Transiting to a virtual private server (VPS) is a way to get your online business more control, stability and grant it more computing resources. However, with all these improvements, you must know how to configure each setting.

Hence the reason why some hosting companies provide a VPS management dashboard. Others only give users root access- expecting them to know the method of operating the command line interface.

With VPS hosting, it means you do not have to worry about the technicality of your website and its management. Although many website owners do not know what VPS hosting is, neither can they explain what they get when they buy it.

In this article, you will find everything there is to know about VPS hosting, and some of the best VPS hosting services you can find on the market. There is no need to spend so much time on the configuration and maintenance of your VPS. We will also show you some of the top providers when it comes to VPS hosting.

These are considered the favorite among the dozen hosting companies out there, and making a choice here would inevitably enable you to work more efficiently without it necessarily being at the expense of the online operations of your VPS. 

VPS Hosting, what it is and what we like about it.

VPS stands for “virtual private server”. The word ‘private’ means you get every resource allocated to you by the server “privately”. That is, you do not have to share them with other customers. Virtual is in the sense that your server runs as a virtual setup on a server, rather than as a separate machine. Meanwhile, the parent server can have more than one virtual machine running. 

There are two main benefits of VPS hosting, namely:

  • guaranteed stability, and
  • root access and full control of the server.

In the case of the former, you have 100% access to the server resources. Whether you are the website or blog owner. In other words, you are immune to what others do with theirs. In the latter, however, it means you can choose the software you want to install on the server and configure it the way you want.

This option offers you a magnitude of leverage in matching your server configuration to your application or website. We love and recommend VPS hosting because it is an ideal solution for users who seek dedicated server resources and unlimited access to customization. 

With VPS hosting, you can focus on other business activities and the frontend proponents of your online presence. Let the best hands manage your VPS hosting to host all the daily updates, security tasks, optimizations, and other related things.

Best VPS Hosting Services

#1. Liquid Web 

Liquid Web owes its fame to the wide range of hosting offers it doles out to the customer. They have everything you want as a website owner. These range from affordable optimized setups for your small online store and WordPress sites to enterprise-level servers that cost some thousands of dollars.

The company runs its hosting infrastructure with five data centers in the US (2 of them), London, Amsterdam, and Sydney. Its method of using InterWorx as its hosting control panel makes it unbeatable in the industry.

They are one of the top-tier hosting providers on the market. With starting monthly price of $59, they have VPS hosting plans that are fully managed and secure. They boast of an excellent and responsive customer support that can:

  • manage your servers
  • optimize performance, and
  • mitigate risks

Another interesting inclusion is the bandwidth of 10 TB. The goal is to ensure that users enjoy major technical features including:

  • Cloudflare CDN
  • integrated firewall
  • hosting management that is centralized
  • unlimited sites available on InterWorx
  • cPanel and Plesk
  • root access
  • DDoS attack protection
  • advanced security provided by SecureServer, and
  • disk space of 200 GB SSD, which is the highest you can get with an VPS hosting provider
  • solid technological tools such as PHP 7, Nginx, image optimization, Varnish, to mention a few.

Liquid Web does not have auto-scaling in its virtual private server plan. However, you can take advantage of that to save some good money if you do not experience traffic fluctuation. They have certain in-built technologies that enhance the speed of web pages. They will load faster than usual.

Another prominent feature is the 59-minutes service level agreement for support’s response time. This could be via the phone, help desk, and live chat. They are also very proactive, responding and helping to change the faulty hardware detected within less than an hour of reporting. Developers can use PHP, JavaScript, PERL, from their domain.

Meanwhile, the pricing plans of Liquid Web VPS hosting depends on the size of RAM. These are, however, yearly plans, and for monthly plans, you will have to pay extra. In addition, the 16GB RAM plan has specifications including 8 vCPU, bandwidth of 10 TB, and 200GB SSD disk space.

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#2. ScalaHosting

This is the best managed VPS hosting to build your customizable plan. It has a monthly fee of $9.95, and with it, you can enjoy an expert-managed VPS which is simple and affordable to a large extent.

With ScalaHosting, users have the opportunity to build their VPS configuration on the cloud which has about 25 cores, 500 GB SSD space and 128 GB RAM. In addition, there are individual pricing for a handful of its features. Just pay for what you need.

ScalaHosting’s plan for managed VPS hosting are:

  • a control panel (SPanel)
  • dedicated IP address
  • security protection enabled by SShield
  • migrating website freely

Their servers are located in different locations while their data centers are in Europe and the USA. They offer a reliable and prompt customer support. Their cloud servers on SSD function on double power supplies for zero downtime.

