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Detailed Reviews of the 13 Best Affordable VPS Services

• Only keeps one backup version unless you pay extra Scalahosting is a growing hosting provider offering a range of powerful proprietary technologies. Its cloud VPS plans are the key piece of its offer. Its managed VPS starts with 1 CPU core, 2GB RAM, and 20GB SSD VPS storage. The plans will set you back only $12/month—no need to prepay for a longer period and no hidden fees. The servers are deployed on top of cloud infrastructure. This features self-healing hardware and maintenance automaton, making any type of failure highly unlikely. The best part is that Scalahosting throws in its proprietary control panel for free. The panel offers all the key features of cPanel and can even let you resell hosting. The solution easily saves you $15/month on a cPanel license (or even more if you run a hosting business). This makes it one of the best-value VPS offers in the market. Most users need a control panel to manage their server, so Scala ends up being at least $10 more affordable than the vast majority of the competition. There is also an automatic failover system. If your server does crash, another one in the cluster will take over, ensuring maximum reliability. Let’s see how it gets you your money’s worth. Scala’s cheap Linux VPS comes with a free dedicated IP address, on-demand server snapshots, and daily remote backups. Just keep in mind Scala only keeps backups for a day (two days for snapshots). You would have to pay a bit extra if you want to have backup versions saved for longer. If you already have a website, you can take advantage of Scala’s migration service. The control panel is compatible with cPanel. If you’re a cPanel user, you can expect the migration to Scala’s virtual server hosting to be quick and painless. Server security is air-tight, thanks to Scala’s proprietary SShield system. This is complete with automated server monitoring and an AI-driven malware detection system. The provider states it is effective against 99.998% of attacks. WordPress users can also enjoy the SWordPress Manager tool. This lets you quickly set up a WordPress installation, enable automatic updates, as well as handle a few other management tasks. The SWordPress manager also enables locking all WordPress files from the control panel. This means that, even if somebody gets your WordPress logins, nobody can seriously affect your website. You will have to disable the security lock for operations like plugin updates, though. Scala’s optimization makes it a provider with possibly the best VPS hosting for WordPress. One problematic aspect of Scala is that it lacks 1-click script installation, save for WordPress. It’s not really that much of a challenge to install applications yourself. If you resell hosting, though, some audiences might be disappointed by the lack of 1-click installers. Apart from that, you get plenty of excellent features to work with. SupportScalahosting’s tech support is there 24/7, as you’d expect. The techies are prettyfast—they answer all questions almost immediately, and provide accurate and informative answers. Scala’s agents actually know exactly how to help their customers. Unfortunately, the knowledge base isn’t too extensive. There are a few relevant articles about private server hosting, but you can’t really rely on it as a reference point in all situations. It’s only a small matter since you can rely on managed support to help you with most things, but it’s worth noting. Scala’s offer is impressive. The provider puts forth one of the best-value deals in the market, considering you avoid paying for a control panel. Plus, it gives you access to an array of robust technologies, and all is supported by a top-notch tech team. It has one of the best, and cheapest, VPS offers in the market. Hostwinds is a young hosting provider that likes boasting about its plans. To its credit, though, it has built an impressive reputation in a relatively short time. It’s also widely regarded as the best cheap VPS host. Here’s what its VPS offer includes. Hostwinds offers 1 Intel Xeon E3 Core, 30GB of SSD Storage, 1TB of bandwidth, and 1GB of RAM—solid stats for an entry plan. The specs are the same whichever VPS variant you choose. Hostwinds also runs a cross-platform setup, so you can get both Linux and Windows hosting. Speaking of, the prices of different VPS types are as follows: The entry price on all variants is pretty affordable. The managed plan renewal is significantly more expensive, which is to be expected. Bottom line—Hostwinds has the cheapest VPS for Windows. It also has the most affordable managed VPS across the board. Hostwinds forces you to create an account before signing up for hosting. It’s just a small drawback, but it is sort of annoying. Hostwinds’s VPS web hosting includes nightly backups, real-time monitoring, an enterprise-grade firewall, load balancers, and much more. You can run everything from an easy-to-use management area. The unmanaged service gives you full root access. You can choose a server setup from a variety of templates, though—which makes your job easier. You can get server environments optimized for cPanel/WHM, WordPress, Joomla, or even Minecraft. Hostwinds lets you easily switch to managed service if unmanaged VPS turns out to be too much. This gives some peace of mind if it’s your first time dealing with unmanaged VPS. The Windows VPS plans have pretty much the same features, apart from the server templates. The only reason for the steeper price is that you need a Windows license. All in all, you get robust features. You can get a reliable, cheap VPS server for both Windows and Linux hosting. The support is available 24/7 through phone, live chat, and the ticketing system. The support indeed is fast and experienced. It’s a great asset, no matter if you go for managed or unmanaged plans. All the praise is well-justified. Hostwinds probably has the most extensive offer among low-cost providers. It’s the most affordable option for Windows VPS and the cheapest managed VPS host. If you can afford to prepay for a year of hosting, Hostwinds is one of the top choices. BEST OVERALL HOST FOR 29 MONTHS BEST OVERALL HOST FOR 29 MONTHS

