Want to jump straight to the answer? The best VPS host for most people is definitely Hostinger or Kamatera.
Virtual private server (VPS) hosting is a step up from a shared hosting service. While shared hosting is cost-effective for beginner websites, it’s not the best solution when your traffic and business grows.
As your site scales, its hosting needs are going to change. That’s when it’s time to start looking for VPS hosting.
It can also be a huge benefit to companies deploying virtual machines, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, or gaming networks. Some VPS providers offer it for cloud and edge computing, meaning devices, cloud-based software, and massively social online games can worry less about latency, unreliability, or security breaches.
Not sure whether VPS hosting makes sense for your business? Jump further down this post for more on how VPS works and how it compares to other hosting options.
Finding the best VPS hosting plan can be intimidating. There are so many hosting providers out there offering VPS options. Taking the time to research all of them would take days.
Fortunately for you, I’ve already taken the time to do all of the research. I’ve gone through dozens of VPS hosting plans and narrowed down the top options for you to consider.
Here are my ten top picks for the best virtual private server providers in 2021.
The Top 10 Best VPS Hosting Providers:
- Hostinger — Best cheap VPS hosting plans
- Kamatera — Best VPS hosting for instant scaling
- Bluehost – Most painless upgrade from shared hosting
- LiquidWeb – Best hands-off VPS hosting with high memory and storage
- Scala Hosting – Best VPS hosting for getting an exact blend of resources
- HostGator – Best VPS for hands-on customer support
- InMotion – Most reliable uptime
- A2 Hosting – Best unmanaged plans for developers
- iPage – Best VPS hosting for when you’re starting from scratch
- iDrive Compute – Best for edge computing
Read on for detailed reviews of the VPS hosts above. I highlighted their plans and pricing while explaining what makes each one a good VPS hosting option. You’ll also learn about some of the potential downsides or weaknesses of these providers as well.
Let’s begin.
Virtual Private Server Reviews
#1 – Hostinger — Best Cheap VPS Hosting Plans
- Normally $7.99/month
- Month-to-month pricing
- Free domain and SSL certificate
- 30-day money back guarantee
Hostinger offers the cheapest plans of any of the VPS hosts on our list. In fact, they’re one of the most affordable providers in general.
We’re not exaggerating either. Their lowest plan clocks in at just $3.95 per month. Even when you take into account that it’s the introductory price, that’s still incredibly cheap when it comes to VPS hosting!
The best part: they don’t skimp on any of the good stuff. For that price, you still get an entire terabyte of bandwidth, along with 20 GB SSD storage. You can’t find that sort of deal anywhere else.
On top of that, they offer full root access to your server along with a 100 MB/second guarantee on your network. That ensures excellent loading times for your website.
Hostinger’s VPS options are as follows:
1 vCPU
- $3.95 / month
- 1 core
- 1 GB RAM
- 20 GB SSD Storage
- 1 TB Bandwidth
2 vCPU
- $8.95/month
- 2 Cores
- 2 GB RAM
- 40 GB SSD Storage
- 2 TB Bandwidth
3 vCPU
- $12.95/month
- 3 Cores
- 3 GB RAM
- 60 GB SSD Storage
- 3 TB Bandwidth
4 vCPU
- $15.95/month
- 4 Cores
- 4 GB RAM
- 80 GB SSD Storage
- 4 TB Bandwidth
6 vCPU
- $23.95/month
- 6 Cores
- 6 GB RAM
- 120 GB SSD Storage
- 6 TB Bandwidth
8 vCPU
- $38.99/month
- 8 Cores
- 8 GB RAM
- 160 GB SSD Storage
- 8 TB Bandwidth
As you can see, there’s a wide variety of choices you can make when it comes to Hostinger’s VPS hosting. Couple that with its low prices and great features and you know this is the VPS host that gives you the most bang for your buck.
Personally, I’d go with the 6 vCPU plan. That gives you all the bandwidth you’d need along with the RAM to make sure your website is running smoothly—and quickly too.
Overall, I highly suggest it for anyone looking to get the most out of their dollar. Sign up today at Hostinger.
#2 – Kamatera — Best VPS Hosting for Instant Scaling
- Instant scalability
- More than a dozen servers worldwide
- Starts at $4/month
- 30-day FREE trial
Kamatera offers a wide variety of flexible cloud-based VPS solutions for web hosting. Really, you can set up their servers for whatever you need–email, CRM, ERP, VoIP–and it’s going to be able to grow with you.
