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How Should You Decide on a VPS Hosting Provider?

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This is an important decision as you will determine, where your website will essentially be ‘living’ on the internet. Taking important factors into consideration and understanding what’s important to you, is the key to making the best decision.

Here are some key factors you should consider:

Cost: Before you choose a VPS hosting provider, consider how much they’re charging you and for what. Hosting costs are usually charged ongoingly, so it’s important to know where your money is going. Usually, you’re charged for the amount of space, bandwidth, speed, backup & security and other benefits your hosting provider may give you.

Reviews: This is a great way to look into existing feedback VPS providers are getting from customers. Go through online reviews and even call the hosting provider with any questions you may have for them. This is the best way to check which one is actually responsive, transparent and patient with their customers.

Reliability: Just like all servers, VPS can have downtime too. You should look out for a VPS which offers you maximum reliability through minimal downtime. One way to check this is online reviews, and the other is to test the VPS by signing up for a dummy website. This is a great way to ‘test-drive’ your VPS hosting service and determine whether it would be a good fit for your ‘real website’.

Services, Resources & Capabilities: Inevitably, you should ask your VPS provider about all of the benefits, features, resources and capabilities they can offer you. Look for their ‘add-on’ features too, to figure out additional services you could buy through them for a comprehensive hosting experience. You need to feel like your VPS provider is a ‘partner’, and not just a vendor, as you’ll be heavily dependent on them for your site’s reliability. Make sure they’re interested in your growth for the long term!

Customer Service: This is almost like your ‘lifeline’ when choosing a VPS hosting provider. When things go awry, you need the assurance that you’ll be looked after and can reach out for help immediately. Check if your VPS hosting provider has 24/7 online chat support, or a call centre you can call in case you need help. It’s like having access to a 24/7 doc incase you fall sick, which is an absolute must!

Managed Vs Unmanaged VPS Hosting: This is another important factor of consideration since it determines the scope of service for your VPS provider.

Under unmanaged hosting, your VPS hosting provider is only responsible for making sure your VPS works and is connected to the network, while under managed hosting your VPS hosting provider needs to look after many more things, like the server’s security, reliability etc.

So if any problems pop up, your hosting provider will fix them for you under a managed hosting service, but not under an unmanaged hosting service. It’s very handy to have!

Linux/Windows: If your website is built on windows tech stacks, like ASP.Net, you need to choose Windows VPS hosting, and if your site is built on Linux technology, you need to use Linux VPS hosting. This is about compatibility of the technology that your site is built on, with the VPS Hosting provider. Always check with your hosting provider if they’re compatible.

Flexibility: Since VPS hosting providers charge an ongoing fee for their service, it’s important you evaluate how flexible their service or contract is. Can you exit the subscription if you’re not happy with the service? Can you upgrade easily without losing any data on your website? How does your VPS hosting provider support unforeseen or unexpected traffic to your site? These points should not be overlooked.

Quality Of Hardware: Your VPS is essentially working on a very powerful and big computer. The better the quality of hardware your VPS provider has, the stronger the performance will be. You should ensure your VPS hosting provider is investing in the latest tech, like highly stable hard drives that can ‘take the load’ of lots of content & data, and excellent processors for speed and reliability. Ask them which one they’re using and how often they upgrade their hardware to learn more.

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