• Mustto a four-year deal to get the best price Hostinger is all but synonymous with affordable hosting. Itsdiscounts have so far attracted almost 30 million users across all its franchises. Here’s how this VPS hosting provider measures up against other players. The entry plan has 20GB of SSD storage, 1GB of RAM, 1 CPU core, and 1TB of bandwidth. The catch is you have to prepay for four years to take advantage of the $3.95/month price. If you’re unsure about the commitment, the plan is $4.95/month if you subscribe for one year. That price is also fair, considering the resource allocation. These are just initial discounts, though. The renewal price is between $8 and $10/month, depending on the length of the subscription. The VPS hosting discounts are hefty, making Hostinger one of the most affordable entry choices. The renewal price is less attractive, though. Hostinger tries its best to convince users VPS servers are easy to handle. Make no mistake—the VPS plans are unmanaged, and it takes a bit of knowhow to run everything. Hostinger does make your job easier and offers dozens of templates for popular server setups. For instance, you can get Ubuntu with LAMP stack preinstalled. Hostinger throws in a dedicated IP address with all VPS plans, which will save many users a few bucks. It’s the cheapest VPS provider with a free IP. All plans also come with a backup solution. Automated backups are paid, though, so you have to schedule them yourself. The servers also have BitNinja—which is a security software—DDoS protection, and malware monitoring tools. The features are extensive as far as unmanaged hosting goes. Hostinger doesn’t disappoint. The support is decent, although tough to reach. It’s an accessibility issue, really—there’s no phone number, and the chat can be buggy. Once you get through to the support team, you’ll enjoy a superb service. The delay can be a nuisance but shouldn’t cause any serious issues. If you’re looking for quality cheap VPS hosting providers, Hostinger fits the description perfectly. The entry plan has respectable resource allocation for the price and comes with a decent feature set. You get the most out of your investment if you prepay for an extended period, though

• Price stays the same on renewal

• Datacenters only in the US InterServer is a relatively small provider that makes significant investments in technological innovation. It has an excellent track record of offering expert service with a dash of customer courtesy. Cheap VPS for both Linux and Windows is a big part of its offer. Here’s what its starter plans include. InterServer’s plans are based on so-called “slices.” Each slice of a Linux server has the same amount of resources and costs $6/month. You can have anywhere from 1 to 16 slices. Going for just one $6/month slice gets you: Windows slices with the same specs cost $10/month, which is affordable as well. Managed VPS has the same price per slice. The catch is you have to get at least four server slices. You can get a cheap virtual machine and manage it yourself. Managed servers are reserved for more demanding websites, though. To top it off, InterServer runs multiple server virtualization software, including KVM, Openvz, Virtuozzo 7, and Hyper-v, to ensure top-notch reliability. InterServer offers a variety of features to help you set up your server. You can quickly choose an operating system, set up the server stack, deploy databases, and install one of 100+ popular apps. The Webuzo control panel lets you do everything in just a few clicks. Each VPS plan comes with 1 free IP address, which can save you a few bucks a month. InterServer also offers VPS optimized for WordPress at the same price. This comes with a free WordPress migration, cron optimization, and WordPress caching. It’s the best VPS hosting for WordPress under $10/month. Keep in mind InterServer’s data centers are in the US. It’s one of the fastest providers in North America, but you might have loading delay in other locations. The entry plan has decent features if you need cheap VPS for the USA market. Since you get 2GB of RAM, the plan is suitable for running apps like cPanel. InterServer is another provider that opts out of live chat support. This is pretty weird, especially since the provider is supposed to be all about technology. Don’t get me wrong, the support team is excellent. Each interaction is informative and feels personal. One of the founders even works in the support team and answers queries. Still, live chat would be a nice addition. InterServer is a solid choice for the US market. It’s also the cheapest VPS host for WordPress or apps that require higher RAM allocation

• One of the best support teams DreamHost is one of the hosting elders. It has been around since 1996, and it has maintained a reputation for excellent support and significant contribution to open source. It also offers robust VPS plans. Let’s see what they’re all about. DreamHost only offers managed VPS. It is another unlimited bandwidth VPS provider, so you only have to think about CPU and RAM caps. The starter plan costs $10/month. It gets you 30GB of SSD storage, 1 CPU Core, and 1GB of RAM. The specs are the same as Hostwinds’ managed plan. DreamHost’s price remains the same when you renew, though, so it’s more affordable in the long run. If you prefer unmanaged hosting, DreamHost has a decent alternative. Cloud-based SSD VPS plans are unmanaged and offer great features for as little as $4.50/month. DreamHost’s offers are on the affordable side of VPS hosting, especially if you use its services for a longer period. Managed hosting comes with a free SSL certificate, emailing solution, and aof 1-click installs. DreamHost includes a proprietary control panel. The solution features account management functionality alongside the standard control panel features. It presents all the functions clearly and is pretty easy to get the hang of. While VPS servers come with their own IP addresses, DreamHost