Hosting Decoded

What are addon domains?

Addon domains let you host completely separate websites under one hosting account, each with its own domain name and file directory. A plan allowing 5 addon domains means you can run 6 websites total (the main domain plus 5 others).

What are cron jobs?

Cron jobs are scheduled tasks that run automatically at set times — like sending a weekly newsletter, clearing a cache every hour, or syncing inventory nightly. Most shared hosts limit you to 5–25 cron jobs, with a minimum interval of 5–15 minutes between runs.

What are inodes?

An inode is a data structure that stores metadata about a file or folder — its size, owner, and location on disk. Every file and directory uses one inode. Most shared hosts cap accounts at 100,000–250,000 inodes; hitting the limit prevents any new files from being created, even if you have disk space left.

What are subdomains?

A subdomain is a prefix added before your main domain — like shop.yoursite.com, blog.yoursite.com, or app.yoursite.com. Each subdomain can point to a separate folder or application. Entry-level shared plans often cap you at 25–100 subdomains.

What is I/O speed on hosting?

I/O speed (input/output speed) measures how fast your account can read and write data to the server's disk, measured in MB per second. Low I/O limits slow down every database query, image load, and file operation — making pages feel sluggish even when the server itself is idle.

What is SSH access?

SSH (Secure Shell) lets you connect to your server through a terminal and run commands directly — installing software, moving files, running scripts, or debugging issues. It's essential for developers and unavailable on most entry-level shared plans.

What is the CPU seconds limit?

The CPU seconds limit is the total processor time your hosting account can use per hour. Think of it as a prepaid CPU budget: once spent, your site is throttled until the next hour resets the counter. A typical shared hosting account gets 100–360 CPU seconds per hour.

What is the database count limit?

The database count limit is the maximum number of MySQL or MariaDB databases your hosting account can create. WordPress needs one, WooCommerce uses the same one, but running multiple sites or applications on a single account requires one database each.

What is the entry processes limit?

Entry processes (concurrent PHP) is the maximum number of PHP scripts your account can run simultaneously. A typical shared host allows 10–30. When all slots are occupied, new visitors see a 503 error and wait in a queue. High-traffic moments — like a product launch — can exhaust this limit in seconds.

What is the RAM limit on shared hosting?

The RAM limit is the maximum memory your hosting account can use at any instant. PHP processes that exceed it are killed by the server, causing 500 errors. Shared hosts typically allocate 256 MB–1 GB; memory-hungry plugins, large WooCommerce catalogues, and heavy themes are common culprits.

What is the sendmail / email sending limit?

The sendmail limit caps how many emails your website can send per hour using PHP's mail() function. Most shared hosts allow 150–500 emails/hour. Exceeding it silently drops emails — password resets, order confirmations, and contact forms stop arriving with no error shown to the user.

What is a CDN?

A CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a globally distributed network of servers that caches copies of your website's static content — images, CSS, JavaScript — and delivers them from the server geographically closest to each visitor, reducing load times significantly.

What is LiteSpeed Web Server?

LiteSpeed is a high-performance web server software that is significantly faster than Apache for serving WordPress and PHP applications. It includes built-in caching (LSCache), HTTP/3 support, and is a drop-in replacement for Apache that uses the same .htaccess configuration files.

What is TTFB?

TTFB (Time to First Byte) is the time elapsed between a browser sending an HTTP request and receiving the first byte of the server's response. A TTFB under 200ms is considered excellent; above 600ms indicates a server-side performance problem.

What is Uptime?

Uptime is the percentage of time a web server is operational and accessible to visitors. A 99.9% uptime guarantee means the server can be down a maximum of 8.76 hours per year. Most reputable hosts guarantee 99.9% or higher.

What is a Dedicated IP Address?

A dedicated IP address is a unique IP assigned exclusively to your server or account — not shared with any other website or user.

What is SSL/TLS?

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and its modern successor TLS (Transport Layer Security) are cryptographic protocols that encrypt data transmitted between a user's browser and a web server. A site with SSL shows a padlock icon and uses HTTPS in its URL.

What is Backup Retention?

Backup retention is how long (or how many copies) your host keeps your backups before deleting them. A host running daily backups with 7-day retention stores 7 restore points — not 365.

What is Bandwidth in Hosting?

Bandwidth in web hosting is the maximum amount of data that can be transferred between your website and its visitors in a given period, usually measured monthly. Higher traffic and larger files consume more bandwidth. Most modern shared hosting plans offer "unlimited" bandwidth with fair-use policies.

What is Cloud Hosting?

Cloud hosting runs your website across a network of interconnected servers rather than a single machine. Resources scale automatically to handle traffic spikes, and if one server fails, others take over instantly — making it more reliable and flexible than traditional hosting.

What is Dedicated Hosting?

Dedicated hosting means renting an entire physical server exclusively for your website or application. You get full control over hardware, operating system, and software. It offers maximum performance and security but is the most expensive hosting option.

What is Managed Hosting?

Managed hosting is a service where the hosting provider takes responsibility for server setup, maintenance, security patches, monitoring, and updates. You focus entirely on your website or application while the host handles the technical infrastructure on your behalf.

What is Shared Hosting?

Shared hosting is a type of web hosting where multiple websites share the same physical server and its resources — CPU, RAM, and storage. It is the most affordable hosting option and the right choice for most beginners and small-to-medium websites.

What is VPS Hosting?

A VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a virtualized server that gives you dedicated resources — CPU, RAM, and storage — within a shared physical machine. It offers more power, flexibility, and isolation than shared hosting, at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated server.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is a service that stores your website's files on a server connected to the internet, making your site accessible to visitors 24/7. Hosting providers rent out server space, bandwidth, and infrastructure so you don't need to manage physical hardware yourself.

What is WordPress Hosting?

WordPress hosting is web hosting specifically optimized to run WordPress sites. It typically includes pre-installed WordPress, automatic updates, WordPress-specific caching (like LiteSpeed or Nginx rules), enhanced security, and support staff trained in WordPress issues.

What is cPanel?

cPanel is the most widely used web hosting control panel. It provides a graphical interface to manage your hosting account — including files, databases, email, domains, and backups — without needing to use command-line tools or know server administration.

What is DNS?

DNS (Domain Name System) is the internet's phone book. It translates human-readable domain names like "example.com" into IP addresses (like 93.184.216.34) that computers use to locate and communicate with web servers.

What is Git access on hosting?

Git access lets you deploy and manage code on your server using the Git version control system — pulling the latest changes with a single command instead of uploading files via FTP. Requires SSH access to be enabled.

What is Node.js support on hosting?

Node.js support means your hosting account can run JavaScript applications server-side — powering frameworks like Express, Next.js, and real-time apps. Most cheap shared hosts disable it; you typically need at least a mid-tier plan or a VPS.

What is Python support on hosting?

Python support allows your hosting account to run Python scripts and web frameworks like Django and Flask. Like Node.js, it's often restricted on entry-level shared plans and more reliably available on VPS or managed cloud hosting.

What is Hosting Migration?

Hosting migration is the process of moving a website — its files, database, email, and DNS configuration — from one hosting provider to another.