Benefits Of Virtual Private Server Hosting

When looking into hosting for your website, there are a variety of options available on the market today. One of the options that is continuing to gain popularity is known as VPS, or virtual private server.

Despite becoming a popular option, many business owners may not be aware of what VPS entails, the variety of benefits VPS offers, and whether or not it’s a good fit for their business’s needs.

The following will go over the details and benefits regarding virtual private servers as opposed to other types of hosting and help determine if it’s time for you to switch.

What is a virtual private server (VPS)?

To begin understanding what a VPS does, one must first understand what a server does. A server is a computer that stores all of your website’s information such as data and files. Servers are more powerful than standard desktop computers because they process all of the requests necessary to “serve” the data of your site to the user visiting it. Their only job is to host your website’s data, ensuring it’s delivered properly to the user when called upon.

VPS uses virtual technology to split the power of single, physical servers into multiple virtual servers, allowing multiple users to be hosted from one single piece of hardware.

The “private” aspect of VPS means that even though you are sharing a physical server with others, you are not sharing data, RAM, CPU, etc. with others. Your information is separated by virtual walls, ensuring your website is stored within its own secure, private environment.

In essence, VPS hosting gives clients the experience of hosting their site on a dedicated server while utilizing less physical equipment and at a lower cost.

What are the benefits of VPS vs. other types of hosting?

For businesses throughout all industries, there are many advantages to hosting via VPS as opposed to other types of web hosting such as shared or dedicated hosting.

Shared Hosting

For most beginner level websites, shared hosting is the most common form of web hosting to choose from. It is cost-effective because it allows sites to share resources and equipment such as RAM, disk space, CPU, etc. with other websites.

The downside of choosing shared hosting, however, is that because your site data lives on the same server as other sites, that means you’re sharing things such as bandwidth and hardware. In the event another site on your server gets a large influx of visitors, your website traffic may see a lowered level of performance.

Despite having to share resources, many smaller businesses find that shared hosting is the fastest, most affordable way to get their site up and running.

Dedicated Hosting

On the other end of the spectrum is dedicated hosting. As opposed to sharing resources (and in turn, lowering operational costs) dedicated hosting means website owners get their own dedicated server whose only job is to host their website.

While dedicated hosting gives website owners more customization and control over their site’s resources, it is a higher-cost option.

Unless your website is extremely high-traffic, requires specific software or unique operating systems, or handles countless private transactions, dedicated hosting is often too expensive for many businesses’ needs.

VPS Hosting 

VPS hosting bridges the gap between shared hosting and dedicated hosting. While sites hosted via VPS do share equipment, they are kept private within virtual walls, meaning each gets its own storage, CPU, RAM, bandwidth, and operating systems.

This offers clients the opportunity to reap the benefits of dedicated hosting without the high price tag. VPS is a more cost-effective option that gives small to medium-sized businesses the chance to expand without negatively impacting their bottom line.

In addition, VPS can be customized to meet the specific needs of your business. It eliminates the need to purchase unnecessary hardware and forgoes software and bloatware that are not needed.

How to know if it is time to move to VPS hosting? 

Most businesses typically begin with shared hosting. As businesses grow, however, the question of when to move to a new hosting method, such as VPS can become important.

If you find yourself facing the following issues, it might be time to consider upgrading to a VPS:

• You need or want to install specific software on your server that shared hosting does not allow.
• You need or want to customize and configure your server.
• You are utilizing applications that can’t operate with shared hosting.
• You are experiencing frequent downtimes or your website is consistently slow to respond.
• You are experiencing an increase in cybersecurity threats.
• You desire advanced technical support.
• Your site has grown and requires a higher level of performance.
• You have an online store.

For businesses who find themselves in need of an upgrade but cannot yet afford or cannot yet validate the cost of a dedicated server, a virtual private server is an ideal solution that offers the best of both worlds.