The Ultimate List of Web Hosting Statistics for 2024

Behind every website is a web hosting service, it is what makes your website accessible to users around the world.

Wondering just how big the website hosting industry is, how fast it is growing, the latest trends, and factors driving the growth? This list of web hosting statistics has got you covered.

Read on to discover the latest and most notable web hosting statistics collected from reliable online sources.

Key Web Hosting Statistics – Editor’s Choices

• There are over 1.67 billion hostnames registered online
• Web hosting companies from the US host more than 50% of the websites on the internet
• The web hosting market is dominated by only 10 hosting companies
• 8.3% of all websites use Amazon’s physical infrastructure
• The market share of global Website hosting services will double by 2023
• Over 150 million websites have ‘.com’ as their domain name extension

Web Hosting Statistics: Market Share and Size

1. There are over 1.67 billion hostnames registered online.

The current estimated total number of websites is 1.6 billion, but about 75% of these are parked domains. In fact, a considerable number of websites have no human intervention whatsoever, created automatically at the request of customers by web hosters or other such companies.

In fact, only 200 million websites are responsible for all internet penetration.

(Source: InternetLiveStats )

2. Web hosting companies from the US host more than 50% of the websites on the internet

Put simply — a web host is an online service offering space on the web server for hosting a website. Without a web host, your website will not be on the internet. As of February 2022, about 51.8% of the global hosting market share is managed by US players. Germany trails behind but by only 11.57% ownership in web hosting services. The United Kingdom comes third with only a 4.1% share in the website launching realm.

Indicating that the internet may be widespread, but the prominent web host companies responsible for fueling the internet with websites come only from a handful of countries.

3. The US has the highest number of hosted domains, China being the distant second.

In terms of volume of domain registrations, the US ranks the highest with over 18.64% (180 million) registered domains. In comparison, China comes second with only a 4.04% market share. As of 2022, China has 22,980,425 registered domains, four times less than the US.

Nevertheless, about 55.89% of the websites present today haven’t disclosed their location, with their origin country being a mystery; so, it isn’t clear which countries have the highest count when it comes to hosted domains.

(Source: DomainNameStats)

4. The web hosting market was valued at US$ 62.6 billion back in 2020

Also, the revenue forecast reveals the hosting market to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 15.5% from 2020 to 2027, given an upsurge in the number of startups, internet penetration, and web traffic globally.

When it comes to web hosting, there are different types, namely Virtual Private Server (VPS), shared, colocation, dedicated, and others. But not all of them participate in the growth equally.

For instance, the industry trends based on the past years suggest that shared hosting services are the ones with the highest revenue share from 2016 to 2019.

Again, region-wise, North America claims the highest share with 35.28% in 2019.

Still, the trend analysis predicts that Germany and the UK will occupy a considerable share in the coming years.

And given the reports of 2018, where Germany had 7 million more domains than all domains hosted that year, it does not seem far-fetched.

(Source: GrandViewResearch)

5. The web hosting market is dominated by only 10 hosting companies

In terms of market share (not revenue), these are the largest web hosting solutions: GoDaddy, AWS, Google Cloud Platform, 1 & 1, and Newfold Digital.

GoDaddy hosts 15.5% of all websites on the internet. In the US alone, GoDaddy hosts about 20.8% of websites. Besides web hosting, GoDaddy also includes services for SSL certification, email marketing, online marketing, and more under one roof.

Used by 8.3% of all websites, Amazon Web Services also holds over 4.3% of the entire cloud computing market. Google Cloud Platform hosts over 7.3% of websites globally, including some big names like PayPal, Twitter, Niramai, and more. And the fourth largest web hosting company is 1 & 1 partnering with Ionos hosting 6.7% of websites globally.

Popular among small-to-medium businesses globally, Newfold Digital hosts 4.3% of websites under its roof.

6. Nginx is the most popular server software for web hosting, followed by Apache.

While you may not feel the need to dwell on web servers as a content consumer. As a content provider, it is crucial to understand how websites emerge on the web browser.

After all, it is the web server that stores and delivers the contents for a website when requisitioned. The contents of web pages are encoded in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). And it is the web server that communicates with the web browser using HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and delivers the contents in a transmittable manner.

Currently (as of January 2022), the most popular web servers are:

• Nginx: 33.1% of websites on the internet run on Nginx.
• Apache: covers about 30.8% of websites
• Cloudflare server: used by 22.1% of websites
• Litespeed: responsible for presenting 12.4% of websites
• Microsoft-IIS: 6.1% of websites use their software and hardware resources

7. 8.3% of all websites utilize Amazon’s physical infrastructure

Data centers are the physical establishments that store, process, and disseminate data. Choosing a web host means renting a space for the computing hardware of the website, i.e., data centers.

