Why Should I Use VPS Hosting?

Are you a developer, looking for more flexibility to run your preferred applications and software configurations?

Are you an e-commerce owner, looking for more performance to handle all the recent traffic to your website? 

Are you a blogger on a budget, who wants to up your web hosting game without investing in a Dedicated Server?

If any of these hypothetical scenarios apply to you, then a Virtual Private Server (VPS) is right for you.

An excellent choice for web developers, webmasters, resellers, and for those who run resource-intensive websites, VPS Hosting operates and performs just like an independent physical machine would, except it’s partitioned into multiple “virtual” servers, offering security and flexibility for your websites, independence from your neighbors, and full control over your hosting environment. 

How Other Hosting Options Compare

Essentially, hosting services can be compared by how the servers are set up and the type of access people (aka customers like you) have to them.

You can think of VPS Hosting as the hybrid approach, balancing the advantages of Shared Hosting with that of Dedicated Server Hosting. 

Shared Hosting is more or less the “entry-level” of hosting, giving you and other customers access to one physical server. In essence, you’re sharing the key resources of that same server, things like CPU, RAM, disk space, etc. And although the cost is quite low, Shared Hosting is also low on customization given you have limited administrative access. 

Dedicated Server Hosting, however, is on the opposite end of the hosting spectrum. Here, one single customer gets an entire server to themselves (ahem, no sharing in sight). Although there’s a higher degree of self-management and power, it also comes at a higher cost. Another potential drawback of Dedicated Servers is that they can only run on one Operating System (OS). 

So without further ado, here are the 6 reasons why VPS Hosting might be exactly what you’re looking for.

1. It’s Completely Scalable

If your business has taken off or you plan to expand within the next year, a VPS is designed to adapt to the natural ebb and flow of a business. 

That’s why with VPS Hosting, you can start as small as your business can afford and grow as your business expands. Pretty scalable, right? 

All you have to do, depending on your hosting provider, is to authorize the cost of any upgrade (meaning more RAM or CPU power if your website is growing) or downgrade (shrink your technical resources if your business downsizes or takes an unexpected turn for the worst). 

Forget messing around with hardware installations or going through long data transfers; with a VPS, you decide if and when you need more (or less) resources. 

2. It Gives You Control (If You Want It)

With a VPS, you call the shots. 

Whether you prefer to operate things on your own or enlist the help of your hosting provider, a VPS gives you root access, the ability to install and update your own software, run batch files, make backups, customize your control panel, and update any software as you see fit. 

And, since you’re not sharing a server with your neighbors (compared to Shared Hosting), you have way more control because you don’t have to worry about some rogue application shutting you—and everyone else around you—down. Remember, it’s your private server, so you can run whatever application you choose, whenever you like. 

Even if you don’t feel the need to reach out to your hosting provider, just knowing that you have a reliable expert on call when you need it can be a real lifesaver. This allows you to focus on your small business, not the big technicalities. 

3. It’s Got Reliable Uptime 

Let’s face it—downtime is downright costly to your business. 

That’s why with a VPS, you have defined memory and bandwidth allocations all within your virtual environment. If your website grows in popularity, your visitors won’t get frustrated over slow loading times. Why? Because your VPS is able to handle all the incoming traffic, keeping your business operating as usual. 

If you’re also looking to amp up your SEO performance on your website, a VPS is the way to go. Avoiding the noisiness of Shared Hosting neighbors, VPS Hosting offers more optimization opportunities to speed up the loading time of your website. Given that Google takes into consideration page loading times, the fast performance and higher amount of resources of VPS Hosting can only help to keep your business or blog top of mind. 

And, when compared to Dedicated Server Hosting, VPS also features its own OS and allows for separate rebooting. This “portability of application” is a huge benefit of VPS Hosting. As previously mentioned, if you decide you want to upgrade or downgrade your server, your hosting provider can move you to a new virtual server with zero downtime. Reliable, indeed.

