Differences between a VPS and our cloud hosting

When it's time to choose the most suitable type of hosting for your project, it's common to hesitate between a VPS (Virtual Private Server) and a managed cloud hosting service like the one we offer at Hostsuar. Our service shares the base infrastructure between accounts, but uses CloudLinux to separate their files and limit resource usage. It isn't the same as having your own virtual server. Both options have their advantages, but it's important to understand the fundamental differences between them so you can make an informed decision that fits your needs and technical knowledge.

What is a VPS?

A VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a virtual machine that works like a dedicated server but actually runs on a physical server shared with other users. Using virtualisation technologies, a powerful physical server is divided into multiple independent virtual servers, each with its own allocation of CPU, memory, storage and network. Whether the CPU is shared or dedicated, and which resources are guaranteed, depends on the VPS contract.

The main feature of a VPS is that it gives you full root access to the operating system, which means you have complete control over the server's configuration. You can install and configure services within the limits of the system, the virtualisation and the provider's terms.

However, this level of control comes with considerable responsibility. When you take out a VPS, unless it's a fully managed service, you are responsible for administering the entire server. That includes installing and configuring the operating system, installing and maintaining the web server (Apache, Nginx or similar), managing databases, configuring PHP and other programming languages, putting security measures in place, applying system updates, configuring firewalls, monitoring the server and resolving any technical problem that may arise.

What is our cloud hosting?

Our cloud hosting service is a fully managed solution, optimised specifically for hosting web applications, WordPress sites, online shops and PHP projects in general. Each account uses the server's same operating system and base services, with file isolation and its own limits, while our team manages the infrastructure.

Our infrastructure is built on CloudLinux, an operating system designed specifically for hosting environments. CageFS limits what each account can see of the file system and stops it from browsing other accounts' private content. LVE (Lightweight Virtual Environment) controls how much each one can use, reducing the impact of a website that exhausts CPU, memory, entry processes or disk access. The server and certain services are still shared, so this isolation doesn't replace that of a virtual machine and doesn't by itself prevent an incident affecting the shared infrastructure.

Each account is guaranteed the CPU, RAM and concurrent processes of its plan, and LVE stops any other account from using more than its own. The difference from a VPS is not that guarantee but control: you don't have root access or your own operating system, and in return you don't have to administer it or maintain the base services.

As well as CloudLinux, we use LiteSpeed Web Server as the web server. It includes a built-in cache that can communicate directly with specific plugins for WordPress, PrestaShop, Joomla, Magento and other popular applications. The real improvement depends on the application, its configuration and the share of content that can be cached; it doesn't remove the need to optimise the code, the database and external requests.

The fundamental difference in resource allocation

This is one of the most important differences between a VPS and our cloud hosting. On a VPS, the CPU and memory you pay for have to be shared between the operating system, the web server, MySQL, email and any other process installed. The portion available to the application varies with the configuration and load of those services; there's no fixed percentage that holds for every VPS.

On our cloud hosting, the server's base services are managed outside your account. LVE limits apply to processes running as your user, including PHP and also tasks such as cron, SSH or other account processes. The physical memory counted may include shared memory and disk cache. MySQL is controlled separately, but its queries still affect the performance the application sees.

For example, the Webmaster plan sets a limit of 2.5 GB of memory and 2.5 CPU cores for the account's processes, without you having to reserve within those figures the memory used by a VPS's entire operating system. You can monitor usage and the limits reached from cPanel to find out whether the problem is CPU, memory, entry processes, total processes or disk access before upgrading resources.

Advantages of our cloud hosting over a VPS

The main advantage of our cloud hosting is that it doesn't require system administration skills. The whole environment is preconfigured, optimised and managed by our technical team, so you can focus solely on your project without worrying about infrastructure, server-level security or operating system maintenance.

Our cloud hosting gives you all the advantages of a professional, optimised environment without the technical complications: full visual management through cPanel, simple selection and tuning of PHP versions and settings, firewall and Imunify360 antivirus protection included, and daily automatic off-site backups ready to restore from the client area. You get specialist technical support for any incident, advanced optimisations such as LiteSpeed Cache, Redis and QUIC.cloud integration, which need enabling and configuring for each project, and SSH access for developers limited to your account, more than enough for day-to-day work. All of this is managed and maintained by our team, so you can focus on your project without worrying about administering or maintaining the server.

When to choose a VPS

A VPS is the right option when your project has very specific requirements that a managed hosting service can't meet. For example, if you need to install software that requires root access to the operating system, or if your application needs highly customised configurations or support for specific languages.

When to choose our cloud hosting

Our cloud hosting can be a good fit if your project uses applications and versions supported by the service. If your goal is to host WordPress sites, online shops with WooCommerce or PrestaShop, Laravel applications, Joomla sites, Drupal portals or any other standard PHP application, our service will give you an optimised, secure, high-performance environment without the need for advanced technical knowledge.

We don't host Python web applications (Django, Flask), Node.js applications running as a server or other programs that listen on a port: we don't support them, as we explain in persistent processes. The Python interpreter is available for scripts, without official support, and Node.js can be used to build assets. If your project needs its own server, you need a VPS.

Compare before you choose

Note down what software you need, whether a process of your own has to keep running in the background, how many resources the application uses and who will administer each component. Also compare backups, licences, support and maintenance time; two offers with the same amount of RAM may include different services.

Managed infrastructure doesn't replace maintaining your application: CMS versions, extensions, code, access and content still need attention. If the problem is a spike in demand and you don't need root, also look at Elastic hosting before planning a migration to a VPS.