doesn’t offer static IPs. Your IP address may change occasionally. If you need a dedicated IP, you’ll have to pick one of the other cheap VPS hosting providers mentioned here. By default, databases run on a shared server. You can move them to their own MySQL VPS server, though. This allows for more database queries, which can improve performance. Few users will do this with the starter plan, but it can be helpful down the road. You get all that and a host of other useful features. DreamHost’s offer is among the best in cheap VPS hosting. The frontline support is polite, fast, and effective. The frontline agents are proficient in quickly pinpointing issues and finding the best solution. The technical staff managing everything behind the scenes is even better. They have the skills to optimize your hosting environment to perfection. When looking for the best VPS services, this is precisely the support team you want to find. DreamHost’s offer is excellent, even though it could be improved even further with a dedicated IP address. It also has the cheapest VPS plans after the first term. DreamHost is definitely worth checking out. Like a few other internet giants, NameCheap started out as a domain name registrar. A big part of its operation remains domain hosting. Still, its hosting plans are not so shabby either. Here’s what its affordable VPS plans bring to the table. Unmanaged VPS starts at $11.88. The hosting fees are fixed, so you can enjoy the low price all the way. The starter plan gets you: RAM and processing power allocation are generous. The bandwidth cap is a bit low, though—it might be the first limit you hit once your website gets popular. You can purchase extra resources as add-ons. These are relatively expensive, however—you’re better off upgrading your plan than relying on them consistently. For instance, only 100GB of bandwidth costs $10. There are several management tiers available. Fully managed VPS costs $25/month on top of the standard price. This is pretty pricey for a starter plan. You can easily find a more affordable managed VPS host—for instance Hostwinds or DreamHost. On the other hand, the unmanaged VPS price is lucrative. All VPS plans come with a firewall and onsite backups. NameCheap’s team can also migrate an existing site for you free of charge. You can preinstall one of several operating systems during the account setup. NameCheap offers CentOS 7 and a few versions of Debian and Ubuntu. LAMP is the only backend stack you can install automatically. It’s probably the most popular server stack as well, so this will be enough for most users. You can also get a cPanel setup if you choose CentOS. Mind that cPanel costs $11/month, and Softaculous is $1.50/month on top. You get an IP address, and additional dedicated IPs cost $2/month. This makes NameCheap a rather affordable option if you need multiple IP addresses. You also get a free .website domain name with domain privacy. If you want a different TLD, NameCheap doubles as one of the cheapest domain hosting providers—it can give you a good deal. NameCheap’s only VPS data center is in the US. This is okay if you want cheap VPS in the USA, but it might slow you down if you have a remote audience. NameCheap’s plans are feature-rich. It’s especially convenient if you want to get a multitude of IP addresses for emailing. Support is available through chat and email. Missing phone support isn’t a huge deal, but having another support channel would make the service more reliable. The technical experts have a ton of experience with hosting. Frontline support feels a bit disorganized, though. It tends to bounce you from one agent to another, so it might take a while to get the assistance you need. Overall, the support could be a bit better. NameCheap has a respectable offer. It’s a reliable choice if you target a US-based audience. It is also among the best cheap VPS providers if you need multiple IP addresses


• Price Stays the Same on Renewal 1&1 is one of the oldest names in the industry. It’s the fourth largest hosting provider in the world, all without relying on gimmicky marketing or aggressive upsells. The company recently added a rather affordable VPS solution to its offer. Here’s what it has in store. $2/month get you 10GB of SSD storage, 512MB RAM, and 1 CPU Core. The resources are somewhere between typical shared and VPS hosting. The resources are limited, even by low-end VPS standards. You’ll likely need to scale up sooner rather than later. In such cases, 1&1 offers another affordable option—$10/month lets you upgrade to 80GB of storage, 2GB RAM, and 2CPU cores. Both solutions carry a fair price. The smallest plan is also the cheapest VPS solution here. 1&1’s VPS web hosting comes with a managed firewall, backup system, email solution, and more. You must install your own antivirus software to protect the server, though. 1&1 also mentions some unspecified DDoS protection, though there are no obvious measures in place. The VPS plans are unmanaged. This is sort of a given since we’re talking about the cheapest VPS hosting out there. This means you have root access, so you can set up the server any way you want. You can get the more common programs preinstalled, though, and save yourself a bit of trouble. The admin interface is well-designed. You can easily monitor your VPS account and even upgrade your plan from the dashboard. You can choose from several Linux-based operating systems. Windows servers are only available with the $10/month plan and above and cost $20/month extra. Plesk is also $5/month. If you want cheap Windows VPS, you can get a better deal with a provider like Hostwinds or Interserver. All plans come with a WildCard SSL certificate. This lets you encrypt all subdomains on your server. It’s a useful feature, offered by few providers. 