Some Pros and Cons of a Virtual Private Server

What exactly is a VPS? VPS stands for Virtual Private Server, that’s a big word. Now, what exactly does it mean? VPS web hosting means the fact that you share the physical server hardware with other accounts and websites that are hosting on the server. But what makes it different from a shared hosting account then? It’s the fact that you are allocated a dedicated slice of the whole physical machine. Think about a pie and you are getting a slice, while other people get different slices from the same pie. You can also look at a VPS like leasing vs. purchasing a car. When you are actually taking a VPS you are just renting or leasing a slice of the main server.

Now let’s see which the advantages and the disadvantages of a virtual private server hosting are.

Let’s start with the disadvantages.

1. Risky. The first think is the fact that a VPS server is a bit risky and when we say “risky” we mean the fact that you never know who your neighbour is going to be since one big entity. They do not know and they do not really care whose the whole “pie”. They look at the pie as one big piece. If your neighbours are spammers, scammers, adult websites, casinos, etc., then your name will have to suffer in terms of rankings or you may get slapped from the search results. Of course, the chances are low but it may happen.

2. Limited control. If we compare a VPS to a dedicated server let’s say, a VPS is not that easy to customise as long as hosting companies do not offer that flexibility to customise things the way you want them to be, the way you want to allocate the resources, or to make the necessary adjustments with the same flexibility such as in case of a DDS.

3. The race for resources. Even though a VPS has dedicated hard disk, memory, bandwidth, etc, the fact that all virtual machines are stored on the same physical machine may sometimes lead to imbalances in terms of resource allocation and consumption. Think about a VPS as one big building. If all the tenants are living in one big building, some of them consume more water, some of them consume more electricity and you are sharing the same pipe. If you neighbour is, let’s say, the little brother of YouTube and has gazillions of visitors coming each and every second, then you will get lows and peaks in terms of traffic. Such things are even more pronounced in the case of shared hosting and never happen with a dedicated server – DDS.

Let’s now cover the good things and the advantages of owning a VPS.

1. Low cost. Though it is more expensive than a shared hosting, a VPS is a better option in terms of costs compared to a dedicated server. Most VPS servers range around $20-$50 per month, depending on what you are getting in the bundle.

2. Support. the support is a very important feature and most VPS providers come with 24/7 support for whatever comes, wether is the security that is usually provided by the hosting suppliers themselves or wether it’s things inside that you need to customise or maybe service down. You always get support for any of these issues.

3. Dedicated IP. Some VPS providers allow you to host websites on dedicated IPs. For example, if your business is based in New York, a New York VPS provider can allocate NY IP addresses. This is good mostly for SEO purposes. Search engines will know your business is tailored to NY clients and your website will rank higher in search results for terms related to that particular area.

4. No commitment. When it comes to virtual private hosting, it is definitely low to almost no commitment. Since you are renting them on a month-to-month, if your business didn’t go that well and you would like to cancel everything and try something new, that’s not a problem. It’s pretty easy and you just lose the last week or two of your payment so you are not stuck with a server for years.

Here you can find a list of the top VPS providers in 2017.