How it works
A website is a set of files and often a program that builds pages and talks to a database. Hosting is where they live: a server in a data centre with a fast connection and a public IP address. Your domain's DNS records point at that server, so typing the name brings visitors to it.
The options form a ladder. Shared hosting puts many small sites on one server; a VPS gives you your own virtual machine; app platforms and serverless functions run your code without you managing a machine; static hosts and CDNs serve prebuilt files from many locations. Each step trades money or effort for control, speed or scale.
Web hosting vs the alternatives
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The basics