1&1 also offers a .com domain name for only $1 for the first year. You have to register it for at least two years to take advantage of this, though. Still, it’s quite a deal. 1&1 has respectable features, and for only $2 at that. You’d be hard-pressed to find a lower entry price. Contrary to many VPS hosting reviews, 1&1’s support team does a fine job. It is fast and informative in all interactions. The negative attention probably stems from the lack of live chat support. Most users prefer chat to phone, especially if they’re outside the US. Admittedly, lacking chat support is just plain strange and a bit annoying. Apart from that, the support does the job. 1&1 IONOS is one of the few hosts with unlimited bandwidth VPS plans. Plus, it offers two low-end VPS options. The entry plan lets you get quality features for just $2/month. This gives you the lowest entry price for VPS hosting. The starter plan is limited, but it’s a good starting point. You can easily scale up once you outgrow it. If you’re on a tight budget, 1&1 is worth looking into. Liquid Web has been through a lot of phases in its existence. The provider started as a shared host, but it later fully switched to VPS and dedicated hosting. Until recently, its VPS plans have been fairly high-end and unsuitable for most users just getting into VPS. That said, the provider did recently introduce dramatic discounts that make the VPS more suitable for starting out. Here’s what its VPS web hosting offer looks like. The starter plan comes with 2 CPU cores, 2GB RAM, and 40GB of storage. If you decide to prepay for two years, this will set you back $15/month, which is a solid price for managed hosting. You need an initial investment of $360, but you’ll be set for two years. Best of all, the price includes a control panel license. You can choose between InterWorx, Plesk Web Pro, and cPanel Pro. In case you’re not familiar with them, InterWorx is excellent for managing server clustering, while Plesk can do wonders for containers. cPanel is the most popular control panel out there, and the Pro license is excellent if you run an agency or any other business that relies on running over five accounts. Now, if this seems like a suspiciously good deal, that’s because it is. After all, the price doesn’t even cover the control panel licensing. The catch is that, after the first two years, the discounted price of the plans goes back to the original $59/month. Having a discounted period is a common thing in hosting, so this is expected. The issue is that Liquid Web doesn’t mention the VPS hosting price increase anywhere on the product page. The only real reference to it are the words “one time” next to the price on the shopping cart page. This makes the price increase pretty much impossible to figure out for users that don’t know what they’re looking for. The initial price is excellent if you want control panel hosting or if you want to resell hosting plans. You just need to make the initial investment, and that will buy you two years to monetize your site and cover the more expensive renewal. Hiding the pricier renewals is just in bad faith, though. Liquid Web runs Linux on its servers. You can also get Windows VPS, but you would have to purchase a bigger virtual machine for at least $54/month. If you need cheap Windows VPS hosting, you can check out a provider like Hostwinds. Liquid Web gives you superuser-level access to the virtual servers, so you can install whatever technology you want. However, the provider has a “we install it, we manage it” policy. If you decide to replace the technologies supported by default, the host might not support whatever you install. The plans also include a managed firewall and an anti-DDoS system. You can also get ServerSecure for an extra fee, which prevents various malware attacks. The affordable VPS plans also include a CDN, a dedicated IP address, and scheduled local backups. Remote cloud backups are available, for an extra $12/month, which can be a useful add-on down the road. The support is available 24/7. Liquid Web does run a solid support team, and agents have an excellent understanding of hosting and the platform. In fact, each agent gets about 300 hours of training during their first year on the support team, ensuring top-notch quality. That said, Liquid Web did expand its user base recently, and the aggressive discounts suggest it wants toeven more. The provider is struggling to train the support agents in time, and you can definitely feel that the agents are swamped at times. The support still performs decently, but it is less efficient compared to a year or so ago. Liquid Web is a decent choice if you want the best cheap VPS with a control panel license. You should have a plan to monetize your project in two years’ time since you will need to handle the higher renewal price. The offer is definitely solid, though the provider does have a few issues to fix. If you value being environmentally aware, you’ll enjoy GreenGeeks. It is the leading green hosting provider and has various measures that offset its carbon footprint. Of course, being green is only a bonus to its robust plans. It has some rather cheap Linux VPS offerings. Here’s how they perform. GreenGeeks’ entry VPS plan costs $5/month. You pay monthly, so there’s no price increase when you renew. The plan offers a solid starting point even for more demanding apps. The next VPS tier doubles all resources except processing power. It’s only $10/month, so GreenGeeks’ low-end VPS lets you scale affordably as well. GreenGeeks’s account setup is fairly quick—VPS servers are ready within a minute after signing up. You can access the server from an easy-to-use admin interface. GreenGeeks also has a firewall solution. It will monitor for any suspicious activity and protect you from threats like brute force attacks. It sells dedicated IP addresses in pairs for $8/month. $4/month per IP address is the standard price, but this is only worth it if you need an even number of IP addresses. If you need only one, you can get a better deal with one of the other cheap VPS hosting providers. That’s about it. Server configuration is up to you. You’ll need to set up the server stack, control panel, backups, security, SSL certificates, and pretty much everything else. The solution is well worth the money. It requires a bit more technical work, but so do all unmanaged plans. Support agents are well-trained and responsive. They do a good job of answering questions and resolving problems. The virtual server hosting is technically unmanaged, but agents often go out of their way to help. It’s a nice gesture and can save you some time digging through documentation. The knowledge base also has plenty of useful tips for first-time VPS users. You can use it as a VPS management guide. GreenGeeks’ offer is solid. You do most of the management manually, which gives you more freedom but also takes more effort. The support team is there to help along the way, though. Since the price stays the same on renewal, GreenGeeks has some of the best cheap VPS hosting for 2022

