Hosting: terms A to Z

Web hosting has its own vocabulary. This page explains every term you're likely to encounter when managing your site's hosting account or working with our team.

A to C

Term	Plain-English definition
Bandwidth	The total amount of data transferred between your server and visitors in a given period. Heavy traffic or large files use more bandwidth.
Backup	A saved copy of your website files and database. If something goes wrong, a backup lets you restore the site. See How backups work.
Caching	Storing copies of web pages or assets so they can be served faster without regenerating them from scratch every time.
CDN	Content Delivery Network. A network of servers around the world that stores copies of your site's files, serving them from the location nearest to each visitor. See What is a CDN?.
cPanel	A popular web-based hosting control panel. Many shared hosting plans use it to manage files, databases, email accounts, and settings.
Cloud hosting	Hosting where your site runs across multiple servers rather than one physical machine. Usually easier to scale, and less dependent on any single machine.

Each of these sits at a different point on the same path, and a request travels only as far down as the first layer that already has what it is asking for. Not every site has all of them. You do not need to manage them, but it helps to know they exist.

Read this as text

Three of the types of caching described above sit at different points on one path: the path a request takes from a visitor down to the content your pages are built from. The fourth, object caching, is not on this path: it works inside the site’s own work, saving the results of database queries so they do not have to be repeated.

Closest to the visitor is the browser cache, which keeps images, stylesheets and fonts on the visitor’s own computer. Next is the CDN cache, which keeps copies of your pages and files in data centers around the world, so content comes from the server closest to the visitor. Then the server-side page cache (run by your host or platform, or a plugin), which saves a complete HTML copy of each page.

Only when none of those has a copy does the request reach your website’s software (WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace or whatever your site runs on), which looks the page up, fetches the content and assembles the HTML.

Not every site has all of these. There are several layers where caching can happen, and you do not need to manage all of them, but it helps to know they exist.

D

Term	Plain-English definition
Data center	A physical building full of servers where hosting providers house the computers that power websites.
Database	An organized collection of data. WordPress stores pages, posts, users, and settings in a database (MySQL or MariaDB).
Dedicated server	A hosting plan where you get an entire physical server to yourself. More powerful and expensive than shared or VPS hosting.
Deployment	The process of making new code or content live on a server.
Disk space / Storage	The amount of storage space your hosting plan provides for your files, databases, and email.
DNS	See Domains & DNS: terms A to Z for a full glossary. In hosting context, DNS connects your domain to the correct server.
Downtime	Time when your website is unavailable to visitors. Good hosts keep downtime to a minimum. See Uptime, downtime & what they mean.

E to H

Term	Plain-English definition
Environment	A copy of your website for a specific purpose: production (live), staging (testing), or development (local).
FTP / SFTP	File Transfer Protocol / SSH File Transfer Protocol. Both move files between your computer and a server. SFTP runs over an SSH connection, so it's the encrypted one. Use it wherever you have the choice.
Flywheel	A managed WordPress hosting brand, now part of WP Engine. Known for its clean dashboard and client-collaboration features. See Flywheel hosting: overview.
File manager	A tool in your hosting dashboard for viewing, uploading, and editing files on your server, like a browser-based version of Windows Explorer or macOS Finder.
Geo-redundancy	Storing server copies in multiple geographic locations so your site stays up even if one data center has a problem.
HTTP / HTTPS	The protocols used to transfer data between browsers and servers. HTTPS is the encrypted, secure version.

I to M

Term	Plain-English definition
IP address	A numerical address assigned to your server. Your domain's DNS A record points to this address.
Kinsta	A managed WordPress hosting platform. See Kinsta hosting: overview.
Load balancing	Distributing incoming traffic across multiple servers so no single server gets overwhelmed.
Managed hosting	Hosting where the provider handles technical maintenance (updates, backups, security monitoring, performance) so you don't have to.
Managed WordPress hosting	Hosting specifically optimized for WordPress, with automated WordPress updates, backups, staging, and caching. See What is managed WordPress hosting?.
Migration	Moving a website from one host or server to another. See What happens when we migrate your host.
MySQL	One of the two database systems WordPress runs on; the other is MariaDB, a close relative. Either way it stores your site's content, settings, and user data.

N to S

Term	Plain-English definition
Nameserver	A server that holds DNS records. When you sign up with a host, they often ask you to update your domain's nameservers to point to theirs.
Object caching	A type of caching that stores processed database query results in memory (RAM) so repeated requests are served instantly. Redis and Memcached are common tools.
PHP	The programming language WordPress is built on. Your host runs a PHP version. Keeping it current is important for security and performance.
PHP memory limit	The maximum amount of memory your server will allow PHP to use at once. WordPress sometimes needs this increased for heavy plugins.
Resource limits	Caps on how much CPU, memory, or bandwidth your hosting plan allows. Hitting limits can slow your site or cause errors.
Shared hosting	Multiple websites sharing the same server's resources. The most affordable hosting type, but can be slow if a neighbor hogs resources.
SSL / TLS	Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security. The encryption that makes HTTPS work. "SSL" is the everyday name, but today's connections actually use TLS, its successor. See What is SSL & HTTPS?.
Staging site	A private copy of your live website used to test changes safely before publishing. Hosts usually keep it behind a password and hidden from search engines. See What is a staging site?.
Subdomain	A prefix before your main domain used for staging or special sections, e.g. `staging.yoursite.com`.
SSH	Secure Shell. A secure command-line method for connecting to and managing a server directly. Usually used only by developers.

T to Z

Term	Plain-English definition
Uptime	The percentage of time your website is accessible and working. 99.9% uptime = roughly 9 hours of downtime per year.
VPS	Virtual Private Server. A step up from shared hosting. You get a dedicated slice of a server's resources. More control and performance than shared, less than a dedicated server.
WP Engine	A managed WordPress hosting platform. See WP Engine hosting: overview.
Web server	Software (Apache, Nginx) running on a physical server that receives browser requests and sends back web pages.
WordPress multisite	A feature that lets one WordPress installation run multiple websites from the same dashboard.
Zero downtime deployment	A deployment process that switches to new code without making the site briefly unavailable to visitors.

Hosting: terms A to Z

A to C

D

E to H

I to M

N to S

T to Z

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