7 Best VPS Hosting Providers in 2021 (Fast & 100% Uptime)
When starting a website, most of the people prefer a shared hosting as it is super affordable, beginner-friendly, and easy to manage.
However, when your site begins to grow, it needs more server power, bandwidth, security, then a dedicated (private) server will provide everything you need, but it’s very expensive.
The GOOD news is that VPS hosting can offer you a better performance at an affordable price.
A VPS server can easily handle over millions of web traffics, you can host an unlimited number of websites (even more than 1,000), it’s highly secured and most importantly, it’s affordable too.
You also have the freedom to choose the Operating system (OS) and software according to your needs.
In this article, I will explain what is a VPS, what are the benefits of VPS hosting, and the best VPS hosting providers.
What is VPS Hosting?
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server.
It’s a hosting technology that provides you dedicated resources on a server with multiple users.
In VPS hosting, you will have dedicated resources, such as storage, bandwidth, RAM, CPU, Operating System, etc. on a server and only you can utilize it.
In other words, VPS hosting combines both shared and dedicated servers.
8 Major Benefits of Using a VPS Hosting
If you are on shared hosting and not happy with your site’s performance, then you should consider moving your site to a VPS hosting.
Let’s take a quick look at seven reasons why you should choose a VPS hosting.
1. Improved Reliability
On shared hosting servers, there are hundreds of thousands of websites are hosted. So, if a customer is experiencing heavy traffic, then other websites will be affected.
But, this can’t happen with a VPS server.
In VPS hosting, each user’s resources are separated from others. That means other user’s tasks wouldn’t affect your site’s performance.
2. Dedicated Resources
Like a dedicated server, all the resources of your VPS server will be entirely yours.
You can choose the amount of disk space, RAM, CPU cores, Bandwidth.
And no wonder, this can handle more traffic as well as boost your site’s performance.
3. Complete Control
On a VPS, you have complete control over your server. As you will have the full administrator access to the VPS, you are free can install pretty much any software, applications, or add-ons you want.
4. Enhanced Security
Since a VPS is totally separated from other users, so they can’t access to your resources.
The security of your server is totally in your control.
You can also add network Firewall or any other security tools without any hassle.
5. Scalability
On shared hosting, if you hit the limit on space or bandwidth, you have to upgrade your plan to the next-tier package, or else, your host may suspend your account.
But why should you pay the double price when you can just add a couple of gigabytes?
The best thing about VPS hosting is that it allows you to add additional resources when you need it. Whether, you just need 5 GB of extra space or more RAM, you can quickly add by paying a very small amount of money.
6. Cost-effective
If you want to upgrade your shared hosting plan to something better, then a Virtual Private Server offers the best performance, security, and resources without breaking the bank.
7. No limitation
When you have shared hosting, you are limited to everything.
For example, you can host a limited number of sites, resources are shared with other users, can’t install some applications because they may be resource-heavy, and can affect other users.
But with VPS hosting, you have the freedom.
You can host an unlimited number of sites, free to choose the operating system, root access, you can run any application you want, and much more.
8. Dedicated support
One of the main advantages of VPS hosting is that you will get 24×7 technical support.
If you are having an issue or need assistance for setting up an application, a technical expert is always there for you to solve the issue.
7 Best VPS Hosting Providers
Liquid Web – Fastest managed VPS hosting
InMotion – Best for extra features
A2Hosting – Best for customer support
ScalaHosting – Best cheap VPS plans
HostGator – Best for functionality
Bluehost – Best for power and flexibility
DreamHost – Best for bandwidth
Best VPS Hosting Comparison (Side by Side)
Here’s a comparison chart below of the 7 best VPS hosting providers.
In this chart, we have compared VPS hosting’s price, the total amount of RAM they provide, storage, bandwidth, money back, and server’s uptime.
* All the plans I have listed below are starter plans.
