When building a website, hosting is one of the most critical factors. It houses all of your website’s components, including text, images, and code. However, with various hosting plans available, which one is best for you? How is shared hosting different from a dedicated server? And what is managed VPS hosting?
In this article, you’ll learn the definition of managed VPS hosting, the benefits it comes with, and things to consider when choosing the provider.
What is Managed VPS Hosting?
Virtual private server (VPS) hosting is a combination of shared and dedicated servers. It uses a virtual environment imitating a dedicated server, where you get dedicated resources but within a shared physical environment.
VPS hosting Hostinger, for example, lets you own a dedicated IP address and install a preferred operating system (OS), but you don’t get your own physical server.
With the managed service, your hosting provider also takes care of the technical aspects, like server maintenance and management.
6 Factors to Consider When Choosing Managed VPS Hosting
This section will show you several areas to think about when selecting managed VPS hosting as your plan.
1. Managed vs. Unmanaged
Compared to managed VPS hosting, unmanaged service gives you more freedom of customization. The hosting provider will only provide basic OS setup and configuration, and you can run the server whichever way you want.
As it doesn’t come with additional support, having solid IT knowledge is vital if you choose unmanaged VPS hosting. That’s why this hosting option is often preferred by professional developers or enterprises with specific needs.
Meanwhile, with the help from hosting providers, managed VPS hosting is better suited for startups or small and medium businesses.
2. Server Uptime and Performance
Server uptime means the amount of time a server is online and fully functional. It’s essential to have high availability because when a server goes down, so does your website. Moreover, a lot of downtimes will result in people leaving the website and lower your site’s search engine ranking.
In managed VPS hosting, server uptime and speed will be managed by your hosting provider. Pick a reliable web host that can guarantee high uptime. Today’s standard starts at 99.95% uptime, so avoid web hosts that offer anything lower than that.
Although you have more freedom with the unmanaged plan, make sure the hosting provider comes with excellent hardware features like SSD storage and Content Delivery Network (CDN). Those will prepare you to handle the server by yourself.
3. Customer Support
Even experienced website owners or developers may need assistance. So, reachable support from the hosting provider is essential, especially when you choose the managed VPS hosting.
With managed hosting, web hosts offer technical support and assistance for server customizations. The setup and server management rely on them, so they need to be available when a problem occurs to help verify and resolve the issues in real-time.
Unmanaged VPS hosting has limited technical support, you have the responsibility of your own setup. Web hosts mainly get involved when there’s a failure in the backend.
4. Features
Other features included when choosing managed and unmanaged VPS hosting are security, backups, and scalability.
With managed hosting, you usually won’t have to worry about those issues. The provider will offer automated backups and scan any potential attacks to secure your website. Also, they’ll take care of the upgrades, such as RAM, CPU, or space, and let you know about the updated cost.
Meanwhile, you have to configure the upgrading and security patches yourself if you choose unmanaged VPS hosting.
5. Pricing
The price of VPS hosting depends on the technical specs you choose, like the size of RAM and bandwidth and whether it’s managed or unmanaged.
Managed VPS hosting is more costly at the start, but it’s more configurable. The web host will handle server-related issues, so there’s no need to hire extra staff to manage the setup or monitor your website. Here, the pay-off is saved time and reliable website performance.
While unmanaged VPS hosting is more cost-effective, you must possess the necessary technical knowledge and skills to run it. If you end up hiring a team of experts to help, the overall costs can be higher than that of managed VPS hosting.
6. Consider VPS with Root Access
VPS with root access gives you complete control over your server. You can build the server however you like, including hosting multiple websites and installing custom software or applications.
Some managed providers don’t offer full root access because they handle the installation and monitoring. Others may give access only when the client requests it. If you don’t know how to control it, it’s better to rely on the provider.
However, this can be a limitation if you want to install some software that you need root access to do so. Then, unmanaged VPS hosting with root access will be a better fit for you.
Benefits of Managed VPS Hosting
With managed VPS hosting, the majority of server issues will be handled by your hosting provider. In this case, you’ll obtain several benefits, including:
- Effectiveness in both time and cost. You don’t have to configure the server and monitor the performance, which can take a lot of time and cost extra to hire more staff.
- Professional support. The hosting provider will be responsible for handling your server, so they’re open about the technical support and even customization assistance.
- More focus on your business. There’s no need to worry about technical complexities and just rely on the web host.
Conclusion
Managed VPS hosting can be a perfect hosting solution for people who have no technical background but want to scale up from the shared hosting plan. It gives more benefits, like performance, space, cost, and time effectiveness.
So if you need more resources as your website is growing and you’re receiving higher amounts of traffic, managed VPS can be a great solution. Although more expensive compared to the unmanaged alternative, managed VPS will be much easier to use to its full potential.
