source: itxdesign.com

Main differences between VPS and dedicated hosting

Why do I need Web Hosting?

source: thebroodle.com

If you want to have a website, you need a web host. All of the web pages need to be stored somewhere and that is the job of a web server. In order to make the websites available to everyone everywhere, you need a web host. Technically, you can serve pages from your PC but that is highly impractical as the internet connection is probably going to be less powerful than you need it to be in order to serve multiple users at the same time. Web hosting companies help you with that issue by offering you a powerful web server that can store the pages and serve them to many users at the same time. That is, in all likelihood, something you can’t do on your own and so, today web hosting companies are a necessity.

VPS vs dedicated hosting

source: youtube.com

There are a lot of things to take into consideration when looking at web hosting companies. As some of the more important factors, web4africa.com singles out fast and stable networks, high-quality hardware, and 24/7 monitoring.  Thinking about what web hosting includes, this all makes a lot of sense. Another thing you should think about is whether you should opt for a VPS or dedicated hosting.

source: sitepoint.com

By choosing VPS, or a Virtual Private Server hosting, you’re agreeing to share the server’s resources with few other websites and if you are interested you can find out top picks here. This is not to be confused with shared hosting where you’re sharing the resources with a lot more websites. Unlike VPS, dedicated hosting means that one entire physical server is dedicated just for you. The resources are always available to you with VPS hosting, but they are shared among few other websites meaning that sometimes, it’s not going to be shared equally and that it’s not always guaranteed for your use.

Dedicated hosting gives you complete control over the server and the CPU. You can have up to eight CPU cores for your use, and the performance isn’t threatened in any way as you’re not sharing resources with other websites.

What should I choose?

source: smallbusiness.co

Many websites switch to VPS once they’ve outgrown shared hosting. It is a great solution as you don’t need to think about the maintenance of the server and its security. Those are some things your web hosting company needs to worry about. On the other hand, dedicated servers require you to cover the costs of maintenance making the VPS a cheaper option. VPS comes with technical support and represents an ideal solution for many websites as it’s much better than shared hosting, but still much cheaper than dedicated hosting. By using VPS, you can increase or decrease the resources you’re using depending on your needs. So, in order to know which option is best for you, you need to consider your future plans, the growth of the business, your strategies, business goals, and similar. If you’re foreseeing a big growth for your business in the future, then switching to VPS, or even dedicated hosting, from shared hosting is a good idea.


Peter is a freelance writer with more than eight years of experience covering topics in politics. He was one of the guys that were here when the foreignpolicyi.org started.