Along with unlimited storage, you’ll also be able to add new servers when you need it, start and stop servers at any time, and add new databases when you need to.
In fact, they’re one of the most scalable VPS services out there.
You’ll be able to increase your server numbers in a matter of minutes. That’s perfect for any burgeoning startup who needs to increase the power of their website as time goes on. Or if you’re a little strapped for resources and need to pull back the reins a little.
With Kamatera, you’re not choosing between several plans. Rather you can dial in the exact amount of resources you want:
Kamatera lets you choose the type of servers, OS, and control panel for your VPS hosting. Their global technical support network also operates 24/7 worldwide with more than a dozen data centers in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
So, if you ever have any issues, you can bet you can get someone on the line to help you.
We would include more details about their prices and plans, but they’re customized to your exact specifications.
Prices start at just $4 for an unmanaged server. This is a great deal for people who want total control over configuration. If you want a more hands-off experience, Kamatera’s managed plans start at $54.
#3 – Bluehost VPS — Most Painless Upgrade from Shared Hosting
- Normally $29.99/month
- Free domain and SSL certificate
- Free SSD for extreme speed
- 30-day money back guarantee
Bluehost is an industry leader in the web hosting space.
Their VPS plans offer a wide range of hosting options, to accommodate the needs of nearly every website.
The reason why Bluehost stands out is because they’re an excellent choice for those of you who might be new to VPS hosting—or new to hosting in general.
Not only do they offer a massive knowledge base that’ll allow you to learn anything you want about VPS hosting, they also have a great customer support team that can be reached by telephone, email, or live chat available 24/7 to help you out with any questions or issues.
Bluehost allows multi-server management, meaning you can add more space to your plan at any given time. This is ideal for websites that need the ability to scale at a moment’s notice, without any delays or downtime.
You’ll be able to accomplish this without any assistance from a Bluehost administrator, directly from your advanced cPanel.
They have several powerful plans with straightforward pricing. No hidden fees or surprises. They even give you a free domain name just for signing up.
Standard VPS
- Starting at $18.99 per month
- 2 CPU cores
- 30 GB of SSD
- 2 GB of RAM
- 1 TB of bandwidth
Enhanced VPS
- Starting at $29.99 per month
- 2 CPU cores
- 60 GB of SSD
- 4 GB of RAM
- 2 TB of bandwidth
Ultimate VPS
- Starting at $59.99 per month
- 4 CPU cores
- 120 GB of SSD
- 8 GB of RAM
- 3 TB of bandwidth
As you can see, Bluehost offers pricing and resources for websites of all shapes and sizes.
I found in my complete review of BlueHost hosting that even if you’re looking for an entry-level VPS plan, I’d still recommend starting with the Enhanced VPS as opposed to the Standard. For just $10 more per month, you’ll get double the SSD, RAM, and bandwidth.
Although it’s worth noting that the prices listed above are promotional rates only. You’ll end up paying $29.99, $59.99, $89.99, and $119.99, respectively, when your plan renews.
All VPS plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. For a fair price, you’ll benefit from plenty of resources, support, and uptime compared to other options on the market. Try Bluehost today.
#4 – LiquidWeb VPS — Best Hands-Off VPS Hosting with High Memory and Storage
- Starts at $15/month
- Fully managed services
- Enhanced SSD servers
- 59-second support guarantee
LiquidWeb is one of the most understated VPS hosting services out there.
What they lack in name recognition, they make up for in a very powerful VPS hosting service.
All LiquidWeb VPS plans are fully managed. That means your hardware and network are taken care of for you.
Their administrators also handle all security updates and patches as well as support for the operating system and all software.
Each of their virtual private servers boasts a staggering 10 TB of bandwidth. That’s the most we’ve seen so far. The 16 GB of RAM plan has up to 200 GB of SSD disk space, which is also the highest we’ve seen so far.
To put that into perspective for you, 16 GB of RAM is double the amount of the highest plans offered by both Bluehost and InMotion (both of which still offer very good VPS plans mind you).
Unlike some of the other hosting providers we’ve seen so far, LiquidWeb doesn’t have any special or fancy names for their plans. You’re essentially paying for your resources, starting with RAM.
