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What is website hosting, and is it the same as a domain?
Hosting is the server space that stores a website and serves it to visitors. A domain is the address people type to reach it. They are separate services, frequently bought from different companies, and either one can be moved without touching the other.
The distinction in one line
The domain is the address. The hosting is the building it points at. Changing hosts moves the building without changing the address, which is why a site can be rebuilt and moved entirely without customers noticing anything.
Email is usually a third thing
Business email typically runs through a separate provider, connected to the same domain by a DNS record. This catches people out during a move: pointing the domain at new hosting without carrying the mail records across takes the email down while the website works perfectly. It is the most common launch-day incident there is.
What actually varies between hosts
Response speed, uptime, whether backups exist, whether a certificate is included and renews automatically, and whether support answers. For a small business site the difference between cheap and adequate hosting is measured in seconds of load time, which shows up directly in Core Web Vitals.
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