VPS hosting utilizes something called a Virtual Private Server. Essentially, this style of hosting mimics a dedicated server, but it utilizes a shared server environment.

Your physical servers will be housed in a data center. And a VPS is the portioned part of this physical server that has its own operating system, disc space, and bandwidth. Your VPS offers extensive server customization options, similar to a dedicated server, but at the fraction of the cost.

VPS hosting is technically a combination between both shared hosting and dedicated hosting.

With dedicated servers, you rent out an entire server, which can get pretty expensive fast. With shared hosting, you end up renting a portion of a server that’s shared with other users. Shared hosting is a solid option for beginners, as it’s generally much cheaper and provides you with the necessary resources to get your site started.

VPS uses a single server and that server is partitioned out into different virtualized server environments. This differs from shared hosting because with shared hosting you have limits on the amount of CPU and memory available, as well as other software restrictions. VPS usually offer baseline resources that you’re guaranteed, plus additional resources available at a moments notice should your site experience a traffic spike.

VPS hosting is similar to using virtualized OS software. For example, let’s say you have a MacBook Pro, but you really need to use the Window OS for a certain program to run. Instead of buying a separate Windows PC you could use software like VirtualBox or VMware. This software will allow you to run a virtualized version of the Windows OS on your Mac machine.

The same can be said for VPS. On the same single physical server, you can run several different virtualized servers. Each of these virtual servers will act as if they’re separate dedicated servers.

If you require a unique hosting setup, or you have a very large and high-traffic site, then you’ve probably thought about getting your own dedicated server. But, there’s only one problem. Dedicated servers are expensive! This is where VPS comes to the rescue.

VPS can be totally customized to your liking and give you much more control over your hosting environment when compared to a shared server. VPS hosting can also grow with your site as your traffic levels and resource needs increase.

VPS hosting is also generally more secure than shared hosting environments, as you’ll be the only site using the set server resources.

With managed VPS hosting your hosting provider will be responsible for configuring your server, doing routine maintenance, keeping your environment secure, and more. The actual services included with managed VPS depend upon the hosting provider you choose.

With unmanaged VPS you’ll have a lot less hand-holding and generally be responsible for general server admin tasks, maintenance, security, and more. With unmanaged VPS hosting, you’ll need to have some technical chops to be able to run your server efficiently.

With VPS hosting you have much more control over the software that your server is running. Typically, the only limits placed upon the software you can run are the operating system the server runs on and your total memory allocation.