Nearly every creative, business owner and college student out there today need the services offered by a website to help promote themselves. Having a website showcasing their personality and portfolio allows students to stand out from an already crowded field. When said website starts to grow and attract more traffic it’s time to make a change. Thus, you’ll need to switch from a limited shared plan to a managed VPS hosting.
Creating a website of your own can prove challenging at first. So, the best place to start is by selecting the best server for your hosting needs. Through this process, you’ll learn how to scale and upgrade your hosting plan to meet expected traffic surges.
In line with this, today, you’ll get to learn more about managed VPS hosting. This guide will take you through all essentials:
- What it is?
- Our favorite managed VPS hosting providers
- Who it is for?
- How to choose the right host?
Continue reading to learn more!
What is VPS?
Before we can look at the top brands, we first want to answer the question, ‘what is VPS?’. As you may have deduced, virtual private server (VPS) hosting is an upgrade from normal/shared hosting.
Using a shared hosting plan means that your website is living on a server it shares with many other similar websites. Such a setup works well for startups and small websites. As they don’t have high traffic or require a lot of resources for their functions.
A look at the plans provided by the best managed VPS hosting providers reveals that while the website is still sharing space with others, every website will have its own resources. The site will have independent resources such as RAM, SSD storage, and processing power.
Normally, you’ll need to move on to a VPS once your site has grown. After posting content for years and begin to rank higher in search engine results it is expected. When this time comes, you’ll have no option but to consider fully managed VPS.
Look at it this way, shared hosting is similar to living in a commune where all the residents share the available space and food. VPS hosting is like having a home where you live alone. In short, you don’t have to worry about sharing your food or living space with others.
Our Favorite Managed VPS Hosting Providers
1. Liquid Web – Best Managed VPS Hosting (Overall)
 Liquid Web appears to hold universal appeal and respect in the field of managed VPS. A look at some of the reviews made by its clients shows that its hosting services come backed by 24/7/365 customer service. | Our Expert Rating: Major Perks
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2. InterServer – Best Cheap Managed VPS Hosting
 InterServer is among the most experienced VPS server providers around. It’s a company that has spent the better part of the last two decades perfecting its ever-growing pool of affordable and high-powered hosting solutions. | Our Expert Rating: Major Perks
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3. A2 Hosting – Best for Storage
 A2 Hosting appeals to website owners looking for multi-core environments. All clients who go to this fully managed VPS provider are started on a minimum of four virtualized processors, ample high-powered computing, and full root access. | Our Expert Rating: Major Perks
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4. Hostwinds.com – Best for Fast and Affordable VPS Hosting Backed by Exceptional Support
 Hostwinds.com has a fantastic managed Linux VPS hosting solution that’s perfect for site owners looking for flexible resources and massive room to grow. We love it because it’s brimming with technology and has a steadfast dedication to customer support. | Our Expert Rating: Major Perks
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5. Scala Hosting – Best Managed Virtual Private Server for Gaming Purposes
 With 15+ years in the hosting niche, Scala Hosting is among the most reliable managed VPS hosts out there. The platform has made a name for itself for its unrelenting promise never to oversell its server capacity. | Our Expert Rating: Major Perks
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6. Bluehost – Best Managed WordPress VPS Hosting
 If there is one thing we love about WordPress, it’s how massive its open-source community has become. And what’s even more surprising is the fact that it has managed to attract involvement from global web hosting leaders to individual developers who are just getting their feet wet. | Our Expert Rating: Major Perks
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7. DreamHost – Best for 100% Network Uptime Guarantee
 DreamHost has grown from a college startup to one of the best-managed VPS hosting providers. It boasts a customer base spanning more than 1.5 million traditional websites and close to a million WordPress installs. | Our Expert Rating: Major Perks
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8. GoDaddy – Great Value for Money
 GoDaddy managed VPS is not only one of the most recognizable hosting companies globally, but it has so far helped 19,000,000+ customers grow their online presence. The platform may have started as a domain name registrar, but its operations have since expanded to hosting. | Our Expert Rating: Major Perks
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Managed vs. Unmanaged VPS
Now you have a good idea of the top brands providing managed VPS hosting services. So, it’s time to focus on learning the differences between managed and unmanaged. When it comes to the latter, the host only installs the operating system, leaving everything else to you.
Simply put, unmanaged VPS hosting will give you complete control over the server. It’s a solution that’s best left to advanced users. As they possess enough technical know-how on how to set up and manage a server, it’s suitable.
If you opt for unmanaged hosting, some of the tasks you’ll need to handle by yourself include the following:
- Setting up backups for your WordPress site
- Installing software
- Making routine upgrades
- Installing a control panel
- Maintaining the server
- Making regular software updates
- Configuring your server
- Installing security patches
- Monitoring for security threats
Besides the above, opting for unmanaged hosting means you’ll have to figure out things on your own. If an outage or hardware failure happens, you have to find a solution yourself. In such a case, the VPS hosting company can’t do much for you.
