Are you an entrepreneur, small business, or business owner looking to secure reliable hosting for your online presence?
If so, VPS hosting could be the perfect solution. But before diving into it and deciding, it’s essential to understand how it works – and that’s just what this blog post is here to do!
In this post, we will go through all the basics of Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting, from its fundamental concepts to specialized aspects ranging from security measures and resource allocation.
I’m AJ, and I’ve been using VPS hosting for several years on my affiliate blogs, and at my agency, I sold for a multi-million dollar exit.
At the end of this post, I’ll even give you some extra information that will be vital in picking the best VPS hosting provider.
Let’s nerd out and dive in!
What is VPS Hosting?
To truly understand VPS hosting, you’ll need first to understand the different types of hosting and their similarities and differences.
Shared hosting is the most basic type of hosting, perfect for smaller websites.
With this type of hosting, a single server stores multiple websites at once – meaning all users share the same physical machine. With shared hosting, you share CPU, RAM, and other system resources with many other customers.
While this is a great place to start if you’re starting a business, its limitations make it unsuitable for more extensive and resource-intensive websites.
For example, if a site on your server gets a spike in traffic, your server resources will gobble up by that site, thus slowing down yours.
What is Dedicated Hosting?
Dedicated hosting is the complete opposite of shared.
Unlike shared hosting, a dedicated server provides a single account with full access to all system resources – meaning each site has its own private space and can use as much CPU, RAM, and other resources as it needs.
This makes it ideal for larger websites or those handling more resource-intensive operations.
However, dedicated hosting often comes with a significantly higher price tag than shared hosting and may not be necessary for smaller websites expecting less traffic.
What is Cloud Hosting?
Cloud hosting is the most recent addition to web hosting.
Unlike shared and dedicated, cloud-hosting stores your site’s data across multiple servers at different locations. This means that if one server crashes, another can easily pick up the slack – making it much more reliable than the other two options.
However, due to the increased complexity and cost, cloud hosting is typically used by larger businesses and enterprise-level websites.
What is VPS Hosting?
Now that you’ve understood the primary types of web hosting, we can dive into what VPS hosting is.
VPS hosting (virtual private server) combines aspects of both shared and dedicated hosting – offering a more customizable experience than shared, but without the expensive price tag that comes with dedicated.
VPS hosting technically uses the same servers as shared hosting but is completely private and secure. This means that instead of one site using all the resources, each website has its own dedicated server slice – meaning the chances of performance issues are significantly reduced.
This type of hosting also gives users more control over their sites, allowing them to install custom software and tweak settings as needed.
Meaning you’ll get root access, dedicated storage, your own CPU and RAM, and unmetered bandwidth.
How Does VPS Hosting Work?
Now that we understand VPS hosting, let’s look at how it works.
Simply put, VPS hosting utilizes virtualization technology to divide a physical server into smaller virtual machines, each with its operating system and dedicated resources.
Your hosting company installs a virtual layer on top of the operating system.
Each virtual wall isolates one website from another, meaning you get all of the resources available on the physical server without sharing them with others.
This also allows for more flexibility in terms of customization and maintenance and improved performance.
How Secure is VPS Hosting?
VPS hosting is extremely secure since each account has its own dedicated resources, and the data is stored on a secure server.
The hosting company will usually provide additional security measures such as firewalls, malware scanning, and regular backups to help protect against any potential threats.
It’s also important to note that VPS hosting is usually managed and monitored by the hosting company, making it a much safer solution than dedicated servers.
Ultimately, VPS hosting offers users a secure, reliable, and cost-effective way to host their websites without sacrificing performance or security.
This makes it an attractive option for businesses of all sizes requiring more power or customization than shared hosting.
With all of these benefits, it’s no wonder why VPS hosting has become so popular in recent years.
Now, let’s look at the pros and cons of VPS hosting!
What are the Benefits of VPS Hosting?
Secure and Reliable: The security of VPS hosting is one of its major benefits, as each virtual machine has its resources, eliminating the need to share these with other sites.
Performance: With dedicated resources, you won’t have to worry about performance issues due to other websites on the same server. This can help improve the speed and reliability of your website.
Flexibility: With VPS hosting, you’ll have access to root access and dedicated storage, giving you more control over your site and the ability to install custom software and tweak settings as needed.
Cost-Effective: VPS hosting offers a cost-effective way to host websites without sacrificing performance or security.
Scalability: VPS hosting is highly scalable, meaning you can easily upgrade or downgrade your resources as needed. This makes it an excellent option for businesses that are expecting to grow shortly.
Control: VPS hosting gives you more control over your website as you can install custom software, tweak settings, and even run other services without affecting other users.
What are the Disadvantages of VPS Hosting?
Cost: While cost benefits VPS, VPS hosting is often more expensive than shared hosting, so it may not be the right option for those working with a tight budget.
Technical Knowledge Required: As mentioned earlier, VPS hosting requires root access and the ability to install custom software, so some technical knowledge may be needed to set up and maintain the account.
