Have you ever uploaded a number of pictures to your website and then noticed it was running extremely slow? I have. That’s when I learned, image hosting and web hosting are completely different. Knowing the difference can save you a headache.
Web hosting stores your entire website everything – pages, code, and text, and also images. Because web hosting is not solely dedicated to images, it could be running very slow if you upload large pictures.
• Speed: Images can load faster through image hosting.
• Storage: While web hosting limits one to a certain amount of storage, an image hosting service is able to store larger files without concern.
• Bandwidth: images typically consume a large amount of internet consumption, but image hosts have been built to manage data demands.
• Ease of Sharing: Image hosting allows one to share a single link to your image without giving the individual to access your whole site.
Therefore, while web hosting provides the platform in which to run your site, the image hosting provides a way to ensure images do not slow the site down.
Next time your site starts to slow down, ask yourself - "Am I challenging my web host?"
What is Image Hosting?
Image hosting is like an online storage unit for photos. You upload photos there and receive a link to one image or a group of images. You can share that link anywhere – on a blog, social media, or even your pet’s fan page.Web hosting stores your entire website everything – pages, code, and text, and also images. Because web hosting is not solely dedicated to images, it could be running very slow if you upload large pictures.
Why Make Use of Image Hosting Instead of Web Hosting?
So you may ask, why not just have upload all of the photos onto your web hosting? Here's why:• Speed: Images can load faster through image hosting.
• Storage: While web hosting limits one to a certain amount of storage, an image hosting service is able to store larger files without concern.
• Bandwidth: images typically consume a large amount of internet consumption, but image hosts have been built to manage data demands.
• Ease of Sharing: Image hosting allows one to share a single link to your image without giving the individual to access your whole site.
Therefore, while web hosting provides the platform in which to run your site, the image hosting provides a way to ensure images do not slow the site down.
A Brief Example
I used to compare hosting images on my website versus using a hosting site. I uploaded all of the images to my website's hosting, and the site became very slow to load. All I had done was move the images to an inspirational image hosting service, and my site loaded twice as fast. This caused a great "Aha moment", as I would see that using these resources to do their job is more effective.Do You Need Both?
Not all the time. If your website is small with a few images, normal web hosting is fine. However, if you run a photography blog, online shop, or portfolio, image hosting is invaluable.Final Words
Now that we know the difference, what is it? Web hosting is your home and image hosting is a separate room to store your pictures. Both are important, but both on their own will make your website run quicker.Next time your site starts to slow down, ask yourself - "Am I challenging my web host?"