VPS Web Hosting

Virtual Private Server, or VPS web hosting refers to a service that is similar to having a dedicated server, but also differs in significant ways. Keep reading to understand the differences in VPS web hosting. Look for tips on choosing a VPS web hosting company.

What Is Virtual Private Server - VPS Web Hosting?

With VPS web hosting (also referred to as Virtual Dedicated Server or VDS hosting), you are still getting shared hosting but with the significant difference that certain resources are set aside for your use, so that their availability is in no way infringed on or limited by the presence of other accounts on other server partitions. This should protect your service during times of peak demand and leave you unaffected if another site on the server goes down for some reason. In other words, it has features that  make it act like a dedicated server, while - the claim goes - not being priced as high.

What's the cost difference? Well, at one host (Go Daddy), you could compare $126 for 3 months of Virtual Dedicated Service to $250 for dedicated hosting with the cheapest plan for each. However, the VPS plan only has 10 GB of disk space, while the dedicated hosting plan (which is semi-managed) actually has 500 GB. In fact, the VPS web hosting plan is limited to 30 GB on this service.

Let's try another host. At Web Hosting Buzz, you can get 500 GB of dedicated hosting for $259/month with a $99 set up charge. To get 200 GB on a VPS plan costs $129.95/month with no set up fee. You can't get 500 GB: 200 GB is the max in the platinum plan.

In short, these comparisons are typical - you pay less for VPS hosting, yes, but you're paying a lot more for the amount of storage space you get. So VPS may only be a bargain for you if your storage/bandwidth needs are now - and are certain to remain­ - low.

Choosing Virtual Private Server -VPS Web Hosting

The evidence from comparing actual hosting costs leads to these suggestions:

• When considering VPS web hosting, begin by figuring out what you need in terms of storage space, bandwidth (also called data transfer), software and applications, number of domains you can host, whether you can use subdomains, whether you need databases and shopping carts or blog, forum, and chat page capability. Consider your redundancy and reliability needs, as well as your support needs. See what kind of deal you get by paying for a longer period, and what kind of service guarantees there are.

• Now, look for the same features in a dedicated hosting setting. Ignore the fact that you may be getting more disk space than you need, for the moment. Just look at how the costs line up. You may be pleasantly surprised by how much value you can get in dedicated web hosting service for the same amount you would have paid for virtual private web hosting.