Last Updated on December 8, 2022
If you’ve searched for the best VPS hosting provider then you’re either fed up with the slow speeds and unreliable uptime from shared hosting, or you’re a new website that is anticipating getting a heap of traffic right out of the gate.
Either way, upgrading from shared hosting to virtual private servers (VPS) definitely has its advantages, such as seriously improving the performance and user experience of your site. Something that Google definitely loves, thanks to their last update!
There are dozens of different companies out there that offer virtual private server hosting, but it’s not as simple as you may think to just upgrade from your current shared hosting.
That’s why to save you time, I have put together this list of the 7 best VPS hosting services of the year. Each one will have a look at the uptime, server speed, and any unique features to help you find the best one for your needs.
*Spoiler Alert* My top picks for the best VPS web hosting are Liquid Web and InMotion hosting.
Ready? Let’s Fly!
Disclaimer: This article includes affiliate links that may provide a small commission to me at no cost to you (it will buy me a cup of coffee though 😉). However, these are the best services I fully recommend when it comes to hosting your website. You can read more about my affiliate disclosure in my affiliate policy.
What is the Best VPS Hosting?
Keep reading for my top picks of the best VPS hosting to point you in the right direction.
1. Liquid Web.
Best VPS overall to upgrade from shared to dedicated hosting.
Probably one of the most underrated best VPS hosting providers around. Liquid Web is a fully managed, hands-off web hosting platform.
They don’t hide the fact that they’re not the cheapest web hosting around, but you get a ton of value for your money. In my opinion, this is definitely a case of you getting what you pay for.
What’s included:
- 24/7/365 On-site support via phone, email, or chat.
- Constant monitoring of your sites by default gives a 100% uptime SLA.
- Multi-level DDoS protection.
- Fast SSD storage.
If you prefer to have full management as an option for your plan (my recommendation), then it comes with free migration of your current site.
A team of people will work for you to move all of your content and data over to the new hosting. This saves you the hassle of doing it yourself (time and money saver!) and also the risk of losing content in the process.
Key Features
- 3 control panels to choose from – InterWorx, cPanel, and Plesk Web Pro. You get unlimited sites with InterWorx.
- Dedicated IP address.
- Scale up or down your service as you need to with minimal downtime.
- Integrated firewalls.
- ServerSecure protection is available for fully managed Windows and Linux servers.
There are also a number of add-ons to further customize your hosting service. These include:
- Cloud load balancer.
- Premium business email.
- PCI compliance scanning.
Pricing
Pricing plans go off how much RAM you need. All plans come with 10TB of bandwidth.
| 2GB RAM | 4GB RAM | 8GB RAM | 16GB RAM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usual Pricing | ||||
| Special Pricing | $15/month | $25/month | $35/month | $95/month |
| SSD Disk Space | 40GB | 100GB | 150GB | 200GB |
To get the special pricing, you’ll need to pay upfront for 24 months (2 years).
Each level also has the option to pay a little extra, $5/month on a 2GB plan up to $34/month on the 16GB plan. In return, you’ll get site remediation and protection, a premium business email service, and a free 100GB daily backup quota.
2. InMotion Hosting.
Best for businesses that have a lot of high-powered websites.
Can’t figure out if you want managed hosting or cloud-based VPS hosting? Then choose InMotion Hosting.
It has the flexibility of offering both. This way, you are in control of how you want to set up your server without the loss of performance.
If you’re a business owner, have an agency, or are in e-commerce, then my recommendation would be to go with a managed hosting plan. Even though it is managed by a team of in-house experts, it comes with 24/7 live support, launch assist, cPanel, and web host manager (WHM).
However, if you’re a developer or system administrator, then opting for the cloud-based VPS plans offers you the most customization with secure shell (SSH) keys and complete root access control over the server at any given time.
What’s included (Managed VPS Hosting Plans):
- Live 24/7/365 – U.S-based customer service experts.
- Server backups.
- Free website migration transfers.
- E-commerce optimized servers for PCI compliance.
Key Features
- 5 cPanels included.
- An unlimited number of websites supported.
- Free SSD to decrease load times up to 20x faster.
- DDoS attack protection.
- A proper monitoring dashboard that gives a breakdown of your RAM, bandwidth, and load usage.
One of the best things that I love about any SaaS company is a free trial or money-back guarantee. InMotion offers a 90-day money-back guarantee (on 6, 12, or 24-month plans only), so you can give it a go risk-free!
Pricing
The sweet spot I found was the 2-year plan. These are the current options for a 2-year managed VPS plan.
There’s a lot to unpack with each plan, but you can easily start off with an entry-level plan and scale up as your business grows.
If you wanted to start off with a self-managed Cloud VPS hosting plan, then you can for just $5 per month. For that, you get 1GB RAM, 25GB SSD storage, and 1TB of bandwidth.
