If you’re wondering what the differences are between VPS vs dedicated hosting, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll discuss what VPS hosting and dedicated hosting services are, as well as the pros and cons for both in order to help you decide which is best for you.
The three most popular types of hosting are shared hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting. However, each come with different levels of performance and cost. Shared hosting is great for starting out, but limits you in terms of resources and performance.
That’s why we’re going to discuss VPS vs dedicated hosting so that you can get more power behind your website hosting.
Table of Contents
VPS Hosting
Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is similar to shared hosting in that multiple people use the same server. However, you get much more control over your hosting and have your own resource limits. This means if someone on the same server exceeds their resources, your website won’t suffer.
VPS hosting is ideal for small business websites or larger personal websites and blogs that require a good amount of resources. Slow loading websites are a thing of the past (well, they should be), and your website visitors won’t want your website constantly crashing. VPS hosting works well for high-traffic websites and isn’t as expensive as you might think.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting is the big guns of the hosting world. Rather than sharing your resources or server with other people, you get to rent an entire server to yourself. This means you get ultimate control, choosing your own resource limits.
Dedicated hosting is great for medium to big sized business websites and online stores. If you know that your website is going to take up a lot of resources and receive plenty of traffic, dedicated hosting is the way to go as it saves time and money in the long-run.
However, investing in a dedicated server isn’t an easy decision, or one that should be made lightly. Weighing up the type of website you have and your budget is what often leaves people with the conundrum of VPS hosting vs dedicated hosting.
Useful Web Hosting Resources
1. VPS Vs Dedicated Hosting Pros & Cons
To start you on your journey on the decision of VPS hosting vs dedicated hosting, we’ll first take a look at the pros and cons of each type of hosting.
VPS Hosting
Dedicated Hosting
2. Resources
I like to think of resource allocation like a property. Imagine VPS hosting is an apartment block; you’re sharing your server (space) with other people. If you want extra room, you’ll be limited by what the apartment block has to offer.
With dedicated hosting, you own an entire house. You won’t have to share resources with other people and you’ll have full control over what you want to do with your property (server). Of course, owning a property or a dedicated server costs more, so it’s about weighing up whether you need the extra space for your needs.
VPS Hosting Vs Dedicated Hosting: Resources Verdict
The obvious winner here is dedicated hosting. You get full control over your server and resources. You won’t have to rely on anyone else, and while VPS hosting does have its place, you’re not going to get more resources unless you upgrade to a dedicated hosting plan.
Winner: Dedicated Hosting
3. Performance
When it comes to web hosting, performance determines how quickly your website loads and runs. Your website visitors want a website that’s available, fast, and reliable.
In comparison to shared hosting, VPS hosting offers better performance, thus provides a better user experience. However, dedicated hosting is like a turbo-charged version of VPS hosting. Your website will be able to handle lots of visitors and offer high speeds that will mean they can access your site’s content fast.
VPS Hosting Vs Dedicated Hosting: Performance Verdict
Having more resources available means your website won’t struggle as much to deal with large surges of traffic. Dedicated hosting servers offer great speeds, like VPS hosting does, but if you get an increase in traffic, a dedicated server will be able to deal with the spike without slowing down.
Winner: Dedicated Hosting
4. Security
Security should be a priority for your website, especially if you’re obtaining customer data like credit card details. Large business websites and online stores should consider any security risks to protect you and your customers.
Taking us back to the property analogy, if someone in your apartment block left the door to your building open, it allows potential risks to enter. While it would still take longer for someone to access your apartment directly, there is a risk if other people are careless.
Owning a property puts the risk into your hands, so you are in full control of your own security. Dedicated hosting is similar to this in that you’ll be responsible for everything that happens on your server.
VPS Hosting Vs Dedicated Hosting: Security Verdict
If you have the technical knowledge to run your own dedicated server, then without a doubt dedicated hosting is more secure. While VPS hosting is incredibly secure, dedicated hosting means you are in full control of any security breaches.
Winner: Dedicated Hosting
5. Scalability
Scalability refers to the options you have with your web hosting when your website starts to grow. VPS hosting offers space to grow, but there will come a point where you’ll hit the growth limit.
With dedicated hosting, you’ll have all the resources, security, and performance you need, so there isn’t any room to scale. While you can adjust your limits, it’s a bit of a glass ceiling scenario in that you can’t exceed what you already have.
