Member Avatar for whiteberry

The difference between domain registrar and commerical web hosting.
Please discuss the diffrence between registrar and commercial web hosting. I need to understand the diffenece between these two... thanks.

  • 4 Contributors
  • 3 Replies
  • 229 Views
  • 2 Months Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Devoted Hosting

Dani AI

Generated

The replies so far give the surface answer; here are the practical distinctions and a short migration/checklist that people often miss.

There are three separate functions that get conflated: the TLD registry (the operator that keeps the master database for a TLD), the registrar (where you buy and manage the registration and WHOIS/contact settings), and the DNS/hosting side (where the authoritative DNS records and the web/mail services actually run). Keeping domain registration, DNS hosting, and website/email hosting as separate services gives flexibility — for example you can move your site to a new host without touching who owns the domain.

A simple low-risk migration checklist:

  1. At your current DNS provider, lower the domain TTL to 300s at least 24-48 hours before a planned switch.
  2. Provision the new host and test the site (use the host's temporary URL or your local hosts file).
  3. Update DNS: either change nameservers to the new host, or change the A/MX/CNAME records at the authoritative DNS.
  4. Verify web, mail, and SSL. Keep the old host live for 48-72 hours after the change.
  5. After propagation, raise TTL back to a longer value.

Quick troubleshooting checks (run before and after changes):

dig +short NS example.com
dig +short A example.com @8.8.8.8
nslookup -type=MX example.com

Also confirm WHOIS contact email and auto-renew are correct, disable any “transfer lock” only when actively transferring, and request the EPP/auth code if you plan to move registrars (rules vary by TLD). If you use DNSSEC, handle that before transfer.

As and started, the roles can be provided by one company or split; as warned, transfers can be tricky — keep registrar access, enable 2FA, and test DNS/email thoroughly to avoid downtime.

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for webmaven

A domain registrar is a company that lets you register a URL (such as ) so that the rest of the Internet knows where to find your website. A hosting company actually hosts the pages of your website. In practice, many companies perform both functions, and some of the large domain registrars provide very good hosting services as well.

Member Avatar for Geoff Hinde

You can register a domain name at any accredited registrar anywhere in the world. Cost can be from $10 to $100. Choose carefully.
Also, beware. Some registrars set up their registration so that is almost imposible to transfer your registration to another registrar if you want to - even if you have your password and registry key. This last is crucial.

You can host our domain anywhere, again, in the world.
Some charge nothing for a personal page. Others from $10 to $40/month.

In my experience the less you pay, the lesser you get in service.

Some free/low cost sites have thousands of domains on their servers - so compromising download speed of your pages.

If your site is important chose a mid-range price you can afford and make sure you have access to tech support if anything goes wrong.

Apart from that check the size of your data - unless your site is very big you won't need to much space on the server (in MBs).

More importantly, estimate your traffic - different packages can offer MBs or Gbs of data transferred each month. With some packages you can be penalised by downloading more that your limit, costing you more. Or you could be paying more for the bandwidth you are using.

Do a search. Check cost, storage on the server, bandwidth allocation, tech support.

Good luck. Have tried this myself before.

regards

Geoff A Hinde

Member Avatar for Devoted Hosting

A domain name registrar allows you to register a domain name.

A web host allows you to host a website, and 'link it' to that domain. Meaning that, when someone visits your domain, your website files (hosted via your website host) will show up.

I'm a little confused though - your website in your sig offers web hosting. Surely you therefore know the difference between a web host and a domain name registrar? :)

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.