How To Find Out Who Hosts A Domain

How To Check Who Hosts A Website

Lee StantonRead more October 14, 2021

Every website on the internet needs to have some kind of a host. If you want to find out who is hosting a particular website, it shouldnt be too hard, since this type of information is publicly available. You just might need to use a third-party app or a similar online tool to find out.

In this guide, well show you how to find out who hosts a website, whether its yours or someone elses. Well also explain why it might be useful to find out which web hosting service a website uses.

Who Is My Email Provider

To find out, you should do a DNS lookup and look at the MX record. The MX record tells you where the email portion of your domain is handled. Do a search on the domain listed there to find out who your email provider is.

Since the company hosting your website may or may not be hosting your email, it might be a little confusing to track down who an email host / provider really is. Add to that these numerous spam/junk email cleaning services out there, who temporarily get your email to clean it up and then send it back to you and figuring out who an email host is can be downright confusing.

This article gives some tips and ways to find out where an email address is hosted. Im giving you the non-geek ways first and then the geek ways. Both get you about the same results so that you know where your domain names email is hosted.

Hosting Checker: The Server Details

The first part of the hosting checker report tells you who hosts this site or what is your hosting company. The second tab answers the question Where is this site hosted?. There you will find its IP address, sites webserver location , and name of the organization managing it.

You might wonder why the server location is in the host lookup tool report. The proximity of the webserver is essential as it influences the loading speed. The closer the webserver is to the target audience the faster the data will transfer. Some web host providers even charge extra for choosing a specific webserver location. To check where a specific IP address is, try our Free IP Checker.

If you want to save the content of any tab of our host checker, you can do it in one click. Copy it to a clipboard to paste elsewhere, download it as a pdf-file, or share it on social media.

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Can The Whois Search Tool Be Used To Register A Domain

Yes, you can. When you search for a domain name using our tool, the WHOIS lookup results will show whether the domain name is available for purchase or not. If it is, you can purchase it there and then.

However, you will find our Domain Checker tool much more convenient for this purpose. It will display more alternative options, offering different variations of domain extensions and domain name titles.

We are a web hosting provider on a mission to bring success to everyone who goes online. We do it by constantly improving server technology, providing professional support, and making the web hosting experience seamless.

Go Around The Whois Protection

Some domain owners decide to hide their information by using third-party protection services, such as WhoisGuard. Such services use methods to protect the privacy of their clients by providing their own contact details instead.

The best way to go around this kind of privacy protection is to contact the third-party company and ask them to pass on the email to the owner. While there are no guarantees that this method will work, it will increase your chances.

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Enter A Website Url To Find Out Who Owns It And Who Is Hosting It:

Top-Rated Web Hosts to Consider

Weve reviewed and rated the best web hosts for small businesses. Heres a shortlist of our favorites:

Use Your Computer Terminal

The last method well discuss is using your computer terminal to find out the ping of a certain website.

Open your computers terminal program. In Windows, its called Command Prompt, so all you need to do is hit the windows key, type in cmd and the application will pop up.

On Mac computers, its called Terminal. Open your Spotlight search by clicking command + space bar, and type in terminal. The app will pop up.

On Linux computers, you can search for the Terminal amongst the applications. Alternatively, press ctrl + alt + t in Ubuntu, or press alt + F2, type out gnome-terminal and then click enter,

Once youve opened your computer terminal, type in ping example.com and then hit enter. Youll be presented with the IP address of the domain.

You can try typing in the IP address in your browser, but this rarely results in a landing page and usually yields an error code. So instead, take the IP address and copy it into WhoIsHostingThis or WHOIS. The result will show you the host of the website.

Unfortunately, this isnt always the case. If the domain owner has hidden their host and is using Cloudflare, you may again see Cloudflare instead of the websites real host.

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Icann Domain Name Registration Lookup

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is responsible for coordinating and maintaining IP address allocation, domain name system management, and certain other specifics of the internets overall infrastructure.

In other words, ICANN keeps tabs on all registered domain names and network addresses to ensure an up-to-date database that can be accessed and interacted with.

The ICANN Domain Name Registration Data Lookup is a search tool that provides current registration data on domain owners. This data comes straight from registry operators and registrars, as ICANN doesnt store such information.

Simply enter the domain name into the search bar and click Lookup. ICANNs lookup tool will draw the available information about the domain owner from the WHOIS records and display it on the next page.

More Data Means Better Decisions

• The Internet thrives on free access to data. When you need to know web hosting information, we believe you deserve it now, and free of charge.
• Accurate web host data is critical in dealing with online copyright infringement. Its also helpful when choosing the best hosting provider for your website.
• Find out who is hosting any website, anytime. You deserve to know whats going on behind the scenes. Who Is Hosting This Website? delivers the details you need. Now. For free.

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What Is A Hosting Company

A hosting company is a business to business company that sells internet real estate so that other businesses and individuals can host a website. They have a wide range of services outside of hosting environments that help you set up a website, run one efficiently and protect against cybercriminals.

