Managed VPS vs Shared Hosting: When to Upgrade

By Graeme Preston, Founder & Owner · Published

Shared hosting is where nearly every website starts, and for most it's all they'll ever need. A virtual private server (VPS) gives a website, or a group of websites, its own slice of a server. Here's how to tell whether you've reached that point, and what "managed" adds.

The difference in plain terms

  • Shared hosting: many websites share one server's processors and memory, each within its own limits. The host looks after the server; you look after your website.
  • VPS: a virtual server with its own guaranteed processors, memory and storage. Nobody else's website can use your resources.
  • Unmanaged VPS: you get the server and do everything else yourself: setup, security updates, firewall, backups, fixing it when it breaks.
  • Managed VPS: the host sets it up and keeps it updated, secure and backed up, and you get a control panel to run your websites.

Signs you've outgrown shared hosting

  • Your site regularly slows down at busy times, and it isn't something on the site itself (a heavy plugin or huge images).
  • You're hitting your plan's limits for processing or memory, not just disk space.
  • You run an online shop, booking system or membership site that does a lot of work on every page.
  • You host lots of websites, for yourself or for clients, and want them all in one place with room to grow.
  • You need software or settings that shared hosting doesn't allow.

Before upgrading, it's worth checking the website itself. Caching, image sizes and an outdated theme or plugin cause more slow websites than the hosting does.

Reasons to stay on shared hosting

  • Your site is a brochure site, blog or small business site, and it's fast enough.
  • You want the lowest cost. A VPS typically costs several times more.
  • You don't want to think about servers at all.

Managed or unmanaged?

An unmanaged VPS looks cheaper, but someone still has to do the work: applying security updates, watching for problems, configuring email deliverability, keeping backups working. If that someone is you, count your time. If it's nobody, the server will eventually fall behind on updates, which is how servers get compromised. For a business without its own systems administrator, managed is usually the better deal.

Questions to ask about any managed VPS

  • What exactly is managed, and what's left to you? See who looks after what for how we split it.
  • Are backups off-site, and how often are they taken?
  • Which control panel do you get?
  • Is there a setup fee, and is moving your existing sites included?
  • Where is the server located?

Managed VPS at MyWebsiteHost

Our Managed VPS plans give you your own server, set up and looked after by us. Current prices:

  • Managed VPS 2: 4 vCores, 8 GB RAM, 75 GB NVMe storage, £45.00 a month (plus £25.00 setup on monthly billing), or £450.00 a year with no setup fee
  • Managed VPS 3: 6 vCores, 12 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe storage, £65.00 a month (plus £25.00 setup on monthly billing), or £650.00 a year with no setup fee

Both include the DirectAdmin control panel, security updates and monitoring, daily off-site backups and a free professional email mailbox. We'll move your existing websites across for free. Not sure you need a VPS yet? Our Web Hosting and WordPress Hosting plans run on the same fast NVMe servers in London, and you can move up later.