When it comes to finding the perfect kind of hosting for your WordPress site you’re going to have a lot of different options at your disposal. The most likely starting point is going to be shared hosting, but once you’ve outgrown what shared hosting can offer your website, you’re going to have to make a decision about what to do next.
After shared hosting plans, the most common next choice is WordPress VPS hosting, especially for those who are running WordPress websites.
This form of web hosting sits nicely between beginner-oriented shared hosting and a more advanced dedicated server.
Below we explore what WordPress VPS hosting is, along with its benefits and drawbacks, so you can decide if this style of hosting is going to be the right fit for your new website.
What is WordPress VPS Hosting?
First, we’ll start with what VPS hosting actually is. VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. It operates similar to a dedicated server, but instead of having a single physical server that you pull resources from, you’re pulling server resources from multiple physical servers, which are then linked together to create a single virtual dedicated server.
VPS hosting and shared hosting are similar in some ways. However, with shared hosting, you’re sharing a physical server with dozens or even hundreds of other websites. So, if one website is consuming resources outside of their limit, then there’s a chance this could affect other websites on the same server.
With VPS hosting you’re pulling resources from a number of different physical servers, so your server resources and other features are completely guaranteed. Plus, there are additional features in place that make your server environment completely private.
Essentially, VPS hosting plans act as a combination of shared hosting and dedicated hosting. It gives you much greater control over your site, while still being able to keep your hosting costs low.
With WordPress VPS hosting the same principles above are still in effect. However, instead of a general VPS server, every site using the service will be a WordPress site. This means that the server environment will be fully optimized for WordPress hosting.
This can help to ensure even greater levels of performance and security with your web hosting services. Plus, your hosting team will be much more knowledgeable about any issues surrounding your WordPress site.
If you’re a WordPress site owner who’s outgrown shared hosting, but don’t have the budget or traffic volume to justify a dedicated server, then WordPress VPS could be the perfect solution for your needs.
The Benefits of WordPress VPS Hosting
WordPress VPS hosting could be the hosting solution you’ve been looking for. Here are some of the biggest benefits your site will receive when upgrading to WordPress VPS hosting:
1. Improved Speed and Performance
Having a slow loading website will be incredibly detrimental to your success. Not only will you be providing a poor user experience, but you’ll also rank lower in the search engines as a result. Upgrading to WordPress VPS web hosting services is one of the best ways to speed up your website.
Put simply, slow performance will negatively impact your bottom line.
If you’re upgrading to VPS hosting one of the first things you’ll notice is the improved performance. Since you have resources that are completely dedicated to your site you’ll be able to easily meet your existing and growing levels of traffic.
Plus, with VPS hosting you can easily upgrade your server resources. So, if you know you’re going to be experiencing a month with higher traffic volume you can simply add more server resources. Or, if your site is experiencing long-term growth, you can quickly scale your server resources to meet your changing needs.
2. Higher Levels of Security
If you want to secure your website from hackers,then you can rest easy knowing that your WordPress VPS hosting will be incredibly secure.
In VPS hosting, each hosting account utilizes a hypervisor. This software helps to divvy up server resources and prevents any crossover or leaking of resources between the two. This helps to add a layer of additional protection for your virtual server.
Plus, since only WordPress sites will be using the VPS server additional security protocols can be put in place to elevate security levels even further.
3. Very Affordable, Considering the Feature Set
Considering everything that you’re getting with a VPS server, the price is surprisingly affordable. Of course, this price will grow with the more resources that are required by your site, but hopefully, by that point, you’ll be able to easily justify server costs.
Compared to the levels of performance and security that you were getting with shared hosting, VPS hosting is almost a steal.
4. Greater Levels of Server Customization and Control
With shared hosting, you’re limited by the initial configuration options that the hosting company provides for you. If you require a more unique hosting setup, or you want greater server access, then WordPress VPS is worth checking out.
Some WordPress VPS hosts may even offer managed services, which essentially means they take care of all the technical server tasks, so your time is freed up to focus on growing your website.
The Drawbacks of WordPress VPS Hosting
Still, VPS hosting isn’t perfect for every kind of website owner. In some cases, dedicated, shared, or even cloud hosting might be a better fit. Here are some of the most common drawbacks to WordPress VPS hosting:
1. Comparatively More Expensive than Shared Hosting
If you’ve been stretching your finances to pay for shared hosting, then you might not be ready for VPS hosting just yet. There are cheaper VPS plans available, but almost all of them will be more expensive than a beginner shared hosting plan.
However, when comparing the costs of VPS hosting vs. dedicated hosting, it’s incredibly cheap. Especially considering that the server environment you’re getting operates in a similar fashion to a dedicated server.
2. Issues With Resource Allocation
Proper resource allocation will help to ensure that your site has access to the resources it needs to function properly. However, since VPS hosting relies upon allocation technologies to create your virtualized server it might not always function properly. This will usually only be an issue if you’re using a low-quality hosting provider, but it’s worth mentioning nonetheless.
