Understanding The Difference
It’s easy to confuse email hosting and web hosting because after all, both use servers to allocate data. In reality, both services are fundamentally different. Additionally with email hosting there is even another distinction in that usually your email hosting is different from autoresponders which also send email. However, in this article will focus on explaining to you the differences between web hosting and email hosting and how independent they are from each other.
Both Use Their Own Servers
Simply put, email hosting and web hosting operate as separate servers. They also have their own class of technicians that specialize on their respective servers. It’s easy to assume that it’s just servers but each service requires different set of protocols and operations. As a good comparison, consider a taxi driver. A taxi driver that drives a 4-wheeled vehicle likely cannot easily drive a limousine that a chauffeur is trained to operate – even though they're both vehicles. Nor is a chauffeur familiar in driving a heavy truck – even though they're the same in length.
Both Are Separate For A Reason
Websites and emails contain a lot of content. Websites contain all forms of multimedia and texts. While emails might not be so data-heavy by content, the weight in emails stems from the sheer number of emails. Everyday, over 200 billion emails are sent and received worldwide. All of that data has to be stored somewhere. Given the enormity of data that each provider must store, the last thing you as a client needs is slow service. If you own a website, you’d ideally want a web hosting provider who has the proper equipment and a specialized team of professionals. Same thing goes for email hosting providers.
Another major reason as to why it’s logical to keep them as separate systems is security. Providers that offer both email and web hosting services do exist. But they allocate all of their client’s data on the same servers. If the server crashes, then everything else comes down. Not only is that disastrous for the provider but also for their clients. In essence, you don’t want a one-size-fits-all system no matter how attractive and convenient it may be. It’s well worth the cost of having two separate providers.
They Have Their Own Hosting Services That Offer Different Features
Email Hosting
You might be familiar with popular email services such as GSuite and Office 365. GSuite in particular provides you unlimited space for $10 per user. GSuite also allows you to fully connect your emails to Google’s extremely popular web-based software namely Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides which are integrated platforms which permits real-time editing and collaboration between different users.
Web Hosting
You might also be familiar with big names such as GoDaddy and HostGator. Both have their own pricing options relative to each of their client’s needs such bandwidth requirements and security.
Conclusion
It should be a good thing to remind you that the costs to run both services are also different. The cost of an email subscription plan depends on the size of your email list and how much data do you need. The cost of running a website also depends on the data you need to store. Additional costs include, premium software, premium plugins, domain fees, and etc. To summarize everything, the difference in equipment, technical skill, services, and cost is what differentiates email and web hosting.