Hosting companies come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are not all created equal. You want to choose a hosting company with a robust set of services and one that is a one-stop-shop for all of your hosting needs. But lets breakdown the basics. Most hosting companies offer 3 main hosting environments to choose from with tiers.

Visit The Website Directly

If youve checked the domain status to find out your wanted domain name is not available, the first thing you should do is visit the website directly.

Some domain names are bought out to be resold later for a higher price. In such cases, the site will state the domains availability for sale and provide contact information right away, like in the example below.

If you enter the domain name into the search bar and get taken to a proper website, see if there is a Contact Us page in the navigation bar or the sites footer.

There you will either find the contact details of the website owner or a contact form. Take the chance to reach out and offer to buy the domain name from the registrant.

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See What Others Are Searching For

Two: Check The Whois Directory

Every time someone registers a domain name, the domain registrar that processes the sale is required to collect basic contact information. In some cases, that information then gets submitted to the WHOIS directory, so that theres a record of who runs each website online.

The WHOIS directory is therefore our next stop for seeking out a domain name owner.

Put in the name of the domain youre looking for and scroll down to find all the data the WHOIS directory lists for it. In a few cases, that may contain the owners contact information. If so, you can skip the next step.

Even if not though, it will always include at least their domain registrar and domain expiration date. That lets you know if the domain will be coming up for renewal soon. If so, you may be able to snap it up for cheaper when it expires than if you buy it from them directly. But that only works if they dont renew, so youre taking a chance.

Either way, knowing the domain registrar enables you to take the next step.

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How To Find A Websites Host

One of the simplest-to-use tools for finding what company is hosting a website is called HostAdvice and their Who is Hosting This? tool.

Finding out who is hosting a website is as simple as entering the URL into the Find Hosting field. The results should appear immediately with the info you want. The main reason we recommend this tool over some others is that HostAdvice lists other information, too. Such as the CMS and Nameservers.

You can click through the various places and get more info. But in terms of simplicity HostAdvices Who is Hosting This? tool is definitely top-tier.

What To Do If Your Domain Name Expires

In case your domain name expires, you should contact the registrar that provided your domain name registration services for possible renewal options available to you. To determine your current registrar, conduct a WHOIS search by visiting whois.icann.org, as we already explained in the post.

Note: Keep all your important business information permanently recorded somewhere safe. That includes your registrar name, login username, password, and domain management somewhere with your most important business papers. Ensure that all your information is properly added when registering your domain name.

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How To Find Who Hosts A Website

• Method #5: Use Your Computer Terminal

Maybe someone else set up your website years ago and you cant for the life of you remember whos hosting it. You cant find anything in your email, and youve lost the password to your other email back in the early 2000s.

Or maybe youre a web developer, and your brand new client has no idea who their host is. This is understandable they just need the website to work, so whos hosting it is not exactly something theyve thought about. But even if theyre clueless, you need to step up and figure it out.

Or youre sick of your existing hosting provider what with their slow page loading time, downtime, and poor customer service. In the meantime, youve discovered that your competitors website runs as smoothly as a knife through butter, and youre thinking about making the switch to their host. But who hosts their website?

Luckily, there are a plethora of tools both online and on your computer that can help you find out who hosts a website. Some methods are as simple as entering a domain name into a search bar and hitting enter, while others require a bit more grunt work but only a bit! If the easy methods dont work, you can always turn to the more complex ones.

Lets get started.

Who Legally Owns A Domain

Searching for a domains owner can turn up multiple names provided as contacts for functions such as technical support, administration, and billing. But, the legal owner of a website is the registrantthe person or entity in whose name the domain has been registered with a dedicated domain registrar or hosting provider. As long as registration fees are kept up to date, that owner retains full rights to the domain and has sole control over selling it at any time, whether or not the domain is nearing expiration.

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How To Choose The Best Web Hosting Company For Your Website

Our website host checker can help you to come out with some options for your website. The offers are numerous. The best web hosting companies have few issues with uptime and ensure a fast page loading. Besides, they provide 24/7 customer support, efficiently coping with any problems. And all that comes at a relatively reasonable price.

But which web hosting services are the best for your needs? A student might need something cheap with basic options and, perhaps, monthly plans. For an e-commerce business, reliability and speed matter much more. Entrepreneurs may also pay attention to free domain name offers the availability of the content management systems, such as WordPress.

Weve done extensive research for you to make a choice easier. Here are the articles, which may help:

Why Search For A Domain Owner

The most obvious reason to locate a domain owner is to try to purchase the domain, but that isnt the only one. If a site claims to be a legitimate one owned by a major corporation but appears suspicious, checking its ownership is a way to verify its authenticity. Likewise, if a website has no contact information on its homepage or a contact page, a visitor could track down its owners in order to contact them with questions about the sites products or servicesor to report a technical problem.

Another reason to check domain ownership information is to safeguard the security of your own site against incorrect or incomplete contact information. Looking up the domain ownership records on an existing site allows owners to ensure that their information is correct and that nothing has been changed without permission. Searches for domain ownership can be accomplished through public WHOIS databases, website searches, and even email, depending on the reasons for conducting the search.

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