What is the difference between a domain, hosting and a website, and how do you find out who hosts yours?
A domain is your web address, hosting is the rented computer space where your site's files are kept, and the website is the pages, words and photos visitors see. A business site usually involves all three, and the business should control each account. To find who hosts yours, check billing records, ask whoever built the site and look at where your domain points. A domain lookup shows registration data, which may not name the host.
The three parts in plain words
A working business website usually involves all three parts; with a website builder, the builder account is often the hosting too. They can come from one company or from three, which is why owners often cannot say who holds what.
| What it is | A plain comparison | |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | The name people type to reach you, kept on a registration that has to be renewed | The address on the sign |
| Hosting | A company's computers that store your site's files and send them to visitors | The plot of land the building stands on |
| Website | The pages, words, photos, forms and design that visitors see | The building and what is inside it |
Who should hold each
Each part is an account, and each should be in the business's name; the related answer on who should own your domain name explains why the domain matters most.
Email usually runs on the domain too, so a lapsed or lost domain can take email down along with the site. The related answer on what happens if a domain expires explains the timeline.
- Domain: the business, as the registered holder, in an account the owner can log in to. The related answer on who should own your domain name has the details.
- Hosting: an account in the business's name, with a login the owner can reach and other people added as users. The related answer on what to look for in website hosting covers backups, support and leaving with a full copy.
- Website: the business should keep its own copies of its text, photos and logo, and should ask in writing who owns the design and code before any work starts.
How to find out who hosts your website
Your own records usually answer this faster than any tool. ICANN describes its lookup tool at lookup.icann.org as a way to look up the current registration data for domain names. That data is about the registration, which is the address, so it may not tell you where the site is hosted. The related answer on who should own your domain name covers the domain lookup.
- Check card statements, invoices and your inbox for a renewal from a hosting company, a website builder or your designer's company. Searching for hosting, plan or renewal can help.
- Ask whoever built or looks after the site, and ask them to put the account in the business's name with you as an owner.
- If you log in to a website builder to edit the site, that provider usually hosts it as well.
- Log in to the account where your domain is registered and look at where it points, often under settings called DNS or name servers. The company named there may be your host, your registrar or a separate service, so treat it as a clue, not an answer, and email may be handled somewhere else.
- Write down what you find: where the domain is registered, where the site is hosted, who pays each bill, and how to log in. Keep that page where more than one person can reach it.
Sources
Related answers
- Who should own your business's domain name?
- What should a small business look for in website hosting?
- What happens if your business domain name expires?
Websites, upgraded or built
Most businesses do not need a new website. They need the one they have to load fast, say clearly what they do and ask the visitor to take one step.