• Lots of freebies and a few unique features iPage is an EIG-owned hosting provider. It’s an environmentally friendly company with blazing-fast servers. Its shared hosting gets the most attention, but it offers cheap Linux VPS plans as well. Here are the key features. Plans


iPage lists $19.99 as the official price for the starter plan, but prepaying for two years lowers it to $16.99/month. After the initial term, it goes up to $24.99/month. The price is fair for a managed service. The problem is that the service is only partially managed. iPage runs the server and implements security patches, but that’s about it. Automated backups, malware scans, and other common features are available as paid add-ons. Plus, you can only get them if you subscribe for at least a year. While iPage offers significant VPS hosting discounts, this puts it at a disadvantage from the get-go. The only operating system available is CentOS 6.4. You can get a cPanel for free, although that setup may quickly outgrow the resources. Still, cPanel comes with a wholeof autoinstallers, so you can create a website fairly quickly. iPage also offers a WordPress-optimized environment for $3/month. This is complete with antivirus software and custom control panel features. You get a free SSL certificate, domain name, and IP address. These are necessary for running a serious website, so iPage saves you a few bucks per month. Although this is technically private server hosting, iPage offers freebies you would expect with a shared plan. You get features like free ad credits that help your website take off. iPage also offers an email setup, complete with SpamAssassin. You can manage features like autoresponders and mailing lists with little effort. If you’re a developer, you can use aof preinstalled scripts. These include PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails, Perl, etc. It includes AWStats, which is an analytics tool. This is integrated into cPanel and is an easy way to monitor your website and generate reports. iPage’s features are decent, though you can find a VPS hosting provider with a more comprehensive offer. While core support is decent, iPage has outsourced the frontline team overseas. The support quality is sort of hit-and-miss. If you’re lucky, you’ll reach a fantastic agent who can answer all questions in great detail. Otherwise, it can feel like you’re the expert and the agent needs help. While you get assistance eventually, the whole process can be frustrating. Overall, you can get a pretty decent, and pretty cheap, VPS server from iPage. The provider does make quite a few concessions to save a few bucks, though. It can’t quite go toe to toe with the absolute best hosts. Bluehost is one of the most popular providers out there. It gets more positive VPS reviews than probably any provider out there. Read on to find out if it justifies all the attention. Bluehost’s VPS is fully managed. For $17.28/month, you get: You have to prepay for three years to take advantage of the price, though. You get a good deal in the long run, but it requires a hefty initial investment. The renewal price is $27.29/month. The price makes resource allocation just adequate if you stick with the starter plan for over three years. You can get a much more lucrative deal from a provider like Hostwinds. Then there’s scaling. Simply put, Bluehost lacks higher-tier plans. There are only two larger plans with somewhat limited features, and they’re pricey as well. The plans are fine if you are running a medium-sized website. Still, they aren’t up to par with some of the best VPS hosting of 2022. Bluehost’s service is fully managed. Instant provisioning lets you access your server minutes after registering. All plans come with free SSL—useful for creating a secure environment. You also get a free domain name, domain privacy, and an IP address. These save you a few bucks each month. Bluehost lists SiteLock and CodeGuard as features, but these are paid add-ons. It offers cPanel customized with VPS management features, which most users will enjoy. A few users did complain this solution can hog all the RAM. It pays off to be careful with the smallest VPS plan. You get a few handy freebies, but little that makes Bluehost really stand out as the best cheap VPS provider. Bluehost’s support has improved massively over the last couple of years. It now has proper experts onboard that can easily fix most issues. That said, frontline support is in the habit of putting you through all the usual nonsense—bouncing you from agent to agent, excessively linking to the knowledge base, etc. You’ll get forwarded to a real expert eventually. The whole process could be faster, though. Bluehost is an okay choice if you need a cheap virtual machine for projects that fit the limits of the starter plan. While it is better than many providers out there, it’s prettycompared to a few others like Hostwinds or InMotion Hosting. InMotion Hosting is an independent hosting provider based in the US. It has a strong technical team and provides overall impressive solutions. Let’s see what you can get out of its VPS plans. For the introductory price of $19.99/month, you get 75GB SSD storage, 4TB data transfer, and 4GB RAM. InMotion hosting takes a fairly unique approach and unlocks CPU cores. The processing power scales up or down dynamically, according to your needs. In theory, this is a fantastic asset. You get all the CPU power you need, and