Have you stumbled upon a website and wondered where it’s hosted? Whether you asked someone to set up your website or want to learn more about a competitors’ site, knowing where it’s hosted comes in handy.
Below, we’ll talk about why people would want to know these details, what the difference between domain hosting and web hosting is, and what other helpful tools you can use for different types of online investigations.
How To Find Out Where A Website Is Hosted
Whether you want to find out who hosts a website because you don’t trust the site and you want to make sure it is a legit place to spend your money or enter your personal information. Or, you are a web developer who is curious about changing hosting services to increase your site’s performance, there are a few steps you can take to find out where a website is hosted.
Finding Out Where a Website Is Hosted
You can use several tools and sites to find out where a website is hosted. These include HostingChecker and WHOIS.net.
WHOis.net
Functioning as a public directory, WHOis.net allows you to determine the website host. All you need to do is enter the URL of the site you’re investigating on the search bar. Afterward, you’ll find different pieces of information. Focus on the Name Server entry, so you’ll find out which provider is hosting the website.
WHOis.net will also tell you if a specific domain name has been used already. Then, it will provide several recommendations based on the name you’ve entered.
HostingChecker
Determining where a website is hosted through HostingChecker includes copying the URL of the site you want to check. Then, paste it into the search bar on HostingChecker’s page.
After clicking on the Find Host button, you will then find relevant information. These include the web hosting provider, organization name, IP address, and autonomous system (AS) number and organization. The organizations’ city and country are also indicated.
Difference Between a Website Host and Domain Name
In a nutshell, a website host is the place of residence of your website. Think of your website as your house, and the website host as the city where your website can be found and accessed.
The website host acts as a server of a wide network of data and links to different websites. Thus, it allows your website to run and acts as a link between your website and your audience. Various web hosting providers include GoDaddy, Hostgator, WPengine, AWS, Namecheap, Bluehost, and Dreamhost.
Meanwhile, a domain name is like your designated home address. It serves as a guide for people to find your website. To put it more simply, it is what a user types in the search bar of a browser, like socialcatfish.com.
While you can get all hosting services with just one provider, it’s common to have a website with hosting services from different hosting companies. For instance, you can have your domain registration with GoDaddy. Then, your web hosting will be with Namecheap, while your email hosting can be with G Suite.
How To Find Find Out Who Built the Website
When you’re doing research on a website, it might be helpful to know additional information, like who built the site. Finding this information can be pretty straightforward. Every site that is created has to be registered by ICANN. Each website has to have listed a registrant, administrator, and technical contact (these can all be the same person).
Each title has to have a name, email address, phone number. You might want to find out more information about the people who built the site. To do this, enter the person’s name, email, or phone number into the search bar below. By running a reverse search in these names, you can find information such as their linked-in profile and more. This can help you determine the best mode of contact.
Reverse Search Tools
When running any type of investigation online, it’s important to make sure you have the right tools at your disposal. Using a reverse search tool will help you find all of the people and platforms there is to find in your search. Use the reverse image search bar below to find out more information on the website by learning about the people involved in building it.





