HostingHarbor Guide
Domain Vs Hosting
A domain is your website address; hosting is the service that stores and serves the website.
Why You Need Both
Visitors use the domain to reach the website, while the hosting environment delivers the site. They can be purchased from the same company or separately.
Domain: the Address
The domain is the human-readable name visitors use, such as example.com. Registration gives you the right to use that name for a period as long as you renew it.
Hosting: the Environment
Hosting stores or runs the website and responds when visitors request pages. DNS records connect the domain to the hosting environment.
Can They Be Separate?
Yes. You can register a domain with one company and host the website elsewhere. Keeping track of account ownership, DNS, renewal dates, and recovery access is more important than buying both from the same company.
What Happens During a Migration
You can move hosting without changing the domain. Usually you copy the site, test it, then update DNS. Email and other DNS-dependent services need extra care during the change.