Quick Start Guide: Get Your New DreamHost Website Off the Ground appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Renewals?! You’ve got to be joking! I just registered and we’re already talking about renewing the darn thing?

Domain renewals are an often-overlooked part of the registration process, and if these settings aren’t squared away ahead of time, it sets the stage for some real headaches down the line—from expiration dates that slip past your calendar, to hucksters peddling fraudulent registration forms. Look at it this way: you’ve already invested all the time and mental effort into securing your domain name in the first place. Let’s keep it going by finishing the job the right way, and help you keep that domain. Here are the advantages of enabling auto-renewal on your domain name.

Peace of Mind

You built your audience, your brand, maybe your entire business on your domain name. Don’t let that site suddenly go dark because you snoozed on its renewal date. When your registration expires, any services associated with the domain (your website, email service, and so on) stop working. We do our best to keep customers informed when these critical dates are drawing near, and begin emailing renewal notices weeks in advance of your domain’s expiration. But these alerts can easily get overlooked due to aggressive spam filters on your email account, an overflowing inbox, or any of life’s other distractions.

Enabling auto-renewal is an easy way to free up your brain for more important tasks than remembering when that next payment is due. We’ll continue to keep you in the loop with email notifications on the same schedule, but you can safely ignore these friendly reminders and enjoy the seamless website uptime.

Your Great Idea Starts with a Domain Name

Don’t let someone else register your URL. Search DreamHost’s 400+ TLDS to find the perfect fit for your website.

Master Your Domain

Stop Renewal Scams in Their Tracks

Scammers have started preying upon domain name owners who are busy, not paying attention, or simply worried about keeping their site up and running. These con artists send official-looking notices to your email or direct mail address with fraudulent renewal instructions, often with grossly inflated fees. Some even advertise phony domain transfer services, protection plans, or search engine optimization guarantees.

With domain auto-renewal enabled via your DreamHost account control panel, you won’t have to worry about combing through each notice to decode real versus fake offers. Of course, if you ever have a question about the authenticity of a communication from DreamHost, don’t hesitate to reach out to our awesome support team, available 24/7 through your control panel.

Here’s one real-world example of a fraudulent domain name registration notice:

Stay out of the headlines

You may be surprised how often even high-profile sites neglect to renew their URLs in time, and set themselves up for embarrassing, expensive, or even legal consequences.

In June 2016, TP-Link, a popular manufacturer of networking gear, forgot to renew two domain names used to administer its routers and access the devices’ configuration panels. When the domains were released back to the global market, an anonymous registration service snatched up the two high-value targets and named its own price: $2.5 million. Rather than pay the hefty bounty, the company responded by updating their documentation to remove references to those domains. But with the domain names already printed in booklets distributed with their equipment, the company has also needed to reach out to ISPs to redirect traffic and prevent customers from getting hijacked by a site they no longer control.

Make It Happen!

Automatic renewal can be enabled for your domain name at any time, right in your panel at (Panel > ‘Domains’ > ‘Registrations’).

Learn more:
DreamHost Knowledge Base – How do I renew my domain registration?

The post Advantages of Auto-Renewing your Domain Name appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.