Top 10 Reasons to Upgrade to VPS Hosting
Top 10 Reasons to Upgrade to VPS Hosting
Nowadays there are many different types of hosting services available, but it can sometimes be hard to choose between them all in order to find the right one suited for your needs. Many businesses and individuals who are serious about their site, business, or project are switching from shared hosting plans and onto virtual private servers, or VPS for short. Read our article, What is VPS Hosting? to learn more about what VPS hosting is.
Quite a few are making the switch from their shared hosting environment and into an isolated virtual private server. In this article we go over some of the top reasons that people are switching to a VPS host. Here is our list of Top 10 Reasons To Upgrade To VPS Hosting.
1. To Handle Higher Traffic
When a shared hosting user runs into excessive traffic it’s possible to experience slow downs that are counterproductive to server functionality. Because a shared hosting plan is as stated, shared between users, it’s possible for resources to become over-allocated, resulting in slower performance. Users and businesses who are serious about their hosting needs are looking into Virtual Private Server hosting for their upgrading requirements.
Many individuals will start with a shared hosting plan to start, but when they notice an uptick in users or require increased power, a VPS is a usually a good solution. Virtual private servers come with strong network connection speeds that have guaranteed speeds when hosted with a qualified hosting provider. Some users will be unhappy with their shared server hosting provider when their data transfer is limited and they start to get charged for extra network traffic. Another reason that users are switching to VPS hosting is because shared servers typically have slower connection speeds than virtual private servers and dedicated servers.
While there’s definitely a number of different reasons that could impact site performance and cause slow loading times, a virtual private server is definitely an upgrade over shared hosting as it provides “dedicated” resources instead of resources that are shared. When a user opts to host a virtual private server over a shared server, they can be confident that all the server resources are theirs alone to use.
Many smaller projects will be excellent candidates for shared hosting plans, or sandbox virtual servers, but plans can have their limitations. In order to achieve the highest level of performance possible, one would most likely choose dedicated server hosting. Shared servers are usually for lower end projects, while dedicated and virtual private servers are for middle to high end projects that require additional resources. Businesses are encouraged to host with a virtual or dedicated server over a shared server for enhanced reliability, scalability, and overall performance.
Virtual private servers offer increased levels of security over shared hosting plans as users are more isolated. Virtual private servers that are held behind DDoS firewalls are always good options for those seeking enhanced security opposed to their shared platform. Businesses and individuals who want root access to their server should opt for a dedicated or virtual private server as shared servers don’t generally offer users root access.
The benefits of an isolated server environment are many, but the most important aspect is the fact that end users are isolated from one another. This means that dedicated and virtual private servers offer increased levels of security over shared hosting platforms, where users are sharing resources in shared environments.
Virtual private servers provide enhanced levels of reliability over shared hosting servers. Here at Astral Servers, all of our shared sandbox virtual servers come with a 99.9% uptime guarantee, while all of our virtual private servers come with a 99.999% uptime guarantee. Many other server hosting providers offer similar uptime guarantees for their shared and VPS plans. That being said, in addition to uptime, a dedicated or virtual private server will allows customers to have their own isolated environments without having to share server resources.
Not only are dedicated and virtual private servers more reliable because they generally provide higher levels of uptime, but they also provide customers with dedicated IP address. With shared server hosting plans, users are not only sharing server resources, but they are also sharing an IP address. This could be bad for many reasons, but one example could be: a business owner and a spammer are on the same shared server with the same shared IP address. While the spammer harms the reputation of the IP address, it will also negatively effect the business owner who shares it, unbeknownst to them.
Virtual private servers offer enhanced levels of scalability over shared hosting plans. Individuals and businesses can choose to scale their virtual private server up or down based on usage requirements, traffic, and overall needs. Generally VPS hosting is more scalable in nature than shared server hosting as it offers plans with higher levels of specifications. Virtual private servers are often touted as being more scalable than dedicated server hosting also, and with good reason.
Comparing a virtual server to a bare-metal one, a virtual machine can be scaled up or down through software opposed to physically changing out hardware in the datacenter. This means a VPS can be restarted after changes are made for instant effect, versus dedicated servers which require technicians to physically interact with them in the datacenters to apply the upgrade in person. For this reason virtual private servers are extremely scalable and provide lower levels of downtime than a dedicated server would, in regards to server upgrades or downgrades.
6. More Affordable than Dedicated Servers Hosting
Virtual private servers are considered by many to be the more affordable option when compared to a dedicated server. While hosting a dedicated server offers many different benefits and advantages, such as increased levels of power and network capabilities, virtual servers are often the middle-ground between a dedicated server and a shared server.
VPS hosting is highly affordable and often utilized by those who are seeking the benefits offered by a dedicated server, but while remaining on a budget. Those who want to upgrade to a dedicated server generally come from a virtual private server beforehand, unless there’s specific project requirement in mind, a large budget, or extreme power and internet capabilities are required.
Many consider virtual private server hosting to be the more flexible option as opposed to shared server hosting, and there’s definitely many reasons to think so. Virtual private server hosting can provide users with a quick and easy option to scale their server up or down based on usage requirements. With a shared server hosting plan, the server specifications are often low, and with a virtual private server, there’s much more room to improve as needed. Shared servers typically don’t provide root access while virtual private server hosting and dedicated server hosting will.
Shared server hosting is great for small projects or short term developments, but for extended projects or websites that expect a lasting internet presence, a virtual private server is often preferred. Generally virtual private server plans and dedicated server plans will provide much more resources than shared server hosting plans. When switching from a shared server to a VPS, without having to share server resources, users can typically feel the difference in their website, applications, programs, or other web apps.
9. More Storage Than Shared Hosting
Shared server hosting has its limitations, and one of those is often limited storage capacity. Dedicated servers usually offer the highest levels of storage capabilities, nowadays usually in the Terabytes, while shared servers are usually much less. Virtual private server hosting provides a nice middle-ground between shared and dedicated server storage capabilities.
A good thing to look for in a VPS host is a VPS with guaranteed network connection speeds, preferably without data limits. Many shared server hosting providers set data transfer limits or charge a premium for extra data sent over their network after a limit has been reached. Individuals, developers, and businesses who want powerful, reliable, and strong bandwidth connections are encouraged to seek hosting with a virtual private server or a dedicated server as opposed to a shared server.
There are certainly different reasons that one might opt for a virtual private server as opposed to a shared server, but there are also many advantages that VPS hosting might provide over dedicated server hosting. Every type of hosting service has it’s own unique strengths and weaknesses, and that’s why customers are encouraged to learn all they can about their individual hosting needs before they commit to a specific server host.
Users who seek enhanced levels of support for their virtual private server should consider a managed virtual private server host as opposed to an unmanaged one. Businesses and individuals alike who are seeking to reduce spending on outsourced IT costs are finding that managed server hosting is an ideal option for them when it comes to saving money. While every company will be different, and offer different managed services, you can read more about the managed services that we provide here at Astral Servers on our Managed Services page.
Read more of our Top Lists:
Top 10 Things You Can Do With A Dedicated Server
Top 5 Reasons To Get VPS Hosting
Top 5 Advantages of Dedicated Server Hosting
Astral Servers is a server hosting provider that offers high quality server hosting services for customers and businesses around the globe. All of our managed and unmanaged virtual private servers come with a 99.999% uptime guarantee, guaranteed network connection speeds with unlimited data transfer limits, and DDoS protection. We offer VPS hosting in 8 different locations around the world to ensure high reliability and fast connection speeds. Learn more about our virtual private servers on our VPS Hosting page.