Hosting is space on a server where your website is stored — its files, database, and email — and from which it's delivered to anyone who opens it. Put simply: if a domain is your company's address, hosting is the premises at that address. Without hosting, a domain leads nowhere.
How does hosting work?
A server is a computer that runs around the clock and stays permanently connected to the internet. When someone types in your website's address, the browser first checks the DNS system to find out which IP address the server is on. It then connects to the server and requests the page, and the server sends back the files: text, images, styles. On sites like WordPress, the server first assembles the page from PHP code and database data, and only then sends it out.
The hosting company makes sure that computer keeps running: it maintains the hardware, the network connection, security, and backups. You get your own portion of the server and a panel to manage it.
Hosting vs. domain — what's the difference?
These are two separate services that are often bought together. A domain is a name, e.g. yourcompany.pl — registered for a year or longer. Hosting is where the site physically lives. You can have your domain with one provider and your hosting with another — you just need to point the domain at the server. You can read more about domains themselves in our guide what is a domain.
Types of hosting
- Shared hosting — many websites on one server, each with its own limits. The cheapest and most convenient option: the hosting company takes care of the server. Enough for business websites, blogs, and most online stores.
- VPS server — a dedicated virtual machine with guaranteed resources and full administrator access. Gives you freedom, but you need to know how to manage a server.
- Dedicated server — an entire physical server for a single client. For large sites and applications with very high traffic.
- Reseller hosting — a pool of resources for resale, for agencies and website builders who maintain sites for their own clients.
What's included in a typical hosting package?
- space for your site's files, databases, and email,
- email accounts on your own domain,
- databases, e.g. for WordPress,
- an SSL certificate, so your site runs over https,
- a management panel, e.g. Plesk,
- backups.
What determines hosting speed?
Three things matter most. The first is the disk: NVMe drives read data many times faster than older SATA SSDs, which is especially noticeable with WordPress — we explain the difference in our guide SSD vs. NVMe. The second is the CPU and memory allocated to your account — how much work the server can do for your site at once. The third is software: an up-to-date PHP version, caching, and the web server. We cover what to look for when comparing offers in our guide how to choose fast hosting.
Can hosting be free?
Yes, but free hosting usually means ads on your site, an address under someone else's domain, tight limits, and no support. Fine for learning, rarely fine for a business. A fairer option is hosting starting at 0 PLN: with us, you can trial a package on your own site for 14 days. If you're moving your site from another provider, you order hosting at the regular price, and we handle the website and email migration, plus a one-off SEO or performance optimization for one domain, free of charge. The trial and migration terms are on our hosting page.
How to choose hosting for your website
- Check what kind of disks the server runs on — SSD or NVMe.
- Look for specific CPU and memory limits, not just storage capacity.
- Compare the renewal price, not just the first-year promo.
- Make sure backups and SSL are included in the price.
- Check whether the company helps you migrate your site, and whether you can get support in a language you understand.
If you want to compare specs across specific packages, see our SSD NVMe hosting — for every package, we list the storage space, CPU, memory, and renewal price.