Each of the VPS hosting on the list comes with 3 or more different plans. The more you pay, the more resources you will get.
Even, few providers also allow you to customize your own VPS, such as you can choose the total amount of RAM, CPU, storage.
Hosting Provider | Price | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth | Money Back | Uptime |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
$39/mo | 2 GB | 40 GB | 10 TB | N/A | 100% | |
$29.99/mo | 4 GB | 75 GB | 4 TB | 90 days | 99.97% | |
$25/mo | 4 GB | 75 GB | 2 TB | Anytime | 99.99% | |
$9.95/mo | 2 GB | 20 GB | Unlimited | 30 days | 99.96% | |
$19.95/mo | 2 GB | 80 GB | 1.5 TB | 45 days | 99.99% | |
$18.99/mo | 2 GB | 30 GB | 1 TB | 30 days | 99.98% | |
$10/mo | 1 GB | 30 GB | Unlimited | N/A | 99.95% |
Managed or Unmanaged VPS– Which One Should You Choose?
Before you buy any VPS hosting, you should know what’s the difference between a Managed VPS and Unmanaged VPS, especially if you are new to VPS.
What is Managed VPS?
Managed VPS is a type of VPS hosting that your hosting provider will be responsible for configuring your VPS server, installing and updating software, server maintenance, security, etc.
You will be provided a cPanel or similar control panel to manage your server.
With Managed VPS, you will be not provided root access.
It’s best suited for non-tetchy persons (beginners) or who don’t want the stress of managing the server.
What is Unmanaged VPS?
Unmanaged VPS means your hosting provider will not provide much support.
That means, your host will only keep the network connection and the VPS running, and you need to do system administration, server maintenance, software installation, etc.
You will be provided only root access to manage your server.
It’s best suited for developers and technical persons who have enough knowledge for server configuration and maintenance.
7 Best VPS Hosting Providers of 2020
Below is a list of 7 Best VPS Hosting Services, both managed and unmanaged. We compared their features, performance, and price.
Each of the VPS hostings I have listed below has its features and price. All you need to choose a VPS host that matches your requirements.
Let’s say, you have a big project or business running, then you should choose a VPS plan that includes more server resources (such as RAM, CPU, bandwidth, storage).
Having a significant amount of resources can easily boost your site’s performance as well as handle over millions of website traffic.
The best thing I like about VPS hosting is that it allows you to quickly add additional server resources without any delay or downtime. For example, if you are getting heavy traffic, you can add additional resources (CPU, RAM, storage, or bandwidth) with just a click.
Now, let’s take a look at the 7 best VPS hosting providers.
Liquid Web – Fastest VPS Hosting
If you want a faster VPS hosting for your business websites, then I recommend you to go with the Liquid Web VPS.
They offer a wide range of hosting solutions whether you run a business website, WordPress, eCommerce, or even heavy traffic websites.
Liquid web offers both Linux and Windows VPS plans. Plus, they offer an excellent 100% network uptime.
Every VPS plan includes superfast SSD Drives, Gigabit bandwidth, dedicated IP address, Cloudflare CDN, robust advanced security features, and much more.
Liquid Web owns and operates its core data-centers. They have 10 data centers, altogether, 2 data centers in Lansing, MI, one in Phoenix, AZ, and another in Amsterdam.
Liquid web servers are faster than other major VPS hosting providers such as Amazon, Rackspace, and Digital Ocean.
All their VPS plans are fully-managed, so you don’t need to take the stress to operate your VPS server. They offer InterWorx, a smart, scalable, and secure hosting control panel.
They also offer free website migrations. That means their migrations team will transfer your data from your old server or provider.
They have the most helpful support team in the web hosting industry. Any issue or trouble you face with your server, they are always ready to solve the issue in time.
