There are billions of websites on the internet, and if you are also interested in starting one, you must know that a domain name and web hosting are the bare minima required for your website to run on the internet. There are two common types of servers for hosting websites: Virtual Private Server (VPS) or Dedicated server.
Unlike Shared hosting, both servers provide private resources to the client and are faster than Shared Hosting. Choosing one from VPS and Dedicated Server is always difficult unless you know the differences between them.
You may either end up choosing VPS for the lower price or you may choose a Dedicated Server such as HostZealot for the attractive specifications. But one must know the proper differences and should be able to make the right decision while choosing the type of hosting.
In this post, we are going to discuss both Virtual Private Servers and Dedicated Servers. Later, we will compare both the hosting servers, which will help you to choose the right one for your website.
There are also two types of VPS: Managed & Unmanaged. We have already covered it earlier in our other post. Today we will only be looking at the differences between a dedicated server and a VPS altogether. If you are a beginner, you may also want to check our comparison of Shared Hosting v/s VPS.
What is VPS?
In a VPS or Virtual Private Server, users get a virtual system for hosting their websites. It uses a hypervisor that divides the resources virtually, and these virtual machines are further used by customers. We can look in this way, suppose that a server has 16 GB of RAM, now with the hypervisor, 2 GB will be allotted to a customer.
In a VPS, every account will have some amount of resources from the server, but each account is completely independent of the other accounts, and will fully own the virtually divided resources.
To understand VPS thoroughly, consider an apartment building, and someone owns a flat in the building, but we can’t say that they own the whole building. One can use all the components of the flat including the balcony, living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, etc. and there are many other families living in that apartment. Now treat the building as a VPS, and the flat as a virtual machine or division of that server, and the families living in the building as customers owning VPS. Since you own only one flat in the whole building, you can’t customize the building according to your need. Similarly, in VPS Hosting, you can’t customize the hardware as per your needs.
VPS Hosting is better than Shared Hosting because in the case of Shared Hosting if one website is consuming a large number of resources of a server, other websites using the same server will get lesser resources and bandwidth, which will decrease the load time.
What is a Dedicated Server?
In a dedicated server, users get a whole physical server that can be used for their websites. Unlink VPS, you get a dedicated server and you can use all of its resources for your websites.
A dedicated Server provides full independence to the users, they can choose the processor (AMD or Intel), RAM, type of storage device, and other physical hardware. It is like owning a house completely, one can completely customize the physical components according to your needs.
Although the customer has full control in the case of a Dedicated server, the provider may still provide some services like security for protecting the server from malware, system updates, etc. If a user owns more than one website, he/she can host all the websites on a single Dedicated Server.
Major differences between VPS and Dedicated Server
Which one is cheaper?
Shared Hosting is the cheapest one, followed by VPS hosting, and talking about Dedicated Servers, hosting a site on it is always costlier. This is because, in VPS or Shared Hosting, the server resources and hardware cost gets divided among users whereas, in the case of a Dedicated Server, all of these costs will be for a single customer.
Although the clients pay almost three times the price of VPS for a low-end Dedicated Server, it offers a full physical server with access to all of the resources and hardware. A Dedicated Server is totally worth the price if a user owns a heavy site with tons of backend running.
Which one is more powerful?
A Dedicated Server has more power when compared to a Virtual Private Server. As mentioned above, Dedicated Server offers a whole physical server giving independence of customizing the hardware. Users can choose CPU power, RAM capacity, Storage type and size, and processor as per their requirements. This is the reason that a large number of companies are using Dedicated Servers. It decreases the load time drastically and provides a fast and smooth user experience.
Which server provides better security?
As there is a single client on a Dedicated Server, it is safer than a Virtual Private Server. Users can manage resources more efficiently on a Dedicated server which prevents malicious attacks and potential security breaches. In a Dedicated Server, users can install and customize various security software which will reduce the chance of malware attacks.
VPS has a virtual layer dividing the resources among clients which is less safe than renting a whole physical server. These virtual walls always increase the chance of attacks from outsiders. This does not mean VPS hosting is unsafe, reputed server providers always try to enhance their security. You can always go with VPS hosting if you need a cheap and efficient server.
Which server is faster?
As we discussed above, it is clear that users get more resources in a Dedicated Server, which implies that it is also faster than a Virtual Private Server. If one owns a physical server without any layer of restrictions, the data will transfer faster with almost zero latency. This helps the site to load and respond faster. If you own a site loaded with big data files you must choose Dedicated Server hosting over VPS hosting.
Which server offers better scalability?
When it comes to scalability, Virtual Private Server has a plus point as one can choose the desired amount of resources without the need of changing the hardware. Users can also expand the resources in a Dedicated Server but then it will require adding additional slots or modules to the physical server, this will cost a lot of money. Another problem will be the time it requires to upgrade a physical server, whereas you can expand a VPS in real-time.
Which server offers independence for customization?
Users can configure both the servers but there is a virtual limitation when it comes to VPS. A Dedicated Server provides endless customizations and installing software on a Dedicated Server is safer as it does not compromise the security, whereas in the case of VPS users can install software that does not compromise the security or the integrity of the other clients using the same virtual server. Users can easily install large software in a Dedicated Server as it provides more resources as compared to VPS. Knowing all these facts, we can say that there is much more flexibility in a Dedicated Server.
Which server can be managed easily?
It totally depends on the client and their team, as if one has a small website and a team, it will be easier to manage a VPS when compared to Dedicated Server. But if a company with a large website wants to own and manage a server, it is recommended to go with a Dedicated Server. A Dedicated Server provides a large area for management, which means server technicians and software engineers can easily do their job without caring about other clients. In the case of VPS, there are always restrictions as your actions must not affect other clients and websites.
Bottom line: Which hosting shall you choose?
We discussed all the differences between a Dedicated Server and a Virtual Private Server. Now in this part, we will discuss how to choose the hosting that is best suited for your business and website.
To choose between VPS and Dedicated Server, first, decide the types of resources that your site will need. Will your site contain large media files? Will there be heavy backend code running? Is there a possibility of having large traffic? If your answer is yes, then go with Dedicated Server or a VPS with high-end resources.
If you opt for a Dedicated Server, make sure that you have a skilled team. You can choose the power for the processor, RAM capacity, storage type and size, and other hardware for your site. With Dedicated Server, there will be no latency and slowing down, and you can run your site smoothly all the time.
If you are sure that your site will have a large amount of traffic very soon, it is recommended to host your site on a Dedicated Server. Although VPS hosting also allows users to expend the resources and hardware, you can only expand it up to a limit.
To conclude things, always be sure about the number of resources that you will need for your site. For VPS hosting, you can choose the specs from low to high-end. Hope this post helped you to decide the type of server of your site. You can ask your additional doubts and queries in the comment section below, our team will be glad to help you out.
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I’m a CSE student, technical blogger, writer, and graphic designer. I love writing about upcoming technologies, hardware, and the topics revolving around them.
