Dedicated or VPS

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SenseiSteve

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Whether you should go with a dedicated server or a VPS isn’t as simple as price because what you should be looking for is which type of server most closely matches your specific web hosting requirements, not just for today, but for years down the road.

Is it better to start small and upgrade as required or should you acquire ample resources upfront and grow into them?
 
Some of it could depend on the contract you're locked into.

If you get the right host, you should be able to upgrade or downgrade and receive a charge/credit when doing so. MOST hosts don't do the credit thing when downgrading, so you have to find a special host to do that.

My recommendation is to move to a VPS when the needs require it. Every dollar counts when starting out, so keeping a tight string on the wallet can help.

If you can see yourself growing in the next 30 days to needing the extra space, then it's usually worth upgrading so you don't have to think about things, but again, it'll depend on contracts.

I just recommended to a client last week that he downgrade from his VPS to a shared hosting account. He didn't know why he had a VPS (for the past 4 years) other than it was something someone recommended. Looking at his bandwidth and usage, he's doing less than 20GB bandwidth in a month, and minimal CPU/Memory usage. No reason to be paying for a VPS - yet, GoDaddy has him locked in with no credit for the next 8 months. That's sucky!
 
'GoDaddy' and 'sucky' (or many other variants of the word) are things that we hear a lot in the same sentence from new clients who have had hosting with GD and are happy to be moving away from it.
I concur as all of my experience with GoDaddy has been abominable. I can't begin to tell you how many times I tried to update sites on GoDaddy websites only to get "Under Maintenance."
 
Whether you should go with a dedicated server or a VPS isn’t as simple as price because what you should be looking for is which type of server most closely matches your specific web hosting requirements, not just for today, but for years down the road.

Is it better to start small and upgrade as required or should you acquire ample resources upfront and grow into them?
Come on. It's 2021 already. Anyone heard about cloud (don't have to like this word, but it's there)? Why we talk about VPSes or dedis yet? Just for them being cheaper?
 
Come on. It's 2021 already. Anyone heard about cloud (don't have to like this word, but it's there)? Why we talk about VPSes or dedis yet? Just for them being cheaper?
Why do we talk about VPS and dedicated servers? Hmmm ... what do you envision as the current market share between these three? How about 5 years out?
 
Why do we talk about VPS and dedicated servers? Hmmm ... what do you envision as the current market share between these three? How about 5 years out?
Every hosting service is based on hardware, how you manage that hardware on software level is another question. But why choose less reliable solutions instead of newer and more advanced - I don't get it. It's time of data and CO2 migration to clouds. If later process might be limited, first is unstoppable already.

Why so many people try to think what will be in 5 years? Are there so many brilliant forecasters? Considering current political tensions there might be nothing. In more cheerful scenario I hope that robotic lawnmowers will be able to detect dog poop by that time.
 
For me, I still have VPS and Dedicated Servers for some specific tasks, but you're right, everything else is hosted on a cloud somewhere.

The reason for the VPS and Dedicated Server on our end has to do with software - more specifically, custom modules compiled into Apache that Cloud Service providers would not normally do. Some items need a full root compile and then the power of a dedicated server. We also have a few enterprise clients that need full isolation. But the majority run shared hosting and cloud. They're not resellers though, they're end-users.

From a reseller end of things, VPS and Dedicated is still the route used by the majority of hosting companies these days. I know there are modules for WHMCS to spin up Google Cloud instances, but I've no idea how pricing on that kind of setup would relate to that of VPS servers.
 
It depends on the program / script and system resource you use, in most case, a VPS is enough.
 
Whether you should go with a dedicated server or a VPS isn’t as simple as price because what you should be looking for is which type of server most closely matches your specific web hosting requirements, not just for today, but for years down the road.

Is it better to start small and upgrade as required or should you acquire ample resources upfront and grow into them?
Obviously, dedicated hosting can provide you with better performance, more resources, and stricter security, but all of this comes at a price. VPS hosting still has enough capacity for most websites, and most websites will be much cheaper.
 
If your projects online need not much resources, believe VPS will work fine.
But still recommend you try to compare rates, features, compatibility, performance, and reliability.
 
It's also about your level of skill and management. VPS does even better than a dedicated if well planned and managed. So factor in your skill set before deciding
 
With cloud infrastructures around, scaling to any level is not a problem anymore. VPS that can scale is always better. As people have already pointed out, dedicated servers are not only expensive but you also need a sysadmin to run and manage them. On the other hand, the barrier to entry with VPS is lower and you do not require specialized skills to manage your VPS.
 
VPS:

Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is a type of web hosting that makes use of virtual private servers. Despite the fact that the websites are housed on the same physical system, each website operates independently as if it were on its own.

Dedicated:

A dedicated server is a server that is hosted by a firm that only allows one company to lease and access it. It is "dedicated" to a single client and not shared with others. Dedicated servers often allow the client to select the operating system and hardware configuration. In other circumstances, the hosting firm will provide administration services for the client as an add-on service, relieving the client of the load.
 
It all depends on what you doing on it and how much processing power you going to need. If your not sure I would go for a VPS (pref kvm not openvz) as any decent provider will always give you options to upgrade the resources when you need it.

I recommend KVM as resources are harder to o oversell unlike openVZ.
 
If you own a business and want the highest level of performance, you should consider utilizing a dedicated server. A dedicated server is a single server that is exclusively yours. This implies that your website will have complete access to all resources and will not be competing for CPU time or memory with other websites.
A VPS, or virtual private server, is an excellent choice for small organizations or individuals seeking a less expensive alternative to a dedicated server. Your website will share resources with other websites on a VPS, but you will have access to more resources than you would on a shared hosting
 
It depends on your power requirements. A host that sells you CPU, Memory, Disk & Bandwidth will always give you better performance than a host selling merely Disk & Bandwidth, assuming that you are paying for enough CPU and Memory.
Once you are big enough for a VPS, that might be the best way to go assuming you are prepared to do the server maintenance and patching that a host does day in and day out as their daily bread and butter.
However, remember that a VPS needs Linux knowledge and comes with software licensing costs.
 
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