Should you choose decentralized hosting for your website?

Explore the benefits and the possible risks of decentralized hosting to make an informed decision for your project.

Apillon

Aug 30, 2023 • 3 min read

Whether you run a personal blog, own a small business, or your company is redoing the website, your website needs website hosting.

Web3 website hosting or decentralized hosting has been all the rage for a while due to its innovative approach to tackling the issues of centralized hosting.

In this article, we address the main differences between centralized and decentralized hosting to help you make the decision whether you should make the switch to Web3 hosting.

Centralized vs. decentralized hosting

The first difference that decentralized hosting brings is the elimination of a single point of failure.

While centralized hosting relies on one single centralized server and is thus exposed to a single point of failure, Web3 hosting uses a network of computers, called nodes, that store and deliver content to the users.

In a nutshell, little bits of your content get encrypted and stored on different nodes. When a user requests your content, it is retrieved and delivered from the nearest node.

Decentralized hosting encompasses and delivers the main values of Web3:

Ownership
Resistance to censorship
Decentralization
Security
Privacy

So, what advantages does this innovative way of data storing and sharing bring to your website?

Benefits of decentralized website hosting

Due to the content being stored and hosted on a broad peer-to-peer network of computers instead of just one or a few scattered servers, your website and your content is more resilient in many ways.

Plus, YOU are the sole owner of your data as there is no need for a single, centralized authority to manage it.

This means you get the following perks:

Increased security
Lower costs
More control over your data
Increased privacy
Increased censorship resistance
Increased resistance to outages and hijacking
Decreased possibility of data breaches

Possible risks of Web3 hosting

As with every technology, no matter how innovative, impressive, and useful, there can be downsides if the technology is abused for malicious purposes.

While resistance to hijacking is increased, it can’t be 100% eliminated.
There have been cases of decentrally-hosted phishing websites.
And lastly, it can be difficult to set up and maintain your website in a decentralized manner due to the technical requirements.

Luckily, we can help with the last one.

The Apillon platform provides an easy-to-use decentralized hosting service where you can store and host your content for free using IPFS/IPNS upload via Crust Network.

Want more?

Keep the momentum going. Explore more posts for sharp insights, real tips, and Web3 stories that might just spark your next big idea:

⧓ About Apillon

The Apillon platform serves as a unified gateway to the Web3 services provided by linked Polkadot parachains. Following the multi-chain vision, Apillon powers the transition of developers to Web3, simplifying its adoption in the real economy, and expanding its versatility as the ecosystem grows. With Apillon, Web3 services are within reach for every developer, regardless of their background and experience with blockchain technology.