Web Hosting Statistics & Trends [2024 Update]

Web hosting remains one of the essential services of the 21st century. Due to the increased engagement in internet usage globally, researchers expect that the demand for web hosting services and resources will continue to rise even more in the next few years. This post covers the most up-to-date web hosting statistics, trends and facts for 2024.

Here’s a summary of several vital statistics and facts about web hosting for 2024: 

• After the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increased web hosting demand, and because of it, the web hosting industry’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR) will increase by 18% in the period from 2020 to 2027 (Global Industry Analysts; PRNewswire) 
• Right now, there are more than 1,13 billion websites worldwide (Siteefy)
• So far, there are more than 330,000 web hosting providers (Web Tribunal)
• There are 349,9 million registered domain names, all across domains that are considered top-level (Verisign) 
• The United States of America continues to be the country with the highest number of registered domains — 130,265,115. The USA is followed by:
  • China, with 18,417,470, 
  • Canada, with 17,198,100, 
  • Iceland, with 16,337,025, 
  • and France with 7,558,519 domains (Domain Name Stat).
• The three most popular domain name registrars are:
  • GoDaddy, with a 12,26% share and 79,926,849 registered domains,
  • NameCheap, with a 2,85% share and 18,568,856 registered domains, 
  • and Tucows Domains with a 1,75% share and 11,436,566 registered domains (Domain Name Stat) 
• Each week, approximately 900,000 new domains are registered on a global level (Host Sorter) 
• The most popular platform for multi-purpose website hosting solutions is Wix, followed by Shopify, Squarespace, and Weebly (Built With) 

Websites on the internet cannot exist without its infrastructure, or more precisely — without the web hosting industry. Web hosting is, literally, the core of the internet. 

In a nutshell, web hosting is a service for taking care of and maintaining websites for website owners. It helps websites stay accessible for visitors and service users and keeps them up-to-date. 

As you can probably guess, the web hosting industry is rapidly growing and constantly changing. After the global pandemic hit the entire world, the internet — and with it, hosting providers — became essential for a much higher percentage of people on a global level. 

… did you know that: 

The fact that there are over 1.13 billion websites in the world highlights the enormous growth of the internet and the increasing importance of online presence for businesses, organizations, and individuals. It also indicates the high level of competition in the online space.

Overall, this fact underscores the need for regular updates and maintenance of websites to keep them relevant and engaging for visitors. It also highlights the importance of effective website design, content, and marketing strategies to attract and retain traffic in the highly competitive online space.

2024 Web Hosting Statistics & Facts That You Need To Know

Here is a list of the most recent, up-to-date web hosting statistics and interesting facts and trends about this billion-dollar industry. Let’s begin!

How many web hosting providers are there?

Today, the number of web hosting providers is pretty high, so no one can keep track of the exact number of providers! 

Considering that the number of websites and apps is continuously growing, it’s more than likely that the number of hosting services will also grow. That pretty much means there will be quite a competition between these businesses.

Right now, these are the 13 cheapest and most popular web hosting providers worldwide: 

• Hostinger (review)

Hostinger is a Lithuanian web hosting provider that offers the most affordable pricing plans on the web hosting market. 

It’s the perfect solution for small and medium-sized businesses, solo website owners, and startups that don’t have a high percentage of organic website traffic daily. More than 1.3% of websites from all over the world use Hostinger as their web hosting solution.

• EasyWP (review)
• InMotion (review)
• DreamHost (review)
• HostGator (review)
• Bluehost (review)
• GreenGeeks (review)
• A2 Hosting (review)
• NameHero (review)
• ScalaHosting (review)
• SiteGround (review)

What’s the most expensive domain in 2024?

Ever wondered what the most expensive domain is? It’s Cars.com, which cost an astonishing amount of $872 million! 

The business that owns this domain also has a very high value — $2.5 billion.

After Cars.com, these are the four other domains whose value is extremely high (but still lower than Cars.com): 

• Insurance.com — $35.6 million
• VacationRentals.com — $35 million
• PrivateJet.com — $30.18 million
• Voice.com — $30 million

What’s the most popular TLD in 2024?

Well, this one’s pretty much expected — .com remains the most commonly used domain on a global scale. 

So far, approximately 52.8% of domains use .com as their preferred top-level domain (TLD). 

Since it became so popular and so many legitimate businesses use it, it adds a particular value of credibility to a website.

The second most frequently used TLD is .org — about 4.4% of domains use it. Other popular TLDs are:

• .edu — websites for educational purposes
• .gov — governmental websites 
• .org — non-profit organizations and civil associations’ website

What’s the largest domain registrar in 2024?

GoDaddy is not only known for being one of the best web hosting providers; it’s also quite well-known for being the most commonly used domain registrar. 

With over 84 million registered domains and 21 million clients on a global scale, GoDaddy is the leading domain registrar. 