- 2 GB RAM — $15 per month
- 4 GB RAM — $25 per month
- 8 GB RAM — $35 per month
- 16 GB RAM — $95 per month
These are all annual contract-based prices. You’ll pay more if you want to do month-to-month.
LiquidWeb has 2-year plans available upon request. But you’ll need to talk to their customer service team to find out those special rates for your website.
LiquidWeb is perfect for cases where you need a lot of bandwidth and disk space. It’s a key differentiator for sites with a lot of videos, cached images, or interactive elements.
The support offered by the LiquidWeb team is exceptional. They are available 24/7 via phone, email, and live chat.
Most VPS providers don’t offer a 16 GB plan. I can’t imagine most of you will need it, but for those of you who do, this is where I recommend getting it.
Click here and use coupon code QUICKSPROUT to get 40% off 2 months of any Liquid Web hosting plan.
#5 – Scala Hosting — Best Provider for Getting the Exact Right Blend of Resources
- Fully customizable VPS resources
- Max out at 24 CPU cores, 128 GB RAM, & 2 TB of disk space
- Choose datacenter & OS
- 24 helpful add-ons
VPS gives you more resources—RAM, disk space, and CPU cores—than shared or cloud hosting will.
But sometimes, bespoke VPS hosting packages give the exact amount of those resources that your specific business needs.
Scala Hosting lets you tailor your VPS servers to the exact specifications you’ll want for your sites.
And by exact, I mean exact. Scala offers a build-your-own VPS hosting tool. Check it out below:
You can use sliders to set the number of CPU cores (choose from one to 24), how much RAM (2 GB to 128 GB), and the storage space of your SSD (50 GB to 2,000 GB).
Enter the combination you need for your site and Scala’s tool will spit out prices for monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual billing. Managed VPS plans also come in two-year and three-year terms.
For example, let’s say you have a social networking site where people can share photos, post videos, and contribute as much content to the community as they’d like. It’s a small but active community, so you never have to worry much about traffic spikes, but you need the site to run smoothly when dozens or more are posting and browsing at once. And you need ample storage for all the content they’re posting.
In that case, you could set up a VPS plan through Scala that has four CPU cores, 10 GB of memory, and 400 GB of storage. Paying annually, that would run you $69/month for self-managed VPS through Scala. That’s just nine bucks more than Bluehost’s Ultimate VPS package, where you get the same number of cores, but 2 GB less RAM, and 280 GB less SSD space.
That same package for Scala’s fully managed VPS is a very competitive $119.95/month.
Plus, you can select your preferred datacenter—choose from New York, Dallas, or Europe—at no extra charge. On self-managed plans, you can select one of eight operating systems. For fully managed, you can select whether you’d like SPanel for your control panel or cPanel for anywhere from five to 1,000 accounts.
Customization doesn’t stop there. Choose from 24 different add-ons to tweak your package even further. You can add unbranded WHMCS, Softaculous, or ClientExec for client management, additional cPanel licenses, a CloudLinux license, and more.
Don’t want to build your own? Prebuilt self-managed VPS packages start at $10/month and the same for fully managed plans start at $9.95/month.
If you know exactly what you need and don’t want to jump through any hoops to get it for your sites, go with Scala Hosting.
#6 – HostGator VPS — Best VPS for Hands-On Customer Support
- Great customer service team
- Flexible software options
- Advanced server features
- 45-day money back guarantee
HostGator is another popular name in the world of web hosting. Their VPS plans are top-notch for their excellent pricing plans.
Where they really shine, though, are their excellent customer support offerings. For example, they offer free content transfers if you’re migrating from a different web host. That’s a service that you’d normally spend hundreds of dollars at another hosting site.
But HostGator transfers “website files, databases, scripts, and one free domain registration” for absolutely no cost to you. You just have to do it within 30 days of signing up. That’s world-class support.
Their customer support team is also on hand 24/7/365 via phone, email, or live chat to help you with any of your needs.
Snappy 2000
- Starting at $19.95 per month
- 2 GB of RAM
- 2 CPU cores
- 120 GB of disk space
- 1.5 TB of bandwidth
Snappy 4000
- Starting at $29.95 per month
- 4 GB of RAM
- 2 CPU cores
- 165 GB of disk space
- 2 TB of bandwidth
Snappy 8000
- Starting at $39.95 per month
- 8 GB of RAM
- 4 CPU cores
- 240 GB of disk space
- 3 TB of bandwidth
Although their plans aren’t the lowest that we’ve seen, they’re still pretty good. Their VPS plans are geared towards more professional, experienced web managers though.
