Web hosting categories

The hosting market has no clean labels. Providers are trying to find sweet spots and ‘disrupt’. Categories shift with new technology, vendors blur them. Choosing is hard. A record carries every category it sells under rather than one chosen as primary, because most providers sell across several and picking one would be picking for them.

12 values in use. Defined but unused so far: Server management, Business email, Database as a Service, Git hosting — a value with no records is a gap in our coverage, not a statement about the market.

• Platform as a ServicePush code, the platform runs it.34 records
• Virtual Private ServersA virtual machine with root, and a sysadmin job attached.50 records
• Bare metalA real server, and nobody else on it.21 records
• Infrastructure as a ServiceCloud parts, wired together by the customer.10 records
• Shared hostingCheap, oversold, thin walls.80 records
• ServerlessRuns on demand, billed per use.21 records
• Static hostingNothing runs on the server.12 records
• Containers as a ServiceThe container is the product.11 records
• Vanity hostingHosting built around one software ecosystem.17 records
• Free hostingGiven away, and paid for elsewhere.3 records
• Low-code and no-codePrompt or click a site into existence.10 records
• Domains and DNSWho sells the name — not who throws one in.16 records