Short answer
Use web hosting for any website customers depend on: it gives you a fixed address, power and network redundancy and maintained servers for less than the true cost of doing it yourself. Self host for learning, home labs, internal office tools and experiments where downtime does not cost you business.
The short answer
Self hosting means the computer serving your website is one you own and run, such as an old desktop, a mini PC or a Raspberry Pi at home or in the office. Web hosting means a hosting company runs the servers in a data centre and you rent space on them (shared hosting) or a virtual machine (VPS).
Both put a website on the internet. The difference is who handles the electricity, the network, the hardware and the security, and what happens when one of them fails at 2 a.m. during your Diwali sale.
Web server vs web hosting: the terms
- A web server is two things at once. MDN describes the hardware side as a computer that stores web server software and a website's files, and the software side as, at minimum, an HTTP server that understands URLs and HTTP. Apache, Nginx and LiteSpeed are common web server programs.
- Web hosting is a service. The host runs web servers for you, keeps them connected and powered, and gives you a control panel or server access. Our guide to what web hosting is explains the types.
So when you self host, you become your own hosting company.
Self hosting vs web hosting at a glance
| Factor | Self hosting at home or office | Web hosting |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Yours to buy, repair and replace | The provider's |
| Power | Your mains supply, plus any UPS or inverter | Data centre power systems |
| Internet | Your broadband plan, often with low upload speed | Data centre network |
| Public IP address | Often shared or changing on home plans | Provided; fixed on VPS and dedicated servers |
| Security patches | You apply them | Provider handles the server on shared hosting; you handle the OS on a VPS |
| Backups | You arrange them | Often included on shared plans |
| Upfront cost | Hardware purchase | None |
| Best for | Learning, home labs, internal tools | Public websites, email, online stores |
The hard parts of self hosting in India
Your public IP address
For visitors to reach your computer, it needs a public IP address that does not change, or a way around that. MDN notes that not all internet providers give home lines a fixed IP address. Many connections also use carrier grade NAT (CGNAT), where the provider shares one public address among many customers. RFC 6598 reserves the 100.64.0.0/10 block for exactly this purpose. If your router's WAN address starts with 100.64 to 100.127, you are behind CGNAT and cannot simply forward a port.
Workarounds exist. A static IP is sold as an add on by some broadband providers, usually on business plans. Dynamic DNS services update a name when your IP changes. Tunnel services, such as Cloudflare Tunnel, run a small agent that makes outbound connections, so Cloudflare's documentation notes no publicly routable IP address or open inbound port is needed. Each adds another service to configure and depend on.
Upload speed and your plan's terms
Home plans are built for downloading. Your website is served from your upload speed, which is often a fraction of the advertised figure. Many residential plans also restrict running servers in their terms of use, so read yours before you rely on it.
Power cuts
In much of India, short power cuts are routine. A website that goes down every time the power trips loses visitors and, if it happens while Google crawls, may be crawled less. You need a UPS or inverter that also powers the router and ONT, not only the computer.
Security and legal duties
A server on your home network is exposed to the whole internet. You must patch the operating system, harden the web server, keep it separate from family or office devices and watch the logs. CERT-In's April 2022 directions also place incident reporting and log retention duties on service providers and body corporates, so a business running its own servers should understand what applies to it. Our website security checklist covers the basics.
The real cost of a small self hosted server
A worked example for a single small business site, using assumptions you can adjust:
| Item | Assumption | Approximate cost |
|---|---|---|
| Mini PC or spare desktop | ₹15,000, used for four years | about ₹310 a month |
| Electricity | 30 W running all month, about 22 units, at ₹8 a unit | about ₹175 a month |
| UPS or inverter share | ₹3,000, used for three years | about ₹85 a month |
| Static IP or tunnel | Varies by provider; many tunnels have free tiers | ₹0 and up |
| Your time | Two hours a month on updates and fixes | Your hourly value |
Before counting your time, that is roughly ₹570 a month. For comparison, an entry shared hosting plan is often a fraction of that. Electricity tariffs vary by state and slab, so substitute your own rate.
ODHOST note: ODHOST's entry plan, Spark, costs ₹99 a month for 1 website, 10 GB NVMe storage, 5 email accounts, a control panel, a free SSL certificate and weekly backups. If you want the control of your own server without the hardware at home, ODHOST VPS plans run on servers located in India and start at ₹699 a month with a dedicated IPv4 address. Applicable taxes are shown at checkout.
When self hosting makes sense
Self hosting is a good choice when downtime is acceptable and learning or privacy is the goal:
- Learning server administration. Nothing teaches Linux, DNS and web servers faster than running your own.
- Internal office tools. A wiki, an inventory tracker or a file share used only on the office network does not need to be public at all.
- Home labs and testing. Try software before you deploy it to a real server.
- Hobby projects where an outage only affects you.
For anything customers rely on, such as your business website, online store or email, the outage risk usually outweighs the savings. The free vs paid hosting comparison covers the other low cost route people consider.
The middle path: a VPS
If what attracts you to self hosting is control, a VPS gives you most of it. You choose and configure the software, manage your own firewall and run services a shared host would not allow, while the provider looks after the hardware, power and network. It also comes with a fixed IP address, which matters for the reasons in our dedicated IP vs shared IP comparison.
Which should you choose?
- A boutique in Jaipur with a product catalogue and enquiry form: web hosting. A shared plan is enough.
- A computer science student building a portfolio and learning Linux: self host for practice, and put the public portfolio on hosting so it is always up.
- A ten person office wanting an internal wiki: self host it on the office network, with no public access.
- A developer who wants full control over a public app: a VPS rather than a server at home.
- A business currently running its website from a desktop in the back office: move it to hosting, then reuse the desktop for internal tools.
Frequently asked questions
Can I host a website on my home broadband connection?
Technically yes, if your connection gives you a reachable public IP and your plan's terms allow servers. Many home connections share one public address between customers or change it often, so you would need a tunnel service or dynamic DNS.
What is the difference between a web server and web hosting?
A web server is the computer and software, such as Apache or Nginx, that sends web pages to browsers. Web hosting is a service where a company runs web servers for you in a data centre and rents you space or a whole virtual machine.
Is self hosting free?
The software can be free, but the hardware, electricity, UPS or inverter, internet plan and your time are not. For a small site these usually add up to more than an entry hosting plan.
Is a VPS a form of self hosting?
It sits in between. You manage the server software yourself, as with self hosting, but the hardware, power and network are in the provider's data centre.