{"id":1400,"date":"2025-05-16T15:13:37","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T15:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/?p=1400"},"modified":"2025-05-16T15:17:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T15:17:02","slug":"from-shared-web-hosting-to-vps-to-dedicated-servers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prolimehost.com\/blogs\/from-shared-web-hosting-to-vps-to-dedicated-servers\/","title":{"rendered":"VPS Compared to Shared Web Hosting and Dedicated Servers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Virtual private servers (VPS)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 have historically offered some middle ground between shared web hosting services and dedicated hosting services, both in control and cost, but recently the gap in cost between shared, virtual and dedicated servers has diminished \u2026 making upgrades from shared to VPS to dedicated web hosting very attractive.<\/p>\n

In shared web hosting, there may be thousands of other accounts with you on one server, while on a VPS that number gets reduced considerably.<\/p>\n

A virtual private server<\/a><\/strong> separates you from\u00a0\u2013 other customers on a physical web server, running on a copy of its own operating system, but it shares CPU and RAM resources of the physical web server with other VPS services running on that server.<\/p>\n

Typically, you will see VPS services advertised by number of CPU cores, amount of RAM memory, size and type of diskspace and bandwidth allotted. If you\u2019re going to run cPanel on your VPS, then a minimum of 2GB of memory is recommended.<\/p>\n

Additionally, VPS services are normally offered either as managed or unmanaged. If you\u2019re not server literate, meaning you don\u2019t know how to optimize and secure servers, then managed services are your best avenue.<\/p>\n

A dedicated server, on the other hand, is<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 a physical web server leased and controlled by the end client, without sharing physical CPU and RAM resources with other sites. It\u2019s very much like owning your own server, without the huge capital asset investment.<\/p>\n

Most hosts offer a mix of unmanaged versus managed services<\/a> for dedicated servers. Unmanaged plans typically offer the basics \u2013 the hardware, operating system, control panel and Internet connection.<\/p>\n

The two most popular operating systems for dedicated servers are Linux and Windows. In general, Linux is more widely accepted in server applications, simply because of the licensing cost of Windows. cPanel and Plesk are the two most popular control panels for managing a dedicated server, but there are a good number of others.<\/p>\n

In a VPS, a single physical server is partitioned<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 so that it appears as multiple servers. The physical server boots normally, then runs a program to boot each VPS within a virtualization environment.<\/p>\n

There are two kinds of virtualizations<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 software and hardware based. Software based environments share the same kernel and require the main node\u2019s resources. In a web hosting environment, quota incrementing and decrementing in real time is possible without restarting the node.<\/p>\n

In a hardware based virtualization, real hardware resources are partitioned, eliminating burst or real time quota modification. This lends to a (potentially) more secure environment.<\/p>\n

KVM SSD is rapidly becoming the virtualization of choice, but OpenVZ remains a viable solution when not oversold.<\/p>\n

With a dedicated server, you have<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 more flexibility and control. Dedicated servers have historically been the server of choice for complex business or high end eCommerce sites, but have recently become very popular substitutes for VPS servers and less complex solutions.<\/p>\n

There are a good number of low end dedicated servers on the market currently, so if your applications have become a little too resource heavy for a VPS, it isn\u2019t that cost prohibitive to upgrade anymore.<\/p>\n

The bottom line:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moving websites from a shared environment to either a VPS or dedicated server is a significant event. It\u2019s a major upgrade in the IT infrastructure supporting your business. Whereas the move from shared to dedicated was historically cost-prohibitive, and VPS offered some middle ground, technology has rapidly evolved to narrow that gap.<\/p>\n

Upgrading should be based on more than cost<\/strong><\/p>\n

Upgrading your IT technology, in this case to VPS or Dedicated is now a business decision based on more than cost. It\u2019s based on resources you control that will map your business success for years or decades.<\/p>\n

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