What is a VPS server used for?
With shared hosting, the provider decides what software runs and how much resource you get. With a VPS, you (or whoever manages it for you) decide. This freedom leads to six typical uses:
- A webshop where speed matters. The database gets its own guaranteed memory, and you can put a cache in front of it (Redis, Varnish). The cart and admin area won't slow down just because a neighbouring site is having a traffic spike.
- Magento 2. Magento needs a search engine (OpenSearch), caching and scheduled background jobs, none of which run reliably on shared hosting. Details on the Magento 2 webshop page.
- Custom web application and API. Background processes, scheduled jobs, a Node.js or Python service, your own database settings. This is the natural environment for web applications.
- Server-side tracking. Your own tracking container (for example, server-side Google Tag Manager) runs on your own server, and your advertising data stays on your own domain. More on this: server-side tracking.
- Several projects in one place. A few websites on one server, with unified backups, monitoring and a regular update routine.
- Reliable email delivery. Order confirmations and system emails go out with your own sending authentication, so they're less likely to end up in spam.
When you don't need a VPS?
For a brochure site or a small WordPress blog, a VPS is needlessly complicated. Over-sizing is just as much a mistake as under-sizing: you pay more for capacity you don't use. There's another, less obvious case too: when there's no one to manage it. An unpatched, unmanaged VPS is more dangerous than good shared hosting, because there the host handles the security updates; here, no one does.
If your site is slow, measure where it's getting stuck first. Often a cache or optimised images make more difference than a more powerful server. Our slow website guide can help.
Managed or unmanaged VPS?
With an unmanaged VPS, the provider only supplies the virtual machine; everything else is up to the tenant. With a managed VPS, a provider or a system administrator is responsible for the server. The difference between the two isn't in the machine, but in who gets woken up at night when something goes wrong.
What does server management mean in practice?
- Security updates on a regular basis, for the operating system and every running service.
- Protection: key-based SSH login instead of passwords, a firewall, and automatic blocking of repeated login attempts.
- Off-site backups, with the restore process tested from time to time. An untested backup is just a hope.
- Monitoring and alerts: disk space, memory, response time, SSL certificate expiry.
- Version upgrades on a planned schedule: PHP, the database, the operating system, tested in a staging environment first.
- Log monitoring, so a problem doesn't come to light through a customer first.
If no one at your company can do this regularly, the managed option is the safer choice. We provide exactly this on Ubuntu servers; you'll find the details, along with a detailed comparison of shared hosting, VPS and dedicated servers, on the Ubuntu VPS server management page.
What to check when renting a VPS?
| Aspect | What to check |
|---|
| Processor | The cheapest packages' virtual cores are typically shared with other customers. For a busy webshop, it's worth choosing a dedicated core. |
| Memory | The most common bottleneck. For a Magento 2 webshop, 8-16 GB is a reasonable minimum. |
| Disk | NVMe SSD, sized large enough for local backups and logs too. |
| Data centre | For a Hungarian audience, a nearby European data centre, partly because of GDPR. |
| Snapshot | Useful before an update, but it doesn't replace an off-site backup. |
| Scaling | Whether the processor and memory can be upgraded within minutes, without migrating. |
| Network | Traffic limits, DDoS protection, your own IPv4 address. |
Ubuntu, Debian or Windows?
For a PHP-based website or webshop (WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento), you need Linux. We use Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) releases, because they get security updates for five years, so the server doesn't become outdated within a year or two. Debian is a similarly stable choice. You need a Windows server if the software is built on the .NET framework or Microsoft SQL Server, in which case you also need to budget for the licence fee.
How much does it cost?
You need to budget for two items. One is the VPS rental fee, which at entry level starts from €10 a month and rises in proportion to the resources. The other is management: you either pay for it with your own time, or you pay a managed service provider. There's also a one-off setup fee on top of this (installation, security configuration, backups, migration). We publish our own price bands on the Ubuntu VPS page.