irresponsible users can’t hog all the resources since you’re on a vast cloud platform. In practice, InMotion would have to throttle your usage if it got too high for a prolonged period. The CPU scaling is still useful, though, especially for handling traffic spikes. The renewal price after one year is a bit higher—$34.99/month. This is fair since these are already more premium VPS solutions. You can set everything up within minutes. Like NameCheap, InMotion Hosting lets you automatically install CentOS, Ubuntu, or Debian. InMotion offers a tool called Account Management Panel. AMP is an average control panel—you can easily manage account and DNS settings and monitor your server. You get a full security suite, complete with a firewall, DDoS protection, and SSH key management. The entry plan comes with three IP addresses, and each higher-tier plan adds one more. InMotion is a real money saver if you want to install several SSL certificates or do advanced email marketing. Those are the core features. You get a host of others, including backup and emailing software, and much more. InMotion Hosting’s features are excellent. It is the cheapest VPS host of this caliber. Apart from the standard channels, support takes calls through Skype—fantastic if you prefer phone calls but are outside the US. The support team is excellent but rather compact. While you get amazing service, you might need to wait a few minutes if all agents are busy. InMotion Hosting has one of the top support teams among cheap VM hosting providers. InMotion Hosting is one of the few providers that offers more high-end plans while maintaining a low introductory price. If you need a robust virtual server, it’s the cheapest option

• Two IP addresses included in the price

• Management and cPanel+Softaculous available for the price of licensing HostPapa is a provider that looks to attract small business owners. It offers many features that can help businessesand expand, and it has the scalability to handle exponential growth. Here’s what its low-end VPS plans look like. HostPapa’s plans start relatively high-end, so the smallest unmanaged plan will set you back $19.99/month—just under our limit. You can get managed plans as well, but this costs more. The plans come with 4 CPU cores, 2GB RAM, and 60GB SSD storage, though, which is generous. HostPapa starts closer to midrange VPS servers. The catch is that you have to prepay for three years to take advantage of the best deal. This means HostPapa is problematic if you’re on a tight budget right now, but, long-term, it has an excellent offer. The price doesn’t go up once you have to renew, so the VPS will remain affordable as long as you use it. HostPapa lets you choose between CentOS, Debian, and Ubuntu for the default operating system. You get root access, so you can install any technologies you want to run. Even though most of the virtual server hosting management is up to you, the plans do include some handy features. For one, you do get proactive monitoring by HostPapa’s team. If something happens to your server, like a DDoS attack, the tech team will be there to mitigate it The plans also include two blacklist-free IP addresses, as opposed to the usual one, which adds a bit of extra value. If you are planning on getting a VPS as well as a control panel license, though, you might want to go for HostPapa’s managed VPS. You can get a managed VPS host that offers cPanel with Softaculous for $19.99 extra, which is what you would pay for the license anyway. HostPapa’s support team is pretty solid. The agents are eager to help and have an excellent record of assisting small business owners. The agents are even upfront about the limitations of the platform, which is admirable. The knowledge base is also respectable. It’s packed with handy articles, and HostPapa updates it regularly with fresh useful info. This is a big deal if you go for an unmanaged server since you can’t rely as much on the support. HostPapa is a decent choice if you need something more high-end that can handle a bigger application with more traffic. That said, the premium VPS hosting is not exactly cheap, at least compared with some of the other entries. You can consider it if you can make the initial investment and need the power, but there are more affordable hosts out there

The Pros and Cons of Cheap VPS Hosting You now know a bit about how VPS works and whether it can benefit you. Let’s now cover in a bit more detail why you may or may not go for VPS over other solutions. More likely than not, you’re here because you are interested in a budget-friendly solution for yourself or your business. The good news is that your average VPS hosting is fairly forgiving, especially compared to dedicated servers. VPS hosts offer something for pretty much anyone’s budget. If you’re looking for affordable VPS plans, you can get a decent managed server for around $10/month. This is pretty reasonable, considering the provider is there to offer professional assistance and handle server management. Probably the most affordable VPS offer is by 1&1 IONOS, as it only costs $2/month. With a price this low, though, the server you get is very limited and would even have trouble running some control panels. Plus, the plans are unmanaged, meaning you’d need server administration knowledge. Speaking of, you should check if the VPS includes a control panel since most users need one. While shared hosting typically comes with cPanel, a $10/month VPS plan probably doesn’t. cPanel licensing alone costs $15 for a VPS, so this wouldn’t make sense. VPS hosting providers like Scalahosting and DreamHost get around this by offering their own control panel for free. This makes their plans way more affordable than the standard managed cPanel VPS, so keep an eye out for them if you want a control panel without overspending. Also, keep in mind the price depends on the resources you need. You can’t reasonably expect to go for a cheap solution and get 4 CPU cores and 16GB RAM. Beware offers that look too good to be true, since they often sacrifice quality. Most people just assume VPS plans