Pricing:
Liquid Web VPS hosting plan starts from $39/monthif paid for 1 year. For that price, you will get:
- Unlimited websites
- 2 GB RAM
- 40 GB SSD storage
- 10 TB bandwidth
- Dedicated IP address
- Free SSL
- Control panel – InterWorx, Plesk, and cPanel
- Root access
- Free site migrations
- 24×7 customer support via phone, email or chat
Liquid Web also offers Windows VPS plan which starts from $99/month if paid for 1 year.
Liquid Web doesn’t offer refunds on their VPS plan.
Liquid Web Pros
- Promises 100% uptime guarantee
- Superfast servers
- Multiple data centers
- Packed with many advanced features
- Industry-leading support
Liquid Web Cons
- Their hosting plans are pricier
InMotion Hosting – Best for extra features
InMotion is a simple, reliable, and fast VPS hosting provider. No matter what kind of website you want to host, whether WordPress site, eCommerce store, agency, or even business website, InMotion hosting offers the perfect VPS solution that always keeps your business up and running.
When it comes to VPS hosting features, then InMotion hosting takes the lead, because they provide so many premium features that others don’t. For example, real-time redundancy, scheduled snapshots, unrestricted CPU core usage, DDoS attack prevention, etc.
All of their VPS plans include free server management, which means they update and patch the server.
InMotion hosting operates its own data centers in two locations, one in Los Angeles and the other one in Washington. They also offer you a guarantee 99.99% server uptime.
InMotion Hosting also offers a free domain for 6 and 12-month plans.
However, if you want to transfer your websites to InMotion VPS hosting, they will do the hard work for you. They offer up to 30 free cPanel to cPanel website migrations.
The support team is available 24×7 via live chat, toll-free phone call, and email. However, their support agents are US-based.
Pricing:
InMotion hosting’s VPS hosting plan starts from $29.99/month (on a 2-year contract). For that price, you will get:
- Unlimited websites
- Free domain
- 4 GB RAM
- 75 GB SSD storage
- 4 TB bandwidth
- 3 Dedicated IP address
- Free SSL
- Control panel – cPanel and WHM
- Root access
- Free site migrations
- 24×7 customer support via phone, email or chat
InMotion Hosting offers a 90 days money-back guarantee.
InMotion Hosting Pros
- Faster server response time
- Free domain
- Comes with many extra features
- Excellent customer support
InMotion Hosting Cons
- Higher renewal price
A2hosting– Best for customer support
A2hosting is one of the best VPS hosting providers. They are well-known for their fast web hosting services.
They provide different types of web hosting services including VPS.
Unlike other VPS hosting providers, A2hosting offers 3 types of VPS hosting – managed, unmanaged, and core-VPS (managed VPS with root access).
A2hosting has its own data centers in 4 locations – two in the US (Michigan, Arizona), one in Europe (Amsterdam), and Asia (Singapore).
Their servers are monitored by a team of engineers 24×7 and give you a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
The VPS server at A2hosting is both beginner and developer-friendly. You will have cPanel access as well as popular software. Each VPS plan includes free SSL, dedicated IP, Cloudflare CDN, free website migration, and much more.
Another great thing about A2hosting is that their friendly and knowledgeable guru crew support is available 24×7 through live chat, email, and phone call.
Pricing:
A2hosting’s VPS hosting plan starts from $25/month (on a 2-year contract). For that price, you will get:
- Unlimited websites
- 4 GB RAM
- 75 GB SSD storage
- 2 TB bandwidth
- 2 Dedicated IP address
- Free SSL
- Free Cloudflare CDN
- Control panel – cPanel and WHM
- Free site migrations
- 24×7 customer support via phone, email or chat
A2hosting has an “anytime money-back guarantee” policy.
A2hosting Pros
- Faster server response time
- 4 data centers (2xUS, EU, Asia)
- Anytime money-back guarantee
- Feature-rich plans
- Excellent customer support
A2hosting Cons
- Renewal price is high
Scala Hosting – Cheapest VPS Hosting
Scala Hosting was started in 2007 and they are most well-known for VPS hosting provider.
