What Is VPS Hosting: Pros & Cons Of VPS Hosting Explained
What Is VPS Hosting: Shared Hosting is when a single server and its resources is shared by a number of websites. Dedicated Hosting is when a whole server and its resources is used by a single website.
While Shared Hosting is suitable for small websites, Dedicated Hosting is used for websites that generate a large traffic. Now, what if a website is generating a traffic higher than what a Shared Hosting can sustain but there are budget constraints or some other issues to move to a Dedicated Hosting? This is where VPS Hosting comes to the picture.
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. In VPS Hosting, a single server hosts multiple websites like Shared Hosting but for each of these websites, it acts like a Dedicated Server.
In this article, I will explain what is VPS Hosting as well as the pros and cons of VPS Hosting.
What Is VPS Hosting?
In this type of hosting, virtualization technology is used which allows a single server to be divided into a number of virtual machines or severs, each of which runs its own operating system. Each customer is given access to a virtual machine’s operating system. The physical server and it’s resources, however is divided among all the websites hosted in the server, with each of the virtual machines having a restricted access to a portion of it.
Basically, VPS Hosting is Shared Hosting wherein each website has a virtual dedicated server.
Let us now see what are the advantages and disadvantages of VPS Hosting.
Advantages Of VPS Hosting
The advantages of VPS Hosting are as under:
1. VPS Hosting Is Cheaper Than Dedicated Hosting
As mentioned above, VPS Hosting is basically a Shared Hosting that uses virtualization technology to create separate virtual servers for each of the hosted websites. This means each of the websites enjoys various features of a Dedicated Hosting in Shared Hosting environment. This reduces the cost of the hosting.
2. You Have More Control Over The Server & Its Customization
Each Virtual Machine in VPS Hosting has its own operating system. This gives more control to each of the sites. They can install applications and software as per their requirements. You can also customize the various server applications as this will not affect the other sites.
3. You Get Dedicated Resources For Your Site
In VPS Hosting, each website gets a dedicated amount of the server’s resources, which other websites cannot use. This means the performance of your site won’t depend on what other websites are doing with the resources of the server.
4. VPS Hosting Provides Better Privacy & Security
This is because you are not sharing the Operating System with any other websites. No one can have access to your files.
It is to be noted that the services and features of VPS Hosting will vary from one service provider to another.
Disadvantages Of VPS Hosting
While VPS Hosting is great if your website is growing and you want various features of Dedicated Hosting at a cheaper price, there are some disadvantages as well:
1. The price of VPS Hosting, although less than Dedicated Hosting, is still far higher than Shared Hosting.
2. If the resources of the server are not allocated properly (which is the case with many web hosting providers) you will face various issues over time.
3. Compared to Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting needs more technical knowledge.
In any case, if you are looking for scaling your website, VPS Hosting is the right option for you. Because it provides the necessary resources and control. With the growth of your site, you can eventually move onto Dedicated Hosting.
I hope I have been able to explain what is VPS Hosting as well as the advantages and disadvantages of VPS Hosting. If you have any question pertaining to what is VPS Hosting, ask them in the comment section below and I will be happy to help you out.