Windows Hosting is on a server that is using the Windows operating system. Simple but this doesn’t have much to do with the operating system you use to run your home computer. The primary reason for using Windows web hosting is that it offers ASP, ASP.NET, and MSSQL. These are types of scripting languages and databases that only run on Windows. Also, Windows can also run all the web standards like PHP, MySQL, and more.

Advantages of Windows hosting

The benefits may vary depending on the scripting language you use.

• IIS (Internet Information Services) is a significant advantage on Windows. IIS 6 is the latest version of IIS with significant performance upgrades and advanced features like XML Metabase, ASP Hang Detection, and support for 64-bit servers, etc. ASP is a widely used language on the enterprise level for custom-made applications that require stability and performance.
• Windows supports Microsoft’s SQL server — one of the most robust DBMS around. With features like stored procedures, triggers, etc., it is the favorite choice for performance-based application development.
• Window supports the ‘.NET framework’. ASP.NET is commonly used nowadays because of its features like a memory leak, crash protection, multi-language support, etc.
• Windows also supports individual enterprise level applications for large end-users. One of them is Exchange Servers, which is known for its rock-solid performance in business-critical information handling.

Disadvantages of Windows hosting

The most basic thing you should know about Windows hosting is that it involves a lot of licensing costs.

• The Windows OS itself is not free. IIS, ASP support, and ‘.NET’ support does come bundled with Windows, but MSSQL and Exchange servers need additional licenses, which are not cheap.
• Any other components that might need on the server must also be paid for. The concept of open source software does not apply much in the case of a Windows environment except for MYSQL, PHP, and some other components that are open source and compatible with Windows. Windows hosting cannot be cheap because of these additional setup costs.