Server
A server is the always-on computer that stores your website and delivers it to visitors. When someone visits your site, your server does the work of sending them the pages.
Also known as: web server
In plain English
A server is just a computer — but one built to stay on all the time and connected to the internet, so it can hand out your website to anyone who asks, day or night. When a visitor types your address, their browser asks your server for the pages, and the server sends them back. Your website's files and database physically live on it.
Why it matters for your business
The server your site lives on quietly shapes how fast it loads and how reliably it stays online. A strong server with resources to spare serves pages snappily and handles busy moments well. A weak or overcrowded one — where your site shares space and power with hundreds of others — is a frequent, hidden cause of slowness and downtime that no amount of on-site tweaking fully fixes.
What to keep in mind
You don't manage the server yourself with most hosting — but the quality of it underpins everything. Better hosting means a better server, which means a faster, steadier site.
Common questions
- What's the difference between a server and hosting?
- A server is the actual computer; hosting is the service of renting space on one. When you buy hosting, you're paying for room on a server (and, with managed hosting, for someone to look after it).
- Does the type of server affect my site's speed?
- A lot. A fast server with room to breathe serves your pages quickly; an old or overcrowded one — where your site competes with hundreds of others for resources — is a common reason a site feels slow no matter what else you fix.
Related terms
Run into this on your site?
WordPress Hosting