+ > [!NOTE]

+ > For Office 365 A1 users, the OneDrive storage limit is up to 100 GB. For details, see [Office 365 Education service descriptions](/office365/servicedescriptions/office-365-platform-service-description/office-365-education).

+A site collection is made up of one top-level site and all sites below it. As shown in the following figure, it's the top level of organization in a SharePoint Server web application. The number of site collections you can have in a single web application depends on the capacity of your server infrastructure. For more information about SharePoint Server boundaries, see [Software boundaries and limits for SharePoint Servers 2016 and 2019](../install/software-boundaries-limits-2019.md).

+The SharePoint Server modern experience, available in both SharePoint Server 2019 and SharePoint Server Subscription Edition, is similar to the experience in SharePoint in Microsoft 365. The main difference is Hub sites aren't available in SharePoint Server. We do recommend that you use the same process as in SharePoint in Microsoft 365, create site collections for each unit of work instead of creating subsites. These site collections make it easier when migrating your SharePoint Server farm to SharePoint in Microsoft 365.

+You create a site collection to host sites that have something in common. For example, the sites might be in a common administrative boundary or share common branding. The site collection might be created to house all the sites and content for a business unit. Or, a single site collection might have become too large to manage, and it must be split into smaller ones. Lastly, some site collections are created exclusively to host specific SharePoint Server functionality, such as Enterprise Search Center or to host My Sites. Site collections are a way of organizing sites for a common purpose. Microsoft recommends that you create site collections for each unit of work instead of creating subsites.

+SharePoint Server supports two types of site collections:

+- path-based site collections

+- host-named site collections

+In path-based site collection, all the subsites in the site collection share a root or parent URL (DNS name). For example, Team A could have a site collection at http<!-- nolink -->://contoso.com/sites/teamA, and Team B would have a site collection at http<!-- nolink -->://contoso/sites/teamB. All sites in either site collection would have the http<!-- nolink -->://contoso.com/sites/teamA or /teamB root. The only way to have a different URL root is to create a different web application.

+Microsoft recommends that customers use path-based site collections as they're easier to manage through PowerShell and Central Administration. However, if customers need to host multiple site collections, with each site collection having its own DNS name, they can opt to deploy host-named site collections. Host-named site collections require additional administration to ensure each site collection is correctly registered with DNS names and Service Principal Names (SPNs).

+Site collections and sites exist in a parent-child relationship. There are aspects of control and functionality that can be configured at the site collection level and used at the site level. This aspect management pattern provides the following benefits:

+- For site collection administrators, a site collection provides a unified mechanism and scope for administration. For example, security, policies, and features can be managed for a whole site collection. Site Collection Web Analytics Reports, audit log reports, and other data can help administrators track site collection security and performance.

+ SharePoint Server 2019 and SharePoint Server Subscription Edition offers the choice to create modern Team and Communication sites like in SharePoint in Microsoft 365, or keep the classic experience. Using the modern experience site collections is inline with our recommendation to create site collections for each unit of work to make it easier when you decide to migrate to SharePoint.

+Every site collection starts as a single, top-level site. Because it's a site, its structure and functionality is based on a site template. SharePoint Server provides many site templates, plus you can also create and use your own as needed. The following tables describe the site collection templates that are available in SharePoint Servers 2016 and 2019.

+**Table: Site templates in SharePoint Servers 2016, 2019, and SharePoint Server Subscription Edition**

+|**Collaboration**|Team Site|A place to work together with a group of people. <br/> **SharePoint Server 2019** and **SharePoint Server Subscription Edition** offers a modern and classic team site.|Site collection and site|

+|**Enterprise**|Records Center|This template creates a site designed for records management. Records managers can configure the routing table to direct incoming files to specific locations. The site also lets you manage whether records can be deleted or modified after they're added to the repository.|Site collection and site|

+|**Enterprise**|Basic Search Center|A site focused on delivering a basic search experience. It includes a welcome page with a search box that connects users to a search results page and an advanced search page. This Search Center won't appear in navigation. <br/> **Note:** <br/> Search Centers should be separate site collections because they search for information across a company portal or division. If you create a Search Center as a subsite, you might have to create some workarounds for a full customization. For more info, see [Customizing the Search Center](/previous-versions/office/developer/sharepoint-2010/ee872308(v=office.14)).|Site collection and site|

+|**Publishing**|Publishing Portal|A starter hierarchy for an Internet-facing site or a large intranet portal. This site can be customized easily with distinctive branding. Typically, this site has many more readers than contributors and it's used to publish web pages with approval workflows.|Site collection only|

+|**Publishing**|Communication Site|Available in SharePoint Server 2019 and SharePoint Server Subscription Edition as a modern experience. A site for publishing dynamic, modern content to people in your organization to keep them informed and engaged on topics, events, or projects.|Site collection only|

+|**Records Center**||This template creates a site designed for records management. Records managers can configure the routing table to direct incoming files to specific locations. The site also lets you manage whether records can be deleted or modified after they're added to the repository.|Site collection and site, Server only|

+|**Basic Search Center**||A site focused on delivering a basic search experience. It includes a welcome page with a search box that connects users to a search results page and an advanced search page. This Search Center won't appear in navigation. <br/> **Note:** <br/> Search Centers should be separate site collections because they search for information across a company portal or division. If you create a Search Center as a subsite, you might have to create some workarounds for a full customization. For more information, see [Customizing the Search Center](/previous-versions/office/developer/sharepoint-2010/ee872308(v=office.14)) in the MSDN Library.|Site collection and site, Server, and Foundation|

+|**Publishing**|Publishing Portal|A starter hierarchy for an Internet-facing site or a large intranet portal. This site can be customized easily with distinctive branding. Typically, this site has many more readers than contributors and it's used to publish web pages with approval workflows.|Site collection only, Server only|

+- **Team collaboration site** A site collection to support authoring and collaboration tasks. Often, this kind of site includes collaborative content that isn't published but only used internally. For example, a team collaboration site collection might contain a site for each team in your organization to use to plan projects, coordinate tasks, record meeting notes, and store team documents.

+- **Published Internet site** A site collection for publishing content to anonymous Internet readers. A few authors create and publish content for many readers. For example, you might use a published Internet site to provide information about company products or services to customers. You can implement publishing sites in a single site collection, where authoring and publishing tasks are performed on the same site. You can also implement publishing sites as two or more site collections that separate the stages of authoring and publishing. Content is created on one or more authoring site collections, and is displayed on one or more publishing site collections by using the Cross-Site Collection Publishing feature in SharePoint Server. For information about how to decide which publishing method to use, see [Plan for Internet, intranet, and extranet publishing sites in SharePoint Server](../administration/plan-for-internet-intranet-and-extranet-publishing-sites.md). For information about cross-site publishing, see [Plan for cross-site publishing in SharePoint Server](../administration/plan-for-cross-site-publishing.md).

+- **Language** If language packs were installed on the web server, you can select a specific language to use together with the site template when you create a new site. The user interface that appears on the site is displayed in the language that was selected when the site was created. Content and other items created by users are displayed in the language in which they're created. For more information, see [Plan for multilingual sites in SharePoint Server](plan-for-multilingual-sites.md) and [Install or uninstall language packs for SharePoint Servers 2016 and 2019](../install/install-uninstall-language-packs-2019.md).