Differences Between Domain Names, Web Hosting, and E-Commerce Hosting

Many people do not realize that registering a domain name is not the same as establishing a website. To help clear up any possible confusion, we have created the following table to provide summary definitions, explanations, and suggestions for domain names, web hosting plans, and e-commerce. Please take a look at the chart and if you have or think of any other questions regarding domains, web hosting or e-commerce feel free to post in the comments section.

	Domain Names	Web Hosting	E-commerce
Also Known as:	domains, domain registration, web address, website address	hosting, website hosting, shared web hosting,small business hosting, web page,website services	ecommerce hosting, ecommerce solutions, shopping cart software, online shopping cart, online store, estore, web store
Typically includes:	Domain name plus one page starter web page with limited customizability.	Free domain name, custom e-mail. Site building tools and disk space allow you to build a website on your domain name.	Web hosting + ecommerce capabilities such as a product catalog, shopping cart, and order management.
Typically does not include:	Web hosting beyond limited starter page. Custom email.	E-commerce capabilities.	Online Merchant Account.
Price range:	$1.99 to $35 annual fee.	$8-$15 per month.	$50-$150 per month.
Top providers:	Yahoo! Domains, Godaddy, Ipower, 1and1, Dotster	Yahoo! Web Hosting, Godaddy, 1and1, Ipower, Dotster	Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, Prostores, Monster Commerce
Suggestions	Buy web hosting package if you also need a website.	Buy your domain and web hosting package from the same provider. You need a domain name to have a website.	Build your e-commerce site separately. Do not build a web hosting site and bolt on a separate shopping cart.

Are You Ready to Purchase a Domain or Shop for Web Hosting?

The purpose of this web site is to compare the top domain registrars and web hosting products as well as provide helpful reviews so that you can make the best choice at the lowest price possible. To learn more about the featured domain name providers on this site please try our domain name comparison tool. You can select up to four (4) leading domain name providers and compare their features to one another. If perhaps you are ready instead to shop for web hosting, we also have a helpful web hosting comparison tool as well.

Comments

Many people do not realize

hari123, on Sat, 02/04/2012 - 00:23, said...

Many people do not realize that registering a domain name is not the same as establishing a website.This information regarding the Differences Between Domain Names, Web Hosting, and E-Commerce Hosting may helps and guides them to avoid their confusion.

Thanks for the useful

PaulWeb, on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 23:59, said...

Thanks for the useful comparison! This should help make the process of starting an online business slightly less daunting for beginners of the internet.

Yes, there is so many

brainpulse (not verified), on Fri, 07/30/2010 - 03:28, said...

Yes, there is so many technical word, which is not understand by normal web user. Good explanation.

Thanks for important information!

wildest (not verified), on Sun, 06/06/2010 - 23:14, said...

Domain Names, Web Hosting, and E-Commerce Hosting are the most confusing topics for new comers in internet. They can just simply use Hi5, facebook or Facebook Analytics but don't have any specific knowledge about the web related terminologies. Information posted in this site really helps. Thanks!

Thanks, helps to resolve a

Anonymous (not verified), on Tue, 04/20/2010 - 16:59, said...

Thanks, helps to resolve a couple of my questions.

Thank you for this chart,

web hosting (not verified), on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 09:48, said...

Thank you for this chart, makes our life simpler, I am sure many get to understand the difference among all these types!

Reseller Hosting Review

Reseller Hosting Review (not verified), on Fri, 11/13/2009 - 02:18, said...

Its very good blog to it gets pretty confusing, even for a website developer like me.

Locating, Transfering & Pointing DN From Yahoo to another Host C

Ejiogu Vitus (not verified), on Mon, 07/20/2009 - 07:48, said...

I have tried my best to locate www.azepanig.org to transfer it and point it to ns1.fatcow.com and ns2.fatcow.com but to no avail. I have been able to get others done and their Authorization Codes given but this one. How do I go about it? Please help.

Great...

ZK (not verified), on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 22:32, said...

Google just does it all, don’t they? I’m glad you’re taking the time to explain everything, because it gets pretty confusing, even for a website developer like me.

Great tip for searching

john (not verified), on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 22:23, said...

Great tip for searching through loads of domains. What a time saver..

Nice Post

jane frederick (not verified), on Tue, 07/14/2009 - 22:58, said...

I am fully satisfied with the post, It is not only interesting but also is a informative article. Can you please provide me some more links for similar articles.

Thanks It was really

Anonymous, on Tue, 09/09/2008 - 13:47, said...

Thanks It was really helpful. After I read this article I could understand what do I have to do to have a website. Cheers

Thanks

Anonymous, on Fri, 04/04/2008 - 11:51, said...

This was an informative chart on a basic level. It would be nice to see a more indepth write-up on this topic.