Right now, GoDaddy’s biggest competitor is NameCheap, with over 18 million registered domains and a 2.86% global market share.

Who’s the leader in cloud solutions in 2024?

Although GoDaddy might be the leading web hosting and domain registrar provider, Amazon AWS is — without a doubt — the most commonly used cloud solution provider. 

So far, it has approximately a 64% cloud solutions share and a continuous annual growth of about 40% in the past nine years. 

Amazon AWS is the preferred option by websites in over 190 countries. Netflix, one of the most popular online streaming platforms, is powered by Amazon AWS, accounting for approximately one-third of the overall worldwide internet traffic in high usage periods. 

What’s more, GoDaddy owns additional hosting providers: LA-based Media Temple and London-based Host Europe Group.

How much does it cost to buy and hold a domain name?

It costs approximately $10 to $15 to purchase a domain or renew an existing domain name. Although it might sound like buying a domain is not expensive at all, there are hidden fees that most domain buyers are not even aware of.

Most of these hidden fees are explained in detail in the “Terms of Service” contracts that all domain registrars give to their clients. 

As we’ve already mentioned, specific domain names have an extremely high value that only multimillionaire companies can afford. Some can cost thousands of dollars, and some even more — up to hundreds of millions.

What’s up with “green hosting”?

Green hosting has slowly but surely become one of the most popular types of web hosting services worldwide. Since it’s powered by energy that’s 100% renewable and comes from different sustainable sources, this type of hosting is entirely eco-friendly. 

Green hosting helps decrease the carbon footprint and the percentage of greenhouse gas emissions, which have increased in the last few years due to novel digital technologies. 

The most eco-conscious and sustainable web hosting company is GreenGeeks, which launched 15 years ago. GreenGeeks buys renewable power credits (wind energy) at a price of 300% of what they use. Right now, they have over 55,000 customers and 600,000 hosted websites. 

Another popular eco-friendly web hosting provider is A2 Hosting — they partnered with Carbonfund and started to recycle their old hardware. Due to their efforts, they’ve neutralized a high percentage of greenhouse gas — over 2 million pounds.

How big is Google Cloud?

According to the latest statistics on the market share of website hosting providers, Google Cloud holds approximately 8.09% of the market share. With 21 data centers worldwide, Google Cloud’s hosting is the choice of over 10 million users. 

Almost 39 million websites use the Google Cloud Platform. Some of these websites are owned by multinational companies, such as Snapchat, Coca-Cola, and Spotify.

Is WordPress still popular?

WordPress is the most commonly used content management system globally. In 2024, approximately 63.4% of websites use WordPress as their preferred online platform for website management. 

To use WordPress, you need to have a unique domain and a web hosting provider. Some of the most popular websites that use WordPress are the following: 

• Sony 
• Vogue
• The New York Times
• Forbes
• Yelp 
• eBay 
• CNN
• Reuters 
• Samsung  
• IBM

Shopify is another popular content management system with a 6.6% market share, followed by:

• Wix — 2.8% market share
• Squarespace — 2.7% market share
• Joomla — 2.6% market share

Where are most web hosting companies located?

Approximately 5000 web hosting companies are based in North America, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom.

North America’s market share is approximately 51.40%, Germany’s 11.71%, and the United Kingdom’s 4.11%.

Questions & Answers

Summary – Web Hosting Statistics, Facts & Trends for 2024

Web hosting remains one of the essential services of the 21st century. Due to the increased engagement in internet usage globally, researchers are expecting that the demand for web hosting services and resources will continue to rise even more in the next few years. 

If you’d like to find out more about web hosting, don’t forget to check out our latest articles on: 

• Choose The Right Web Hosting Company For Your Blog 
• Best Cheap Web Hosting For 2024 (And 3 Web Hosts to Avoid) 
• How to Choose a Web Hosting Service?

Sources

• https://webtribunal.net/blog/web-hosting-statistics/#gref
• https://www.godaddy.com/garage/the-top-20-most-expensive-domain-names/
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/265677/number-of-internet-top-level-domains-worldwide/#:~:text=As%20of%20June%202022%2C%2052.8,used%20to%20access%20web%20pages
• https://domainnamestat.com/statistics/registrar/others
• https://www.domain.com/blog/how-much-does-a-domain-name-cost/#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20it%20costs%20around,and%20hold%20a%20domain%20name
• https://www.dailyhostnews.com/top-7-web-hosting-trends
• https://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/stats/web-hosting-statistics.html
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/1254388/google-cloud-revenue-by-quarter/
• https://cloud-standards.org/cloud-computing-statistics/
• https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress#:~:text=WordPress%20is%20used%20by%2063.4,is%2043.2%25%20of%20all%20websites
• https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2020/07/web-hosting-stats-and-facts-to-help-you-choose-a-better-host.html
• https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/website-statistics/

If you are interested in more statistics, check out our 2024 Internet statistics page here.