Finding the Best VPS Web Host: My Experience
VPS web hosting: It's the more cost effective way to manage multiple websites without having to dump your wallet out on a dedicated server. Here, I'll review what VPS hosting is, and what my findings were after a week of research on the web's most elite web hosting message boards.
On This Page:
What is A VPS Host?
Background information on the world of VPS Hosting
You might have heard the term in your search for a dedicated server. VPS, or Virtual Private Server, is kind of like "your little own space on a server." You don't own the server, just a partitioned space on it, and nobody else shares that exact space with you. Your space runs its own operating system (such as centOS).
To me, it's like having the benefits of a server without the hassle of paying for and maintaining one. After having managed a dedicated server for $2,300/year, I appreciate cutting my costs by over 4/5ths without sacrificing performance for obvious reasons :) This guide will assist you in fully understand what VPS hosting is, and will present the top 5 best VPS hosts, based on extensive research on internet message boards, customer testimonials and service comparisons.
To me, it's like having the benefits of a server without the hassle of paying for and maintaining one. After having managed a dedicated server for $2,300/year, I appreciate cutting my costs by over 4/5ths without sacrificing performance for obvious reasons :) This guide will assist you in fully understand what VPS hosting is, and will present the top 5 best VPS hosts, based on extensive research on internet message boards, customer testimonials and service comparisons.
Shared vs. VPS vs. Dedicated, and Other Hosting Plan Types
Where you always get what you pay for!
Here's the question everyone asks when seeking the optimal choice for their means. If you haven't already heard, there are three main types of hosting accounts: shared, VPS and dedicated, amongst a few others. Here's a quick run-through to get you further acquainted with the pros and cons of each:
- Free hosting: Free hosts are something to look out for - and I don't mean in terms of your consideration. Many services that offer free hosting will claim that they do not insert banner ads or alter your pages in any way. While this may be true, read their fine print and you'll see the "catch." Many free hosts change their tune a year later, and begin showing pop-up ads, whether you like it or not. I used to use free web hosts to host single-page articles that simply acted as a backlink to some of my websites...upon visiting those pages half a year to a year later, I saw that they were completely hijacked with Javascript ads and many other issues, and had devalued down to a "N/A" page rank. Other hosts impose severe restrictions on your bandwidth limits -- rightfully so, as they're providing you with a free service, which is considered to be a privilege, not a right. While free hosts might seem like a good alternative to domain name parking, they can be a serious disappointment. Don't even think of using a free web host if you're creating e-commerce or business sites: it conveys cheapness and un-professionalism to a high degree.
- Shared hosting: With a shared host, it's easy to find an amazing deal...and by amazing, I'm talking prices as low as $7.95/mo (much like what Hostgator charges for its unlimited domains plan). It's the most cost effective way to run multiple websites in a relatively reliable atmosphere. In shared hosting, you're "sharing" the space on a server with dozens of other customers. Of course, nobody can access each other's accounts. There are a few cons: note that there's a thing called the "bad neighborhood" -- this can be defined as your 'server neighbors' of whom are practicing blackhat techniques, such as email spamming, mirror sites, porn/gambling/warez sites and other objectionable stuff. Google has been known to penalize IP addresses. So, if your server has shifty people doing shifty things, your website(s) might suffer the consequences -- even if you did nothing wrong. To alleviate this issue, try to splurge a little more and get dedicated IPs. This may or may not resolve the issue in severe cases (however, web hosts -- especially big name ones -- do not have tolerance for black hatters and deal with them swiftly). I'm sorry to be causing what may be un-due fear mongering, but this is the grim reality of sharing server space with strangers. Of course, stick with premium shared server hosts like HostGator, HostMonster and others, and you'll have nothing to worry about. Don't plan on running a resource hog of a site on a shared server, such as a video site, Flash game site or social networking community: save that for a VPS or dedicated server.
- VPS hosting: The topic at hand: VPS hosting costs a bit more than shared (approximately 7x more, for similar specifications). However, you have your own little corner of the server, and your sites' performances aren't affected as much as they might be with a shared hosting service...so, that guy with the massive video sharing site won't be bogging you down. VPS hosting, much like other hosting plans, come included with all of the bells & whistles, including managed service, cPanel, expandable RAM and disk space, and higher tier bandwidth limitations. Finding a VPS host should be the top choice for any internet entrepreneur of whom is looking to maintain several websites, with more to come.
