Where a site lives: from shared hosting to the cloud

Hosting is a place where a site lives on a computer that is always on: static hosting, shared hosting, a VPS, a dedicated server or the cloud.

A computer that never sleeps

A site is files (and sometimes a program with a database) that some computer has to hand out when asked. You know from the part on servers: a browser arrives at an address, and a web server answers. But someone has to keep that answerer switched on all the time. Your laptop won’t do. It sleeps, it restarts, it goes with you to the café, and a home internet address usually changes and is closed to incoming connections.

So you rent a computer. The service is called hosting (from “host”, to receive guests): you’re given room on a machine in a data center that has a fixed public address, backup power and a wide connection. The domain, which the next lesson covers, is bought separately. It’s only a sign pointing at that address.

Check yourself: how does hosting differ from a domain?

Hosting is the place where the site lies and from which it is served. A domain is the name by which people find it. You can buy them from different companies and point the name at a different place at any time.

Five steps

Hosting is built like a ladder. On each step you hand the provider some of the chores, and in return you lose some freedom.

1. Static hosting. You upload finished files (HTML, CSS, images) and the platform serves them. GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel and Cloudflare work this way, and so does a storage bucket at any big cloud. There’s no server, no system and no PHP: nothing to update. In return there’s no program on the server side. Receiving a form has to go to a separate service or a small function (the next lessons). Mind the terms, too: GitHub says its Pages service isn’t meant to run an online business or an online store, so a shop belongs on a platform whose terms allow it (checked October 2026).
2. Shared hosting. Hundreds of other people’s sites live on one machine, and you get a folder of your own, a database and a convenient control panel. WordPress and other ready-made CMSs run here, because PHP and MySQL are already set up. The provider looks after the system and the server, and you look after the site, the plugins and the passwords. The downside is the neighbors and the limits. If a neighbor has trouble, you may slow down, and you can’t go beyond what the provider allows.
3. A VPS (virtual private server). A slice of a big machine that looks like a computer of your own, and you’re its administrator. You can install anything: nginx, a database, your own application. But you also update the system, close needless ports, renew the certificate and make the backups. A mistake here most often ends with the server being broken into. DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Vultr and the big clouds all rent VPSs; DigitalOcean lists its smallest at $4 a month (October 2026).
4. A dedicated server. The whole physical machine is yours. You need it when a VPS isn’t enough: a great deal of data, or special demands on hardware or isolation. For a small site it’s overkill.
5. The cloud. Instead of one machine, a set of ready-made services you pay for by use: virtual machines, file storage, a managed database, functions, a load balancer. AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure are the three big ones. It’s powerful and flexible, but it’s easy to get lost in the settings and in the bill.

Move the sliders: choose what kind of site you have, how many people visit and how much time a month you’re willing to give the server. The page shows what you look after and what the provider does, and which steps suit you. Your project’s main action is filled in from the brief.

Pages only A ready-made CMS (WordPress and the like) My own application with a database

Visitors a month: about 3,162

Hours a month for the server: 2

Your project’s main action: Main action. It has to be received and saved, so the site does more than show pages.

1. Static hosting with reservations

   pages are easy to serve, but “Main action” also needs data received: a form service or a function (the serverless lesson)

   GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, Vercel; or files served from a cloud storage bucket. Order of price: from $0 to a few dollars a month.

   You look after

   • the site’s files
   • the domain

   The provider

   • the server, the system, updates
   • HTTPS
   • serving over the network

2. Shared hosting with reservations

   administration falls on you: it usually takes about 3 hours a month, and you’re giving 2

   a control panel, PHP, MySQL and mail from an ordinary web host. Order of price: a few dollars a month.

   You look after

   • the site’s files and database
   • updates of the CMS and plugins themselves
   • passwords

   The provider

   • the server and the system
   • the web server, PHP, MySQL
   • backups (check the terms)

3. VPS with reservations

   administration falls on you: it usually takes about 10 hours a month, and you’re giving 2

   a virtual server from DigitalOcean, Hetzner or any other provider; you are the administrator. Order of price: from about $4 to a few dozen dollars a month.

