Virtual private server (VPS) hosting solutions are usually the best options for webmasters looking for plans that aren’t too restrictive or too complex for what they need to accomplish. Hosting websites on a VPS is always preferred over the most economic options offered by web hosting providers. Shared hosting is usually the most inexpensive plan offered by hosts, but the majority of the webmasters who choose this option are looking for a very temporary solution that they don’t expect will bring too much traffic. Dedicated hosting, on the other hand, should be reserved for costlier large-scale projects that webmasters expect to rapidly expand.
Web designers and administrators who are just “testing the waters” with new projects sometimes end up limiting themselves by choosing shared hosting. This isn’t always recommended; in fact, serious web developers are better off securing VPS hosting from the start. It’s easier to upgrade or downgrade from a VPS to a lesser shared solution, or to complex dedicated hosting.
Before choosing shared hosting for “peanut projects” or dedicated hosting for potentially extensive projects, consider the following:
VPS Hosting Gives You the Best of Both Worlds
Web hosting providers are pretty astute when it comes to creating and selling hosting plans. Shared hosting plans are cheap because they don’t offer web designers that much value to begin with. Dedicated hosting plans are expensive because the hosting provider must make some pretty significant server concessions to accommodate their clients. Virtual private servers, on the other hand, are reasonably priced and offer lots of advanced features such as greater speed, increased bandwidth, root access, and IP filtering.
The single most significant benefit of VPS hosting is that it’s the closest thing to purchasing a sophisticated server computer and installing it at home or at the office; only without having to worry about paying for expensive hardware that takes up a lot of room and consumes a lot of electricity.
Room for Growth
Every web developer, designer and administrator dreams of the day when he or she will have dozens or hundreds of web properties to manage. As the World Wide Web continues to expand, such dreams often come true. Since shared hosting does not give clients too much room to grow, upgrading to VPS hosting is the next logical step.
When it comes to website traffic, webmasters should always anticipate unexpected growth. All it takes is a single link to a major website with an audience that’s interested in specific content to push the capacities of shared hosting. Rather than waiting for that day to come, web developers should be well prepared and protected with a VPS hosting account.
Brian Flores is an online marketing specialist at InMotion Hosting, one of the top virtual private server providers in North America. He works with an awesome team of writers to create useful tutorials on web hosting support. You can read those tutorials by visiting InMotion Hosting’s Support Center.
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