When choosing web hosting for your startup, one of the best choices you can make is VPS hosting, also known as a virtual private server hosting or virtual dedicated server hosting. Virtual private server hosting is the middle ground between the cheaper shared hosting, where you share a server with other websites, and the more expensive dedicated hosting, where you have a server devoted to your website.
VPS hosting allows you to rent a dedicated server, pay for what is necessary, and easily scale up as your website garners more traffic. VPS providers offer a lot of flexibility compared to cheaper solutions.
Some downsides of VPS hosting is that providers may be limited in software that dedicated hosts can provide, and they may impose limits on the resources you’re using on a server if it affects other users on the server. But the continued advantages of VPS hosting outweigh the disadvantages. These advantages are the user control that you are allowed over the space and server resources, the overall high-quality performance, the lack of downtime, and better security options such as firewalls and unique IP addresses. The scalability, flexibility, user control, high performance, extra security, and cost efficiency of virtual dedicated server hosting cannot be ignored, and they make VPS hosting the best option for many startups.
If you’ve decided to use virtual private server hosting, aim to get the best VPS hosting available, while also getting it cheaply. Below are three factors to consider:
1. Reviews.
As you should when purchasing any service, take a look at the experiences of other customers. A company that receives consistently bad reviews is not worth wasting your time and money on, especially with web hosting, which you usually want to acquire for the long term. Moving hosting services from one company to another can be an arduous process, so you want to choose an established hosting company with a good record that you can partner with for a while.
2. Price.
Getting a good service at a low cost is always a good thing. You shouldn’t have to dig into your retirement savings to pay the monthly fee for your web hosting. Call around to different companies and check their pricing to make sure that you aren’t paying more than you have to for hosting. As a startup, you should aim for low-cost VPS hosting, but not at a reduction in quality.
3. Quality.
Even though low prices are a great thing, remember that you get what you pay for, and running a web host costs a lot more than you might think. Web hosting companies that offer basically free services are not worth your time; and ridiculously low prices that seem too good to be true probably are. You get what you pay for, so make sure you choose a well-respected host, preferably one that hosts other companies in your industry and provides high-quality service at a low price.
When choosing a virtual dedicated server for your startups, take a look at customer reviews, price, and service quality to make sure you have the best service you can get.
