Three different things, often confused with each other. The domain is the address. It is what people type. You rent it for a period, usually a year at a time. Hosting or a website service is where the content lives. When somebody visits the domain, the domain points them at the server, and the server returns the page. Email is a separate service that also uses the domain. It is configured by DNS records and does not have to be from the same provider as the website. So the minimum to be on the internet A domain, plus something that serves a page, plus a certificate if the site is going to be trusted. Email is optional at the start - you can add it when you want an address on your own domain instead of a free mailbox. If you are not sure where to start Buy the domain first. It is the thing that has to be unique and the thing that will be taken if you wait. Everything else can be changed later, and changing a host or a website builder does not affect the domain at all. Then decide how the site will be made: a template builder if you want to be editing content rather than code, or a developer if the site needs to do something specific. Then email, then the certificate. What people regret later Buying a domain and forgetting the renewal. Check the renewal price, not only the first year, and turn auto-renew on. Sharing one account between several people. Use separate contacts when more than one person needs access. Not registering the obvious variants. If the brand matters, register the endings your customers might type, at the same time, so they cannot be picked up by somebody else.