3. Bluehost.
Best for new websites that want to upgrade.
Most people have heard of Bluehost as the “WordPress shared web hosting platform”. And yes while that is true, they also have a really good VPS hosting service too.
If you’re already familiar with their cPanel interface, then you’ll feel right at home when you upgrade to their VPS services.
This is really the best for those types who don’t want added complexity yet want most of the basic features of a VPS at a fair price.
What’s included:
- Free domain for the first year.
- 30-day money-back guarantee.
- 24/7 technical support hotline.
- Multi-server management so you can manage everything in one place.
Key Features
- Access Control – You can create different passwords for different things or just have one master password for everything.
- Use of FTP – Create an unlimited amount of FTP accounts.
- Domain Privacy and Protection – A good idea to save people from stealing your information, Bluehost will hide your identity that is attached to your domain name.
Pricing
Choose from three different types of plans.
| Standard | Enhanced | Ultimate |
|---|---|---|
| $19.99/mo | $29.99/mo | $59.99/mo |
| 2 Cores | 2 Cores | 4 Cores |
| 30GB SSD Storage | 60GB SSD Storage | 120GB SSD Storage |
| 2GB RAM | 4GB RAM | 8GB RAM |
| 1TB Bandwidth | 2TB Bandwidth | 3TB Bandwidth |
| 1 IP Address | 2 IP Addresses | 2 IP Addresses |
In my experience with using Bluehost, I found them to be more than adequate for anyone just getting started.
Their customer support team was good enough to help me with my queries, but I really had to know what I was talking about to help them try to resolve the issue. Overall I would recommend Bluehost for new site owners or smaller websites looking for a dedicated server.
4. A2 Hosting.
Best value for money for experienced developers.
My previous experience with A2 Hosting has been positive. Their shared hosting speeds are fast, and their customer support is also on point. This is carried on to their VPS hosting service and just goes to show how serious they are about speeds.
So it’s no wonder I’ve included them in this list. Their customization options for self-managed hosting are also some of the best in the industry.
What’s included:
- 99.9% uptime commitment.
- Full admin privileges on an unmanaged VPS plan.
- No questions money-back guarantee.
- Free account migration for managed VPS plans.
Key Features
- Get up to 20x faster turbo servers for $69.99/mo.
- NVMe SSD storage on the higher plans for even faster read-write speeds.
- Softaculous is available for managed VPS plans within cPanel for even more control.
- 24/7/365 guru support available.
Plenty of developer features to choose from too within a Managed plan, such as:
- Your choice of PHP version. 5.6, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, or 8.0.
- Your version of Python you’d like to use. 2.6, 2.7, or 3.2.
- Instant SSH access on sign-up. No need to turn it on.
- 1-click install with WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.
- And plenty more!
Pricing
The funnel starts off with whether you want to choose a managed or unmanaged VPS plan. From there, it’ll take you into the particular type of plan with associated features to then ultimately make your purchase.
Unmanaged plans start from as low as $4.99/mo purchased for 3 years.
Managed plans, however, start from $29.99/mo but that’s what you get when A2 will take care of the maintenance, security, and performance with 24/7 support if you ever need it.
Overall a really good choice if you’re into customizing your VPS to your exact specs. But probably the most impressive feature to me is the money-back guarantee.
It doesn’t have a set date limit on it. This means you can get your money back at any time and shows just how confident they are in their product. I haven’t been able to find another hosting platform that will match that.
5. Hostgator.
Best for unlimited bandwidth and the cheapest managed hosting.
Compared to some of the other best VPS hosting providers, Hostgator provides great value with some of the cheapest managed hosting plans around.
Sure there are cheaper unmanaged hosting plans out there (see below), but to know that you’ll get round-the-clock service from a dedicated customer service team (Call, live chat, or even use Twitter if that’s your thing) means you can relax knowing your site is properly taken care of.
What’s included:
- Unlimited bandwidth on all plans, so you’re not limited by traffic coming to your site.
- Host unlimited domains, email addresses, and FTP accounts.
- Full root access means you get to choose your preferred CMS or even custom code it if that’s what you prefer.
Key Features
- Weekly offsite backups with the ability to create your own scheduled backups.
- CentOS 7 is the default OS. For most people, this will be ok to get started with.
- 45-day money-back guarantee.
- Unlimited MySQL databases.
- PHP, Rails, Python, Perl, IPv6 Support.
Pricing
One thing to be aware of is that these introductory prices are valid for the first year only. After that, they increase by 75% on each plan.
By then, you would have had plenty of time to figure out your VPS needs and then decide to stay or migrate your site to one of the other VPS hosting servers on this list.
6. Hostinger.
Best and cheapest VPS hosting for those getting started.
