The Best VPS Web Hosting Services for 2023

The many web hosts and their hosting tiers can make it difficult for you to find a Goldilocks plan that’s just right. This sometimes happens when your website requires more power than what simple shared hosting delivers, but you don’t want to go all-in on expensive dedicated hosting. The middle ground between the two is virtual private server (VPS) hosting.

VPS hosting contains the best elements of shared hosting and dedicated hosting services. Like shared hosting, VPS hosting puts your website on a server that also has other sites running on it. The difference? There are fewer sites per server, and your website receives its own resource allotment (like dedicated hosting). The sites share the cost of running on the server, which results in a monthly or yearly charge that’s less than dedicated hosting’s relatively high price tag.

If you’re looking to explore VPS hosting, this is a good place to start. Read on for the top services we’ve tested, followed by everything you need to know when choosing the right VPS for you.

HostGator Web Hosting

Best for Scalable Power

Why We Picked It

HostGator’s excellent shared hosting earned the company a PCMag Editors’ Choice award, but don’t sleep on its VPS offerings. HostGator’s VPS plans come in several affordable price tiers, and while they lack Windows server options, they make up for it with top-notch flexibility and scalability.

Who It’s For

As businesses grow and thrive, traffic to their websites typically grows with it. If you are expecting a traffic surge, or just want more control over your server environment, HostGator is an ideal host, since you can easily tick the options that you need to expand your plan.

PROS

• Numerous, feature-rich hosting plans
• Excellent shared hosting offerings
• Good for novice webmasters
• Useful site-building software and e-commerce tools
• Helpful, 24/7 customer service
• Outstanding uptime

CONS

• Not all plans have a Windows Server option

InMotion Web Hosting

Best for Unlimited Domains and Websites

Why We Picked It

InMotion has a dense feature-set and reasonable pricing for its shared, dedicated, reseller, and VPS plans, which will satisfy a wide range of hosting needs. In addition, the company offers fantastic uptime and customer service. As a result, InMotion stands strong as a well-rounded web host, and a PCMag Editors’ Choice pick.

Who It’s For

InMotion’s VPS plans come packed with several excellent features, including unlimited monthly data transfers for all but the basic tier. Even better, InMotion’s VPS plans let you build an unlimited number of websites. This makes InMotion an excellent choice if you have several projects in the pipeline that require web hosting.

PROS

• Excellent uptime
• Many hosting types
• All plans offer unlimited email
• Unlimited data transfers with all Shared and WordPress plans
• Lengthy, money-back guarantee
• Easy-to-use website-building software

CONS

• Lacks Windows servers
• Not all plans have month-to-month payment options

DreamHost Web Hosting

Best for Unlimited Monthly Data Transfers

Why We Picked It

DreamHost has numerous novice-friendly VPS tools that make the site-building experience easy and accessible. Yet, it also delivers impressive shared, WordPress, dedicated, cloud, and VPS options to help your site grow according to its needs. This makes DreamHost a web host we can easily recommend as an Editors’ Choice-worthy service.

Who It’s For

Companies looking to expand their traffic. After all, hosting your website on a VPS server gives you more resources and computing power to work with than inexpensive shared hosting. DreamHost notably offers unlimited monthly data transfers with all of its plans, which is a fantastic perk.

PROS

• Strong security features
• Extensive domain-management tools
• Excellent cloud hosting offerings
• Unlimited data transfers per month
• Generous shared hosting money-back guarantee
• Useful WordPress staging feature

CONS

• No email with Shared Starter plan
• Lacks Windows-based servers
• No telephone support

AccuWeb Hosting

Best for Unlimited Email Accounts

Why We Picked It

There are many worthwhile web hosting services vying for your dollar, and AccuWeb ranks highly among them due to its many, feature-rich hosting plans. The company’s VPS plans are particularly stacked, and they come with unlimited email accounts at each tier.

Who It’s For

AccuWeb’s unlimited email accounts are especially valuable for businesses with a large number of employees, or webmasters managing multiple sites at once. If you are an entrepreneur hunting for a host that works well with your communication tools (say, email newsletters), AccuWeb’s unlimited email accounts is an option well worth considering.

PROS

• Stellar uptime in testing
• Excellent dedicated hosting plans
• Offers a choice of Linux or Windows servers
• Helpful customer service

CONS

• Lacks unlimited email with Windows accounts
• No month-to-month shared hosting plans

Liquid Web Hosting

Best for Managed Hosting Solutions

Why We Picked It

If your online business requires juggernaut hosting, Liquid Web has the brawn to keep it operational. Liquid Web has a fantastic selection of cloud, dedicated, WordPress, and VPS packages, though these services come at a premium price point. It lacks lower-cost, shared web hosting, but makes up for it with superb, well-managed, enterprise-level plans.

