If you have been spending so much time on making your website stand out from the million others on the market, definitely, it makes more sense to see your reward come in form of traffic and other set goals.
However, with more blog posts, images, and other resources added on, there is an expectation of a fairly high number of unique visitors. All of these milestones, however, contribute to the increasingly large load mounted on your server and in time, you may likely notice a drop in performance of your online platform.
As you reach this point, the best question to which you must find an answer to is “What to do?”
Is it time to upgrade your hosting plan?
As the decline in performance sets in, one of the very few but important factors to place in focus is your hosting plan, and whether or not it has become necessary to upgrade it. For persons still working with a shared hosting plan, the decline in the performance of your blog may signal the need to upgrade your hosting plan to either a VPS or a dedicated server.
While it may be a tough choice deciding between a VPS and a dedicated server, in this article, we will take a closer look at both options, covering their similarities and unique differences, thus empowering you to make the best choice.
What is your baseline?
The first thing you should do as part of your decision-making process is to determine your baseline. This can be done based on a number of considerations, chief of which are:
– The number of CPU cores (keep in mind that the more CPU cores, the faster)
– How much of RAM you want
– How much storage or disk space is needed (here, you should decide on whether to choose the faster SSD option or a cheaper traditional storage option).
While the resource allocation, as listed below is important, also pay attention to the number of websites and blogs you are allowed to operate on the server’s resources.
Option 1: VPS Hosting
Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is virtually private in that it allows you feel in a world of your own. VPS is much similar to shared hosting in that it allows multiple websites share the resources contained on a single physical server. The main difference between a VPS and a dedicated hosting server however lies in the restriction placed on who can use the resources.
The web host uses a hypervisor or software designed to create individual virtual machines on the server. With the VPS’ strict separation, you are assured protection from your neighbors, although you still share the same pool of resources with them.
In addition, with VPS, resource allocation is divided in an even manner which means one website cannot take advantage of another’s allocated resources.
Option 2: Dedicated Servers
Perhaps the most advantageous part of dedicated servers is that they are all yours for the taking. Like ServerMania Dedicated Server Hosting for Windows, servers are wholly dedicated to serving your website. With a dedicated server, you start with a clean slate and can put whatever you want on the server at any time.
To make this a better option, you may also be presented with several physical server configuration options from webhosts, all from which you can choose the most fitting option that lets you build the type of server that matches your needs.
A dedicated server differs greatly from a shared plan and the VPS option as it takes away the sharing part and gives you a whole clean facility to work with and customize to your needs.
VPS Hosting vs Dedicated Server: The similarities
There are a lot of similarities between the VPS hosting option and the dedicated server. Both options are known to offer increased control over the hosting environment, and this is especially true with regards to the type of software installed on the server.
In addition, both the VPS Hosting and the dedicated server options allows users the flexibility to purchase specific specs that are needed with respect to hardware.
VPS Hosting vs. Dedicated Server: The differences
Cost: The VPS hosting is available at a much cheaper rate compared to the dedicated servers. VPS hosting is cheaper because web hosts can afford to spread the cost over several users and customers.
When to Choose Dedicated Server
You should choose to upgrade to a dedicated server if:
– You need the best website out there in the web space which allows you to max out on RAM and other resources while also supporting tons of visitors.
– You are in need of high security for your website
– You have special needs for your website environment.