The main VPS features of ScalaHosting include:

  • 100Gbps redundant networks. This is to for assured 100% uptime
  • Dual CPU E5 Intel Xeon (256 GB RAM minimum)
  • 100% automation to manage servers for cloud hosting automatically
  • SPanel as a proprietary platform designed for greater speed and enhanced security
  • SShield to help you monitor your website 24/7 and prevent any form of infiltrations.
  • WordPress manager for easy cloning, staging, backing up of files and data, restoring backups, and diverse levels of security plans for WordPress website
  • free website migration
  • 30-days refund if you are dissatisfied with their service

Their pricing is of two types namely; self-managed cloud VPS and managed cloud VPS. Their managed and self-managed cloud VPS plans are generally classified under start, advanced, business, and enterprise.

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#3. InMotion Hosting

InMotion is an excellent VPS hosting. You can check out a few providers and you will be easily tempted by their low headline rates. That is, companies have a way of keeping their charges down, they know the tricks around that. For instance, the hardware specs of a starter product are kept low- and this is unrealistic because other items like cPanel and backups may be the expensive extras.

With InMotion Hosting, you get a bit of refreshing news. It has a baseline VPS-1000HA-S plan which is not an eye-catching price at $22.99 per month over 3 years. However, it is easy to see why the company asks you to pay this much.

They offer a product with a better specification- 4GB RAM, 75 GB storage, 4TB bandwidth, and 3 dedicated IPs are all you get with their VPS hosting plan. Backups and cPanel licenses are given for free, with an inclusion of a 90-day money-back guarantee offer.

They have an unusual feature called “unlocked CPU cores”. This serves to show that rather than have access to just one or two cores, you can spread the load across the cores on the server.

The benefit of this is that it offers you a major performance boost for tasks involving many simultaneous processes. InMotion gives starters welcome bonus touches including a Launch Assist feature.

With that, you can get two hours of free time with one of the company’s server administrators. So, whatever you need to do- maybe to change domain settings, configure cPanel or migrate WordPress or database files, they can help you get through these technicalities. Altogether, you can get a capable set of VPS hosting plans with InMotion Hosting.

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#4. Hostwinds

This is another great option for site owners who seek enough room to grow and enjoy as many resources as they can. Hostwinds is a forward-thinking VPS hosting provider established on modern technology and with excellent customer support service.

They offer four different versions of Linux VPS environments, which makes them the best managed Linux VPS hosting provider. Hostwinds also feature several pre-built configurations for many internet’s most famous platforms.

Their promise of a 99.99% uptime guarantee makes them unmatched, including their offer of nightly backups, real-time server monitoring, enterprise-grade hardware, and managed hosting services which encompass package installations, virus scans, and diagnosing loading problems. They have hourly and monthly billing cloud hosting.

Their plans come in three different tiers namely, Tier One ($8.99 per month), Tier Two ($13.49 per month), and Tier Three ($21.59 per month). We recommend buying Hostwinds hosting plans because of the wide range of plans and next-to-none configuration options they offer.

Meanwhile, one of the drawbacks of Hostwinds is that the entry-level plan is somewhat underpowered. The focus of many VPS hosts is on first-time users, while others target big businesses.

In Hostwinds’ case, it appeals to all, and that implies managed and unmanaged plans. Their support for the Linux variants namely CentOS, Fedora, Debian, and Ubuntu makes it flexible for users to choose between Windows Server 2008, 2012, or 2016 for just $5 per month. And that’s a good value for the money. More so, if you have a handful of familiarity with Windows than Linux, you could save yourself loads of management hassles as a result.

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#5. Bluehost

Bluehost is a common name in the web hosting industry, and being one of the top 20 hosting platforms, they are considered the best option for power and flexibility, especially when it comes to providing VPS hosting services.

Their plans for managed VPS hosting start at $18.99 per month. Each of these plans use SSD storage to increase their customer and prospect conversion. They offer absolute managed VPS hosting which invariably gives users control and increased power over their websites.

In addition, Bluehost offers 365 days free for domain registration through their various VPS hosting plans including a 30-days refund offer. That is, users get their money back after 30 days if they do not find their services appealing enough.

Other features include:

  • full SSD servers
  • multi-server management
  • dynamic resources
  • file management
  • quick provisioning of setting up the hosting infrastructure
  • 120 GB SSD storage
  • choice of 2 to 4 cores
  • 8GB RAM
  • 3 TB bandwidth, and
  • 2 IP addresses (solely available on their premium plan)

If you want fewer requirements, consider the other two plans aside the premium. To deliver optimally, they provide:

  • KVM hypervisor, and
  • other interesting VPS features such as access control, root access, and site lock. You also have access to the file transfer protocol (FTP) in case you want to upload, download, or modify your VPS files as you desire, include more VPS servers flexibly and other dedicated and shared hosting servers.

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Conclusion

Virtual private server (VPS) hosting is a step up from the traditional shared web hosting used by most websites. Choosing the best VPS hosting might be a bit more complicated than the common shared hosting.

But the aforementioned list of providers has been thoroughly and unbiasedly ranked according to speed, bandwidth, storage, pricing, support, and security, among others. Therefore, if you want the quickest way to go about it, find your way around the few picks in this article and you will be making a great choice anyway.