Looking for the best VPS hosting company? VPS hosting is the best option for users who want more control and flexibility than a shared hosting service offers but without the high costs of leasing a dedicated server.
The VPS hosting market is a competitive space, so finding the best solution for your website can be a painful process. In our best VPS hosting reviews, we’ll walk you through a head-to-head comparison between some of the best VPS hosting companies out there so you can choose the service that best meets your requirements.
Before we look into the features and packages of popular VPS hosting services, it’s vital to understand what VPS hosting actually is and whether your website needs it or not.
What’s VPS Hosting?
Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is an in-between solution for sites that’re either resource-heavy or attract a significant amount of traffic. VPS hosting gives you more control and flexibility than a shared hosting server without the high costs of leasing an entire server for your sole use.
VPS is basically an independent partition of a physical server. With virtualization, it creates multiple virtual partitions of a physical server in a way that you can effectively control your own resources and configure them the way you want.
VPS hosting could be the best choice in the following cases:
- Control and flexibility: You need more control and flexibility than shared hosting offers but can’t justify having your own server.
- Scalability: You need a scalable hosting environment, which enables you to increase its size based on your evolving needs.
- Multiple control panels: You need to set up multiple control panel accounts for multiple websites so you can easily manage your files and sites the way you want.
Keep in mind that great control also comes with greater responsibility, so you’ll need to possess technical skills to administrate and maintain the server on your own, or you’ll need to have someone on your team who can handle those duties.
The good news is, web hosting companies also offer managed VPS hosting that doesn’t require you to possess the technical skills needed to administrate a server.
Although VPS hosting has several advantages, it’s not the right solution for every website owner. For instance, beginners don’t need the flexibility and scalability that VPS can offer. And, for sites that attract more traffic than a VPS can handle, leasing an entire server could be a better solution.
Now if you want to quickly go through the best VPS hosting companies, you can check out the table below.
| VPS Hosting | Cost | RAM | Disk Space | Bandwidth | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Hostinger | $5.99/mo. | 4 GB | 50 GB | 1 TB | 10/10 |
| 2. Bluehost | $29.99/mo. | 2 GB | 120 GB (SSD) | Unmetered | 10/10 |
| 3. HostGator | $19.95/mo. | 2 GB | 120 GB | 1.5 TB | 10/10 |
| 4. Dreamhost | $10.00/mo | 1 GB | 30 GB (SSD) | Unlimited | 7/10 |
| 5. Liquid Web | $15.00/mo. | 2 GB | 40 GB (SSD) | Unlimited | 10/10 |
| 6. InMotion Hosting | $9.99/mo. | 4 GB | 90 GB | Unlimited | 9/10 |
| 7. A2 Hosting VPS | $35.99/mo. | 16 GB | 450 GB (SSD) | 4 TB | 9/10 |
With that out of the way, here is an in-depth list you can go through.
Best VPS Hosting Companies (Compared)
1. Hostinger
1. Hostinger- RAM: 4 – 32 GB
- Disk space: 50 – 400 GB
- Bandwidth: 1 – 8 TB
- Website: Hostinger.com
Hostinger VPS is one of the best VPS hosting providers. They use a fiber-connected infrastructure that offers a 300 Mb/s network speed for VPS hosting clients.
You can choose from a range of plans that start from 1vCPU Core, 4GB RAM and 50 GB NVMe disk space. You also get weekly backups and a dedicated IP address.
One thing that stands out is that you can select from the most popular Linux-based operating systems for your virtual servers, and Hostinger will install it automatically for you.
Aside from this, Hostinger gives you full root access. They’ll also scan your site regularly for malware using Monarx’s malware scanner. If it detects malicious code, you can pay an additional fee and get it removed immediately.
Hostinger VPS comes with an AI Assistant to help you with anything you need. There’s also a strong support team available round the clock.
Pricing: Regular price starts at $13.99 per month for entry level plans
Special offer: Our users pay $5.99 per month
2. Bluehost VPS
2. Bluehost VPS- RAM: 2 – 8 GB
- Disk space: 120 – 240 GB (SSD)
- Bandwidth: Unmetered
- Website: Bluehost.com
Bluehost is an officially recommended web hosting company by WordPress.org. They now host over 8 million websites around the globe.
Bluehost regularly improves their VPS server hardware infrastructure by working with industry leaders like Intel and AMD to constantly evaluate their platform for maintaining optimal performance.
Pros:
- Bluehost uses SSD storage, which is 2x faster than HDD drives.
- You’ll get access to an enhanced cPanel, which gives you complete control over the CentOS installed server.
- You can add more VPS to your account, or even manage multiple hosting options, including shared and dedicated hosting along with your VPS hosting account.
