First of all, VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. While at first glance it would appear like a VPS is kind of the same as shared hosting, a VPS is actually often very similar to dedicated hosting (if you aren’t sure what dedicated hosting is, please have a look at this explanation of different types of hosting). For VPS hosting you’re simply given a dedicated portion of a server. Each portion is segmented off and dedicated to a particular user. In this case, dedicated to your business.
Outsourcing Your Web Hosting Makes Sense Usually
Unless you’re very well-versed with computers or have a healthy budget set aside, you probably won’t even consider having your own on-site server room set up to host your site and IT needs. Don’t worry, most businesses don’t do it and don’t really have a viable reason to do so. It’s expensive to set up. On top of that, you have to constantly update machines, hardware and software. That means you need to find a competent hosting company to outsource your hosting management to.
Traditionally, this meant choosing between dedicated hosting or shared hosting. Shared hosting would normally be the choice for small start-ups or very small businesses with not a lot of visitors coming to their site. Dedicated hosting would be the choice for larger businesses and those with sites that receive a lot of traffic. But as technology continues to grow, there are quite a few more options available for you today.
What to Expect with VPS Hosting
When you use a VPS for your hosting, it’s almost like you are on dedicated hosting but what makes it great is that you can use it even if you aren’t tech-savvy. Running your site on a dedicated server requires a bit more know-how.
Easily Tweak and Scale Your Hosting
As your business grows, you can easily adjust your VPS to fit. Some hosting providers will even give you a self-service feature which gives you the ability to go in and make the adjustments in real-time as needed. If you need more disk space, less space, new apps, etc… it can be done in the blink of an eye. Even if you don’t have a self-service feature, it normally only takes a moment or two for them to tweak it to your liking.
Cost Effective for Most Businesses
As mentioned above, setting up your own server room is costly. Dedicated hosting that gives you your own server solely used for you and your business can get expensive, too. VPS hosting is the perfect compromise. You get the features and most of the benefits of a dedicated server without the dedicated price tag.
As you can see, VPS hosting is usually a great option for a small business. Of course, if you don’t need the flexibility, control and features it comes with and need to stick to a strict budget then shared hosting is always an option. If your business unexpectedly grows to new heights, you can easily upgrade to dedicated, too. Here at HostWinds we will always work with you to try to find the most cost-effective and perfectly-suited hosting plan to match your needs.
