What is the difference between an ISP
and a Web Hosting Service?

Internet Service Provider

    An Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides their customers with access to the Internet. The most common method is a dial-up service, they provide the customer a phone number they dial into with their computer. Once they call the number and connect with the ISP, they now have access to the Internet. The customer can now visit any web site they wish.

    Virtually all ISP's all provide the customer with a least one email address, also known as an email account. Quite often they will charge extra for additional email accounts. However, some ISP's may include as many as five email accounts with their service before charging extra.

    Also, most ISP's provide the customer with a small amount of server space for a personal web site. Server space is a place on the web servers hard drive in which you can store your web pages. A majority of ISP's have restrictions on the content of personal web sites. The most common is that personal web sites cannot be used for commercial purposes. Many ISP's will not even allow personal ads on a personal account. If you wish to use your web site for commercial purposes, quite often you must open a commercial account with the ISP.

Web Hosting Service

    Unlike ISP's, a Web Hosting Service (WHS) does not provide Internet access. The main purpose of a WHS is to provide server space to businesses who do not have their own web servers. This is quite often referred to as "Virtual Hosting".

    Because web hosting services do not have the huge expense of the phone lines and modems necessary to provide Internet access, they are able to provide the many additional services needed for a commercial web site. The most notable are a much greater amount of server space, bandwidth (the amount of traffic your site can receive), multiple email accounts, email form availability, cgi script usage, secure server, shopping cart, and other services necessary for a commercial web site for less than an ISP.

    While almost all ISP's can host your commercial site, there usually is an additional charge. While the charges may be reasonable, you need to carefully compare what services your ISP will be providing compared to that of a web hosting service. Unless your web site needs are very minimal, you may find it more economical to use a Web Hosting Service. More often than not, getting the same level of service from your ISP (service space, bandwidth, etc.) will cost more as compared to a WHS. For that reason it is usually best to use your Internet Service Provider for just Internet access and a Web Hosting Service for your commercial web site.