Hostinger is the perfect entry-level VPS hosting for those looking to upgrade from shared hosting. It has the cheapest plans out of our entire list to get you started.
Of course, cheap doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get all the perks that are available to other VPS hosts, so there will have to be some comprises made (SSD storage and bandwidth).
At the moment, only Linux OS-based VPS hosting is provided. But there are plenty of OS 64bit templates to choose from, such as CentOS, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, and Suse.
What’s included:
- Dedicated IP address.
- Full root access on all plans.
- Dedicated IPv4 and IPv6 internet protocols.
Key Features
- Easy web script and OS installer – All plans come with a one-click auto installer, so you can install almost any Linux OS template or web script hassle-free.
- 30-day money-back guarantee – No questions asked.
- Guaranteed fast loading times – Hostinger claims each server can utilize an unrestricted 100Mb/s connection line.
- Advanced DDoS protection – All servers are protected by BitNinja to keep your data safe.
While there is 24/7 customer support, bear in mind that it is only in the form of a live chat system. It is also important to note that the questions you can ask them can only relate to the back end or control panel.
Anything to do with the front end or specific project-type questions, and you’ll be on your own.
Pricing
These are all introductory prices. To take advantage of them, you’ll need to pay for 48 months (4 years) up front. This could be a bit of a pain point for some users, so you might want to opt for just a one-month plan at $9.95.
Even at that price point, you’ll be paying around the same as you would for shared hosting with all the added benefits of being on your own VPS server and potentially gaining that leg up over the competition!
7. Dreamhost.
Best for an unlimited amount of domains and websites on your VPS server.
Expecting large spikes in traffic? Take a look at Dreamhost’s VPS hosting plans. Not only do they come with unlimited bandwidth, but also unlimited traffic on their Linux-only VPS operating system.
For example, if you put out a new deal to your fan base and it was to commence at a certain time on your website.
If you’re then expecting to get large traffic volumes, where other hosting providers may fall, and your website ultimately crashes, Dreamhost will guarantee you 100% uptime.
This means you stay online! Not bad for $10/month.
What’s included:
- Unlimited 24/7 support.
- Scalable RAM with one click right from your VPS control panel.
- Unlimited MySQL databases.
- Unlimited email accounts (give one to your pet if you wanted to).
Key Features
- Choose between Apache or Nginx web servers.
- Automate time-based job schedules with Crontab access.
- Working in teams? Minimize conflicts with Subversion Repository (SVN).
- Automatic (and managed) software updates.
Full root access does not come standard with managed hosting. You’ll need to use their cloud-based platform DreamCompute if that’s something you need.
Pricing
To take advantage of the $10/month price you’ll need to sign up for 3 years with no refunds offered on any of the VPS plans.
VPS Hosting FAQ
What is VPS?
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. It is one step above shared hosting. You still share on a VPS, but it is with much fewer websites.
So you have one server that is then broken down into separate virtual components. This is what allows you to customize configurations and run separate operating systems.
VPS is much more stable and secure, with higher uptimes guaranteed. Usually between 99.1% and 100%.
Who is a VPS Best For?
At some point, most people tend to outgrow their shared hosting plan, but they’re not ready yet to go straight to dedicated servers.
The more tech-savvy web administrators tend to go towards using a VPS, but that shouldn’t stop anyone else looking to upgrade either. Having said that, if you are a smaller website and don’t need all this extra gear just yet, then you might be better off with just your standard hosting.
A VPS is a good step up where you have most of the benefits of a dedicated server at a fraction of the cost.
What is the Difference Between Managed and Unmanaged VPS Hosting?
A managed VPS is where you still get full control of all the resources but only have a tiny section of a dedicated server. Most people who are new to VPS hosting usually opt for managed VPS plans because they come with 24/7 support for anyone that needs assistance.
An unmanaged or cloud-based VPS is very similar, with the difference being that it’s managed through a control panel. A big advantage to cloud VPS is the ability to scale up and down (on your server) throughout the year if your business is seasonal. Businesses with a proper IT department usually go for this.
Bottom Line
If you’ve outgrown your current web host and are looking for the most amount of benefits without the cost of a full dedicated server, then a VPS hosting platform is your answer.
Be sure to check the options carefully to make sure the host you want to go with has all the resources and control functions that you’ll need.
As you can see from this list, every host has its strong points, but as a general guide, the things you want to look for are:
- Great customer service.
- Reliability and high uptimes.
- Server performance.
- Ease of use.
- Speed.
That is why my top pick is Liquid Web for VPS hosting.
Which VPS hosting service have you gone for?
It’s time to be the pilot of your life and not the passenger.
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Chris Bournelis is a blogger, search engine optimization, and content marketing specialist. He has been working in the online business since 2015. Join him here at ChrisBournelis.com for the best SaaS reviews and tips to get the most out of your online business.