You’ve done your research and finally made the decision to go with a Linux VPS hosting plan because of the many benefits it can provide your business. There’ s only one problem, with so many web hosts out there offering different Linux VPS hosting options, how would you know which one to choose? You may have also done your research on the best web hosts and you’ve shortlisted a handful that offer Linux VPS hosting, but which option should you choose?
Choosing the best Linux VPS hosting options boils down to what you really need for your website. There are a number of factors to consider, but here are the 5 things that you need to know before making your choice.
1. Traffic – Although you may have already considered this when choosing which type of hosting plan to go with, you might want to consider it again. If this is your first website and decided to jump to VPS hosting instead of going through shared hosting, you’ll need to know that VPS hosting is best for sites that experience up to 5,000 visitors per day. This is a lot and you might not experience more traffic than that, but just in case your traffic starts to exceed 5,000, you’ll need to consider moving to a dedicated server.
2. Physical Servers – The web host will likely give you the details of the physical server that will host the VPS. If not, ask for it. You don’t necessarily need a top-of-the-line server, but if this is what the web host has, then it’s better. If not, as long as the server is of good quality, then it should work fine for your requirements.
If you’ve done good research on the web host, then they will likely be using one of the best servers in the market. Web hosts know that they need to keep up when it comes to their equipment and their hosting services or they risk losing business to their competitors, and they’ve got many.
3. Disk Space – You will require disk space for your VPS and if you’re a beginner, then around 10GB of hard disk space should be sufficient for your site. If the web host offers more than 10GB, it’s to your advantage. If not, then you can ask for more space or select another web host that has at least 10GB.
The amount of disk space you’ll need also depends on the type of website you have. If your site requires plenty of disk space, you might want to ask for Linux VPS hosting options that can provide you with more space on the drive.
4. Equal share of CPU – The way it works is that all the VPS accounts on a physical server will have equal share of the CPU of that server. However, you might want to ensure that this is what you’re receiving. If not, then ask for a VPS plan that provides equal CPU sharing.
5. Bandwidth – You might not realize it just yet, but this is extremely important when buying a hosting plan of any type. In the beginning, you may not be receiving much traffic, but that can quickly change depending on the popularity of your site. Good Linux VPS hosting options come with at least 400GB bandwidth per month. That should be sufficient until you make the decision to move to a dedicated server.
There are other options, but the above options are the ones you’ll need to closely at the most. Options like the amount of static IP addresses, back up servers, and control panels, are somewhat standard when it comes to hosting packages.
You may be wondering why cost isn’t one of the most important factors you’ll need to consider. The reason is, cost will fall in a range dictated by the options available. One web host may provide lower cost, but with fewer options. Another may seem to be more expensive, but provides more options.
At this stage, you’ll need to focus on the options you are presented and not so much on the cost of the hosting services. However, if two or more webhosts offer the same hosting options and have different costs, then you can make the decision to go with a cheaper web host if you want. Just make sure that the web hosts you’re choosing from provide the same level of hosting services and are of equal reputation. If not, then a cheaper host may not necessarily mean the better one.
It is also important that you don’t rush to make a choice. It can be very exciting to finally see your website open to the public, but rushing decisions often turn out to be big mistakes. There are definitely a lot of things that you need to take into consideration before you make your final choice of hosting services and it can become a bit tiring making the comparisons. However, rest assured that once you’ve done your homework, there is little chance you’ve made the wrong choice.