Whether you are a student, developer, or have a business website, Scala Hosting made VPS hosting accessible to anyone.
Their plans are fully managed and offer free unlimited website migration, SShield real-time protection, dedicated IP, and resources.
Their VPS hosting plans are scalable and let you configure your own VPS server. For example, you can choose how many CPU cores, RAM, Storage you need.
Scala Hosting alsooffers free domain if you purchase their VPS plan for at least 3 months.
Scala Hosting has 2 data centers – one in the US (Dallas), and another one in Europe (Bulgaria). They also give you a 99.96% uptime guarantee.
To manage the VPS server, they have built their own custom-made SPanel, which is very similar to cPanel, so that you wouldn’t have any issue of using it.
The customer support is very quick and available 24×7 via live chat and ticket system. It takes a few seconds to connect with the live chat support team, and their ticket response time around 15 minutes.
Pricing:
Scala Hosting is the cheapest VPS Hosting provider on our list. Their VPS hosting plan starts from $9.95/month (on a 3-year contract). For that price, you will get:
- Unlimited websites
- Free domain (on the quarterly plan)
- 2 GB RAM
- 20 GB SSD storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 1 Dedicated IP address
- Daily backups and free SSL
- Control panel – SPanel
- Free site migrations
- 24×7 customer support via email and chat
They also offer self-managed cloud VPS. Price starts from $10/month.
Scala Hosting offers 30 days money-back guarantee.
Scala Hosting Pros
- Faster server response time
- Good security features
- Feature-rich plans
- Blacklist protection
- Outstanding customer support
Scala Hosting Cons
- 3-year contract
HostGator – Best for functionality
HostGator is one of the most popular web hosts out there and now powering over millions of websites.
They offer several types of hosting solutions, such as Shared, VPS, Cloud, managed WordPress, Dedicated.
Their VPS servers are fully customizable. As it’s an unmanaged VPS, you will have full root access that gives more control over your hosting.
They have multiple layers of network security and bandwidth providers to ensure your VPS server is always up and running securely.
They have a RAID 10 disk configuration that provides the maximum data protection. With that, they also offer free IP table firewall, DDoS protection, and a powerful VPS firewall.
HostGator has two data centersin the US: one is in Texas and another one in Utah. Plus, they give you a 99.97% uptime guarantee.
All VPS hosting plans include thousands of free website templates, weekly off-site backups, unlimited free cPanel to cPanel website migrations (plus 90 manual migrations), and much more. They also offer a free domain registration on annual plans.
The customer support is very helpful and available 24×7 via live chat and phone call.
Pricing:
HostGator’s VPS hosting plan starts from $19.95/month (on a 3-year contract). For that price, you will get:
- Unlimited websites
- Free domain (on annual plans)
- 2 GB RAM
- 80 GB SSD storage
- 1.5TB bandwidth
- 2 Dedicated IP address
- Only root access
- Weekly off-site backups
- Unlimited cPanel to cPanel site migrations
- 24×7 customer support via live chat and phone call
HostGator offers 45 days money-back guarantee.
HostGator Pros
- Faster server response time
- Multiple layers of security
- Advanced functionality
- Free domain
- Outstanding customer support
HostGator Cons
- cPanel comes with an additional cost
- high renewal price
Bluehost – Best for power and flexibility
Bluehost is officially recommended by WordPress. It was founded in 2002 and now powering over 2 million websites worldwide.
Bluehost offers a couple of types of hosting such as Shared, Cloud, WordPress, VPS, WooCommerce, reseller, and Dedicated.
Unlike other VPS hosting providers, Bluehost offers a free domain name for one year. So, you don’t have to buy a domain additionally.
Bluehost has one data center in the US (Utah). They also give you a 99.98% uptime guarantee.
