If you started out with shared hosting for your business, you will eventually grow out if it and switch to VPS hosting. The question is when will the benefits of a VPS actually help your business. After all, there’s no need to make the jump right away since a VPS service will end up costing a lot more than your standard hosting plan. There are plenty of options in the market. That is why you need to be aware of your needs since you will find a different range of pricing options that differ if you look for windows server VPS or Linux. Here are signs that you need to make the change to VPS.
1. Your Website’s Traffic Has Multiplied
Has your website’s traffic increased significantly in the past few months? If so, you’ll want to make the jump from shared hosting as it cannot properly handle large spikes of traffic. Increased traffic on shared hosting accounts will result in your website slowing down significantly which translates to a poor user experience for each individual visitor.
There is also a case for VPS hosting if your business has a big upcoming promotional calendar in the near future. You want to make sure that you get the most out of your investment in your advertising and marketing. Remember, that many factors like website loading time and proper execution of scripts/plugins have an impact on your conversion and engagement rates.
2. You’ve Started Publishing a Lot of Multimedia Content
Even if your website’s traffic hasn’t increased too much, a VPS server will help you if you’ve started publishing a lot of multimedia content. Many businesses get around the resource demanding aspect of multimedia files by hosting their content on third party sites like YouTube, Libsyn (for podcasts), Pinterest, etc. But at a certain point, you may want control over your content.
This is when VPS is a good idea. You won’t be sharing resources with a large number websites on the server. As a result, you’ll be streaming your multimedia content without any slow down. It’s also great if you plan on allowing your visitors to download larger files that range from a few hundred MB to a few GB.
3. You Want to Install an Application that’s Not Allowed on Shared Hosting
Most shared hosting accounts are pretty lenient on the applications they allow on their servers. However, you may want to install an application that is not allowed. These applications are typically resource demanding, so the hosting companies want to keep them off to prevent it from ruining the service they provide to all the other websites on the shared account.
If you buy VPS, you can install any application as long as there aren’t any unethical scripts (like spamming tools) being used. You can add any PHP scripts and have total freedom to control your MySQL database as you like. You’ll also be allowed a large number of MySQL databases. Shared hosting plans usually put a limit to the number you can use which can hurt if you have multiple websites using multiple scripts.
4. You Use Scripts and Plugins that Make Multiple PHP and SQL Requests
Scripts and plugins that are constantly working in PHP or pulling SQL requests can consume a lot of resources. As a result, too many scripts and plugins can slow the performance of a website even if the website itself isn’t multimedia heavy or doesn’t receive a large number of traffic. Think about what kind of script you’re running and how often it’ll be used.
For example, a PHP script that uses multiple APIs and data based on custom requests can really tax your server. You will want to host websites that use such scripts on a VPS. Many site owners like to separate resource consuming websites on a VPS hosting account and put their normal websites on a shared hosting account, so that’s something to think about if you already have a shared hosting plan.
5. You Want Better Performance without the Headaches and Costs of Dedicated Servers
If you’ve decided that it’s finally the time to make the switch from your shared hosting plan, you’ll have the option to go with a VPS or a dedicated server. Many hosting companies offer free managed hosting service with VPS. Dedicated servers require good technical skills to manage and the extra services come with a price attached due to each server being connected to a single client.
Dedicated servers are also a lot more expensive than VPS servers. VPS plans start as low as $5 to $10 a month. Business owners have a lot room to choose the plan they need at an affordable price. Dedicated servers usually start at the $80 to $100 a month price point. Price increases are made based on the performance of the server, RAM and hard drive space you are given.
If you find yourself agreeing to many of the points that have been made, then it’s time to make the switch to VPS. The only time a dedicated server is needed is when your business is starting to see rapid growth and huge traffic numbers. That’s when the costs will justify itself. For new businesses, that are seeing growth but on a smaller scale, a VPS server should suffice.
