𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Reliable web hosting is important for a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), to keep a business website live online.

Depending on the nature of your business, you may need to communicate with clients, have user accounts or take and record payments. This means slow traffic or online glitches could be bad for business, so it is important that your website is hosted in the most effective way.

Many SMEs start out with the cheaper option of shared hosting but there can be traffic and security issues as you grow. That is where virtual private server (VPS) hosting comes in, offering a middle ground between shared hosting and the more expensive managed hosting.

Keep reading to find out what you need to know about VPS hosting for your business website.

What is VPS hosting?

A VPS gives businesses a way to access their own dedicated web hosting. It provides a portion of a physical server (carved up into separate virtual machines) that a business pays to provide its own hosting services through for its website.

Luis Corrons, security evangelist at cybersecurity brand Gen, says: “With standard web hosting, especially shared hosting, you are usually one customer among many on the same system, with fewer configuration options and less predictable performance. It is simpler and cheaper, but also more limited.

“A VPS sits in the middle ground. It gives you more flexibility and better isolation than shared hosting, but without the cost of renting an entire dedicated server.”

Richard Ford, chief technology officer at cybersecurity specialist Integrity360, explains that “virtualisation” is used to allow many virtual servers to coexist on a server, sharing physical resources.

Ford says: “Virtualisation has been the mainstay of data centres since the early 2000s, and the increase in compute power we’ve seen since that point has made it viable to run many virtual servers on a single physical host.”

Although there are similarities to cloud-hosted servers, Ford explains these are distributed across a network of servers – rather than a single machine in which specific physical resources can be dedicated to a VPS host. He adds: “VPS hosting potentially provides more stable and dedicated performance, but also a fixed predictable cost. It gives users much more control over how systems are configured compared to standard shared web hosting.”

Everything you need to build, launch and grow online

LEARN MORE

ADVERTISEMENT

Everything you need to build, launch and grow online

LEARN MORE

ADVERTISEMENT

How much does VPS hosting cost?

VPS hosting sits between shared and managed hosting so it is typically not the cheapest method, but also not the most expensive.

It costs around £20 to £50 per month, compared with £5 to £15 per month for shared hosting.

Is VPS better than web hosting?

Experts say VPS can be better for growing businesses especially compared with shared hosting.

Tom Vazdar, professor of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence at the Open Institute of Technology, explains: “Shared hosting puts you on a server with potentially hundreds of other websites, all drawing from the same pool of power and memory.

“When a neighbour gets a traffic surge, you slow down. When a neighbour’s site gets compromised, you’re in the same neighbourhood. That’s just the nature of the arrangement. A VPS removes both problems: your resources are yours, and your environment is properly isolated.”

Vazdar says VPS-hosted sites can also be faster than those on shared hosting.

Is VPS better than VPN?

The terms VPS and VPN (Virtual Private Network) can often be confused but they are very different.

Corrons says: “A VPN is designed to protect or re-route network traffic. A VPS is a server you rent to run websites, services, applications, or remote workloads. One is infrastructure, the other is a privacy and networking tool.”

Is VPS hosting safe?

In terms of security, Roy Shelton, founder of Connectus Business Solutions, says VPS hosting is generally considered safe – especially when compared with shared hosting.

Shelton shares: “Because your environment is isolated, other users cannot directly impact your server. However, security still depends on proper configuration, regular updates, and effective management, particularly if you are using an unmanaged VPS.”

Vazdar adds that while VPS hosting is structurally safer than shared hosting, it is not necessarily safe by default. He says: “When you move to VPS, particularly an unmanaged plan, the provider gives you root access and largely steps back. You now own your own security.”

This means it is important to configure strong security settings and choose a provider with proper security credentials.

Peter Hawes, vice president of security advisory at LevelBlue, highlights that every piece of software you install, including security software, introduces potential vulnerabilities.

Hawes says: “Without strong internal processes for patching and configuration, a VPS can increase your attack surface rather than reduce it as you’re now managing a server, not just a website.”

Do I need VPS to host a website?

VPS is just one type of hosting alongside shared, managed and cloud solutions.

Vazdar suggests that VPS isn’t needed if you are just starting out: “Shared hosting works perfectly well for personal sites, small business pages, portfolios, and modest traffic blogs. It’s cheaper, requires no server knowledge, and the provider handles all the maintenance. For most new projects, it’s the right starting point. You’ll know it’s time to look at VPS when things start straining.”

He suggests that businesses may need VPS hosting once they face persistently slow traffic, custom server software, compliance obligations around data handling or are processing payments.

Vazdar explains: “This is ultimately anything where downtime directly costs money. Most sites spend years on shared hosting before they genuinely need the upgrade, and that’s perfectly fine.”