have more resources than shared hosting. Generally, this is correct, though it isn’t always the case. VPS usually entails some sort of a resource upgrade, so users who outgrow shared hosting tend to scale right into VPS. That said, when talking about cheap virtual machines, there usually isn’t that much of a difference. The typical starter plan tends to have something like 1 CPU core and 2GB RAM, which is about what you get with high-end shared plans. If you want a more extreme example, A2’s largest shared plan has four times the physical memory and twice the processing power of 1&1’s smallest VPS. And this is fair since A2’s plan is four times as expensive. Long story short, VPS doesn’t necessarily come with more resources than shared hosting. An advantage VPS does have, however, is resource integrity. VPS hosting providers can guarantee certain resource allocation since the hypervisor sets aside a portion of the resources just for you. Even if you don’t use the resources, the hardware remains reserved for you, and other users can’t access it. This is a bit problematic with shared hosting. Many providers do have extensive measures in place to guarantee you resources. Yet, it’s tough to make this work, since you can often have a dozen users accessing the same server core. The inevitable result are performance issues and users not always getting the resources they pay for. VPS, on the other hand, solves this problem and is simply more reliable. Another definite advantage for private server hosting is that it’s massively more flexible than shared hosting. To explain, shared hosting has the server run one operating system and set of software that all users share. On the one hand, this saves a lot of resources, and it lets providers host way more users on one server. On the other, users are pretty much stuck with using whatever technologies the provider installs. If you want to run, let’s say, Django or want to change your web server, this likely wouldn’t be an option. Moreover, the technologies only get updated when the hosting provider gets to it. If you’re a WordPress user and a new, faster version PHP comes out, you might need to wait months before it gets implemented. On the other hand, even the cheapest VPS hosting provider can offer you way more flexibility. This is because each virtual server runs its own server stack, and whatever you install only affects your portion of the actual server. Obviously, this gives you way more freedom in choosing the technologies you want to run. You can install whatever technologies you want, update them when you’re ready, and freely configure every other aspect of your server. The thing to keep an eye for is root access. Having root access means you have privileged control over your entire virtual machine. You can install or change any software installed on your machine, even without help from the support. This one’s a bit of a pro and a con at the same time, even for the best VPS services. It’s easy to find use cases of one shared hosting account getting compromised and infecting the entire server. Even though providers can implement various measures, the accounts are not that well-isolated from each other. VPS, on the other hand, usually has much better account isolation. A well-secured VPS is much less vulnerable than your typical shared hosting. Plus, virtual machines let you (or your support) configure custom security measures for your environment, meaning you can protect yourself more effectively. That said, virtualization software can’t separate the accounts perfectly. After all, you’re sharing the same machine with other users. Even though VPS web hosting can be highly secure, its security is typically less reliable than when you have an entire server for yourself. One of the biggest inconveniences about upgrading from shared to VPS is that you have to take care of maintenance. On shared hosting, you only have to take care of your website and none of the technologies. After all, shared hosting doesn’t even give you access to most of the server files. With VPS, though, somebody needs to take care of choosing and maintaining the server stack, handling backups, etc. Your best bet is to get managed VPS hosting. A managed VPS host is a bit more expensive, but the provider takes care of a lot of technical tasks like server patches and firewall management. This takes a lot of work off your hands, and it saves you from hiring a pricy developer. An alternative is to get an unmanaged VPS and save a few extra bucks. However, you would have to take care of a lot of the technical details yourself, starting with setting up the entire server stack. This is really only suitable for people with some server administration experience. If you don’t have experience with running a server, your best bet is to get a managed plan. There are still affordable plans available, so just keep an eye out for which type of hosting you’re buying


VPS is often considered the next step after shared hosting. Probably the most cited benefit of VPS is that it offers more resources than shared plans. Yes, VPS servers are often more powerful, and, yes, if you’ve outgrown shared hosting, VPS is likely your next destination. VPS is definitely the way to go once your shared server starts struggling with its workload. That said, upgrading to VPS doesn’t always mean a resource upgrade, especially if we’re talking about a cheap VPS server. So what other reasons are there to go for VPS, if not for more resources? For one, VPS means better account isolation and dedicated resources. Shared plans usually have some sort of account isolation that prevents other users from affecting your hosting experience. In the end, though, all users are drawing from the same pool of resources, and all it takes is one bad apple to make a mess of things. VPS, on the other hand, gives you your own virtual server, with its own IP address, and guaranteed resources. If you pay for a certain number of CPU cores, they’ll always remain available, even if you don’t use them. If you need high reliability, virtual server hosting gives you just that. The