5 Best VPS Hosting Providers

There may come a time when you outgrow your current shared hosting plan or you’ll be launching an online business that requires more horsepower in terms of hosting resources than what a shared hosting plan can offer. Virtual private servers are a middle-ground solution between a cheap shared hosting and a relatively expensive dedicated hosting. A VPS has a hybrid nature in that it runs alongside other VPSs on the same physical server, however, unlike a shared hosting, there are fewer sites per server and these are kept separate from one another. It also borrows some of the characteristics of a dedicated server given that a VPS plan allocates you servers resources that are only for you to use, and you’ll not be sharing them with others. By getting the best of two worlds (low costs and dedicated resources), a VPS can be the right solution for your online business.

Benefits of a VPS hosting plan

What are some of the beneficial features of a VPS that determines website owners to switch to this type of hosting?

Speed & Resources

Usually, the reason why people switch to a VPS plan from a shared hosting is because their website has speed performance issues. Because in a shared hosting environment resources are shared, the traffic one account gets can slow down the speed of other accounts. A VPS plan will give you your own server resources, so you won’t have to share.

Root Access

A VPS plan will allow you to have access to the operating system of your server, and it allows you to configure it to your requirements. You have the possibility to install and run custom software, an option which is not available with shared hosting plans.

Enhanced security

Although running on the same physical server with other VPS accounts, a VPS acts as a standalone server, and it gives you the possibility to install firewalls and implement additional security measures to secure your website.

Affordability

Although more expensive than a shared hosting plan, a VPS is cheaper than a dedicated server, but it has comparable advantages.

Dedicated Support

Some hosting providers will include premium support with their VPS plans, so you can promptly access the help you need.

A VPS will require a higher level of technical knowledge from their users, and it’s usually used for ecommerce websites, high traffic websites and any other type of website that needs more in the way of resources and security.

How to choose the best VPS hosting plan?

At a minimum, a good virtual private server will offer the following features:

• The option to choose between multiple VPS plans with different RAM, storage and monthly transfers;
• Fully managed VPS;
• The option to upgrade at any time;
• Dedicated IP address;
• SSH access;
• Premium support;
• 98% guaranteed server uptime;
• At least 30-day money-back guarantee.

Look for these features and any other features you know you’ll be needing (e.g. cPanel, certain software licenses included with the VPS plan, etc.). It’s important to note that most hosting providers offer VPS running on Linux-based operating systems, so if you need a Windows hosting environment, you need to search for a provider that offers that.

Best VPS Hosting Providers

In our list of the best VPS hosting, we’ve reviewed the hosting providers that include the features listed above, and are a good choice both from a pricing and reliability perspective.

InMotion Hosting

When it comes to different types of hosting, InMotion has everything from shared to dedicated plans. InMotion’s success in the hosting landscape is uncontested, and it’s a hosting provider that appeals especially to business users.

InMotion’s VPS plans come with an arsenal of features like SSD based storage, free cPanel, free server management, high-availability, free backup, unlocked CPU cores, free domain included with all 6-month and 12-month plans, included dedicated IP addresses, SSH Access, optional Root Access, advanced firewall, eCommerce optimization, unlimited email accounts and domains allowed on the server.

Currently, the three VPS plans offered by InMotion are on sale and cost $29.99/month (VPS-1000HA-S), $49.99/month (VPS-2000HA-S), and $74.99/month (VPS-3000HA-S). Their best-value plan is the VPS-2000HA-S, and it includes 6GB RAM, 130 GB storage, 3 TB bandwidth, and 2 dedicated IP addresses. Their most powerful VPS plan is the VPS-3000HA-S, which comes with 3 dedicated IP addresses, 8 GB RAM, 200GB storage, and 4TB bandwidth.

All InMotion hosting plans are backed with a 90-day money-back guarantee and support via all types of channels (phone, live chat, skype, etc.).

BlueHost

Next in line for the best VPS hosting provider is BlueHost, who are mainly known for their shared hosting plans, however, they do offer some highly flexible and performant VPS plans as well. You can opt for any of the four VPS plans, which are currently available at a discounted price. Each plan has different speed, storage, RAM, and bandwidth configurations. BlueHost allows their users to add additional storage without requiring admin assistance. This feature will soon include the possibility to expand CPU and RAM as well.

Their entry-level VPS plan, the “Standard”, has the following features: 2 CPU Cores, 30GB SAN storage, 2GB RAM, 1TB bandwidth, 1 included domain, 1 IP address, money-back guarantee and 24/7 support. The Standard plan can be purchased for $14.99/month.