For their virtual server, they use open source technology like KVM and OpenSlack that are both powerful and easy to use. Along with that, you will have their improved cPanel as well as full root access to manage your VPS server.
Where other VPS servers take hours to get activated, Bluehost VPS gets up and running in a few seconds.
Another thing I like about Bluehost is that they allow you to add additional storage without a delay.
Their support team is available 24×7 via live chat and phone call.
Pricing:
Bluehost’s VPS hosting plan starts from $19.99/month (on a 3-year contract). For that price, you will get:
- Unlimited websites
- Free domain (on annual plans)
- 2 GB RAM
- 30 GB SSD storage
- 1 TB bandwidth
- 1 Dedicated IP address
- Custom control panel and root access
- Weekly off-site backups
- Unlimited cPanel to cPanel site migrations
- 24×7 customer support via live chat and phone call
Bluehost offers 30 days money-back guarantee.
HostGator Pros
- Free domain registration
- Instant Provisioning
- Advanced functionality
- Faster server response time
HostGator Cons
- Bluehost doesn’t offer migration support for VPS plans
DreamHost – Best for bandwidth
DreamHost was founded in 1997 and hosts over millions of websites. They offer several types of affordable web hosting services, such as shared, managed WordPress, VPS, dedicated, etc.
Their VPS plans are cheaper if compared to other VPS hosting providers. Whether, you run a small or big business, website, or any kind of application, they have the perfect VPS configuration for you.
Each VPS plan includes superfast SSDs, unlimited domains, one-click SSL, unlimited traffic and bandwidth, automatic software updates, crontab access, and many powerful features.
DreamHost has its own data center, located in the US. They have an average uptime of 99.95%.
DreamHost doesn’t offer root access for their VPS plans, so you will their custom-made control panel, which is simple yet powerful. Also, they don’t provide Windows VPS hosting options.
The support at DreamHost is a bit complicated. You can contact their customer support team via live chat and email.
Their live chat support is available between 5.30 AM – 9.30 PM Pacific time. However, you can also add 3 callbacks per month to your account by paying an extra amount of money.
Pricing:
DreamHost’s VPS hosting plan starts from $10/month (on a 3-year contract). For that price, you will get:
- Unlimited websites
- Free domain (on annual plans)
- 1 GB RAM
- 30 GB SSD storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- 1 Dedicated IP address
- Custom-built control panel
- Free SSL certificate
- 24×7 customer support via live chat and email
DreamHost doesn’t offer refunds on their VPS plan.
DreamHost Pros
- Unlimited traffic
- Reseller and sub-account features
- IPv4 and IPv6 addresses
- Faster server response time
- Crontab access
DreamHost Cons
- The support at DreamHost is US-based
- No refunds
How to Choose the Right VPS Hosting Provider?
Choosing the right VPS hosting provider is very essential. Because everyone has their requirements and budget. For example, You may not need 8 GB of RAM and 8 core CPU if your site is pretty new and doesn’t get much traffic.
Also, you don’t need root access if you don’t have any server management knowledge. In this case, you need cPanel instead of root access.
There are several factors you need to keep in mind when it comes to choosing the right VPS.
Luckily, you are here, you don’t need to worry about it. We did the hard work for you.
There are some standard factors you should look at while choosing a VPS hosting provider.
1. Server uptime – The first thing you need to check web hosting’s uptime score. This will tell you if a web host is stable or not.
The uptime score needs to be at least 99.95%, and you should avoid anything that’s below that.
2. VPS Resources – Every website needs a specific amount of resources to run efficiently. That’s why you must choose your VPS server’s resources, such as, CPU, RAM, storage, and bandwidth.
The bigger your website, the more resources your website will consume. So, you will need to choose a VPS plan that includes higher RAM, CPU, and bandwidth.
However, you can also add additional resources at any time.
3. Managed or Unmanaged – Managed VPS comes with a control panel (cPanel) access. So your hosting provider will be responsible for configuring your VPS server, software update, server maintenance, and security.
