Hosting is one of those words everyone uses and few people explain. If you are paying for it, or about to, here is what it is, what the options are, and what actually matters for a small business website.
Domain, hosting and email: three different things
- Domain: your address, like yourbusiness.co.za. You rent it yearly.
- Hosting: the server where your website's files live, so the site loads when someone types your address.
- Email: mailboxes on your domain. They can live with your hosting or with a separate provider such as Microsoft 365.
They are often sold together, which is convenient, but it helps to know which bill is which.
The main types of hosting
Shared hosting
Your site shares a server with many others. It is affordable and fine for most small business websites.
Managed hosting
Someone else handles updates, security, backups and monitoring for you. You focus on the business; the host keeps the site running.
VPS (virtual private server)
Dedicated resources and full control. It suits busy sites, custom applications, CRMs and automation servers. One3 cloud VPS plans start at R599 per month.
Dedicated and cloud servers
Whole machines or large cloud setups for high-traffic platforms. Most small businesses never need this.
What actually matters
- Speed: slow sites lose visitors and rank lower. A content delivery network such as Cloudflare helps pages load quickly across South Africa.
- Uptime: look for monitoring and a realistic uptime commitment. No honest host promises 100%.
- SSL: the padlock in the browser. It should be included.
- Backups: ask how often, and whether restores have been tested.
- Support: when the site is down, who answers, and how fast?
Does load-shedding take my website offline?
No. Your website runs in a data centre with backup power, not in your office, so it stays online when your power is off. Your own email on your phone keeps working on mobile data too.
What One3 hosting includes
Every One3 website comes with 12 months of hosting free, then R79 per month: managed hosting, SSL, backups, uptime monitoring and Cloudflare in front, with WhatsApp support from the people who built your site. See domains, hosting and email.