Who It’s For

Liquid Web offers excellent, fully managed VPS plans, making it a recommended solution for new businesses that need extra support or experience with back-end server issues. With Liquid Web’s managed VPS plans, you receive server setup, administration, OS updates, hardware management, and basic security.

PROS

• Robust dedicated, VPS, cloud, and reseller packages
• Prorated VPS plans
• Powerful, high-end server specs
• Terrific customer service
• Excellent uptime in testing

CONS

• Lacks shared hosting plans
• Expensive, with few refund options

Hostwinds Web Hosting

Best for Big RAM Totals

Why We Picked It

If you’re new to web hosting and website building, shared hosting is generally a great starting point for a fledgling website. As your traffic grows and you become more familiar with your site’s needs, however, your hosting needs expand and grow as well. Hostwinds offers excellent VPS packages, earning it our Editors’ Choice award for the category. The plans let you select managed or unmanaged servers, with options for the Linux or Windows operating systems.

Who It’s For

Hostwinds is an appealing choice for a wide range of clients due to its high VPS RAM totals that top out at 96GB. As a result, your server can support heavy website traffic, and operate much more efficiently than it would with lower RAM amounts.

PROS

• Terrific uptime in testing
• Excellent reseller and VPS hosting plans
• Good customer service
• Minecraft server hosting

CONS

• Not every plan has a Windows server option
• Short money-back guarantee window

GoDaddy Web Hosting

Best for Site Security

Why We Picked It

GoDaddy is one of the most recognizable domain sellers around, and provides dependable web hosting. It’s a great one-stop-shop, and deftly integrates Microsoft Office features and security options into many plans.

Who It’s For

If your business manages customer transactions and information, security is a must. GoDaddy lets you set up automated weekly backups, recovery console fixes, and offers advanced DDoS protection. This gives your server around-the-clock monitoring so you can sleep easy at night. A free SSL certificate for your plan’s first year is icing on the cake.

PROS

• Top-notch uptime
• Linux- and Windows-based servers
• Email tightly integrated into Microsoft apps
• Helpful, 24/7 customer support
• Useful website-builder software

CONS

• Lacks cloud hosting
• Doesn’t offer much default email

Hostinger Web Hosting

Best for Excellent Customer Service

Why We Picked It

When it comes to support and customer service, Hostinger is a top-notch web host. Its plans may lack a few enterprise-level features, like dedicated servers or telephone support, but it makes up for it with robust VPS plans, and a high degree of customization. Hostinger even offers pre-configured server options for gaming, with support for titles like CS:GO and Minecraft.

Who It’s For

Hostinger is perfect for hands-on webmasters who want complete control over their VPS environments. Hostinger’s VPS plans are all self-managed, meaning you must configure and manage your server partition. You also have full root access to customize the server as you see fit. This requires some technical know-how, but Hostinger has its support team on-standby at all times to offer a helping hand.

PROS

• High-quality, low-cost plans
• Helpful customer service
• Terrific uptime in testing
• Optional Minecraft servers
• Includes the company’s own Zyro website builder

CONS

• Lacks dedicated web hosting
• Not every plan has a Windows option
• Lacks phone support
• Base shared hosting plan offers just one email account

Media Temple Web Hosting

Best for Flexible RAM and Storage

Why We Picked It

Though a bit pricier than some of the competition, Media Temple offers strong server options that give it an edge in the competitive web hosting field. Plus, the company offers highly scalable VPS plans in either the fully managed or self-managed varieties. This is a great option to have depending on your level of expertise and your budget.  

Who It’s For                                                        

Webmasters who need the flexibility to scale up server resources as needed should consider Media Temple. The self-managed and fully managed VPS plans start at 1GB of RAM and 20GB of SSD storage, but climb as high as 32GB of RAM and 400GB of storage. Unlimited monthly data transfers provide extra room to grow.

PROS

• Excellent uptime in testing
• Terrific, 24/7 customer support team
• Massive knowledge guide and help database
• Strong WordPress plans

CONS

• Lacks Windows-based servers
• No dedicated or reseller hosting
• Relatively expensive

Ionos by 1&1 Web Hosting

Best for Operating System Freedom

Why We Picked It

Though Ionos has earned our Editors’ Choice award for its stellar cloud hosting plans, its myriad other hosting options are also outstanding. Its VPS hosting, in particular, caters to small businesses and enterprises with power Linux- or Windows-based servers.

Who It’s For

If you need OS flexibility from your web host, keep Ionos in mind. You can choose between Linux or Windows servers with its VPS plans, which is a fantastic option that not all hosts offer. Better still, Ionos’ VPS tiers aren’t expensive, and include unlimited monthly data transfers.

PROS

• Dependable uptime in testing
• Excellent cloud hosting packages
• Linux- or Windows-based servers
• Easy-to-use website creation tools

CONS

• Lacks reseller hosting plans
• Relatively sparse email options

Buying Guide: The Best VPS Web Hosting Services for 2023

What Is a VPS Used For?

