You also won't have many options to customize your game, which maybe you care about, and maybe you don't. Ultimately, it all comes down to what matters most to you.
In this guide, we’ll dive into the ins and outs of VPS hosting. What is it? How does it compare to shared or dedicated hosting? We’ll also look at the factors indicating it may be time to upgrade. To sum up, learn how to choose the best VPS hosting plan for your growing business.
Server: A server is a powerful computer that stores all the data and files for a website. When you type a domain name into your browser, that server delivers the site to your screen.
Virtual: Virtualization technology splits one full server into multiple virtual machines. It’s still one physical piece of hardware, but it operates like several separate servers.
Private: The word private is just what it sounds like. Your virtual server and all its virtual resources are reserved just for you, giving you a high-performance hosting environment where the RAM, CPU power, or any data will not be shared with other users.
Well, your hosting provider installs a virtual layer on top of the server’s operating system. This virtual layer separates the server into individual compartments for each user, creating individual virtual machines or VMs.
Within each compartment, you can install your preferred operating system, software, and other required tools to host your website. For example, Linux, MySQL, and a control panel like cPanel.
cPanel is a web-based hosting control panel that provides users with a graphical interface to manage their websites. With cPanel, users can create email accounts, upload files, and change website settings. cPanel is the most popular hosting control panel globally and is used by millions of websites.
These virtual machines ensure that you get guaranteed resources. And unlike shared hosting, your server’s performance does not depend on how much of the resources other websites on the same server use.
In a nutshell, VPS gives you the experience of having your own dedicated environment through virtualization. Your site lives in a private, isolated container with allocated resources just for you.
A virtual private server provides dedicated resources and greater control over server configuration compared to shared hosting, at a lower cost than dedicated hosting. VPS strikes an optimal balance of affordability, customization, and guaranteed performance for many growing websites and web applications.
Cost-effectiveness: VPS costs less than dedicated hosting but delivers better performance than shared hosting. VPS is a budget-friendly option for sites outgrowing shared servers.
Customization and control: VPS users can fully optimize and customize server settings, and install software. This level of control is ideal for sites with specific configuration needs.
Scalability: It’s easy to scale VPS resources like CPU cores, RAM, and storage as site traffic increases. Sites can upgrade their VPS plan as needed to accommodate growth.
Bandwidth refers to the maximum amount of data that can be transferred via an internet connection within a specific path and during a specific time. Bandwidth is usually expressed in Megabits per second (Mbps or Mb/s).
When selecting a web hosting plan, there are three main options: shared hosting, dedicated hosting, and VPS hosting. Let’s examine the key differences between shared, dedicated, and VPS hosting.
Shared hosting is the most common and the most cost-effective form of web hosting and works well for most new website owners. When you purchase a shared hosting plan, you’re sharing resources like CPU, RAM, and hard drive space with other website owners on that same server.
Consider shared hosting as multiple websites renting a single apartment in the same building. Each of you gets your own private bed, but you share the apartment with common spaces like the lobby, elevators, and utilities. In the case of websites, it’s CPU, RAM, and storage.
This offers multiple benefits, including lower costs, as the server costs are split among all the website owners. If one of the websites on your shared server has a huge spike in traffic, that could affect your website’s performance as well.
Balanced RO ServerBut when you’re just getting started, you are unlikely to notice the impact—and if you need help starting out, you may want to read this web hosting guide.
Dedicated hosting allocates an entire server to just your site. You have full control over resources and can customize them to meet your needs.
Sounds great, right? The catch is that it’s much more expensive — but you get 100% control over your resources and can customize the software to meet your individual needs.
VPS hosting provides a middle ground between shared and dedicated. When you choose VPS, other websites will be hosted on the same hardware as yours (remember that powerful server we talked about earlier?)
But now, your website is running on a virtual machine with its own dedicated resources. That means you get your own operating system, dedicated storage, powerful CPU, scalable RAM, and unlimited bandwidth.
Thinking of it from the apartment complex analogy, consider all apartment owners now have access to their private lobbies, elevators, and utilities. One person using the resource no longer impacts the rest.
This provides you with the double benefits of dedicated hosting, where you have complete control over the resources and lower costs because of the shared physical servers.
If your website is growing, you may wonder: should you upgrade to VPS? Here are eight key signs that can indicate you’re now ready to make the switch.