They’re very good at giving developers great control over their exact hosting specifications. HostGator stands out with its reliable and multi-layer security network. This enhanced protection paired with the ability to easily scale your resources is what makes HostGator a top VPS choice on our list
Along with that, you get unlimited MySQL Databases, full root access, and unlimited SFTP users. So if you want more control over technical aspects of your website, this is the host for you.
They also offer good cloud hosting plans as I found in my review of HostGator cloud hosting. Just keep in mind that their customer service and support falls a bit short compared to other providers.
#7 – InMotion VPS — Most Reliable Uptime
- High-performance cloud VPS
- Starts at $17.99/month
- Free and unlimited email
- 90-day money back guarantee
Unlike other web hosting providers that are best-known for shared hosting or dedicated servers, InMotion specializes in VPS hosting.
Their plans come in two flavors: managed and cloud. While their managed hosting is great and offers great performance, I highly recommend their cloud hosting plan. It offers even more control over your VPS server for developers and website managers. It also comes with enterprise-level hardware to ensure 99.9%+ uptime rate.
Let’s take a look at each one to see what’s best for your website.
InMotion Managed VPS Hosting
The managed plans are ideal for business owners, agencies, and resellers. Each plan offers free server management, updates, and free site migrations.
You’ll also benefit from a resource monitoring dashboard, unlimited domains, unlimited email accounts, and unlimited MySQL databases.
Here’s what their plans look like for 6 month contracts:
- VPS-1000HA-S — Starting at $17.99 per month
- VPS-2000HA-S — Starting at $64.99 per month
- VPS-3000HA-S — Starting at $84.99 per month
All plans are ecommerce-optimized and come with optional root access for those of you who want more advanced control over your settings.
InMotion Cloud VPS
The cloud hosting account plans offered by InMotion are best for developers and system administrators. That’s because each plan comes with full root access, including SSH keys, which gives you total control over customization.
As a developer, you’ll essentially get a blank-slate to customize a VPS to meet the exact needs of your website. You can also code in the language of your preference, like Java, Ruby, and other popular choices.
InMotion Cloud VPS provides enterprise-level hardware, with SSD servers that are 20x faster than the competition.
- cVPS-1 — Starting at $5 per month
- cVPS-2 — Starting at $10 per month
- cVPS-3 — Starting at $15 per month
- cVPS-4 — Starting at $20 per month
- cVPS-6 — Starting at $30 per month
- cVPS-8 — Starting at $50 per month
- cVPS-16 — Starting at $80 per month
- cVPS-32 — Starting at $160 per month
In my review of InMotion hosting I found that in order to get the best introductory rates for cloud VPS, you need to commit for one year, as opposed to two years with the managed plans.
Prices for managed plans and cloud hosting plans are a lot alike. The biggest difference between the two is basically how much control you want over the server.
Unless you’re a developer, I think that the majority of you should lean toward the managed plans, just based on simplicity. Learn more at InMotion.
#8 – A2 Hosting VPS — Best Unmanaged Plans for Developers
- Managed starts at $49.99/month
- Unmanaged starting at $5/month
- Free SSD with root access
- 30-day money back guarantee
A2 Hosting offers some of the fastest hosting out there. They especially stand out because they offer both managed and unmanaged VPS plans.
Typically, unmanaged VPS plans with root access and custom features come at a higher price point. But not with A2 Hosting.
Experienced developers can get an unmanaged virtual private server for as low as $5 per month. Although with just 20 GB of storage and 512 MB of RAM, this entry-level plan likely won’t meet your needs.
You’ll also get root access for both the unmanaged and managed plans. This gives you greater control to make custom changes to your virtual server. Coupled with their low price point, it makes it a top choice for anyone who’s looking to really take the reins of their website.
Here’s a closer look at A2’s VPS plans:
Unmanaged VPS Plans
- Runway 1 — Starting at $4.99 per month
- Runway 2 — Starting at $7.99 per month
- Runway 4 — Starting at $9.99 per month
- Supersonic 8 — Starting at $34.99 per month
These are all based on 3-year contracts. If you want a one year or monthly contract, it will cost more per month.
With the unmanaged plans, you can configure your server preferences for disk space, CPU, memory, and bandwidth. Obviously, any adjustments will impact the price.
