When should I use a shared Plan vs Using a VPS?

So, you've decided to build a website. Great! Hostwinds is very proud to offer products that can help you get a site up and running. This guide is designed to help you decide what services we can provide you and which one may work best for you.

What is a shared web hosting plan?

When you order a shared web hosting plan from Hostwinds, we provide you with a platform that allows you to set up easily:

• WordPress
• Email Accounts
• Domains
• Many other kinds of Web sites

Shared Web Hosting offers a cost-effective, easy solution to hosting a website for businesses and organizations that rely on websites for information about their business. It is a great product if you need something that "just works" without needing extensive configuration.

Hostwinds takes care of many complicated aspects of web hosting for you on a Shared Web Hosting plan. If you use this plan, you will never need to make any major configuration changes to your server. It is all set up for you once your service is ready for use.

What is a Cloud VPS plan?

A VPS stands for "Virtual Private Server". Compared to Shared Web Hosting, these systems are far more customizable. Some of the options you can set up on a VPS include:

• Operating System
• Programming Language
• Control Panel
• Sofware Running on the server

VPS services are great if you or your business need full control over your server to manage and configure it to meet your specific needs or have outgrown a Shared Web Hosting plan. If you have an application with specific requirements, a Cloud VPS might be the perfect solution for you.

You also get more control with a Cloud VPS, as you may alter the server's setup to fit the needs of your application. We even offer Managed Cloud VPS Servers, so our support team can assist with the configuration.

Additionally, Cloud VPS Servers have much less strict limits put on them compared to a shared plan. We do not limit the number of emails you can send, restrict your script or application memory limits, or inode limits. You have full control over your server.

Which is right for me?

The best service will depend on your needs.

If you:

• Want to run a small site
• Use WordPress/HTML/PHP
• Need a stable platform
• Want someone else to take care of most of the details
• Want the ability to set it all up easily.

Shared Web Hosting will most likely be your preferred solution.

On the other hand, if you:

• Have a site written in Python, Ruby on Rails, or Java
• Need to pick Nginx over Apache for a web server
• Need to use a Windows Operating system
• Want to open a server for gaming
• We need to use a specific set of PHP modules

A VPS will be a much more useful solution.