Upgrade to VPS or Dedicated Hosting?
Most would agree that shared web hosting is the best option when you want to start your website or blog. Of course, there are a lot factors to consider when it comes to sticking with that plan. The most common considerations are affordability, ease of set-up, uptime, and general maintenance of the site. Shared web hosting brings a lot of great features for those considerations. However, if your site is growing, it is only a matter of time before you outgrow the performance requirements of your shared hosting plan. At some point, you will have to decide when it is time to upgrade to VPS or Dedicated hosting. Shared hosting is a great place to start, but it does have limitations when compared to VPS or Dedicated hosting.
When is it Time to Upgrade to VPS or Dedicated Hosting?
So, I have a shared hosting plan right now, but how do I know when it is time to upgrade to VPS or dedicated hosting? Shared web hosting, as the name says, is about sharing an entire web server to different users; this means you are sharing the performance as well.
Well, you may be feeling the pinch with the file storage size or bandwidth performance of your shared hosting server. However, the best sign is if your site does not seem to be handling the traffic that your site is receiving. It is hard to predict when exactly your will know this, but you will want to ensure that your visitors/customers are successful when trying to get to your site. So, you may have to run some connectivity tests yourself, and monitor your customer feedback, if possible. If your site seems slow, or you are hearing grumbling from your customers on your site’s response time, then it’s time to start looking for an upgrade. There may also be some other development-based requirements, such as a need for a particular OS for your website.
What is the difference between VPS and Dedicated hosting?
Given that you are looking to upgrade from a shared hosting plan, your primary options are to upgrade to VPS or dedicated hosting. So, let’s take a look at both VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting.
- VPS Hosting
VPS is the acronym for Virtual Private Server. As the name implies, it is a private, secure server for your web hosting needs. A VPS server is a hybrid of a dedicated and shared hosting server. It provides better performance at an affordable cost. It also provides you with unique setup options that are not available on a shared hosting server. It’s runs a unique copy of an operating system, so you have the option to load and run any application that is compatible with the OS. Also, there are both managed and unmanaged variances of VPS hosting solutions available.
Despite the virtual label, you get all sorts of benefits of having an exclusive, individual server for your purpose. Your data is secure, and you can be confident that no one else on the server is disrupting your resources, unlike the shared web hosting scenario. When it is time to upgrade to VPS or dedicated hosting, your best option will probably be the VPS hosting option.
- Dedicated Hosting
When you purchase a dedicated hosting plan, you are literally leasing a fully-fledged web server that is stored in a remote data center, with all required utilities. Dedicated hosting should be the choice when you have big company that receives an extremely high amount of traffic. For instance, when you have a large online shopping site and are sure that you need more resources. As in different instances, different variants of dedicated hosting are available.
- Fully Managed Hosting, where your hosting provider manages every technical aspect of server.
- Semi-Managed hosting, where there is medium level of management and you may need support staff to move on.
- Managed Hosting, where you can control data and other basic stuff but the deeper technical sector of server will be taken care of by hosting provider.
- Self-managed Hosting, where you need support staff for managing the server.
- Unmanaged Hosting, where you have complete control over everything, letting you do everything it is required.
When you have decided to upgrade to VPS or dedicated hosting, you should be well-aware of the different categories and choose a web-hosting provider that offers such a plan. For instance, fully-managed hosting is for those who need complete care of the server taken by the firm itself.
Why Should You Upgrade to VPS or Dedicated Hosting
There are several advantages that await you when you upgrade from a shared hosting server to a Virtual Private Server or a dedicated server.
Advantages of Upgrading to VPS
- Better control over the server, and it is accompanied by flexibility too. So, you can perform lots of developer-friendly stuff with your virtual server.
- VPS Hosting is a more scalable, and provides you more control with your performance and capacity needs.
- Better security than a shared hosting environment.
Disadvantages of Upgrading to VPS
- Pricing – it will cost your more per month over your current shared hosting plan, but you get what you pay for.
- As we said earlier, you have to make sure that you have enough technical skills to manage the VPS. If not, you can hire someone to do the job, or utilize the support from your hosting provider.
Advantages of Upgrading to Dedicated Server
- Best-in-class performance when it comes to loading pages and running heavy, resource-consuming tools for eCommerce and related purposes. Since you lease an entire server, you can be confident about the speed.
- Dedicated Servers offer better security and storage space for confidential data. The more security-enhancement options you set, the more confidential your information becomes.
- As you own the server, for the time being, you have the complete control on technical aspect — it is possible to install almost ANY software or platform you want to run, regardless the heaviness of the tools.
- Flexibility also matters, as you have the freedom to move further, as situations need you to.
Disadvantages of Upgrading to Dedicated Server
- Pricing – having a dedicated server is going to costs your the most for your hosting options, but if you truly have the need for a dedicated server, you will find the cost well worth the money.
- Notably, you have to be aware of the category of dedicated server you choose, and make sure you have all the required technical insight to move on.
Well, the choice is yours and you need to assess your web hosting needs. Now, you just need to decide if it is time to upgrade to VPS or dedicated hosting for your website.
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