   You look after

   • the system and its updates
   • the web server, the database, the HTTPS certificate
   • security (firewall, keys)
   • backups

   The provider

   • hardware and network
   • power and cooling

4. Dedicated server with reservations

   administration falls on you: it usually takes about 15 hours a month, and you’re giving 2

   a whole physical machine in a data center. Order of price: from tens of dollars a month.

   You look after

   • everything a VPS needs
   • replacing disks and hardware together with the provider

   The provider

   • room, power, the connection

5. The cloud (IaaS / PaaS) with reservations

   the cloud is flexible, but learning it and its bill takes time too

   AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure. Order of price: you pay for use: from pennies to a great deal.

   You look after

   • what to switch on and how to connect it
   • the budget and the limits
   • the security of the settings

   The provider

   • hardware, network, ready-made services (a managed database, storage, a load balancer)

The prices are orders of magnitude for October 2026, not price lists: check the provider’s own page. What matters is the proportion: the higher the step, the more freedom and the more duties for you.

Check yourself: who updates the operating system on the server in your project if you choose a VPS?

You do. On a VPS the system is yours, and so are the updates, the security and the backups. On shared and static hosting the provider does it.

How to choose

One rule works most often: choose the simplest step where the project’s main action works. An extra step costs you money every month and time every week, and you can always climb higher later.

Check yourself against five questions.

1. What is the site? Only pages and a form: static hosting. A ready-made CMS: shared hosting, managed WordPress hosting or a VPS. Your own application with a database: a VPS, the cloud, or a platform such as Render or Fly.io.
2. Where are the visitors? The speed of a signal in a cable is finite, and a distant server answers more slowly. From Sydney to a data center in Virginia is tens of milliseconds just for the trip, and a request and its answer repeat many times while one page loads. Choose a region near your audience, or a content delivery network (two lessons ahead).
3. What data do you collect? If a form takes a name and a phone number, privacy law applies, and it follows the people, not the server. The last lesson of this part covers it, but you choose the region here.
4. Who looks after all of it? An honest answer of “nobody” means you need a step where the provider does. A hacked and forgotten VPS is worse than a site on the humblest platform.
5. How do you leave? Being tied to one provider is called lock-in. Static files and an ordinary CMS move easily. A single provider’s complex cloud services are expensive to move. It’s good if you can take your site and data away on any day.

A note on the Russian market, where the same ladder has other names on it. Russian businesses often choose a host inside Russia (Timeweb, Beget, REG.RU for shared hosting; Selectel, Yandex Cloud, VK Cloud for VPSs and the cloud) because a law requires the first recording of Russian citizens’ personal data to be made in a database in Russia. The steps are the same; the region and the law are what change.

About prices: in October 2026 static hosting is often free, shared hosting and a simple VPS cost a few dollars a month, and the cloud can cost anything. Figures change quickly, so this lesson gives only orders of magnitude: look at the provider’s own page for today’s plans. And remember that the domain is paid for separately.

Practice

You’re on the site of the 2022 era, when a site became a set of files published with one command. In front of you is your ordinary site, and under it a hosting card. Fill it in for your project: the type, the provider, the region, the price per year, who keeps it updated, and two short explanations. In the first, name the project’s main action in the words of the brief. In the second, say where your visitors are and where the data from the form will go.

The card exists only for the exercise: it won’t be on the downloaded site.

What was wrong before

In 2010 almost every site lived on shared hosting, and files were uploaded by FTP, a protocol that sent the password in plain text. There were no versions, and a change uploaded to the live site was visible to everyone at once, mistakes included. One password opened the site, the mail and the control panel. People learned the hosting limits when the site went down.

Today one commit and an automatic deploy (a few lessons ahead) do the same, and there’s nothing to “upload” in the provider’s panel. But the main idea holds: a site lives on someone else’s computer, and you should know whose computer it is and who is responsible for it.