The most popular VPS plan is the “Enhanced” plan, which includes 2 CPU cores, 60GB SAN storage, 4GB RAM, 2 TB bandwidth, 1 included domain, 2 IP addresses, money-back guarantee, and 24/7 support. This plan can be purchased for $29.99/month. The “Premium” plan also includes 2 IP addresses, 1 free domain, 3 CPU cores, 120GB SAN storage, 6GB RAM, 3 TB bandwidth, and costs $44.99/month.

The most powerful plan, the “Ultimate” plan, is essentially a double-power version of the Enhanced plan, and costs $59.99/month.

HostGator

HostGator have been in the business since 2002, and they have made the cut for many best hosting rankings throughout the years.

They have 3 VPS configurations with the choice of fully or semi-managed servers, cutting-edge hardware (AMD Opteron 6000), full root access, 2 IP addresses, cPanel for fully managed servers, weekly off site backups, unlimited domains, email accounts, and MySQL databases, unlimited FTP accounts, private name servers, and lots of freebies such as free SiteBuilder, 4,500 website templates, free transfers (domain, website, MySQL, script), 52 free scripts that can be easily installed with a few clicks, and free domain reseller account.

Each plan is configured differently in terms of server resources, thus, the Snappy 2000 includes 2 cores CPU, 2GB RAM, 120 GB disk space, 2 IP addresses, 1.5TB Bandwidth. The price for this plan starts at $19.95/month. The next plan is the Snappy 4000, which includes 4 GB RAM, 2 cores CPU, 165GB disk space, 2 TB Bandwidth, and 2 IP addresses. The prices for this plan start at $29.95/month. The Snappy 8000 has 8 GB RAM, 4 Cores CPU, 240 GB disk space, 3 TB bandwidth, and of course 2 IP addresses. The price of the Snappy 8000 plan starts at $39.95/month.

HostGator’s VPS plans require a longer commitment time than VPS plans offered by other providers, but HostGator’s plans are also some of the most affordable on the market.

GreenGeeks

GreenGeeks have a novel approach to hosting, being an environmentally conscious hosting provider, whose hosting infrastructure is 300% powered by renewable energy. They have 5 VPS plan configurations, all with SSD RAID-10 Storage.

All VPS plans at GreenGeeks have the following features in common: proprietary VPS management portal to control all aspects of your VPS, cPanel/WHM license included, free migration service, free nightly backups, free eNom Domain Reseller account ($995 value), blacklist-free IP, 99.9% uptime, enhanced security (CSF Firewall, LFD, Mod Security, etc.), tier-1 bandwidth, 4 CPU cores, fully managed VPS hosting, 24/7 support, and 30-day money-back guarantee.

The starter VPS plan comes with 1GB RAM, 25 GB SSD RAID-10 Storage, 1000 GB premium bandwidth, 4 cores and provision in the US. This plan costs $39.95/month. For $159.95/month you can purchase GreenGeeks’ highest tier plan that has the following features: 8GB RAM, 125GB SSD RAID-10 Storage, 3000 GB premium bandwidth, 4 cores and provision in the US.

GreenGeeks is a reliable VPS hosting provider with plans suitable for all VPS hosting needs.

ASmallOrange

ASmallOrange have emerged one year after HostGator, and they currently offer the biggest number of VPS plans with 8 options to choose from. ASO’s VPS plans allow you to seamlessly upgrade to a higher tier VPS plan and all annual plans come with a free domain and 2 months free hosting.

Among the most notable features of their VPS plans we’ve selected the followings: full root access, secure hosting infrastructure (Storage Area Network with redundant data protection across multiple hard drives), VPS environment impervious to hardware failures (integrated automatic failover and migration tools), possibility to dynamically decrease and increase hardware resources, free cPanel (except for the entry-level plan), hassle-free cancellation, SSD caching technology, 24/7 network monitoring, best-in-line hardware (dual Intel Xeon Hex (6) Core processors), free migration assistance, Kernel Virtual Machine technology, state-of-the-art firewalls, free backups.

The lowest-tier VPS plan costs $20/month and includes 30 GB storage, 1 core CPU, 1024MB RAM, 500GB Bandwidth, but doesn’t include free cPanel. The highest tier plan costs $150/month, and has the following features: 8 cores CPU, 250GB storage, 10240 MB RAM, 5TB bandwidth, and cPanel included.

Conclusion

The hosting providers featured in our review are some of the biggest names in the web hosting industry. They all come with a variety of great VPS hosting plans and dozens of features that makes the VPS hosting environment more secure and more performant than any other shared hosting plan. Whatever your hosting requirements may be now, you can choose a VPS hosting plan knowing that they are flexible enough to allow you to expand your server resources or upgrade to a more powerful plan at any given time in the future.