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Web hosting

What is web hosting?

Updated Hostnali team

Short answer

Web hosting is renting space on a server, a computer that is always online, to store your website's files, database and email. When someone types your domain, the server sends them your website. Without hosting, a domain has nothing to show.

Think of a domain as your address and hosting as the building. The domain (yourbusiness.co.rw) tells people where to go; the hosting is where your website actually lives.

How it works

  1. Your website’s files, images and database are stored on a server in a data centre.
  2. Your domain points to that server.
  3. When a visitor opens your domain, the server sends the website to their browser in a fraction of a second.

Types of hosting

TypeBest for
Shared web hostingBusiness websites, blogs and small shops: the affordable place to start
WordPress hostingWordPress sites, tuned for speed
Cloud and corporate hostingBusy websites that need guaranteed resources
VPSDevelopers and apps that need their own server
Dedicated serversLarge, resource-heavy projects

What good hosting includes

  • Speed: fast storage (NVMe SSD) and web servers (LiteSpeed).
  • Security: free SSL, firewalls and malware scanning.
  • Backups: daily, so one mistake never costs you your website.
  • Email: addresses on your own domain.
  • Support: people who answer when something goes wrong.

All Hostnali web hosting plans include these, from RWF 30,520 a year. See how much web hosting costs in Rwanda.

Start your website with Hostnali

Hosting, domains and 24/7 support from one team.