Cons:
- Bluehost’s system is set up with CentOS and isn’t compatible with any other OS configurations.
- They don’t offer free website migration.
- While most VPS hosting providers offer 2 IPs, even in their starter plans, Bluehost’s VPS starter plan only offers 1 IP.
- They don’t offer email-based support.
You should also read our side by side comparisons between:
- Bluehost vs HostGator
- Bluehost vs WP Engine
- Bluehost vs Dreamhost
- Bluehost vs iPage
- Bluehost vs InMotion hosting
- Bluehost vs GreenGeeks
- Bluehost vs A2 Hosting
- Bluehost vs Liquid Web
The pricing starts at $29.99 / mo.
Read our full Bluehost review »
3. HostGator VPS
3. HostGator VPS- RAM: 2 – 8 GB
- Disk space: 120 – 240 GB
- Bandwidth: 1.5 – 3 TB
- Website: HostGator.com
HostGator is one of the most popular VPS hosting providers and comes with a full suite of tools to build your website. Their VPS hosting plans let you easily scale server resources to meet the needs of your growing business.
Pros:
- Get total control over your hosting environment with full root access.
- You can rely on their award-winning support 24/7 via live chat, phone, or email.
- Scale up your server resources as easy as the click of a button.
- Weekly off-site backups
- Based on your technical skills, you can choose between managed or semi-managed VPS hosting.
Cons:
As with many VPS hosting companies, HostGator isn’t perfect. They use RAID 10 disks for storage, which are known for maximum data protection. However, they perform slower than SSD storage. Check out these comparisons between:
- HostGator vs DreamHost
- HostGator vs. GreenGeeks
- HostGator vs InMotion Hosting
- HostGator vs WP Engine
- HostGator vs iPage
- HostGator vs Liquid Web
- HostGator vs A2 Hosting
The pricing starts at $19.95 / mo.
Read our full HostGator review »
4. Dreamhost VPS
4. Dreamhost VPS- RAM: 1 – 8 GB
- Disk space: 30 – 240 GB (SSD)
- Bandwidth: Unlimited
- Website: Dreamhost.com
Dreamhost has been in the hosting business for the last 18 years. They now host around 1.5 million websites, blogs, and applications.
With every managed VPS hosting plan, you get a user-friendly control panel, expert assistance with installing manual security patches, and 20x faster SSD storage. They offer 3 different VPS plans based on RAM (1GB to 4GB) and SSD storage capacity ranging from 30GB to 240 GB.
Pros:
- Unlike most VPS hosting providers, they offer unlimited/unmetered bandwidth.
- DreamHost offers one of the cheapest VPS hosting plans on the market.
- You can upgrade your VPS hosting plan in just 10 seconds.
Cons:
- Live Chat support is only available during 5 am – 10 pm PST, 7 days a week.
- Their starter plan only comes with 1 GB RAM, while most VPS hosting companies offer 2 GB.
- While their starter plan is cheap, it gets too expensive as you scale up your VPS hosting plan.
The pricing starts at $10.00 / mo.
Read our full Dreamhost review »
5. Liquid Web VPS
5. Liquid Web VPS- RAM: 2 – 12 GB
- Disk space: 40 – 200 GB (SSD)
- Bandwidth: Unlimited
- Website: LiquidWeb.com
Liquid Web is a leading managed VPS and dedicated server hosting company. What makes them stand out is that they offer custom-built server clusters that are optimized for popular apps, including WordPress and WooCommerce.
With Liquid Web’s starter VPS plan, you get 40 GB SSD disk drive, 2 TB bandwidth, and 2 vCPU. You can also enhance your hosting with a lot of different addons such as load balancers, VPN, firewalls, integrated backups, etc.
Pros:
- Their VPS plans outperform their competitors’, including Rackspace and AWS VPS hosting in terms of page speed.
- Get more resources than with any other hosting providers.
- Linux or Windows options are available.
- Liquid Web offers free site migration.
Cons:
- Their plans are way too expensive compared to other web hosting providers. However, they provide many features that other VPS hosting companies offer as upsells.
- No free ad credits offered.
The pricing starts at $15 / mo.
Read our full Liquid Web review »
6. InMotion VPS Hosting
6. InMotion VPS Hosting- RAM: 4 – 8 GB
- Disk space: 90 – 540 GB
- Bandwidth: Unlimited
- Website: InMotionHosting.com
Get started with InMotion Hosting »
InMotion Hosting is one of the veterans in the VPS hosting industry and offers a lot of desirable hosting features. They offer both managed and self-managed VPS hosting.
With managed VPS hosting, you can update your server settings with cPanel and WHM access. With self-managed VPS hosting, you’ll get access to SSH keys and manage a lightning-fast VPS server with minimal overhead.
