Hosting is the computer your website lives on. The three common types differ mainly in how much of that computer is yours.
Shared hosting
Your website shares one server with many others. It is the cheapest option and fine for a small site with modest traffic.
The trade-off is that a busy or badly behaved neighbour can slow your site down, and you have little control over the setup.
VPS hosting
A virtual private server gives you a fixed, reserved slice of a server. Other websites cannot eat into your share, and the setup can be tuned for your site.
It suits most business websites, online stores and web applications. It does need someone to manage it.
Cloud hosting
Cloud hosting spreads your site across several machines and can add capacity when traffic rises. It is the right tool for sites with large or unpredictable traffic, and more than most small businesses need.
How to choose
Look at three things: how many visitors you get, whether the site handles bookings or payments, and who will look after the server. For most of our clients, a well-managed VPS is the sweet spot.
Have a question about this? Send us a message and we will give you a straight answer. You can also read more about our domain and hosting service.