However, you wouldn’t get root access with a managed VPS server. It’s best suited for non-tetchy persons or who doesn’t want the stress of managing the server.
On the other hand, unmanaged VPS is suitable for developers or who have enough technical knowledge for server configuration and maintenance.
Unmanaged VPS comes with root access only.
4. Customer support – This is very important. Because, you might have issues with your server or website or you may not know the functionality of a program.
Having excellent customer support will help you to fix an issue right away.
Most VPS providers offer multiple levels of support, such as, live chat, email, and toll-free phone calls.
However, I recommend choosing a VPS plan that comes with 24×7 phone call and live chat.
Conclusion: 7 Best VPS Hosting Providers
Shared hosting is a good option when you have a small website. As your site grows, it needs more server power, flexibility, and functionality, then a dedicated server will provide you everything you need. However, it’s very expensive.
Luckily, VPS hosting offers a better hosting solution than shared hosting but without the price tag of a dedicated server.
In this article, I have shared a list of 7 best VPS hosting providers. To recap, here’s the list again:
Liquid Web – Fastest managed VPS hosting (Our Pick)
InMotion – Best for extra features
A2Hosting – Best for customer support
ScalaHosting – Best cheap VPS plans
HostGator – Best for functionality
Bluehost – Best for power and flexibility
DreamHost – Best for bandwidth
Best VPS Hosting Providers(FAQ)
1. What’s the difference between a VPS and shared hosting?
VPS and shared hosting are two different types of web hosting services.
In shared hosting, multiple websites are hosted on a single server, and resources are shared with multiple users. That means each website has a very limited amount of resources.
In VPS hosting, multiple websites are hosted on the same server, but each user has its separate resource, such as CPU, RAM, storage, bandwidth.
Summary:VPS server is way more powerful than shared hosting.
2. Is VPS hosting faster than shared hosting?
On a shared hosting server, there are hundreds of thousands of websites are hosted and the resources are shared with multiple users.
So, if a customer is experiencing heavy traffic, then other websites (including yours) will be affected. As a result, your website loads so slow and even crashes.
But in the VPS server, the resource is entirely yours and no other users can access it. So. your website loads much faster.
Summary:VPS hosting is much faster than shared hosting.
3.What’s the difference between a VPS and a dedicated server?
VPS hosting is a type of hosting where multiple websites are hosting on a dedicated server, but each user has its separated resources, such as, RAM, CPU, storage, bandwidth.
On the other hand, a dedicated server is another type of hosting in which an entire server is dedicated to a single user.
Yes, a dedicated server is better than VPS, but it’s too way expensive and not for everyone.
A dedicated server price starts from $80/ month, where a VPS server costs only $10-$15/month.
A dedicated is a great option if you run a big website like Amazon.
But, VPS hosting is for everyone. It’s affordable and suitable for those who want to upgrade their shared hosting. It’s best suited for all types of businesses, WordPress sites, online stores, etc.
Summary: VPS hosting wins.
4.When you should use VPS hosting?
VPS hosting is far better than shared hosting and also not as expensive as a dedicated server.
However, if you are wondering whether you need a VPS hosting or not, then here are a few reasons why you should switch to a VPS hosting:
5.Linux VPS or Windows VPS – which one should I choose?
The short answer is – Linux VPS.
By default, most of the VPS hosting providers provide only Linux VPS.
Because, Linux is open-source software and free to use. It’s more secure, faster, flexible, and cheaper than Windows OS.
And most importantly, cPanel can be installed only on Linux OS.
On the other hand, Windows needs a genuine license for activation, thus it’s more expensive than Linux VPS.
Summary: Linux VPS wins.
6.How do I migrate my websites from shared to VPS hosting?
If you select any of the VPS providers on the list above, you don’t have to worry about site migrations. Because, these VPS hosting providers offer FREE site migrations.
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