The domain is an important part of In this article, we’re going to explain the difference between domain registration, domain transfer, and hosting.
What is a Domain Name and How to Get One?
For those who are new to web hosting and don’t have any clue – a domain name is what people enter in their browser’s address bar to view a specific web page.
For example, if you’d like to check your Gmail account and do not have a configured email application on your tablet or mobile device, you would have to go to google.com and enter your credentials. In this case, google.com is the name of the domain.
Domain registration is the process of reserving a name on the internet for a specific period of time, most commonly one year. The domain registration is usually a premium service, which means that you need to pay in order to register your domain name. The price for the domain is different depending on the extension of the domain. There are also free domain extensions. An example of a free domain extension would be .TK, which is offered by Freenom.
There are two types of domain names currently offered by Awardspace:
- TLD’s (top-level domains) – TLD’s have the following extensions – .com, .org, .info, .biz, or .net. Prices start at $17.95/year.
- CcLD’s (country-code level domains) – .uk, .co.uk, .org.uk, .be, .de and so on. Prices starting at $11.95/year.
You can learn more about the registration process in our How to Register a Domain article.
What is a Domain Transfer?
Domain transfer is the process of transferring a domain name from one registrar to another. As the domain registration, the domain transfer is also a paid service and its price also depends on the extension of the domain. When the domain is transferred to the new registrar you will be renewing the domain with them.
It is worth mentioning that when switching registrars, your website files, databases, and emails are not automatically transferred to the new host. You can check our article How to transfer a Domain for more information on how to transfer your domain name.
Before transferring a domain to a new provider, you should get familiar with their terms, conditions, pricing, etc.
What is Domain Hosting?
The process of Hosting a Domain is very simple. Unlike the Domain Transfer, where you switch the entire registrar when hosting your domain you keep the current registrar and change servers to which your domain points. For example, you have registered the domain with one company and you would like to use the domain with the hosting services of a second company. To do that you need to host your domain with the hosting provider and update your domain DNS records. Changing the Host of your domain can be done by changing your domain name servers or changing the DNS records manually.
If you would like to know how to use your domain with AwardSpace you can read our guide on How to Host a Domain.