most significant advantage, however, is the control you get with VPS. A common issue with shared hosting is that its particular type of server partitioning makes it too stiff. Any changes you implement to the shared server affect all users on it. The hosting provider has to be selective about what it allows. So, any customization of the technology running on a server depends entirely on the provider—not great if you can’t find a provider with the exact configuration you need. With VPS, you have complete freedom. You can install whatever technology you might need, as if you were using your own server. It’s a necessity for running a custom setup. Even though VPS plans often include much more resources than shared hosting, that’s not their only advantage. Even a cheap VPS server can give you the reliability and flexibility of dedicated hosting—at a much more accessible price, of course. So, Which One Do I Go For? One obvious case where you want to go for VPS, in particular, is if your application is too demanding for shared hosting. Once you start getting performance issues, it’s simply time to upgrade. However, even if you’re just starting out, you can go for VPS if you need a bit of flexibility. Essentially, if you can’t find a shared provider that supports all the technologies you need, you can get straight into VPS and make a custom configuration. Also, you might want to go for a VPS if you are on a sensitive project and need near 100% availability. A provider that runs a hypervisor like Hyper-V or VMWare with failover clustering can be a fantastic asset here. This simply means, if your server goes down, the virtualization software will just let an alternative version of your server take over. You will always have one server available. Also, VPS tends to be more secure than shared, so you can opt for it if you keep some sensitive data like customer information. Online stores tend to be demanding anyway, so a cheap VPS server can be a decent place to start. If you’re just starting out with something basic and aren’t really concerned about flexibility and reliability, shared hosting can do the job. Shared hosting is more restrictive, true, but there might no need to overspend on VPS if you’re just starting out. If you’re reading this, you’ve now seen the reviews of the providers that have the best cheap VPS hosting in 2022. The prices range from $2 to $20 per month, so there’s something for you, regardless of your budget. If a provider might seem like a good fit for your first VPS experience, take it for a spin and see what it can do


What can I use my VPS for? In most cases, virtual server hosting acts like any other computer. You can use it for anything you would use a physical server for. Most users will host a website on it. It’s a convenient way to get the functionality of a dedicated server without paying for the whole getup. If you’re feeling adventurous, other (legal) uses for a VPS include: running your own analytics, setting up a VPN, testing applications, using IP telephony, or even reselling hosting plans. What is the cheapest VPS? With hosting, the price usually depends on the features and resources you need. There are plenty of cheap options out there, but most are hardly worth looking into. 1&1 IONOS has one of the best cheap VPS options, starting at just $2/month. If you want to start small and potentially scale up, you can check out its full offer above. Keep in mind that solutions under $10/month tend to be pretty bare-bones. If you want to host something more demanding, like Magento, higher-end plans usually offer better performance. The pricing varies from host to host. Depending on the features and resource allocations, VPS hosting prices range from a few bucks to several hundred. Most VPS plans fall somewhere between $10 and $80 per month. If you get to $150 or even $200, it’s time to think about higher-end solutions like dedicated servers or the public cloud. What is the difference between a VPN and a VPS? In simple terms, the VPN technology helps you stay anonymous online. You can use it to hide your online activity, encrypt data transfers, or access content that’s unavailable in your geographical location. A VPS means a virtual server is stored on a physical one—something like a server within a server. This lets several users share a device, with each still getting their own “server”. So, despite the similar acronym, a VPS and a VPN are very different technologies. Now, you can use a VPS to create a VPN server, but that’s a story deserving of its own article on HostingTribunal. In hosting, there’s rarely such a thing as the absolute best. All hosting providers specialize to some degree. The best VPS hosting mostly depends on what kind of website (or websites) you want to run. 1&1 IONOS is the go-to provider for going into VPS with minimal investment. The entry plan is just $2/month, and you can get a domain name for just $1. It doesn’t get more affordable than that. Hostwinds is an overall fantastic midrange provider. You get decent features at a fair price for both managed and unmanaged VPS. It also has some of the best Windows VPS plans in the game. If you need something powerful that still doesn’t cost a fortune, go for InMotion Hosting. For just $19.99/month, you get a ton of server resources. Plus, the cloud infrastructure makes traffic spike issues a thing of the past. You can check out the top low-cost VPS providers above, or take a look at our review of the top VPS providers overall. It depends—if you’re starting your first blog, even low-end VPS is almost certainly overkill. It’s safer to start smaller projects on shared hosting and upgrade to VPS in due course. If you’re already hitting the resource caps on shared plans, though, it might be time to upgrade to VPS. Some apps, like Magento, are also inherently more demanding. Most users find it best to host them on a small VPS server right away. In essence, whether VPS is right for you depends on your needs. It’s usually best to start with smaller VPS plans and work your way up, though. You can check out the cheapest VPS providers above.