What is VPS hosting?

VPS hosting is the in-between step of shared and dedicated hostings: Professionals and companies who start off with shared hosting and get to a stage where they want better hosting, usually choose VPS hosting. VPS hosting architecture is set up in a way that your website shares a physical server with other websites, but your part of the server is safely isolated. In essence, it’s similar to having an apartment: You have neighbors but they don’t bother you most of the time. VPS hosting is significantly more reliable and secure than shared hosting, but of course dedicated hosting, where you have a server to yourself, is even better. VPS hosting is relatively inexpensive and works well for most high-traffic websites. Here’s a catch though: With VPS, you also have more freedom, and that means responsibility. VPS hosting ultimately works best when you have a technical team ready to take on server configuration and management. 

Let’s go over the main advantages and disadvantages of VPS hosting. 

Advantages of VPS hosting

VPS is well-suited for mid-sized to large projects that prioritize scalability and excellent performance. Here are the main benefits of VPS hosting:

Control over the virtual server

You or your team are free to configure, customize, and manage your virtual server however you see fit. This means you can tailor your website’s infrastructure to your needs with way more precision than with shared hosting. If you’re a tech whizz or have a technical team to support you, this can be pretty cool!  

High scalability

With VPS, a surge in traffic will never be a problem. The resources of your website will adjust according to the visitor count. 

Enhanced performance, security, and reliability

A big pro is that the isolated architecture of VPS hosting tangibly improves website speed, uptime, and security. It becomes significantly less likely that your website will be negatively affected by its neighboring sites. So a VPS-hosted website is more secure and reliable than those using shared hosting.

Relatively inexpensive

VPS hosting isn’t cheap but it’s less expensive than dedicated hosting. In most cases, if you have a more or less successful online business, you will be able to afford it. 

Disadvantages of VPS hosting

More expensive than cloud/shared hosting

While VPS hosting is less costly than dedicated hosting, it is still significantly more expensive than both cloud and shared hostings. Your budget may not account for the $30-40 monthly hosting plan fee. 

Need for technical know-how 

Not all of us can or even want to be in charge of our server’s technical maintenance. Because being in control involves a lot of possible mistakes and additional  effort, so if you don’t have a team ready to take on the responsibility, a lot of times it’s better to focus on other aspects of your online presence.