Website hosting checker
Website hosting checker tool is an amazing free online tool for new website owners to get an idea of which hosting services are used by their competitors.
Find where a website is hosted using FreeNerdTools
You can check the hosting of any website with just a few clicks. Freenerdtools's website hosting checker will give you all the crucial information of any website.
To find out who is hosting a website, Just type the domain name or website's address in the search bar to find out which hosting company is hosting that website. On pressing submit button, the information you will get is:
- ISP (Internet Service Provider) providing web hosting service
- Organization where the website is hosted
- Country
- City
- Latitude
- Longitude
- Time zone
Is our hosting checker tool free?
Yes, our hosting checker tool is free. You can use it to check whether a website is hosted on a specific server, and to get information about that server. Furthermore, can be used it as many times as you want.
What is a web host provider?
A web host provider is a company that provides space on a server owned or leased for use by webmasters, as well as providing connection to the internet, typically in a data center. A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their websites accessible via the World Wide Web.
What is a server?
A server provides information to the computers or devices connected to it. Every organization uses a server. You see many computers or devices at your workplace or school. All those devices are connected with the help of a server.
The server allows these devices to communicate and work in sync with each other even though they are physically far apart.
Difference between website hosting and domain
The domain name is the website address or URL, i.e. google.com, yahoo.com, quora.com, freenerdtools.com, medium.com, etc.
As you see in examples, that domain name comprises two parts, i.e. the name followed by the extension. The extensions, i.e. com, pk, org, net etc., in the domain names are known as Top Level Domain (TLD).
Whereas the combination of words or phrases, i.e. google, yahoo, quora etc., are Second Level Domain (SLD). A dot (.) separates the SLD from TLD.
We use the domain name to access any website. Each domain has a unique address. In other words, each domain name is unique.
Two websites can't have the same domain name, i.e. there is only one google.com in the world.
Hosting or web hosting is a place that stores the website content. Consider the example of your house. You buy a house to reside in and share your house's address with your loved ones so they can easily find you. The house is a host where website content resides, and the domain is the address of that house.
Domain names were invented for the sake of human beings because it is an easy way to access any website. The addresses of websites are in the form of numerical strings known as IP addresses.
For humans, it's quite difficult to memorize the IP address of all the websites. Now, domain names have eliminated the need to memorize tons of IP addresses.
When you type freenerdtools.com in your browser, the domain name will first convert to the IP address of the web hosting company computer. That computer will, in turn, send the files you requested back to your browser.
Check the DNS record for a domain
Our computers have no issue dealing with IP addresses. When we browse something on the internet, our query will go to the DNS server to check the IP address of the website we are looking for.
The DNS server comprises the IP addresses of the domain names. Beginners can understand DNS records as a business listing on Yelp.
You can check DNS records for a domain if you find out that your website is not available because of incorrect DNS records.
Freenerdtools also offers a DNS lookup tool to facilitate the process of DNS record check-up for you.
Common types of web hosting
Shared, VPS, and cloud hosting are the most common types of hosting. Let’s look at them one by one:
Shared Hosting
This is the most common type of web hosting. As the name suggests, shared hosting is a server shared among many websites. It offers very low prices compared to other hosting types. It is an effective solution for entry-level websites with lower traffic.
When you share an apartment with your colleagues, you pay a lower rent. The same is the case in shared hosting.
In shared hosting, your website not only shares server space but also shares other common server resources, i.e. RAM and CPU. As a result of this, there exist chances of slower website performance.
VPS Hosting
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. It is a combination of shared and dedicated hosting. We have discussed shared hosting above. Dedicated hosting means a server solely dedicated to your website.
It's a powerful, secure, yet affordable hosting solution for a website with medium to high traffic. It offers a physical server with various virtual partitions. Each partition comprises its own operating system and infrastructure that results in better website performance.
Site owners move from shared to VPS hosting when their site outgrows and demands more features and functions. VPS allows more control and customization over shared hosting.
In simple terms, VPS gives you the experience of a dedicated server even though you’re still sharing the physical server with other users.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is an ideal solution for those websites that require high-speed, optimal performance, and 24/7 availability, i.e. e-commerce stores.
It is known as a cloud because the server only exists in the virtual environment. It utilizes multiple virtual servers to share the load and enhance performance.
When one server experiences downtime, it will easily navigate to another server. In short, cloud hosting means greater flexibility, performance, speed, scalability, data security, availability, and uptime.
As businesses have shifted to the internet, cloud hosting has become popular among business owners to satisfy their online needs. With cloud hosting, you only pay for the resources you actually use.
Like traditional hosting, cloud hosting also offers shared and dedicated hosting but with different terminologies, i.e. public, private, or hybrid cloud hosting.
Public Cloud Hosting
Public cloud hosting is like shared hosting, but it allows scalability and full access to resources. You can also configure and maintain their server without any external assistance.
Private cloud hosting
Private cloud hosting, also known as private virtualization, is expensive hosting that offers more security and control compared to public cloud hosting.
In addition to that, you will also get dedicated hardware, redundant networking, power, storage, and the operating system of your choice.
You can use this hosting when you do not prefer resource sharing with other websites. It is suitable for companies that deal with sensitive data or those that can't bear downtime.
Hybrid Cloud Hosting
The word hybrid means mixture or combination. Same as the name suggests, it is a combination of both public and private cloud hosting (VPS in traditional hosting services). It also offers on-premises infrastructure.
It is a cost-effective solution for enhancing productivity and minimizing security concerns and latency. A hybrid cloud depends largely on the organizational nature.
For sensitive data, you can deploy a private cloud and the public cloud for testing the environment and less-critical workload.
Factors to consider when choosing the best web hosting
If you are a newbie and looking for hosting services for your website, first identify your business or website needs, i.e. expected traffic, website type, or WordPress.
By answering these questions, it will become easy for you to decide which hosting service better suits your business.
Here we are discussing some factors to consider before buying web hosting:
Server Uptime Score
Staying online all the time is critical today. 99.95% is the uptime standard. Avoid anything below 99%.
Speed
Speed is everything. A faster site means more traffic, conversions, and income to your business.
Backups
Backups are important for any website. Check whether the hosting provider can restore your site or not.
Customer Service
Choose hosting that offers 24/7 live support.
Pricing
Look for upgrading and renewal pricing and the charges when you will decide to shift to another host in the future.