Your VPS-hosted site lives in a partitioned server area that has its own operating system, storage, RAM, and monthly data transfer limits, so you can expect smoother, more stable site performance. The sites with which you share your server are far less likely to affect your site—or even take it down altogether—than they would be on a shared server. Knowing how VPS setups operate is just the first step, however. You still need to familiarize yourself with the essential features needed for building a rock-solid, VPS-hosted website.

Is There Any Free VPS?

As a result of VPS hosting’s hybrid nature, its cost isn’t quite as low as shared hosts’ fees, but it’s not nearly as high as dedicated hosts’ fees. You can expect to pay between $20 per month and $100 per month, depending on the configuration. Shared web hosting, on the other hand, is extremely cheap hosting; you can often set up shop for less than $10 per month. Dedicated web hosting will typically set you back $100 per month or more.

Most VPS hosts only offer servers running Linux-based operating systems; you’ll need to dig a bit to find Windows-based VPS hosting. This is important to note if you’re planning on running software that requires a Microsoft-compatible environment. That said, Linux-based VPS hosting will save you a few bucks; Linux servers usually cost $10 to $20 less than Windows servers.

5 Things You Need to Know About Web Hosting

How to Choose a VPS

Once you register your website’s domain name, it’s time to start picking the specs for your server. Web hosts typically offer multiple VPS plans that have varying amounts of email capability, RAM, storage, CPU power, domain hosting, and monthly data transfers. The plans typically include website builders that let you quickly create a face for your site without much—or even any—coding required. A solid web host should offer at least 4GB of RAM, 100GB of storage, and an ample volume of monthly data transfers. If you expect a significant amount of website growth, then you should look for a web host that has as many unlimited offerings as possible. For example, Hostwinds—the PCMag Editors’ Choice for VPS hosting—offers unlimited email, domains, and monthly data transfers. Note, however, that you should read the fine print to make sure that you understand what the host means by “unlimited,” as it can vary from company to company.

Speaking of email and limits, you’ll want the ability to create an unlimited number of accounts. Should your website grow significantly, you’ll appreciate being able to scale your email accounts without spending additional money. Web hosts typically place a cap on the amount of storage per email account. In other words, you may be able to create an unlimited number of email accounts, but each one may have a 10GB storage cap. Take time to investigate a potential web host’s email offerings so as not to be surprised by its messaging limitations. Again, find out what the unlimited gotchas might be.

Typically, a web hosting service gives you the option of selecting either a traditional hard drive or a solid-state drive as your website’s storage medium. Traditional hard drives have large capacities and lower prices, but they aren’t quite as resilient as their SSD counterparts. Solid-state drives, on the other hand, are often faster and more reliable than HDDs, but they cost more and have smaller storage capacities. Unless you truly need blazing speed, a traditional hard drive should get the job done.

Do you plan to sell products or services? If so, you’ll want to invest in a web hosting service that offers Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). An SSL connection encrypts the financial information that shuttles between users’ web browsers and your website, thus safeguarding the transmission of the purchasing information. Some hosting companies include a free SSL certificate when you sign up for a web hosting plan, while others charge close to $100. You can save money by shopping around for services that offer cheaper SSL plans.

You’ll also want to determine how long you’ll need VPS web hosting. If you need hosting for a short time period—say, less than a month or two—you’ll typically receive a refund should you cancel your hosting within 60 days. These money-back guarantees vary from web host to web host. For example, Company X may offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, while Company Y may offer a lengthy 90-day money-back guarantee. As always, it’s best to shop around for the features that best suit your web hosting needs.

VPS Uptime and Downtime

All the features we’ve detailed to this point are valuable to the web hosting experience, but none matches the critical importance of site uptime. If your site is down, clients or customers will be unable to find you or access your products or services. It doesn’t matter how great the features are, or how good it looks; if your site is down, it might as well not exist.

We’ve added formal uptime monitoring to our review process, and the results show that most web hosts do an excellent job of keeping sites up and running. Even if they get everything else right, sites with uptime problems aren’t eligible for high scores. All services suffer ups and downs, sometimes for reasons beyond their control. Those sites that fail to address the problem in a timely manner are penalized accordingly.

Which VPS Is Best?

If you want reasonably priced server space that won’t load pages at a snail’s pace when a neighboring site gets a huge traffic spike, VPS is a good option for your business. We’ve reviewed many VPS hosting services and included the best of the bunch in this guide. You should look into a dedicated server if you want to build a website on an even stronger foundation and can afford the bill.

If you’re just getting started in web hosting, make sure to check out our primer on how to create a website. If, on the other hand, you think you’re ready to start your own web hosting company, you should check out our guide to reseller hosting. The Best Courses for Learning How to Build Websites offers terrific video instruction for people who prefer that style of learning.