Should I choose VPS or shared hosting?

A Virtual Private Server is the next step up from shared hosting. With VPS prices going down, the question arises on whether the better alternative for a website is a VPS or the shared hosting platform. To make the decision, we will draw a comparison of these two under various headings:

Price:

VPS are expensive compared to shared hosting plans. Even though the price of VPS is coming down, they are still more costly than shared hosting platforms.

Freedom:

In shared hosting, you cannot install additional packages to your account. What is provided at server level is what will be used for all accounts. With VPS, you get the freedom to choose which applications will run on your account and even the operating system you would like to use for your hosting.

Access:

When you acquire a VPS, you will be given full access to the VPS i.e., you will receive root user credentials – which is essentially what gives you the power to run whatever you may like on the platform. In shared hosting, access is vastly restricted even with services such as ssh access not being granted. This of course may limit the usage of your hosting account when such services are required.

Management

If you acquire a VPS, management of the server becomes your responsibility. For some, this is a plus, for others, it’s not. For instance, this kind of management is what a System Administrator would like so that to sharpen their skills. But an online shop owner would like to spend his time making profits instead of thinking of how to make his VPS secure from hackers and to balance load sand all that. On the other hand, shared hosting is fully managed by the hosting company. Once you pay for the services, you start and keep using. No need to worry about how the server will be made secure or optimised to improve site accessibility. All that is catered for by the hosting company.

Independence

With a VPS, you enjoy independence in that, should another customer mess his account, your services are not affected even for a bit. In shared hosting, one customers misdoing may end up affecting other clients as well. For instance, a customer whose account is sending out spam may cause the IP of the server to be blacklisted. This will have an effect on all accounts sending mail from the same server.

Capacity

VPS generally offers more capacity in terms of processor, RAM and SSD space than shared hosting. Additionally, accounts can be scaled to fit specific resource requirements if need be. In shared hosting, your resources are limited and account is rigid. What you bought at first is what you use unless you upgrade for more cash

Now that we have looked at this comparison, the best way to decide is to analyse what your needs are for the website and choose the appropriate solution. Basically, if you are experiencing 2 or more restrictions with your site in shared hosting, move on to a VPS. They are cheaper than ever before now!

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