Resource Limitations: Depending on your hosting plan, you may be limited in terms of resources and bandwidth available. You’ll want to ensure you know any resource or bandwidth caps before signing up for a VPS hosting plan.
Security Concerns: Like any web hosting, there are always potential security risks. This is why ensuring that your VPS hosting company has adequate measures, such as firewalls and regular backups, is essential.
What is VPS Best For?
VPS is a step between shared hosting and having your dedicated server.
VPS is best for businesses needing more power and customization than shared hosting can offer but doesn’t want to pay the high cost of having their dedicated server.
VPS is also best suited for those who need root access and are comfortable managing their own server. It’s also an excellent option for those who want to host multiple websites on one account.
Ultimately, VPS hosting is an excellent option for businesses of all sizes who want the performance and security of dedicated hosting without its high cost.
With the right provider and plan, you can ensure your website has the resources to run smoothly and securely.
How Do You Host a Website Using VPS?
Hosting a website with VPS is relatively simple.
Step 1: Choose one of the best VPS hosting companies. Our recommendation for this is HostGator.
You’ll want to ensure you understand the differences in RAM, SSD disk space, and bandwidth.
For example, 1 GB of ram could power a single WordPress website, while 2GB is enough to power several.
Step 2: Connect VPS Using SSH
Typically, VPS doesn’t come with cPanel, but you can connect remotely to the server using SSH.
An SSH (Secure Shell Client) is a type of software that allows you to connect securely to a VPS server.
Step 3: Use the Command Line to Manage Your VPS
Once connected to your VPS via SSH, you can use the command line to manage and install software and services.
At this point, you’re ready to start managing your VPS hosting.
How Much Does VPS Hosting Cost?
Generally speaking, VPS hosting can range anywhere from USD 2 to USD 100 monthly, depending on your provider and plan. VPS hosting costs are usually based on the amount of RAM and disk space you need.
More RAM will mean higher costs, while more disk space may not increase the price as much.
Before signing up for VPS hosting, compare different plans and providers to find the best one for your needs.
Here is a list of the most popular (and cheapest) VPS hosting providers.
- IONOS: $2.00 per month
- Hostinger: $3.99 per month
- Godaddy: $4.99 per month
- AccuWeb: $5.99 per month
- NameCheap: $6.88 per month
- Hostwinds: $8.24 per month
- InMotion: $9.99 per month
- Dreamhost: $10.00 per month
- HostPapa: $19.99 per month
- Bluehost: $19.99 per month
- HostGator: $23.95 per month
- Liquid Web: $25.00 per month
- GreenGeeks: $39.99 per month
- A2 Hosting: $39.99 per month
How Many Daily Visitors Can VPS Hosting Handle?
The number of daily visitors your VPS hosting can handle will depend on the size of your plan.
For example, if you have 1GB RAM and 40GB SSD disk space, it’s safe to assume that you can handle around 10,000 unique visitors daily.
However, if you have 4GB RAM and 80GB SSD disk space, you can handle upwards of 500,000 visitors monthly.
Ultimately, the best way to answer this question is by testing your VPS hosting plan under real-world conditions to determine how much traffic it can handle.
When Should You Plan to Upgrade VPS Hosting?
If you’re currently on shared hosting, you’ll likely need to upgrade to VPS hosting as soon as your website receives more traffic than shared hosting can handle. However, you might want to upgrade to VPS for several other reasons.
More Security: VPS hosting offers more security than shared hosting since it’s a more private environment.
More Speed: With less resource competition, you can expect better website performance with VPS hosting.
Scale Up Easily: It’s easy to upgrade your plan when needed with VPS hosting.
More Reliability: The resources you are allotted are dedicated to your website, so there is less risk of downtime caused by other websites on the same server.
You want Root Access: VPS hosting offers root access, which is unavailable on shared hosting.
You Are Seeing Traffic Surges: VPS hosting offers more scalability than shared hosting to handle sudden spikes in traffic.
You Take Payments Online: VPS hosting offers a fully dedicated and isolated making it easy to pass a PCI compliance test.
You want to Host Other Websites: VPS hosting allows you to host multiple websites on the same server.
Which VPS Hosting Plan is the Best?
This question is tough to answer. Kidding! We wrote an entire article on the best VPS hosting providers you can read through.
However, here are a few that made our list!
HostGator: HostGator offers VPS hosting plans starting at just $10 monthly.
Bluehost: Bluehost’s VPS Hosting plans start at $19.99 per month.
Don’t let the pricing fool you. Typically, these hosting plans differ on GBs of storage, bandwidth, etc.
In Conclusion
VPS hosting can be an excellent solution for those looking to get away from shared hosting and have more control over their environment.
There are plenty of providers with reasonable plans, so make sure to do your research before you commit.
The main factors that will affect the cost of VPS hosting are RAM and disk space. The more RAM and disk space you require, the more expensive the plan will be.
You should also consider the number of daily visitors your website needs to determine how much RAM and disk space are necessary.
Ultimately, it comes down to finding the right provider for your needs. Take your time to compare different plans and providers to find the best one for your business!
Comment below if we missed anything!