- Dedicated hosting: The top tier in the web hosting family. With dedicated hosting, the server is yours. Well, not technically - you don't own the physical hardware, but the box is "dedicated" only to you, no other customers reside on it. Dedicated hosting is not for the little guy: it's expensive to a high degree, especially for a work-at-home entrepreneur who has little cash to allocate. Expect to pay in the ballpark of $2,200/year, which has been the going price tag for years. With a dedicated server, you have complete control over the server box itself, and can tweak its settings, restart the box, or do anything else you desire. Dedicated servers, by default, usually do not include managed services. So, you'll have to synch it to your cell phone in case something goes wrong at 3:00am. In other words, bank on paying extra for managed services - which will significantly increase its annual cost. In closing, if you don't need this much overkill, don't buy it. Why buy a Rolex when there's nothing wrong with a Bulova?
Software You'll Need on a VPS Hosting Account
About centOS, cPanel and everything else that runs the show
Unless you're a Linux geek and can spew out commands like a second language, you'll need a GUI or Graphical User Interface to help you manage your VPS server accounts. In other words: an operating system that runs on the server. Software will be needed to access the ability to do anything from create and delete accounts, set limits, check resources and get to the database management tools. There are many, but the most popular of all is the cPanel & WHM combo. In order to run cPanel, you'll need an operating system: preferably centOS (cPanel also works on FreeBSD and Red Hat, but centOS is becoming the most common operating system in commercial web hosting). A popular competitor to cPanel is Plesk.As for WHM or Web Host Manager, it's a software add-on that helps manage multiple web accounts on your server (helpful mainly for reseller accounts), and may or may not be included with your plan. Honestly, you can do without it unless you are starting your own web hosting company with your VPS server. With WHM, you will login with the username "root," and from there, can log into individual cPanel accounts for each domain account.
The bad news: cPanel isn't free. The good news is that it's usually much more cost effective for a VPS hosting plan than it is for a shared hosting plan: up to 1/4th cheaper per month! In short, if your VPS host has centOS but doesn't have cPanel, you'll need cPanel. Otherwise, it's like buying a car without an engine.
You'll never have to install any software on your VPS server: your server hosting service automatically does it for you. Please double-check that they'll also be doing software upgrades for you, as well...you'll want to be relatively hacker free by having the most up-to-date software. This is typically a service that comes along with a managed server, but some VPS web hosts offer it as a part of the regular plan.
Top 5 Best VPS Hosts
Based on customer feedback & testimonials
Getting back to VPS hosting: I've recently gotten back in the market for a new server, and embarked on my first experience in the world of VPS. To spare you from utter boredom, I spent a little more than an entire week researching the topic up and down, talking to people, IM'ing and private messaging across the web on forums including WebHostingTalk and Digital Point. Here's a list of suggestions I came up with. As people suggested services, I literally marked them down with notches on a notepad, until this top 5 list was compiled.
Below are the top 5 best rated VPS hosts, according to those conversations. I've ranked them from #1 (most frequently recommended) onward, and have included basic stats for your price comparison convenience! My original list went on to include several others, but I have excluded all recommendations that did not have at least two separate people recommending them (I've also excluded recommendations that appeared to be the VPS host themselves, praising their own service).
Based on the talks I've had, it turns out that these particular hosts specialize in VPS hosting, rather than being a "jack of all trades." My personal requirements included reliable customer service (because I've been dealing with non-existent customer service for too long, and have had enough), a minimum of 512 MB RAM, and a budget of $500 - $550/year.
Below are the top 5 best rated VPS hosts, according to those conversations. I've ranked them from #1 (most frequently recommended) onward, and have included basic stats for your price comparison convenience! My original list went on to include several others, but I have excluded all recommendations that did not have at least two separate people recommending them (I've also excluded recommendations that appeared to be the VPS host themselves, praising their own service).
Based on the talks I've had, it turns out that these particular hosts specialize in VPS hosting, rather than being a "jack of all trades." My personal requirements included reliable customer service (because I've been dealing with non-existent customer service for too long, and have had enough), a minimum of 512 MB RAM, and a budget of $500 - $550/year.
To serve as a benchmark, I'll list statistics from all of these VPS based on plans that offer 512 MB RAM (this is a "minimum safe figure" in terms of RAM if you're using cPanel, which tends to use its share of resources)
- #1: ServInt
- ServInt has been in the VPS business since 1995. Comparatively priced, their mind-blowing amount of bandwidth is enough to make you triple think your final decision. Their transparent business purchasing practices and excellent customer support make them an attractive prospect. Additional IP's are only $1 each, too. This is the only contender on this list not offering 512 MB RAM, they don't even go that low! Save 10% if you purchase annually instead of monthly.
