Website hosting or a VPS: when should you upgrade?

Most websites start life on a website hosting plan, and for good reason: it's affordable, we look after the server, and it handles typical business websites and blogs comfortably. But as your site grows, there may come a point where a VPS makes more sense.

Signs it might be time to move to a VPS

Your site slows down when it gets busy. If pages load quickly at quiet times but crawl during a sale or after a newsletter goes out, you may be outgrowing your plan.

You need software a hosting plan doesn't offer. A VPS lets you run things like background workers, a specific database version, Node.js or Python applications, or custom server settings.

You're running lots of sites. Agencies and developers hosting many client websites often find a VPS gives them more room and more control.

You want guaranteed resources. On a VPS the memory and processing power are dedicated to you.

When website hosting is still the right choice

If your website is a brochure site, a blog or a small shop, a hosting plan is usually all you need. It's simpler, it's cheaper, and you don't have to think about the server at all.

Making the move

If you decide a VPS is right for you, you don't need to become a server expert: our Fully Managed VPS plans give you dedicated resources while our team handles the setup and maintenance.

Not sure which is right for your site? Open a support ticket and tell us about it, and we'll give you an honest recommendation.