Pros:
- InMotion Hosting offers both managed and unmanaged VPS hosting.
- They offer more RAM and bandwidth than any other VPS hosting company we’ve reviewed.
- Free automatic backups every 24-36 hours.
- Unmatched 90-day money back guarantee
Cons:
- They’re not early adopters of new technologies. For example, they were late in the game for Let’s Encrypt. Before that, they only supported free SSL via Comodo.
- Slow account setup because of their strict fraud prevention policies.
The pricing starts at $14.99 / mo.
Read our full InMotion Hosting review »
Now, let’s take a look at other hosting options available on the market and how they differ from VPS hosting.
VPS Hosting vs. Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is the best option for beginner-level users who don’t want additional control or resources.
Shared hosting is the cheapest hosting option available on the market, which makes it the most popular hosting service among personal and small website owners. With shared hosting, you share resources with other users hosted on the same server; but there’s nothing to be concerned about because no other users can see or access your site’s files.
While shared hosting doesn’t offer you the flexibility of VPS, it still comes with all the necessary features you need to build a small blog or website. It also allows you to install different types of software for building a site.
If you have minimal traffic and are looking for an affordable hosting solution that’s easy to maintain, shared hosting could be the best bet. You can always upgrade to VPS hosting without hassle as your site grows.
VPS Hosting vs. Managed WordPress Hosting
Managed WordPress hosting could be the best solution for those who want to run a resource-heavy WordPress site or a site that attracts extremely heavy traffic. Left unoptimized, WordPress can consume a lot of your resources, which necessitates the need to operate a WordPress site in an optimized, managed hosting environment that ensures high performance.
Wondering what makes VPS differ from managed WordPress hosting?
With managed WordPress hosting, you can only operate a WordPress site. But the main difference is that VPS gives you endless opportunities to configure the server the way you want, but you have to manage it on your own. Whereas, with managed WordPress hosting, you can operate WordPress sites without worrying about maintaining a server. Out of the box, the server offers a highly optimized, secure environment to run blazing fast WordPress sites without having you mess with system administration tasks.
Also, check out this difference between shared vs managed hosting.
VPS Hosting vs. Dedicated Server Hosting
Dedicated server hosting is the best choice if you want to lease an entire server for your sole use. As you’re leasing an entire server, you get full control over it and its configurations.
Here’s the difference between VPS and a dedicated server:
Unlike VPS, a dedicated server lets you choose the equipment, including the RAM, hard drive, and processor used in the server. As 100 percent of the server’s resources are allocated to your site, it costs more than VPS hosting. However, dedicated server hosting is the best hosting option for you if you don’t want to share resources with other websites by any means.
Every website doesn’t need the bells and whistles offered by a dedicated server, but choosing one instead of VPS is the right decision in following conditions:
- Your website’s gaining rapid traction among your audience so you think your site might outgrow your existing hosting service in the near future.
- You want to host large files that require extensive amounts of storage space and bandwidth.
- You need to process more resource-heavy scripts and applications than a VPS server could handle.
With dedicated server hosting, you don’t have to worry about other people’s sites slowing down your site. Of course, you can scale up your VPS, but there’s always a limit to the resources you’ll have access to with this type of hosting.
Factors to Consider When Choosing VPS Hosting
Now that you have an idea about different hosting options available on the market, we’ll take a look at factors that should be non-negotiable with any VPS hosting plan.
1. Uptime guarantee
It’s a no-brainer that, when choosing a web hosting server, you need to choose the one that offers maximum uptime. While no host can provide a 100 percent uptime guarantee (some hosts still promise it though), anything below 99.9 percent is considered unreliable.
There’re a lot of factors that can affect your web hosting server’s uptime such as:
- Security threats
- Hardware failures
- Natural disasters
- Human error
- Backup disk corruption
- Power outages
Some hosting providers offer a refund if they fail to meet their uptime guarantee, but that doesn’t cut it because every single second of downtime is going to cost you visitors, sales, and revenue.
2. Speed
As Google continues to emphasize page speed on their algorithm, you can’t afford to rely on a web hosting server that compromises on page speed. Page speed can have a significant impact on your overall online business.
For example, studies reveal that your visitors expect your site to be loaded in 2 seconds or less. And, if it fails to meet their expectations, they’ll abandon your website and likely go to your competitors’ sites instead.
If you want to have a blazing fast website, the most important thing you’ll need to do is choose a hosting provider that doesn’t compromise on speed. In fact, it doesn’t matter how well you optimize your site to boost page speed – unless you’re on a fast web hosting server, your optimization tactics won’t help you.