These are the top data centers providers (in the web industry):

• Amazon: 8.4% of all websites utilize Amazon’s data centers
• Google: handles the resources of 7.4% of websites
• Newfold Digital Group: responsible for 4.7% of websites globally
• GoDaddy Group: 4.4% of websites use GoDaddy’s facilities
• Hetzner: 3% website utilize Hetzener services

There are over 272 providers and 2535 data centers in the world; this includes 2374 colocation facilities, 1928 cloud nodes, 631 Internet exchanges (IX), and 783 disaster recovery and business continuity (DRBC) sites.

(Source: W3Techs)

8. Plesk and cPanel are the most preferred web panels among website owners

Often presented by the hosting company itself, utilizing a web panel, users can oversee necessary elements like web server, domain name, system server, mail server, file protocol server, database, system monitor, and more.

While it is unknown which web panel 94.8% of the websites utilize, the known stats favor Plesk as the most prevalent web panel; over 4.4% of website owners use Plesk.

The cPanel is another popular option among the known website owners; over 0.5% of users utilize it to manage their website.

Popular web hosters include both Plesk and cPanel to choose from.

(Source: W3Techs)

9. SMEs and individual web companies obtain only 9.54% of the total revenue generated annually.

The dominating segment in terms of revenue generated is enterprises; this does not come as a surprise since more and more businesses are focusing on online channels to promote and sell their products. The 2019 reports put the enterprise segment account the most prevailing in the web hosting market share of 90.46%.

Additionally, the trend shows that enterprises opt for dedicated web hosting, given the extra layer of security and ability to sustain enormous online traffic.

In comparison, SME and individual owners occupy only a tiny portion of the market share, about 9.54% (revenue).

(Source: Grandviewresearch)

Web Hosting Statistics: Hosting Trends

10. Although the future predictions do not favor shared hosting, it is the most prevalent form of web hosting today.

Shared hosting, well, means the website is on a server shared by other websites. Of course, the cost is split between all the websites on the server, so shared hosting plans are cheaper, making them a popular choice among small-to-medium and individual website owners.

Till 2019, shared hosting was opted by 37.64%.

Be that as it may, the future projections indicate that shared hosting will not advance significantly.

(Source: Grandviewresearch)

11. Most popular global shared hosting providers.

GoDaddy, 1 & 1, Endurance International group, and Namecheap are the prominent names in the shared hosting realm.

GoDaddy has 44 million subscribers opting for shared hosting in terms of market share. The next in the list is 1 & 1 (Ionos), with over 9 million subscribers. Newfold Digital Group has 4 million subscribers and ranks third as of 2020.

(Source: GlobeNewswire)

12. With the envisioned CAGR of 18.3% annually, cloud hosting is the future of web hosting companies

With the envisioned CAGR of 18.3% per year from 2022 to 2015, cloud hosting services will substitute shared hosting in the coming years, making it the fastest-growing hosting class.

The rationale is apparent, allowing businesses to pay only for the used resources; cloud hosting offers flexibility to the new companies that aren’t a possibility with shared and dedicated web hosting.

In comparison to other kinds of hosting, cloud hosting is also highly secure and comes with reliable cloud computing services. The leading players in the cloud hosting market are Alphabet Inc (Google), Vmware, Dell, Cisco Systems Inc., Amazon.com, Inc.

(Source: GMIResearch)

13. Managed VPS would exhibit the highest CAGR of 16.5% during 2019-2026

Providing more performance, flexibility, and control, VPS hosting class also exhibits a similar growth rate as cloud hosting.

Outthrusts by trustworthy industry forecasters signify that VPS will grow at a rate of 15.5% from 2019 to 2026. Moreover, the revenue share of VPS hosting will rise four-fold from today's US$ 2.6 billion to US$ 8.3 billion by 2026.

This comes in effect because more and more small-to-medium online businesses are shifting to Virtual Private Server (VPS) because of the rise in cyber threats and cyber-attacks in data storing infrastructures.

14. Most popular global VPS hosting providers

Again, GoDaddy is light years ahead of its competitors sheltering 62% of all websites on the internet hosted via VPS plans. The second in line is the Digital Ocean, with only 12% subscribers. Linode ranks third with a 7% market share, whereas Liquid Web covers 6% of websites with VPS hosting.

(Source: Builtwith)

15. Companies wanting to reduce the online carbon footprint are favoring green hosting

The internet’s annual CO2 output equals the entire airline industry, or 31 million cars (conventional type) driving at once.

And with the rise in awareness of renewable energies, more and more online industries are concentrating on making their business eco-friendly.

As a result, the Green Data Center market is expected to grow at a rate of 23.5% from 2019 to 2026. The economic valuation is assessed to be about US$ 35 billion.

Users wanting to be a part of green energy initiatives can review whether the web hosting company has Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) or not. If yes, then it is the way to go!

Of course, the favored web hosting companies like Google Cloud Platform, GoDaddy, Amazon Web Services are all pivoting towards green data centers.

Correspondingly, forecasters like Gartner predict that about 80% of the traditional data centers will close by 2025, and uptake in cloud hosting will take place by the companies utilizing carbon-emitting infrastructures.