In the case of managed VPS hosting, you’ll have a team of experts managing the server for you. The same team will also handle all the technical tasks. Thus, ensuring that your server is running and that it has everything it needs to continue operating.
Who Will Benefit from Managed VPS Hosting?
As explained above, a fully managed VPS plan means you’ll have a team of seasoned professionals setting up all the server requirements for you. What this means is that when working with the best-managed VPS hosting company, you’ll get access to services such as:
- Help from an in-house team in resolving software and hardware issues
- Server setup and provisioning
- Offsite server backups
- Uptime guarantee
- Server management tools
- Regular updates
- 24/7 support
- Security software installation
- On-demand malware scans executed by the in-house team
- Security and vulnerability patches
All in all, this type of hosting means you have nothing to worry about, as professionals handle everything for you. And if you encounter an issue, you have someone you can turn to for help.
Managed VPS hosting is, therefore, best for users who don’t possess the skills or technical know-how needed to manage an entire server on their own. It also works well for individuals who don’t have enough time on their schedules to set up and maintain a server.
Additionally, it’s recommended for people who don’t know how to go about setting up security measures or even the protocols required to keep their information safe. Overall, a managed VPS server is an ideal fit for the following:
- Persons who need better performance and privacy compared to what they are receiving from shared hosting plans
- Business owners running a website that has outgrown the resources present in their shared hosting packages
- Developers who want to host multiple websites at a go
- Creatives and eCommerce store owners who expect a significant traffic spike in the coming weeks
How to Choose the Right Host?
Choosing the right managed VPS host will typically depend on your hosting skills, project needs, and budget. With this in mind, let’s consider the top factors when in need of a fully managed VPS host:
Performance
Start by confirming that the VPS package has an uptime guarantee. The best uptime guarantee should ideally be close to 100%. It should also come backed with a server response time of not more than 600ms.
RAM
Its job is to store pieces of data and hardware temporarily, allowing for quick delivery when needed. For this, look for a package with around 2GB of RAM, enabling you to scale when the need arises.
Ease of Use
First-time developers should always opt for managed VPS services. Managed services will simplify your management work. You’ll get access to a user interface that you can use to tweak your server as needed.
CPU Cores
Always ensure you have enough CPUs to handle all the traffic your project will generate. Start by obtaining a minimum of 2 CPUs from your host. Thus, allowing you to handle traffic spikes of up to 200 people daily.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Managed VPS Hosting
Now that you know what to expect regarding managed Linux VPS hosting, let us look at its advantages and disadvantages.
Pros
Enhanced Security
Managed VPS comes with enhanced security offered by an in-house team of professionals. Their job is to ensure that all its protocols are up to date. The professionals will continue to monitor everything around the clock and perform regular scans and audits.
Full Root Access
The managed server assigned to you will remain isolated from the others. Therefore, allowing you to make any modifications you want via your root access.
Better Performance
Many of the brands we have mentioned in this guide offer SSD or RAID-based hosting. These two are known to improve your site’s overall performance and load times.
Excellent Scalability
You can easily scale server resources like CPU and RAM as the site grows.
A Team of Professionals Manage Your Server
The biggest upside to this is that the managed VPS host will take care of everything for you. With this taken care of, you have nothing to worry about except how to grow your business.
Cons
Less Flexibility
Considering that you have a team of professionals handling all the technical issues for you, you won’t have much flexibility when it comes to selecting plugins.
Higher Recurring Costs
A managed virtual private server is often more expensive than the unmanaged version. Meaning you have to deal with all manner of recurring costs.
Can I Get A Managed VPS For Free?
The Beetles probably knew what they were doing when they sang on how “the best things in life are free”. The only exception being they hadn’t linked it to web developers and hosting. Web developers worldwide are always searching for cheap or free VPS hosting.
While many understand the need to scale their sites, many can’t afford to pay the amounts needed to buy a top VPS plan. They are thus left to crawl the web in search of a cheap, albeit less effective, plan.
So, can I get a managed VPS for free? The answer is a resounding YES, provided you know where to look. A free VPS can allow you to get a taste of its management and configuration.
However, be prepared that you will face limitations – insufficient resources, lacking security, ads, etc. A good alternative is to look for a free trial. That way you can test the service and get a taste of its features. Then, just pay for a great managed plan.
You can always learn more about free VPS hosting right here.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the best-managed VPS hosting provider requires you to strike a balance between your hosting needs and your budget. At the end of the day, it doesn’t make sense to pay for features and resources that you’ll probably never use.
But on the other hand, it may pay off to invest in resources that you might need at a moment’s notice. If you’re still unsure which managed VPS hosting with cPanel to choose, we suggest you go through our list again.
Liquid Web is our top choice for this category due to its excellent customer service and nuanced attention to detail. Its 100% uptime and network guarantee will come in handy if you’re running a website that can’t afford to go offline even for a few minutes.
If your main concern revolves around storage, we recommend A2 Hosting. But if the price is the leading issue, stick to InterServer. Its affordably priced hosting plans will meet your needs without forcing you to break the bank.
