Congratulations! Your website is ready. Now, you need to think about its hosting. Which hosting provider would you choose? Which hosting option you should choose? Questions like this start popping up in your mind. In order to make the right decision, it is important that you know about the pros and cons as well as the key differences between different options.

To help you with this, we compare VPS hosting and dedicated hosting based on different factors to help you make the right decision and highlight the key differences to help you choose the right one.

What Is VPS Hosting?

Just like a home computer which is used by multiple users, resources in VPS is split between different websites or hosting accounts. You can choose according to your needs as there is a high end and a low-end option available. Although the options are limited when it comes to hosting environments, it is a great option for websites that attract less traffic. If you need more control than shared hosting but cannot spend a fortune on buying a dedicated hosting, VPS hosting offers a perfect middle ground.

What is Dedicated Hosting?

Dedicated hosting, as the name suggests, is dedicated for your website. You get a server with only your website hosted on it which means that all the resources are dedicated for your website. You can choose from various server configuration, which means that you can build your own server that matches your needs. What’s more, you can have complete over the server as you get an empty server so you can load it up with anything you want.

Factors Differentiating VPS and Dedicated Hosting

Here is a quick comparison between dedicated hosting and VPS hosting based on these factors.

1.Cost

Believe it or not, VPS plans are cheaper as compared to dedicated server hosting plans. The cost is distributed in VPS hosting because multiple users are accessing the same server, so it will cost you less. You can find VPS hosting packages starting under $10 and can go as high as $175 per month. On the other hand, even the cheapest dedicated server hosting will set you back by $30 to $40 per month. Even if you are choosing a dedicated server over VPS, you should be ready to spend anywhere around $100 per month for a quality offering.

2. Security

One area where dedicated server hosting has a clear advantage over VPS hosting is in terms of security. When your website is hosted on a VPS server, you will have to worry about what your neighbors are doing because if they are involved in shoddy activities, it puts your website at risk too. Thankfully, the same can not be said for dedicated server hosting, as your website is the only website that is hosted on that server.

Let’s your website is hosted on a shared or VPS server and one website, which is hosted on the same server as your website, comes under a DDoS attack. Your website will also bear the brunt of such an attack. As a business, you don’t want that. That is why you should go for dedicated server hosting if security is your priority. Both VPS and dedicated give you access to dedicated IP addresses. With security certificates and SSL, it gives you the peace of mind that businesses dream off and let you handle online payments and email marketing without a hitch.

3. Setup and Configuration

There are two options available to users. You can either go for unmanaged plans or opt for a managed one. If you choose the former, you will be responsible for everything from configuration to the management and maintenance of servers. If you go for VPS, the host will provide you virtual machines but leave the rest to you. Even though unmanaged plans will put a lot of burden on your IT team, but it is cheaper and offer you more control as compared to unmanaged plans.

On the contrary, a fully managed plan reduces the load from your shoulders as the hosting provider manage everything. All you have to do is to tell them what you want and they will install everything, configure it and keep it up and running. You can also find plans that fall in between these two extremes. Your choice usually depends on your budget. Assess your needs and evaluate how much money you are willing to spend on hosting before choosing any one option.

4. Technical Support

One aspect where both VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting stays neck and neck is in technical support and customer service. This means that whichever plan you choose, you will get the best customer service and technical support. Even though the specifics might vary a bit between hosting providers but as a premium customer, you will always get excellent customer service and technical support.

You can contact them anytime and they will respond to your queries. In fact, it has become such a standard these days that if a hosting provider doesn’t offer you round the clock customer support, you are better off looking at other alternatives. Hosting providers are using customer support as a way to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors.

Which one do you choose? Would you go for VPS hosting or dedicated server hosting? Why? Feel free to share it with us in the comments section below.