Web Hosting Statistics: Domain Name, Mail Server

16. Over 150 million websites have ‘.com’ as their domain name extension.

The Internet is diverse for sure, but the websites that fuel that diversity have one thing in common, their domain name extension.

Looking at the prevalent domain name extension figures — ‘.com’ is the most preferred choice, with over 37.40% of websites utilizing it as the top-level domain.

‘.tk’ is the second most utilized top-level domain, with over 4.42% (33 million) of websites opting for it. ‘.tk’ is the official Tokelau domain.

In comparison, websites with the ‘.uk’ ending — the UK’s official domain — are only 11 million, indexing sixths in popularity.

17. The average cost of a domain name is between US$ 12 to US$ 15 annually.

There are over 327 country-specific domain TLDs, 8 generic TLDs, and 1,250 gTLDs. Besides the domain name, TLDs also affect the cost to own and renew the name annually. For instance, the ‘average.com’ will cost more than the ‘average.tk’.

Nevertheless, these are average rates for standard domain names. Depending on the popularity of the domain name, the domain registration can cost thousands to millions too.

(Source: Domain)

Web Hosting Statistics: Economic Impact and Future Predictions

18. Conversion rates increase when the website has a fast loading time.

It is common knowledge that website speed impacts the user’s decision to stay or leave the site. Sites loading within 5 seconds have the highest conversion rates.

In the same way, conversion rates drop on average by 4.42% with each additional second of load time, i.e., when more than 0-5 seconds.

In fact, low website speed costs the US economy more than $500 million annually. And while the page’s weight could affect the load time, the most significant causes are server and page configuration, i.e., the web hosting provider also has a say in the matter.

(Source: Website Hosting Rating)

19. The market share of global website hosting services will double by 2023

While the internet is not short of the hosting market even today, the demand will almost double next year. From a valuation of US$ 32.12 billion in 2018, the website hosting service market may catch US$ 76.2 billion by 2023.

By 2027, at the present CAGR of 15.5%, the web hosting solutions will reach US$ 171 billion.

Equally important, the key partakers that will usher this growth rate are Amazon Web Service, Google, AT&T, GoDaddy, given their focus on website performance and increased security, especially in the cloud hosting realm.

(Source: Market Research Future)

Web Hosting Statistics: Other Crucial Figures

20. Server reliability (uptime Scores) is a primary factor affecting a company’s decisions when choosing web hosts.

Given the average cost of downtime is $5,600 per minute, companies stress the uptime score of the web hosting provider. Additionally, search engines penalize the downtime and impact the SEO ranking.

And while it is factual that no web hosting provider (shared, dedicated, VPS) guarantees 100% uptime, the nature of the outage — if one occurred — is also taken under reflection by the companies while picking a web hosting provider.

A hosting provider with a 99% uptime rate is still inadequate, as the actual downtime of the website will be 3.5 days throughout the year.

A number above 99.9% (8hrs per year) is considerable, but 99.99% (52 minutes per year) and 99.9999% (5 minutes per year) are today’s industry-standard.

21. Security is another top concern when opting for a web hosting solution.

In 2021 alone, cyberattacks inflicted US$ 6 trillion and are expected to cost US$10.5 trillion annually by 2025 globally.

As mentioned, a web server is accountable for reserving online files — that make up a website — and making them available to users around the globe. And if there is any fault in the applications, Database, Operating system, or network, it will affect the webserver. Resulting in buffer overflow attack, SYN flooding, HTTP getting Request Flooding, Ping of death, and other vulnerabilities.

This is also why most website owners do not host websites and email under the same roof, i.e., utilize a third-party email service hosted on another mail server.

(Source: Greycampus, CybersecurityVentures)

22. Wix is the most popular hosted website solution.

WordPress takes the prize when it comes to building a website using ready-made templates and themes.

Wix, however, is the predominant one in the hosted website builder realm, with a market share of 35%. The e-commerce giant Shopify stands second with 20% in the websites using hosted solution field. Squarespace, about 14% of all websites in the market (hosted website solutions), is the third most favored option among users.

Use These Web Hosting Statistics When Searching For A Web Host

You now have a more clear picture of the website hosting industry. And given the predictions of growing at a CAGR of 15.5% until 2027, it is clear where it is heading.

But this list does more than inform about the current status of the website hosting industry; yes, it helps decide the best website hosting provider. Because when it comes to determining the critical things like the hosting provider for your website, sometimes it pays to go with the wisdom of the crowds. This list informs about the latest trends, most popular web hosts, and the global market share of website hosting solutions.

Plus, it emphasizes the importance of security, support, speed, and scalability when choosing a website hosting solution.

So, in case your company is stepping into the digital world, ensure to have the right web hosting solution, as its part in the website success is not a small one. From providing high performance to flexibility to managing the sudden inflow of high traffic, all falls upon the web hosting provider.

Was This Article Helpful?