4. It’s Very Secure

Concerned about security? Don’t worry, a VPS has your back. 

Because your website is hosted in its own “virtual” space, you don’t have to concern yourself with what your neighbors are doing, as you might with Shared Hosting. A VPS is far more secure because it provides you root access, which gives you the ability to implement advanced security measures in your server environment. What does this mean exactly? Your neighbors don’t have any access to your resources or files that are kept behind a secure partition. 

VPS Hosting and Dedicated Server Hosting also often come with a dedicated IP address, making it far less likely that your website is confused for another while offering benefits for email marketing and security for e-commerce payments. 

Small business owners or organizations with highly-mobile staff can benefit greatly from this type of secure accessibility.

5. It Won’t Break the Bank 

When it comes to cost, a VPS is more or less right in the middle. 

Although it’s a bit more expensive when compared to Shared Hosting, it’s significantly less expensive than a Dedicated Server. 

And, when you add in just how easily and effectively a VPS tends to scale, this makes it the most cost-effective hosting choice there is. In other words, you get what you pay for and/or you pay for what you use. 

Because you’re not investing in the upfront costs of a physical server like Dedicated Server Hosting, you only take what you need and don’t overinvest in unwanted capacity. 

How’s that for being cost-effective?

6. It Suits Many Scenarios

Running a VPS is a great choice for many different website needs.

• If you run a high-traffic website –As we mentioned earlier, a VPS is designed to withstand surges in traffic, e.g. e-commerce webshops that promote their seasonal sales.

• If you use a sandbox – A sandbox is a virtual environment that many companies use to build, test, and deploy software before going to production. Need to identify bugs? Fix them? Test patches? Then a VPS is your best bet, allowing you to test and/or simulate whatever is needed. And once you’re done, you can easily go back to default. This is not the case with Dedicated Server Hosting, where it requires communication with Customer Support to reset, which can take several days.

• If you want to develop your own software – Programming students or web developers, this one’s for you. A VPS lets you test and try out different scenarios/staging environments so you know what works best. 

• If you want to have separate backup storage – A specific amount of disk space and file limitations make a VPS very popular when storing offsite backups.

• If you stream online – A VPS is a solid option if you regularly vlog, produce online courses, hold digital conferences, and broadcast content. 

• If you are a reseller host or domain reseller – A VPS offers more power than conventional shared Reseller Hosting, letting you implement customized control panels and features that drive more customers and sales. 

• If you handle email/database servers – A VPS gives email server users full control over outgoing emails while letting you set up advanced filters. Those who handle database servers turn to a VPS for more security and optimized resource usage. 

• If you use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) – If you want to set up secure access for your business network, a VPS helps control all incoming traffic. 

Namecheap Makes It Easy

If your business requires more control, higher security, and greater flexibility on a lower budget, look no further than Namecheap’s VPS Hosting Plans (Quasar or Pulsar). 

Whichever plan you choose, you’ll be able to enjoy many of the benefits you’d get from a Dedicated Server, without taking on the inevitable cost. Compared to Shared Hosting, a VPS offers you far more freedom and flexibility than Shared Hosting. Here it’s up to you what sort of server management you prefer to have (User-Responsible, Basic or Complete) with your VPS. 

Are you already a Shared Hosting customer but you want to make the switch to VPS Hosting? With Namecheap,  our friendly team of qualified experts makes it all so easy. The best part? It’s free to transfer, no matter if you’re a Namecheap customer or if you’ve purchased a hosting plan from a third-party provider. An added bonus? You get a free .website domain name and email if you purchase cPanel. 

And with Namecheap, there’s no waiting around for your new VPS to be deployed. Instead of hours, it only takes minutes. 

So, if your online business is experiencing both highs and lows, and you need the option to respond quickly while adding power to match the demand, a VPS is the perfect choice for you. 

If you’re a VPS customer with Namecheap, what do you like best? Share your thoughts today!