Posted by Jerry in *Updates: I wrote another article about VPS hosting recently, it’s more comprehensive and better researched and I believe it’s better for you to read there (regarding on the topic) instead: Ultimate guide for VPS shoppers: Is VPS hosting right for you?.
What is a VPS?
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. Sometimes it is also referred as Virtual Dedicated Server.
When you take a server and part it into smaller independent servers where each of these smaller server runs on its own operating system and private environment but shares the same hardware – that’s what we called as VPS. A VPS is a hosting environment that combines both benefits of shared and dedicated hosting. It looks, feels, and acts like a dedicated server; but it cost a fraction of the cost of a dedicated hosting package.
VPS is most suitable for website owners that need an isolated hosting environment (for safety and performance purpose) and special hostingfeatures (such as custom firewalls, SSH access, dedicated IP addresses).
Benefits of VPS
The best things about VPS are its dedicated-server-alike features and affordable pricing.
Isolation Each private server has its unique file system and gets a guaranteed fraction of the server’s disk space, CPU power, bandwidth, and memory. Hence, a website hosted on a VPS runs on an isolated environment where its performance will not be affected by other websites. Also, a VPS does not share web application and services with other websites thus it eliminates the risk of downtime or hacks due to other’s mistakes.
Customization VPS users get full root access. This allows server customization – you get to install your own software/application and manage your server as you would on a dedicated server.
Affordable VPS is cheap. You’ll get features like dedicated servers but cost a lot more cheaper (in most of the case, 50% less) than a dedicated hosting plan. You can compare the pricing different between a dedicated server and VPS hosting below.
| Web Host | Virtual Private Server | Dedicated Server | ||||||
| Storage | Bandwidth | RAM | Price/mo | Storage | Bandwidth | RAM | Price/mo | |
| Lunarpages | 20GB | 1,000GB | 512MB | $39.95 | 80GB | 500GB | 512MB | $69.00 |
| Inmotion | 40GB | 500GB | 256MB | $39.95 | 160GB | 1,500GB | 2GB | $199.95 |
| Hostgator | - | - | - | - | 80GB | 1,500GB | 1GB | $174.00 |
| SliceHost | 40GB | 400GB | 1GB | $70.00 | - | - | - | - |
| LiquidWeb | 40GB | 350GB | 768MB | $100 | 240GB | 3,200GB | 1GB | $189.00 |
| HostICan | 45GB | 2,000GB | 512MB | $44.95 | 250GB | 3,000GB | 1GB | $59.95 |
What to look for when choosing a VPS?
Besides pricing, there are a few other important points that you should look at when it comes to VPS shopping. Choosing a VPS provider that’s easy to communicate is very important. A web host who’s willing to listen and accommodate your specific needs is very important.
Also, getting a flexible VPS provider that allows hardware customization is very important. Avoid web hosts who offer only ’standard’ plans as this will creates troubles in your future upgrades. Each website has different needs, maybe you need lower CPU speeds, or larger storage, or less bandwidth, or more RAM – you’ll never know what kind of upgrades you need in the future. Do you want to upgrade your entire hosting plan everytime you need a minor upgrades? No, of course. If all you need is just some extra RAM, why should you upgrade the entire hosting plan and pay for all the unnecessary storage and bandwidth?
Is VPS right for you?
When your website has outgrown your shared hosting plan and you couldn’t afford the price of a dedicated server, then VPS is your answer. Most webmasters see VPS as the stepping stone to dedicated or self-managed private server.
Further related readings: Is dedicated server right for you?, 9 web hosting pitfalls you must avoid, and How much bandwidth do you need.