When considering a WordPress VPS host, make sure you do your research, check out user reviews, and see how long the hosting company has been in business. This is one reason you shouldn’t make your hosting decision based upon price alone. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
When Should I Consider Upgrading to WordPress VPS Hosting?
If this is your first time building a WordPress website, then you may not need WordPress VPS hosting. If you’re just getting started online, a shared hosting plan will offer you more than enough to build a website, launch it, and grow it through the initial stages.
However, once your website is out of the initial growth stages and you’re receiving considerable traffic, then it’s time to start thinking about WordPress VPS.
If you’re experiencing any of the following issues, then WordPress VPS might be the perfect solution:
- Your website is slow. If you’ve done everything in your power to speed up WordPress, but it still performs poorly, then you’re probably maxing out with your current level of hosting.
- You’ve been experiencing security issues. If the frequency of website attacks is increasing, this could be a good thing as this might mean your site is becoming more popular. But, you’ll want to harden your security by upgrading your hosting package.
- Your traffic levels are growing steadily. If you’re not experiencing any performance issues, but your site is steadily growing, then you might want to prepare for the future, and upgrade your hosting before it becomes an issue.
Beyond the issues explained above, there are other ideal circumstances that require VPS hosting as well. If any of the following sounds like you, then consider moving to WordPress VPS hosting:
- Your website isn’t experiencing massive amounts of traffic, but you’re steadily growing and could easily eclipse the shared hosting limits in the coming months.
- You have a high traffic website, and you want to bolster your levels of security or like having the ability to scale your site’s server resources.
- You’re planning a marketing initiative that’s going to result in a high volume of visitors coming back to your website.
- You have multiple websites (or are launching more) and you want them all under a single high-performance hosting plan.
How WordPress VPS Differs From Shared Hosting
With shared hosting, you’re sharing a physical server with potentially hundreds of other websites. Shared hosting is the most common form of hosting and a great choice for most website owners. With shared hosting, you won’t have the level of server resources provided by a VPS server, but the resources provided are more than enough to help you get your site off the ground.
VPS hosting does operate in a similar fashion to shared hosting, in that you’re still sharing a physical server environment. However, you have access to a greater level of server resources, and your server will operate like it’s own dedicated server. Meaning you won’t experience any negative unintended consequences of sharing a physical server.
Shared hosting is a great place to start, but once you’ve hit its limits, WordPress VPS is often the most logical next step.
How WordPress VPS Differs From Dedicated Hosting
With dedicated hosting, you have an entire physical server all to yourself. It’s one of the more expensive forms of hosting but it can provide you with very high levels of performance, security, and it gives you the ability to run a very custom server setup.
Depending on your hosting provider, a dedicated server might require that you have your own technical team to maintain the server, and assist with configuration and maintenance.
If you have a very large website that receives a ton of traffic, and you have a large budget, then dedicated WordPress hosting might be worth considering. However, if you don’t quite have the budget for a dedicated server, then VPS WordPress hosting can greatly benefit your site in the meantime.
How WordPress VPS Differs From Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is a relatively new form of hosting, and it operates in a very similar fashion to VPS hosting. When comparing cloud hosting vs. VSP hosting, cloud hosting allows you to utilize a network of servers that are grouped together into a server cluster.
This provides you with stellar levels of reliability and scalability. If a server on the network is experiencing issues you’ll be automatically switched to another server. The same goes for scaling your traffic. If you need more resources, then more servers will be added to the network.
Cloud hosting is great for high traffic volume websites, or those that have big traffic swings from month to month. However, you’re better off sticking with VPS hosting if you receive a moderate to high volume of steady traffic from month to month.
Closing Thoughts: Is WordPress VPS Right For Me?
The form of hosting you choose can make or break the success of your site. When site performance starts to lag you’re not only negatively influencing the user experience, but potentially your profits as well.
When compared to basic shared hosting, WordPress VPS hosting will give you access to greater levels of server resources, while providing you with improved security, and more customization options.
Overall, WordPress VPS operates similar to a dedicated server, but it does so in a virtualized environment. All at a fraction of the cost of what dedicated server hosting will cost you.
Finally, we have cloud hosting plans. VPS and cloud hosting are essentially cousins and operate in a similar fashion. Cloud hosting can be a solid choice if you have variable monthly traffic levels, while WordPress VPS will effectively serve any site with a steady medium to high monthly traffic numbers.
Hopefully, you have a deeper understanding of WordPress VPS hosting, and how it stacks up to the other forms of hosting out there on the market, so you can make the best decision that’ll effectively move your site towards a successful future.
Whether you want to register a domain, learn how to build a website, or hear more about hosting services, our expert support team at HostGator can help. Contact one of our helpful representatives today to get started now.
Kevin Wood writes about technology and human potential. You can find him at his virtual homes Wooden Writing and Counter Culturist.