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VPS Hosting

Guaranteed CPU and memory with root access — and a maintenance obligation you should decide about before you buy.

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In one paragraph

A virtual private server slices one physical machine into isolated virtual machines, each with its own operating system and a guaranteed allocation of CPU, RAM and disk. You get root access and a genuine resource guarantee for a fraction of the cost of dedicated hardware — and you inherit responsibility for keeping the operating system patched, unless you buy a managed plan.

Managed or unmanaged? Decide this first

Unmanaged VPS

The provider keeps the hardware and hypervisor running. Everything above that — the OS, the web server, PHP, the database, the firewall, the backups, the security patches — is yours.

Choose it if you or someone on your team is comfortable administering Linux and will keep doing so every month, not just in launch week.

Managed VPS

The provider also patches the OS, configures the stack, monitors the server and responds to incidents. Typically $20–$60 a month on top of the base plan.

Choose it if you want VPS-grade resources without hiring a system administrator. For most small businesses this is the correct answer.

What a VPS gives you that shared hosting cannot

  • Guaranteed resources — your RAM is your RAM, whatever the neighbours do
  • Root access — install anything: Node, Python, Redis, a queue worker, a custom daemon
  • Your own OS — pick the distribution and kernel you want to standardise on
  • Real isolation — a separate kernel space per tenant, which is easier to defend at audit
  • Custom networking — private networks, additional IPs, your own firewall rules
  • Cron and background jobs without the process limits shared hosting enforces

Sizing a VPS honestly

Rough starting points. Always measure your own workload rather than trusting a table.
WorkloadvCPURAMStorage
Small business site, cached1 – 22 GB40 GB
WooCommerce store, moderate traffic2 – 44 – 8 GB80 GB
Agency hosting 10–20 client sites48 GB160 GB
Laravel / Node app with a worker queue48 GB100 GB
Database server for a records application4 – 816 GB+NVMe, sized to data + 60%

The recurring costs people forget

The monthly plan price is rarely the whole bill. Budget for off-server backups (often priced per GB), monitoring, a control panel licence if you want one, and — most importantly — the hours someone spends patching. An unmanaged $25 VPS that consumes four hours a month of skilled time is not a $25 VPS.

A minimum hardening checklist

  1. Create a non-root user, disable password login, and use SSH keys only.
  2. Enable a host firewall (ufw or firewalld); expose only 80, 443 and your SSH port.
  3. Install unattended security upgrades and check that they are actually applying.
  4. Add fail2ban or equivalent for SSH and application login endpoints.
  5. Configure off-server backups and restore one, end to end, before you go live.
  6. Set up monitoring and alerting that reaches a human — disk full at 3am is a classic.
  7. Document the build, so the next person can rebuild it without archaeology.

Indicative pricing

VPS 2

A single app or small site

$24.95 /mo*

*Indicative example pricing

  • 2 vCPU / 2 GB RAM
  • 50 GB NVMe
  • 2 TB transfer
  • Root access
See offers

VPS 8

Databases and agencies

$119.95 /mo*

*Indicative example pricing

  • 8 vCPU / 16 GB RAM
  • 320 GB NVMe
  • Private networking
  • Snapshots
See offers

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