VPS Hosting Vs Dedicated Hosting: Scalability Verdict
VPS hosting is a good middle ground for websites that aren’t entirely sure what they might need. They are bigger and better than shared hosting, but not quite as big as dedicated hosting. VPS hosting offers much more scalability as you can increase or decrease your resources as you go.
Winner: VPS Hosting
6. Customization
VPS hosting and dedicated hosting both offer unmanaged and managed plans. This means you can tailor your hosting experience depending on your needs. Unmanaged plans allow you to get on with everything in relation to your website, but it requires more time and effort on your part.
Managed plans, on the other hand, are more expensive, but allow your hosting company to deal with the nitty gritty parts of your hosting. This includes things like updates, backups, and so on.
VPS Hosting Vs Dedicated Hosting: Customization Verdict
VPS hosting and dedicated hosting both have similar levels of customization in that they both offer unmanaged and managed plans. However, VPS hosting does allow you to borrow resources if it looks like you’re going to exceed your monthly resource limits, allowing for a bit more wiggle room.
Winner: VPS Hosting
7. Cost
This is what it comes down to for most people. Dedicated hosting is more expensive than VPS hosting, but that’s because you get more. VPS hosting is a lot more affordable, offering a wide range of plans to suit every budget.
You can get a VPS hosting plan for around $20 per month, in comparison to a dedicated hosting plan which is generally available from $100+ per month. You’ll need to weigh up your budget versus your needs in order to decide what’s right for you.
VPS Hosting Vs Dedicated Hosting: Cost Verdict
There’s a clear winner here, because VPS hosting is cheaper than dedicated hosting. However, cost shouldn’t be the only factor you consider. You need to assess the value for money you’re getting, taking into account performance, resources, and security.
Winner: VPS Hosting
VPS Vs Dedicated Hosting Providers
Now that you’re equipped with the knowledge and differences between VPS hosting vs dedicated hosting, it’s time to look at the web hosts that excel in these areas. It’s no good us giving you the information without the tools to get on with hosting your website.
Best VPS Hosting
If you’re ready to step away from shared hosting and experience better performance and more resources, take a look at our 3 recommended VPS hosts below.
1. InMotion Hosting
InMotion (Best Overall VPS Host)
InMotion stands out as a VPS provider, offering great features and good value for money. InMotion boast a 99.9% uptime guarantee and offer excellent customer support. You can get a VPS server from InMotion from just $29.99 per month which includes 4GB RAM, 75GB SSD Storage, 4TB bandwidth, free SSL, and cPanel & WHM included for free.
2. BlueHost
BlueHost (Best for Uptime)
Bluehost is a solid VPS hosting provider, offering a 30-day money-back guarantee. In our tests, Bluehost were consistent in producing 100% uptime, which is a must-have if you're looking for a reliable VPS host. Bluehost's VPS plans start from $19.99 per month and include 30GB SSD storage, 2GB RAM, 1TB bandwidth, and 1 IP address.
3. A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting (Best for Customer Support)
A2 Hosting offer unmanaged and managed VPS plans. Their unmanaged plans start from $4.99 per month, while their managed plans start from $39.99 per month. With their managed plans, you'll get 4GB RAM, 150GB SSD storage, 2TB bandwidth, free SSL certificate, free website migration, and cPanel. A2 Hosting are well-known for their excellent customer support.
Best Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting can be a big decision given that it’s far more expensive than any other kind of hosting service. Taking this into account, you’ll want to choose the best dedicated hosting provider to ensure you’re getting the most from your money.
1. HostGator
HostGator (Best Overall Dedicated Host)
HostGator are one of the leading providers for dedicated hosting. They balance excellent uptime with help and support, among tons of free features. If you're looking for the best dedicated host, HostGator is a solid choice, offering up to 1TB SSD storage, unmetered bandwidth, 30GB RAM and 8 CPU cores.
2. Bluehost
Bluehost (Best for Value for Money)
Bluehost take another crown in the best vps hosting vs dedicated hosting sector. Bluehost offer some of the cheapest dedicated hosting plans, with a solid uptime and high performance levels. While you won't get as many resources as HostGator, you do get excellent customer support and free website backups.
3. InMotion
InMotion (Best for Resources)
InMotion offer many hosting services including shared and VPS hosting. But they're also a big player in the dedicated hosting market, offering top-tier pricing plans that include up to 16 CPU cores, 64GB RAM, and a whopping 15TB bandwidth. If you're looking for the most resources available, InMotion is a great choice.