What's the difference between domain registrar and commerical web hosting?

Question

If one selects a web host like, hostmonster, do they also have to use a registrar for a domain?

Answer 1

A "registrar" is a company that is allowed to issue internet domain names with ICANN.  This service is then sold to consumers in the form of an annual registration fee for a particular domain name.  See here for more details:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name...

Now, it is a common misconception that when you registar a domain name, you "own" that name.  In reality when you pay for a domain name, you pay for the rights to use the name and the service the registrar provides to allow you to manage that domain.  The the name is "assigned" to you but only authorized registrars can "manage" domain records with ICANN.  When you are the assignee for a domain, you have the right to transfer that name to any other registrar you wish (kind of like your cell number).  This is protected by regulations.  Beware of registrars (other than the one you registered with) that send you emails or snail mail telling you it's time to renew.  This is an underhanded ploy to get you to transfer the management of your assigned domain(s) to their company.  If you get communications from a registrar with a different name than yours, look at the fine print.

Now web hosting is a completely different service that may be offered by the same company that your domain is registered through.  There is no requirement that you use the same company for both but it is often easier to manage if you have both services at the same company.

There is actually a third service involved in getting a website up which is your authoritative name server.  This is *the* dns server that is designated in your root dns record at ICANN as the authority on requests for your domain.  Most people use the same company as the registrar to do this but there is certainly no requirement to use the same company.   In fact, it's possible to set up the root authority record to point to your home server and run your website from that same server.  You need to have a static IP address and a router that can do port mapping (most do).

BTW, I use godaddy.com as a registrar which is cheap (under $10/year with multi-year discounts) and provides a lot of management features.  My DNS is served from zoneedit.com which is free for 5 domain names.  My web server is run from my house.

Answer 2

register means that you get that name (name only)

hosting is how much space you get to put up your stuff