When you want to upload your website on the internet and make it accessible to the entire world you obviously need to choose a web host. But, before that you need to decide what kind of hosting do you want to go for. You have three common options out there; shared, VPS and dedicated hosting.

VPS and dedicated hosting fall in similar categories, so we will be highlighting their differences.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) vs. Dedicated Hosting

  • Hosting Differences:

The first thing is to understand what makes the two different from each other. This can be better explained in reference to living arrangements. VPS hosting can be compared to a condo. You are responsible for the maintenance and repairs inside the condo irrespective of how many people you share your condo with. Dedicated hosting on the other hand is similar to owning a house. You are allowed and have access to all resources available on the machine. No one else’s account resides on the machine (your house) and would not be capable of tapping into your resources.

  • Performance:

Dedicated hosting, giving you complete ownership without interference of a server or sharing, is better performance vise. Because it has absolutely no outside interference, it is ultimately more efficient and better than VPS hosting.

  • Control:

One of the major attractions of a dedicated server is that it is generally completely under the control of the customer.  Therefore, it can be rebooted when needed and can also be completely customized in terms of the software it runs. VPS hosting on the other hand does not offer complete control. An administrator’s access is part of the deal in VPS hosting.

  • Additional Software:

In dedicated hosting you can customize software or just set up additional software. You don’t need to get permission to change or add anything as you own the space. In VPS hosting, however, you can make changes and add additional software etc. with administrator access involved in the process.

  • Resources:

VPS solutions share the resources of a single computer in most cases, but dedicated servers put all of the resources at the disposal of a single customer.  Memory, hard drive storage capacity, processing power, and network access are all 100% dedicated to a single customer instead of shared amongst multiple VPS customers or dozens of shared web hosting customers.

  • Price:

The actual main difference between dedicated and VPS hosting is the price. Cost of a dedicated hosting will be a lot more than your regular VPS hosting. That is why VPS hosting is a much more suitable choice for expanding and growing companies as they are upgradable and manageable cost vise.

  • Isolation:

In dedicated hosting the hardware is not shared with anyone thus claiming it completely isolated. On the other hand, VPS hosting is semi isolated as it does share some of its hardware but still has control over it as well.

Bearing these few points in mind it is now plain to see that both dedicated and VPS hosting are actually quite similar with just a few minute variations. So, the choice needs to be made on your preference but more importantly on your requirements.

About the Author:

Selena is a blogger who use to write about technology and hosting related topics. She also owns a website that offers Web Hosting coupon codes.