Both VPS and dedicated hosting give you allocated resources, root access and full control over your software. The big difference is the amount of power and the sharing of the hardware.
VPS hosting
- A physical server is split into several virtual servers.
- Your resources are reserved for you, but the machine itself is shared with other virtual servers.
- Plans often start with about 1 or 2 GB of RAM.
- You can scale up quickly, often in minutes.
- Lower price.
Dedicated hosting
- You rent a whole physical server.
- Nobody shares the hardware, so performance is the most steady.
- Plans often start with 4 GB of RAM or more, and have more CPU cores and disk space.
- You can choose the hardware.
- Higher price.
Comparison
| VPS | Dedicated | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Shared (virtual slices) | Yours alone |
| Starting resources | Smaller | Larger |
| Performance | Good and reserved | Highest and steadiest |
| Control | Full (root) | Full (root) and hardware choice |
| Scaling | Fast and flexible | Needs hardware upgrade or a new server |
| Price | Lower | Higher |
Which one to choose
- A VPS is the best start for growing sites, apps and developers who want control at a fair price.
- A dedicated server is for sites and apps that need a lot of power, strong isolation or special hardware.
In short, dedicated hosting gives you the same customization and control as a VPS, with even more horsepower.
Quick recap
- VPS: reserved slice, lower cost. Dedicated: the whole machine, more power.