vps vs shared hosting questions

  • I’m redesigning my site using wordpress, and looking to switch webhosts as well (currently on yahoo). My site is pretty low traffic, and I don’t expect that to change drastically in the near future, so I’m not really concerned about bandwidth or traffic spikes. On the other hand, the site is somewhat graphic and plug-in heavy, as it mostly features my portfolio with NextGen and several related plugins.

    I’m wondering if it makes sense for me to go with a VPS because of the need for speed, or if it is overkill to spend 4x as much money for a low traffic site. Does anyone know about what the difference is in speed for shared vs VPS (I’m looking at hostgator as the likely choice)? Is VPS just a little faster? Twice as fast? 10x as fast?

    Also a little unclear on the support and configuration issue. I’m a designer, not a sys admin, so the “administer your own server” aspect makes me a bit nervous…on the other hand, if VPS means better support, and someone who knows what they’re doing going in and editing the .htaccess and php.ini files instead of me, then that’s a plus.

    Also wondering if anyone has any feedback regarding Virtuozzo. Hostgator doesn’t offer cPanel at the lowest level of VPS, only Virtuozzo.

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  • all that stuff depends on several things
    cpu speed – memory – configuration, etc.
    you really need to compare specs for differing hosts on VPS

    shared servers – you really should stay away from huge hosts as their servers are usually way overcrowded and memory and cpu speed often suffer (though I haven’t heard this complaint about hostgator)
    I would suggest trying a shared server 1st – since you are low volume – and it is easy to upgrade if need be
    also, check this host (not affiliated in any way) as I have been with them for years without problems
    A Small Orange

    Thread Starter cdragin

    (@cdragin)

    Talked with sales support at hostgator and they said that there’s really no difference in basic speed between shared and virtual; they are on the same servers, it’s just that with VPS you are guaranteed a slice of the RAM regardless of what’s going on elsewhere. The weird thing though, is that cPanel is available on shared, but not on the two lowest levels of VPS, so if I decided to upgrade I would have to make a pretty big leap (or do without cPanel, which would be difficult at my level of expertise).

    Had never heard of small orange until I started poking around the forums today, and have seen several positive mentions. I’m leaning towards hostgator shared for now but if that doesn’t work out they are on the short list.

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