Choosing a hosting provider is hard enough, but choosing the right hosting plan can add to that frustration, especially if you don’t know the differences between them. For this guide, we are going to discuss two of the more secure options for hosting plans, VPS and Dedicated.

What is a VPS and Dedicated Plan?

Before we discuss the differences, let’s talk about the plans themselves and what makes them unique.

VPS. A VPS, or virtual private server, is similar to a shared server in that the server has multiple clients on one server. That’s where the similarities end. While you are sharing a server with other clients, each client is allotted certain space and cannot interfere with another client. This is done using a hypervisor (which sounds way cool). A hypervisor is a virtual partition used to separate clients from each other and ensure that they don’t interfere with any data or usage of the other clients.

Dedicated. A dedicated server is just what it sounds like, dedicated. You are the only one using that server and only your data will be on there. How nice it is to have a server dedicated to your business – but it does not come cheaply.

So What’s the Difference?

Besides what type of servers these two plans use, speed, security, price, scalability, and management all play a huge role in making these two plans different.

-Speed. When it comes down to it, a dedicated server will have the advantage here. There are no partitions or dividers or anything to stop data being transferred or requested. This improves page load times and, as you may know already, the faster a page loads the more likely a visitor will stay on your site.

-Security. When considering hosting providers, security is another score for dedicated servers. This is not saying that VPS security isn’t good, it’s just that security for dedicated servers is commonly better. The main reason is that there is only one way for attacks to happen on a dedicated server: externally. With a VPS there is always the chance that a neighbor on the server you share could become corrupted and affect your site.

-Price. Without a doubt, a VPS plan is going to cost much less than any dedicated plan. The discount comes from sharing a server and is usually a pretty big difference.

-Scalability. When it comes to expanding your site or increasing the amount of storage you need, a VPS takes the cake again. Having the advantage of being virtual, upgrading your storage can be done by simply allocating more to you from the server you are on. With a dedicated plan, if you want to add more, you will need to physically add more to the server. This costs money and time and can cause downtime on your site.

-Management. Dedicated prevails when it comes to management. Although both plans offer management, having to only deal with one set of data, rather than multiple, is a big bonus. Server technicians will be able to focus solely on your data and not have to deal with issues that may be coming from other client’s data.

Finding a Hosting Provider You Can Trust (Done)

As a hosting provider, we understand that different plans can be confusing. We hope that this guide has helped answer some of your questions and that you can use it to decide if you need a dedicated server, or will be fine with choosing a VPS plan. To compare our plans go to our managed server page and you can get a starting point for each and see which direction you may want to go.