Managed VPS Plans
- Lift 4 — Starting at $33.99 per month
- Lift 8 — Starting at $46.99 per month
- Lift 16 — Starting at $57.99 per month
- Mach 8 — Starting at $59.99 per month
These are all based on 3-year contracts. If you want a one year or monthly contract, it will cost more per month.
The only difference between the Managed plans and Core plans is that the core plans come with root access. However, you won’t be able to configure your server the same way you would if you select an unmanaged plan.
Overall, A2 is a great choice for developers who want complete control and customization over their VPS at an affordable rate. For traditional managed hosting, I’d probably look elsewhere.
With that said, A2 Hosting has one of the best customer support teams on the market. So if that’s something that you prioritize, it’s worth taking a closer look at their plans. Check out my full review of A2 hosting for more about the company.
#9 – iPage VPS — Best VPS Hosting If You’re Starting from Scratch
- Drag-and-drop website builder
- Free domain and SSL certificate
- Starts at $19.99/month
- 30-day money back guarantee
iPage an affordable VPS plan with a few powerful offerings.
Their stand out feature: The website builder. It’s why we recommend it if you’re just starting out.
They actually specialize in web design and other services that I discovered in my in-depth review of iPage hosting. For those of you who are building a new website from scratch and want to start with a solid, affordable VPS hosting plan, iPage is a top choice.
Their drag-and-drop website builder allows you to create a great looking website easily. No coding or web development knowledge is required. They’ll also throw in a free domain for you. That makes it a great package for someone creating a new website with VPS hosting.
Let’s take a closer look at their plans.
Basic VPS
- Starting at $19.99 per month (renews at $24.99)
- 1 CPU core
- 1 GB of RAM
- 40 GB of disk space
- 1 TB of bandwidth
Business VPS
- Starting at $47.99 per month (renews at $59.49)
- 2 CPU cores
- 4 GB of RAM
- 90 GB of disk space
- 3 TB of bandwidth
Optimum VPS
- Starting at $79.99 per month (renews at $99.99)
- 4 CPU cores
- 8 GB of RAM
- 120 GB of disk space
- 4 TB of bandwidth
As you can see, these are the lowest prices that we’ve seen so far, even after the full-price renewal rates kick in.
Even with these low rates, you’ll still benefit from quality 24/7 support. You just won’t get the capacity and resources offered by some higher-tier providers. Learn more at iPage.
#10 – iDrive Compute — Best for Edge Computing
- Great for managing IoT devices
- Boost organizational processing power
- 20 U.S. data centers & 4,000 servers worldwide
- Get 90% off your first year
Your organization can unlock a different power of VPS servers through iDrive Compute. Beyond website hosting is VPS for edge computing, leveraging powerful servers spread out across strategic physical locations to boost overall computational power.
This can have a wide array of useful applications, depending on the nature and work of your company.
Perhaps you are involved with intense, data-driven research at a massive scale. Using virtual machines on several different servers allows you to process data in a fraction of the time, while still keeping it secure.
Or maybe you’re the key technology behind monitoring patients, beds, and devices in a hospital system with many locations. Edge computing through VPS servers means you’ll always have a data center near enough to each hospital that you won’t lose lives because your tech couldn’t sync, respond, or alert fast enough.
Even companies whose business itself isn’t in IoT or intense computing can stand to wield the better speed, reliability, and security of VPS edge computing. If you have factories with any autonomous devices, if you deploy smart monitors at dozens of work sites, or if you’re involved with smart personal devices, home devices, or self-driving vehicles—the gains you receive from edge computing cannot be understated, especially as demand grows both in terms of users and the sheer quantity of data being transferred.
That’s exactly why iDrive developed this service offering, featuring 4,000 servers across the world and 300 petabytes of storage capability. iDrive Compute is scalable, secure VPS hosting for edge computing and running virtual machines—and it comes at a price tag that makes it as accessible to young, ambitious companies as it is to mature, enterprise-grade operations.
You can get 90% off your first year of either shared or dedicated VPS infrastructure, bringing its entry-level shared CPU package (one CPU, 1 GB RAM, 1 TB transfer, 40 GB NVMe storage) down to $6 for the first year.
Dedicated VPS is split into CPU-optimized and memory-optimized packages, which start at $48 and $72 for the first year, respectively.
