What is the actual difference between a hosting and a server?

A server is a computer. It's usually specialized for running services that serve multiple remote users rather than running applications that serve a single local user.

Hosting is the act of running these services. This includes the services and the servers, along with domain names, and networks to support them.

And just to clarify, there's no such thing as A hosting. It's not a physical thing. Hosting is rather a concept or like the act of hosting.

A server is a computer that can do anything and hosting is just a service it can provide. The server could be used for different stuff like AI or indexing information for a search engine. Now a quiz question for the smarty pants: what does self-hosted mean?

As this likely is a question about commercial hosters / server farms / cloud providers that provide hosting and/or virtual and/or physical servers:

When you pay for a cloud service or hosting, the provider providesthe service or runs the application for you. All maintenance is done by the provider.

When you pay for a virtual or physical server you get access to a virtual or physical server and can install the apps and services you want on it. You are responsible for the software maintenance, but the provider maintains the virtual or physical hardware.

You can also just rent space for a server and provide even the hardware yourself. Then you obviously also maintain that hardware.

In all cases, the provider provides physical security and safety, a cozy (for servers) dry and cool environment, network, and power. The difference is in how much work you do yourself and what you are allowed and able to do with and on the hardware.

Hosting is when you have people over to your house for dinner. A server is someone who gets the guests food and drinks.

The difference between hosting and a server in simple terms.

Hosting:

Hosting refers to the service of providing space and resources on the internet for websites, applications, or other digital content. When you want to make your website accessible to others on the internet, you need a place to store its files, databases, images, and other components. Hosting companies offer these services by providing you with a space on their servers.

Server:

A server, in the context of computing, is a powerful computer or a system designed to manage, store, process, and distribute data and services to other computers, known as clients. Servers can serve various purposes, such as hosting websites, storing files, running applications, managing email services, and more. They have specialized hardware and software configurations to handle these tasks efficiently.

@Demolishun wow. Love this