If you are on the market for a hosting plan or looking to change from a shared host to something else, then VPS Hosting may be the way to go for you. Let’s discuss some of the benefits of VPS hosting vs Shared Hosting.
The easiest way to do this is to simply give you a rundown about everything related to both Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting. You can then see all the benefits of VPS Hosting and how it stacks up.
What is Shared Hosting?
First off, Shared Hosting is not a bad thing. Matter of fact, it is the most popular and common type of hosting around. That being said, it does lack a lot of VPS benefits.
Shared Hosting is very popular for small business websites and personal blogs that are low in traffic. A shared platform means your website shares resources with a bunch of other websites at the same time. This is why most of the newer shared hosting plans offer a lot of “unlimited” resources.
The issue becomes traffic spikes and data space over time. Since you are sharing a server with others, if you hit a traffic spike or another site on the server does, your page load speed may slow down because of it. Again though, shared hosting is not really meant for a website with a ton of traffic, so more often than not, you are good to go.
On price alone, shared hosting is a fantastic option. However, if your website continues to grow, then you will more than likely outgrow this and want to take a look at the benefits of VPS hosting.
Shared Hosting Pros
When you look at Shared Hosting vs VPS, you want to explore both the pros and cons of each. There are a lot of pros when it comes to shared hosting. Let’s take a look at some of those together.
Pricing is Very Affordable
Pricing for a shared hosting plan is very affordable. This alone makes it very attractive. Most web hosts will give you everything you need to get your website going quick and easy on a shared hosting platform. However, you still want to pick a solid web host provider.
Very User-Friendly
The fact of the matter is that most everyone who is jumping into a shared hosting platform needs it to be user-friendly. When you sign up, you will be given a number of instructions, a lot of support when needed, and the ability to choose from a number of CMS platforms. Things like a free SSL, email, and the ability to use a one-click installer are all made available to you.
Maintenance and Upgrades Included
Let’s be clear, maintenance and upgrades are included from the web host. However, you still need to perform the maintenance and upgrades to your actual site. For instance, if you are using WordPress, then theme, plugin, and WordPress core updates will be handled by you. Security, hosting platform updates and maintenance will all be taken care of by the web host.
Shared Hosting Cons
Now that you have seen the good things, let’s take a look at some of the downfalls of shared hosting vs VPS.
Slow Website Speeds
The main issue with a shared hosting system is that you can (and sometimes will) run into site speed and page load time issues. This is due to the fact that your server is being shared with hundreds, if not thousands, of other websites. If some of these sites have traffic spikes, you will experience slower speeds on your own website. You can only optimize your website so much.
You Don’t Control Server
While shared hosting gives you a lot of CMS options and other tools to start, you really don’t control the server itself. You will be able to make some small changes from cPanel. But if you require an advanced or more unique hardware or software setup, then this is one of many VPS benefits available.
Might Hit Server Limits
If you have a website on a shared platform and it is growing rapidly, then there is a good chance you may hit server limits pretty quickly. Shared hosting does offer a little scalability, based on what plan or web host you use, but scalability at a greater level just can’t be handled using a shared platform.
Now you have a good idea of what Shared Hosting is. Let’s look at the benefits of VPS hosting, what it is, what it offers, and why you may want to make the switch.
What is VPS Hosting?
You might be surprised to find out that VPS Hosting, or a “Virtual Private Server” is actually still shared hosting. Let me explain.
As you know on a shared hosting system, you share the entire server with other websites.
With VPS Hosting, you are still sharing a server with other websites, but you have your own, dedicated, secure, private spot on the server that is for you alone. All the resources are yours, and they are not shared with anyone else on that server.
VPS Hosting actually simulates the experience you would get on a dedicated server. However, this is happening while you are on a shared server, and also happening at a much lower cost to you.
VPS works like this:
Your web-hosting provider installs a virtual layer on top of the operating system (OS) of the server. This process is completed by using virtualization technology.
Because a Virtual Private Server separates all of your files from other server user files on the operating system level, it is able to give you the experience of a full private server. Think of it this way, you are in a condo building with other tenants. However, your condo is private, exclusive to you, and you can do what you want with it.
VPS Hosting Pros
As we did with shared hosting, let’s look at the pros and cons of VPS Hosting. First, here are a few pros of a VPS.
Much Better Level of Performance
Because you have dedicated and private resources that are for you only, you immediately get a better level of performance. If you have a rapidly growing website or big traffic spikes, you will see no decline in performance or page load speeds. Since your site has its own area, other sites on the server will not affect you in any way.
Better Security Levels
One of the many benefits of VPS Hosting includes a higher level of security. Your hosting environment is virtualized, and your site is separated from any other sites on the server. Therefore, anything that may happen to other sites will not affect yours in any way.
VPS is Easily Scalable
If you need to scale up your hosting, it is very easy to do it with VPS. Since you aren’t actually tied to a physical server, it is much easier to add the resources you need. You simply can’t find this ease of scalability with shared hosting with many different hosts out there.
Server Customization and Root Server Access
Another VPS benefit is that you have almost total server customization. This gives you much more control at every level. You will also get root server access, giving you access to a myriad of functions to manage your virtual server.
VPS Hosting Cons
Yes, there are indeed a couple of cons that come with VPS Hosting. Here are a few to think about when deciding on VPS vs shared hosting.
More Expensive
While it isn’t nearly as expensive as having a dedicated server, VPS hosting will run you more than its shared counterpart.
How much more? Well, that depends on the package you choose, but you can definitely expect to shell out more money if you want to have VPS benefits.
It’s More Technical
If you are deciding to make the jump over to VPS hosting, you need to understand that it is more technical and you will need a little more skill to run it properly.
That being said, there are excellent managed VPS platforms that you can get. If you get a managed VPS server, then the web host will help you with everything you need.
When Should You Move From Shared to VPS Hosting?
It may be time to move from shared to VPS for a number of reasons. If you want to enjoy the benefits of VPS hosting, here are some things to think about when you are trying to figure out when to make the move.
- Your Business or Personal Website is Expanding Fast
- You Want to Host Multiple Websites
- Constant Traffic Spikes
- You Want More Control
- Better Security
- A Managed VPS Platform
If your reasoning falls under any of these, then it is probably time to make the jump to enjoy the benefits of VPS Hosting.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes, the choice of VPS or shared hosting can be tough. You need to know what to consider, which platform does what, and all the pros and cons for each.
As you can see, both are solid in their own ways, but the benefits of VPS hosting far outweigh what you can accomplish on a shared setup. Now that you have all the info available you can make an educated choice and make the jump to VPS hosting at the right time.
Shared hosting and VPS hosting are better from two perspectives. However, VPS is the best in terms of security. Thanks for sharing this valuable information.