All plans scale pretty high in terms of resources. If you know you really need the beans from the get-go, iDrive Compute has a plan ready for you. And their dedicated support can not only help you choose the right plan for your needs, they’ll handle all hardware upgrades and maintenance for you.
Learn more about edge computing with VPS by visiting iDrive Compute today.
How to Find the Best VPS Host for You
Now that you’ve had a chance to look at some specific VPS plans, it’s time to determine the best possible choice for you and your website.
The two main questions to consider are straightforward:
- What resources do you need?
- How much are you willing to spend?
In most cases, price and features will go hand-in-hand. If you need the highest possible RAM, disk space, and storage, then you should expect to pay higher prices.
Aside from that, you could lean toward one provider or plan over another based on other features like customer support, security, and the ability to scale.
Some of you might be wondering what qualifications and standards we used to determine which VPS services are the best. All of the plans on our list scored high based on the following considerations.
You can see them below and use them when making your final decision:
24/7/365 White-Glove Support
Good customer support isn’t just a “nice to have” when it comes to VPS hosting—it’s an absolute necessity. In fact, good customer support should be a deal breaker for anyone looking for a VPS web host.
This is especially true if you’re managing a website for your business. If your website goes down, or you become a victim of a DDoS attack, you need to be able to pick up a phone and have someone on the other end help you address the issue ASAP. Each minute they don’t help you could mean tons of lost revenue.
At the bare minimum, I’d recommend a VPS plan that comes with 24/7 phone and live chat support. Some of the choices on our list stand out for their support more than others. I made sure to point that out in the reviews above.
Of course, customer support doesn’t start and end when things go wrong. You also want real people working for the hosting provider to be there to help you with other things that come up when managing an online business.
For example, if you’re creating a new website from scratch then you probably don’t care about free site migrations. But for those of you who are looking to transfer from another provider, a free migration and free domain transfer could save you a couple of hundred dollars.
If that sounds like your situation, look to HostPapa. It offers free VPS migration and free domain transfer on top of 24/7 customer support.
Root Access Availability
Root access gives Linux, Unix, and Linux-adjacent users the ability to implement more command over their websites and digital assets, allowing for greater access and customization.
To be clear, not every VPS plan on our list comes with root access. But, not everyone needs it.
Root access is only necessary for those of you who are developers, are technically advanced, or want to make custom changes to your virtual server. The vast majority of you will be better off choosing a fully managed VPS plan.
But if you’re looking for a VPS host, you’re likely looking to have more control over your website anyway. Luckily, there are some fully managed plans that come with optional root access as well. For example, InMotion Managed VPS Hosting gives you optional root access for more advanced control.
With InMotion Cloud VPS, you’ll get full root access along with SSH keys for further secure customization.
A2 Hosting is another standout if root access is important. They offer full root access in plans that start as low as $5 per month.
So, just make sure you know before choosing a plan whether you want to have root access or not.
High Uptime Rates
Uptime is arguably the most important factor to consider in web hosting. In many cases, uptime is the reason why anyone would want to upgrade from a shared host to a VPS host.
That’s why you need to put a premium on uptime rates. Every VPS plan on this guide performed well in our uptime tests.
Most providers guarantee a 99.9% uptime rate and they’ll credit your bill if they fail to meet those standards. However, you’d like to avoid this scenario altogether for a few reasons.
First, getting a few extra bucks back isn’t worth your site being down when it could be up and making you more money. And, depending on how long it’s down for, that could mean a lot of money.
Second, do you know how much time you actually lose each year if your site is down even a fraction of a percentage point? It’s probably a lot more than you think.
The difference between 99% and 99.9% uptime is over 80 hours a year! That’s more than three days that your website is down annually, all because you didn’t get a good web host.
That’s why you want to find a good web host company that guarantees at least 99.9% uptime per year. If you’re evaluating VPS plans from an uptime perspective, you can rest easy knowing that every provider on our list is a safe option.
Also, if or when your website goes down, you’ll want the VPS host to be there at any hour of the day to help you out—which goes back to our point about always-available white glove service. During downtime (both planned and unplanned), this transparency and communication is key.
Powerhouse Performance
The main appeal of VPS hosting is that it can drastically increase your website’s performance. Your website will experience a major speed boost now that it’s not sharing resources with other sites.
Site speed is important for all websites. A one-second delay in load time can mean page views reduced by 11% and 7% fewer conversions. This is especially crucial for those of you who plan to experience high volumes of traffic. You want to make sure that you find a plan that can accommodate your traffic without sacrificing speed.