RAM: 768 MB, Disk: 30 GB Bandwidth: 1 TB Price: $50/mo (inc'l cPanel)
Also included: 4 IPs, free nightly backups, Virtuozzo PowerPanel GUI - #2: LiquidWeb
- No other service had more recommendations than LiquidWeb. It was literally everyone's rave review time and time again. It also happened to be the most expensive service I've researched, although, that only amounted to about $10 more per month than its competition. LiquidWeb has received the most complements about their customer support (both in terms of speed of response & quality) than any other plan. LiquidWeb is one of the few services that offers no discount or bonus if you purchase an annual plan vs. a monthly plan.
RAM: 512 MB, Disk: 20 GB Bandwidth: 200 GB Price: $65/mo (inc'l cPanel)
Also included: 4 IPs, cPanel, fully managed support, 100% uptime guarantee - #3: KnownHost
- Given virtually equal praise to LiquidWeb was KnownHost. The choice between KnownHost and LiquidWeb was literally neck-in-neck. KnownHost was also touted for its position as a premium VPS-specific provider, with no downtime. Their customer support was also ranked as superb, and allow you to choose between TX and CA datacenters. Free, regular account backups are included. As you'll see, KnownHosts' comparable VPS plan includes more disk space & bandwidth than LiquidWeb, for $15 less per month (save over 5% on top of that if you purchase the annual plan):
RAM: 512 MB, Disk: 30 GB Bandwidth: 550 GB Price: $50/mo (inc'l cPanel)
Also included: 2 IPs, cPanel, fully managed support, 99.9% uptime, free migration service, free Virtuozzo PowerPanel GUI - #4: WiredTree
- There were several hardcore fans of WiredTree throughout my searches: this VPS host has very comparable pricing, service and features to that of LiquidWeb. WiredTree is a fully-managed hosting service specializing in VPS that offers double the disk space and vastly increased bandwidth than the previous two hosts (so much, that I actually thought it was a typo). Unlike the other hosts, WiredTree includes Fantastico for an extra $1/mo, a software package that instantly installs website software like Wordpress and Joomla with a simple click. Its price is comparable with LiquidWeb. Save a whopping 10% of this cost if you purchase an annual plan.
RAM: 512 MB, Disk: 60 GB Bandwidth: 800 GB Price: $65/mo (inc'l cPanel)
Also included: 4 IPs, cPanel + WHM, Virtuozzo PowerPanel GUI - #5: FutureHosting
- For a VPS-specialized web host with a huge emphasis on security, look toward FutureHosting as an option. FutureHosting's managed VPS plan is 24/7: not only are they there for customer support, but they'll even do PHP re-compiles and a security checkup for you. FutureHosting is the only VPS host I've researched that includes a feature that backs up your data automatically every two hours. Choose from 5 physical locations: including London (great for you .co.uk webmasters looking for geo-targeting favoritism in search engines)!
RAM: 512 MB, Disk: 30 GB Bandwidth: 550 GB Price: $55/mo (inc'l cPanel)
Also included: 2 IPs, Future Protect bi-hourly auto-backups
Best VPS Hosts: A Comparison Chart
Choose the best VPS for you, based on what you need most!
Best VPS Host for Bandwidth
ServInt is the top choice if you're looking for oodles of bandwith for the lowest price around - you simply can't beat their package. This makes ServInt an optimal choice for anyone running a high-bandwidth site, such as a video or file sharing service, flash gaming site, or any high-traffic website.
Best VPS Host for Hard Drive Space
WiredTree beats the rest in terms of hard drive space, offering nearly double the amount. Hard drive space is of utmost consideration for those running websites with large files, including videos, MP3s, or file sharing - you'll fill it up quickly, but not with Wiredtree's whopping 60 GB of space.
Best VPS Host for RAM (memory)
ServInt is the clear winner, and the only VPS offering more than 512 RAM, with a grand total of 768 MB, guaranteed [1.5 GB burst RAM]. If you hadn't known, RAM is one of the most expensive upgrades for a server, typically beyond that of more hard drive space. ServInt's ample amount of RAM combined with their high bandwidth makes them an especially attractive candidate for a VPS host.
Best VPS Host in Customer Service
LiquidWeb is the true winner in terms of customer service - no other VPS host received so much praise for their customer dedication. This is a huge factor in selecting a web host, as you'll want someone to be there at all hours of the day if something happens to your e-commerce empire.
Best Price VPS Host
KnownHost and ServInt are tied for the lowest priced VPS services. Both offer identical RAM and disk space, with ServInt offering nearly double the amount of bandwidth. (remember, both services offer different "perks" - when choosing between the two, consider these other offerings, as well!)
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In conclusion, the best VPS recommendation:
I've found ServInt to be the most cost-effective service with the best offerings, making it an ideal start for any VPS newbie into the realm of VPS hosting. Great customer service from a big company that offers you a lot of server resources: you can't beat that. Check out this more in-depth ServInt review to learn more about the registration process and hosting packages.
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