3. Features
When you’re reading the best VPS hosting reviews, you’ll need to have a basic understanding of what features you should expect as standard from the outset:
- RAM: 1 GB to 8 GB
- Disk storage: 30 GB to 240 GB
- Operating system options: CentOS, Ubuntu, or Debian operating system.
4. Pricing
Pricing for VPS hosting services is set primarily based on RAM and allotted disk storage. Based on your requirements, it can be tricky to compare pricing options provided by different hosting companies.
Some hosts (for example, Dreamhost), offer as low as 1 GB RAM and 30 GB storage in their basic plan, whereas other hosts (like HostGator) provide 2 GB RAM and 120 GB disk space.
That means, rather than making a blind comparison of different pricing plans offered by popular hosting providers, you need to keep an eye on important parameters like RAM and disk storage within each plan. Then, figure out how each plan matches up with your requirements.
5. Technical Support
You never know when you’re going to get in trouble with your web hosting server. As your visitors expect your site to be up around the clock, you’ll need to ensure that your hosting provider offers 24/7 support with your hosting plan.
24/7 technical support is a standard feature in the web hosting industry. However, there’re a few things you need to keep in mind when comparing technical support:
- Support modes: Ensure whether your hosting provider offers free support via live chat, phone, and email throughout the day.
- Response time: Understand, on average, how much time it takes to get a response and have your request resolved when a support ticket is opened.
- Documentation: Extensive documentation is a must. With a great knowledge base, you won’t have to waste your time with live chat because, in most cases, you can get problems sorted out on your own.
Recap: Best VPS Hosting Companies
After our best VPS hosting review, we found that Hostinger is the best choice on the market. They offer different pricing plans that perfectly fit your needs regardless of the size of your business. Whether you want to build a resource-heavy site or a site that anticipates rapid growth in the near future, you’ll find the right hosting plan that suits your needs.
What we really like about Hostinger is that they grow with your business. Beginner users can start small to keep the costs low and upgrade as their website grows.
If you’re looking for a host that offers robust performance, uptime, and a complete set of features at a fair price, then Hostinger is for you!
FAQs – Choosing the Best VPS Hosting Service
Having helped several thousand users choose the right web hosting account for their needs, we’ve found that people ask the same sort of questions again and again. This is why we’ve compiled a list of frequently asked questions, so you can find the best VPS hosting service for your site.
How does VPS hosting work?
With VPS hosting, a physical server is divided into several virtual compartments. While several websites may be hosted on the same physical server, a single compartment would be allotted specifically for your use, which makes it more controllable, flexible, and reliable than shared hosting.
What type of technical skills do I need to manage VPS hosting?
With fully managed VPS hosting, you only need to know basic knowledge of file transfers and application management since you get an easy-to-use custom control panel.
With unmanaged VPS hosting, you need to have a deeper knowledge of administrating and managing a server for optimized performance.
What are the differences between unmanaged and managed VPS hosting?
With managed VPS hosting, your hosting company will be responsible for keeping your server environment secure, configuring it, and doing routine maintenance.
With unmanaged VPS hosting, you’ll need to have the technical expertise to operate your hosting server. You’ll also be responsible for server admin tasks, configuration, routine maintenance, and keeping the environment secure.
How do I know whether my site needs VPS hosting?
If your site is rapidly gaining traction among your audience and you think you’ll soon outgrow your shared hosting server, it’s probably the right time to switch over to VPS hosting.
How much does it cost to start a site on VPS hosting?
VPS hosting plans typically start at as low as $15 per month. The best thing is, you can easily scale up your VPS server as you grow.
What type of software can I install on VPS hosting?
Unlike shared hosting, you have full control over the software you use on your VPS hosting account except for the operating system. If you need even more control over your server and want to decide the operating system as well, you might need to choose dedicated server hosting.
Is my VPS hosting scalable?
Absolutely! You can easily scale up the capacity of your VPS to meet your needs. If you’re anticipating growth in the near future, you can easily switch over to larger servers.
Why does hosting support matter?
When it comes to website hosting, you never know when you’re going to get in trouble.
In fact, just because a web hosting provider has a satisfactory uptime score, doesn’t necessarily mean your site will be 100 percent secure and up around the clock.
When you find any issues with your hosting server, you’ll want to contact your hosting provider instantly and get it resolved in no time. This can only be done if your hosting provider has an excellent track record of resolving support requests hassle-free.
Do I get a dedicated IP address with my VPS account?
Most VPS hosting providers provide you with at least 1 IP address that you can use to run your own web, email, and FTP servers.
How many emails can I send out per hour from my VPS server?
While there’s not an official limit, it’s often advised to limit yourself to 500 emails per hour or you might risk your IP getting blacklisted.