The VPS hosts on this list have been reviewed and researched to make sure that they offer the best load times of any host.
Though much of your website’s speed depends on the amount of media and assets you have on it (and how it’s optimized), there are two very important elements to take into consideration that impact your website’s overall performance:
SSD Disk
Solid-state drive (SSD) disks are the devices that store your website’s assets, like images, videos, content, web pages, and so on.
They also help boost your website much more quickly for the user. As such, they greatly improve performance overall.
RAM
RAM refers to the amount of working memory that can be accessed by your server’s CPU. When a program is booted up, it is temporarily stored on the server’s RAM for easy access.
If you have too little RAM, then that information is stored on your SSD or hard drive—which takes much longer to access.
So the more the better in general. But it all really depends on your website’s demands.
We’ve seen RAM as low as 512 MB (A2 Entry Unmanaged VPS) and as high as 24 GB (HostPapa Extreme VPS).
The number of resources you’ll get will be determined by the plan you choose. It all depends on what you need and how much you’re willing to spend.
This is particularly important for websites that need a high threshold for RAM and disk space. For example, if you need email hosting, in-browser games or apps, or IoT platforms.
What is VPS Hosting?
VPS hosting is a step above shared web hosting. With a virtual private server, you’ll still be sharing a single server, but you’ll be sharing it with fewer websites.
Here’s how it works.
Basically, a virtual private server is one server that’s divided into separate virtual machines. Each virtual server can be run with custom configurations and separate operating systems.
VPS hosting comes with dedicated server resources as well. So even though you’re sharing a single server with other websites, your RAM and CPU are independent of those sites.
A virtual private server is best for those of you who want the benefits of a dedicated server, but don’t want to pay the high costs associated with dedicated hosting.
Most of you probably don’t need a dedicated server. But you’ll eventually outgrow your shared hosting plan.
Upgrading from a shared plan to a virtual private server will improve the speed and performance of your website. Since you won’t be sharing resources, your site will be more responsive on the user-end. VPS hosting is more equipped to handle traffic spikes as well.
For more information on how VPS stacks up against other hosting options, check out my guide on the best web hosting providers.
Now, that’s just for hosting websites. VPS servers can also be used to ratchet up your tech infrastructure’s capability, primarily through edge computing.
If you find a provider with enough strategically placed data centers, you can leverage their VPS servers for a wider array of applications.
This runs the gamut from monitoring, accommodating, and syncing IoT devices (such as smart personal or home devices, self-driving vehicles, and automated production lines) to dynamic content delivery, gaming, and data processing.
In the end, you get VPS servers at several physical locations at your disposal, with which you can spin up virtual machines to run programs, applications, or functions. Edge computing is the future endpoint of our current journey from distributed through cloud computing. User demand, the amount of data being transferred, and resource needs have never been greater. So, many companies across diverse fields and sizes can benefit from leveraging VPS for edge computing.
Virtual Servers Compared to Other Hosting Options
Before you finalize your decision on a VPS hosting plan, you need to make sure that a virtual private server is your best option.
If you’re creating a new website from scratch and don’t plan on having too much traffic for a long time, then shared hosting will be your best bet.
For those of you who want complete customization over your server and expect 100,000+ visitors each month, then you might want to consider a dedicated server. You can refer to my guide on the best dedicated hosting plans for more information on this.
VPS hosting is for everyone else who falls in the middle.
So if you’ve outgrown your shared plan but don’t need the resources offered on a dedicated server, then a virtual private server will be perfect for your website.
Summary: The Best VPS Hosting for 2021
With all of that in mind, I’ve put each VPS provider above into a “best for” category. Use can use list this as guidance to steer you in the right direction. As you can see, each review on our list stands out for a different reason. So I’m sure the needs of you and your website will fit somewhere into the categories below.
- Hostinger — Most bang for your buck
- Kamatera — Best VPS hosting for scaling
- Bluehost – Best for power and flexibility at a reasonable price
- LiquidWeb – Best fully managed VPS with high memory and storage plans
- Scala Hosting – Best VPS hosting for getting an exact blend of resources
- HostGator – Best for locking in low introductory pricing rates
- InMotion– Best cloud VPS plans
- A2 Hosting– Best low-cost unmanaged plans for developers
- iPage – Best cheap VPS plans
- iDrive Compute – Best for edge computing
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