What is VPS hosting?

What is a VPN?

What is VPS hosting? To know what VPS hosting In terms of content, it is good to know what a VPS itself is exactly. VPS stands for Virtual Private Server and is a hosting service that virtually simulates a dedicated server environment on a shared server. VPS hosting has become a very popular choice because it is generally cheaper than dedicated hosting itself, but offers better reliability, security and performance than shared hosting. In addition, users get full root access to the server, giving them the freedom to install applications and make environmental changes without going through the hosting provider, such as with shared hosting.

VPS is often a great option for SaaS providers, game and application developers, businesses that have outgrown their shared hosting, and any business that needs a secure and affordable backup environment. But knowing what VPS is by definition and whether it suits you are two different things. In this guide, we'll give you the information you need to make the VPS hosting decision easy.

Is VPS hosting safe and secure?

Yes, VPS hosting is secure. A VPS is completely isolated from the other servers on the host environment. For example, compare that with shared hosting, where environments share the same resources and can be affected by each other's vulnerabilities. A denial-of-service attack on a website in a shared environment can render the data of other companies and websites hosted on that server inaccessible, while each VPS environment remains isolated and protected in such a case.

Who is VPS hosting for?

Still not quite sure if VPS hosting is really for you? Then you see below the points that might help you with your choice.

Are you new to VPS?

• Is your team well tech-savvy? Would you like to have root access to the server to control your applications and settings?
• Do you need multiple isolated environments on the same server?
• Which has the highest priority: budget (shared), security and performance (dedicated), direct scalability (cloud) or a balance of all these topics (VPS)?

Are you currently using a shared server?

• Does your website/server have performance issues?
• Do you simply need more storage space?
• Have you encountered denial-of-service attacks or other issues caused by the fellow users on the server? What would be the cost to your business if such a problem were to arise, and is it worth the risk?
• Do you have a little more budget to spend on hosting in exchange for solving these problems?
• Do you have basic technical skills and want root access to your own server?

Do you work on a dedicated server?

• Do you really need a fully dedicated server, or can you get by with fewer resources?
• Want to save money while maintaining basic security and reliability?

What is the difference between VPS and other hosting?

To really understand how VPS hosting works, it's important to familiarize yourself with some web hosting basics, including other common plans. Here is a brief overview of the differences between shared, dedicated and VPS hosting.

Shared Hosting

shared hosting is the most common form of web hosting and in most cases it works very well. When you order a shared hosting plan, you share important resources such as processor, working memory and storage space with other website owners who use the same server.

Think of a shared server as an apartment complex and all individual apartments are rented out to different people. Just like your website's files, these people all need a place to live. It would be too expensive for these people to buy a large family home, after all they don't even need all that space. Sharing common areas and amenities in an apartment building helps keep costs down. That is how it works with shared hosting.

However, there are a few drawbacks to shared hosting, mainly because you share. For example, if someone else on your shared server has a huge influx of traffic, it can unfortunately affect the performance of your own website. However, if you just want to get your website off the ground and therefore don't have a huge traffic volume, then shared hosting is a great solution for getting online!

Are you looking for an entry-level package? View our competitively priced shared hosting packages.

Dedicated hosting

Dedicated hosting is the exact opposite of shared hosting. Instead of pooling resources and sharing costs, you have one dedicated server reserved just for you.

That sounds good, right? Despite being more expensive, you get 100% control over your server and can use and adapt the software to your individual needs. This type of hosting package is best for websites and applications with higher technical requirements. For example, dedicated hosting may be right for you if:

• You get a large amount of traffic every day
• You have to complete quite a few financial transactions transacties
• Your website or application needs custom software

Do you need such a powerful solution? View our hosting packages in Europe here.

VPS hosting

VPS hosting is exactly between shared and dedicated. If you opt for a VPS, other websites will be hosted on the same hardware as yours, but your website is only domain associated with your specific virtual environment. That means you get your own operating system, dedicated storage, powerful processor, scalable RAM and unlimited bandwidth.

With a VPS you get many of the benefits of a dedicated server, for an affordable price. In short, VPS hosting can give you more bang for your buck. For example, take a look at our Superfast Fast Disk I/O VPS packages

What is Managed and Unmanaged VPS?

Once you have decided that VPS hosting is right for you, the next choice to make is whether you want to use managed or unmanaged VPS. The basic question comes down to how much control you want (and are comfortable with).

What does VPS hosting cost?

The prices for VPS hosting depend on factors such as the service and support level of the provider, the performance, bandwidth and the features that come with the hosting package. In general, you can expect to pay more than for shared hosting, but less than for dedicated hosting.

From our most common packages you can roughly determine what the average costs are per VPS package, for example SSD VPS Hosting Netherlands or Cloud VPS Los Angeles Global Traffic. The costs range from entry-level packages to much more advanced packages. Just what you need at that moment.

Is VPS worth the cost?

Hell yes. VPS is a powerful and versatile hosting solution that many companies will and will appreciate. If you're already hosting in a different type of environment, you might be thinking, "is it worth migrating to VPS?". This is an important topic with any potential hosting provider to understand how they handle migrations, what is expected of you, how long it can take and what the costs are.

The cost of the wrong hosting provider

Sometimes start-ups choose their VPS hosting provider based solely on price. This is not a good strategy for a number of reasons:

VPS hosting may not provide 24/7 support from knowledgeable staff. That can mean that, if and when downtime occurs, it's hard to get answers, much less to solve problems. It may also be that cheaper providers use less reliable security software and protocol or offer no security at all.

Cheap VPS hosting usually come with tradeoffs that increase the overall cost. For example, cheap hosting providers usually don't provide the best performance, leading to slower loading websites. This alone can have a huge impact on sales, as one in four people will leave a website if it takes longer than four seconds to load.

Most companies make the "cheap host" mistake only once. When it comes to the health and safety of your business, compromising on your hosting provider won't save you money in the long run.

So with this one, if someone asks you:What is VPS hosting?“, then you have the basic knowledge to be able to explain that to them.