If you have one or more websites, you naturally want to have your affairs properly arranged. Good, fast and reliable hosting is very important and forms the basis of your website. The term VPS often comes up during the search for suitable hosting. But what exactly is a VPS? What can you do with it? And above all: what are the advantages?
What about hosting again?
If you want a website, or if you want to mail from your own domain name, you need a (part of a) server. You place the website on this server, so that it can be reached via the internet. Now it is quite a hassle to arrange a server yourself, to secure and maintain it, which is why there are hosting providers such as Bluehost. They host your site for you: you rent a piece of server from them, on which your website will be located. So you have convenience, without hassle.
But what exactly is a VPS?
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. This means that multiple virtual servers run on one physical server with extra memory and processor capacity. You share the server with others, but you have full access to your own piece of server and you have complete freedom of choice in terms of operating system and specifications. This is not the case if you opt for Shared Hosting. With a VPS you also have more options with regard to computing capacity, memory and data traffic.
With Shared Hosting you also share a server with others. You also share the memory and computing capacity of the server. If there is another site on the same server that is demanding a lot of capacity, it can slow down your website. That is not always a bad thing, because this is usually well balanced, but if you run a busy website or webshop, it is very annoying. With a VPS you have more options, freedom and more stability than with Shared Hosting.
Why choose a VPS?
It is therefore clear that a VPS offers you many possibilities. And there are even more benefits:
Freedom
With a VPS you have the ultimate freedom. You can set up a VPS completely the way you want. This does require technical knowledge, but you do have full control. Do you want to host multiple sites on your VPS? Do you have one website that places high demands on your hosting? Everything is possible. Don’t have technical knowledge? Then a Managed VPS is always a good option where your service provider take the management of your VPS off your hands.
Your own IP address
With Shared Hosting you share your IP address with all other websites and applications that are on the same server. Not necessarily bad, you might say. And that’s right. But if there are others on the server who are doing trouble, such as sending spam, then that can also affect you. For example, if the IP address is blocked by certain servers, it is possible that your mail does not arrive or arrives poorly. With a VPS you have less of a problem with this, because you have your own IP address and you can influence how you use it.
Cost effective
If you have multiple websites, a VPS is often cheaper than if you arrange separate Shared Hosting for each website.
Speed
A VPS is often faster than Shared Hosting because you do not share your part of the server with other websites. The servers also use SSD storage, which is a lot faster than traditional hard drives.
When to use a VPS
A VPS is very suitable for websites or applications that receive a lot of traffic or that need to be able to handle peak traffic. Furthermore, a VPS is also suitable for:
software developers;
hosting multiple websites;
web shops;
game servers;
websites with lots of images and videos;
website builders who also want to offer their customers hosting.
A VPS grows with you. So if you expect that your website or application will be used a lot, a VPS is much more practical than Shared Hosting. With a VPS you can easily scale up when necessary. This freedom, together with the higher speed, is the main reason why our customers choose a VPS.
Managed or Unmanaged VPS?
Do you have a lot of technical knowledge or experience in managing a VPS? Then an Unmanaged VPS is a good idea. These are cheaper than Managed VPSs, but also require more attention because you are responsible for the maintenance, security and back-ups of the systems.
With a Managed VPS we take the management of your VPS off your hands. Do you not have much technical knowledge, but do you want to take advantage of the many advantages of a VPS? Then choose the Managed VPS. We take care of the maintenance of the server and ensure that your applications, e-mail and/or website continue to work optimally. We also take the worry of security off your hands with a Managed VPS.
Whichever variant you choose, your VPS is immediately available. So you can get started right away. So you don’t need to disturb yourself and host that website.
