Many site administrators are used to working with WordPress. This content management system’s popularity is due to the open source code, which provides ample opportunities and desirable flexibility. To confirm the prevalence of WordPress, we note that a third of all sites on the web today operate on this platform.
Realizing the high consumer demand, many providers, to facilitate the launch of the site for the client, offer VPS with installed WordPress software. Therefore, the presence of already downloaded software on a virtual private server becomes one of the bonuses, which often becomes the main argument when choosing a hoster.
And if you consider that VPS is an ideal option for small and medium-sized businesses, it is not surprising that WordPress VPS is one of the most popular types of hosting. However, it remains to understand when it is time for the owner of a WordPress site from shared hosting to switch to a virtual private server.
What advantages does VPS hosting have?
1. Easy scaling of resources: The desired prospects for any site are stable traffic growth. And it doesn’t matter if it’s an informational portal or an e-commerce resource. As the site grows, its needs for power, operating memory, bandwidth, and other important parameters begin to grow.
Location is also an important factor. For example, suppose your target audience is from the United Kingdom, and currently, there are not enough shared hosting resources, or their volumes are on the border of needs. In that case, it’s time to consider switching to the United Kingdom VPS. In addition to the fact that this type of host initially offers more features, if necessary, they can be painlessly increased without stopping the work of the site.
It is difficult to do the same on shared hosting. After all, all the physical server resources are shared among all tenants. And in the case of a dedicated server, scaling without disabling the physical server will not work. And this is fraught with downtime.
2. Allocated resources: The VPS tenant owns all the plan’s resources. He will not have to share them with his neighbors since the disk space provided is completely isolated. This means that the performance and speed of a particular site will not be affected by the activity of neighbors.
3. Safety: Providers offering VPS services guarantee tenants complete confidentiality and a high level of protection. A whole department of specialists is responsible for this. The technical support service installs special software on the physical hardware that repels malicious attacks and informs about the incorrect operation of applications.
What are the disadvantages of VPS hosting?
1. Increase in cost: VPS will cost a little more than shared virtual hosting. Additional functions and advanced features, increased security – all this explains the increase in cost. However, it is not much higher and is available for medium or small businesses and private users.
2. The participation of a technical specialist will be required: VPS is a completely isolated disk space. The tenant will have to control the virtual private server himself. This requires knowledge and experience. If there are none, you need to hire a specialist. However, there is another option that solves the problem. Choose a managed WordPress hosting. In this case, the provider’s technical service assumes the solution to all technical problems.
When is it time to switch to WordPress VPS hosting?
We are modeling the situation. Your WordPress site is located on a shared virtual hosting, which was initially chosen because of the low cost and ease of management. However, the website’s needs are beginning to exceed virtual hosting capabilities. This is the time when it’s time to switch to VPS. How to understand that the time has come?
1. Low speed: A clear sign that it’s time to switch to WordPress VPS is low performance. If the site is slow, if the site drops during peak traffic hours, the performance of virtual hosting is not enough for you.
2. Insufficient security: One of the main problems of virtual hosting is hosting dozens of accounts on one physical server. Any of the neighbors may harbor a potential threat. In addition to the loss of reputation, if you share an address with an unreliable resource, there is a risk of malicious attacks. For example, if a virus strikes one of the accounts, every user of the physical server is at risk. In the case of a virtual private server, the rented disk space is completely limited from neighbors, so it is much easier to protect it from intruders.
3. Traffic growth: Traffic is growing; the response rate is falling. If you see such a picture, it’s time to change something because the slow operation of the site is a direct path to the loss of visitors. The more visitors visit the site; the more resources are needed. They will be provided by VPS hosting. So please don’t wait until the last minute before jumping in the right direction because it will be more difficult to catch up.
4. The need for scaling: If you expect stable traffic growth, flexible VPS is the best option. Initially, choose a simple plan and gradually change it as the web resource develops.
5. The need for additional software: Switching to a virtual private server is necessary if other software is needed for the site to work. Using different scripts or heavy applications on virtual hosting will not be possible. And VPS is perfect for this. Well, another bonus of an isolated server environment is its configuration settings.
So, if at least one of the above points is about you, it’s time to abandon shared hosting in favor of VPS. As already mentioned, start with a simple plan. It does not differ much in price from the general hosting, so you will not feel any particular problems from a financial point of view.
However, you will have at your disposal those opportunities that were previously unavailable to you. And when you no longer have enough of them, you can painlessly increase resources by switching to a different package. Well, one last recommendation. When choosing a virtual private server with WordPress, pay attention to Linux VPS. This is the most popular option, the advantage of which is the open-source of the operating system.
