Moving from VPS back to shared hosting
A couple of months ago I wrote about how I’d migrated this blog to a Virtual Private Server (VPS) from a shared hosting provider. Well, since then I’ve moved back to a shared hosting provider.
Why the switch back? At the time, I was learning how to manage a VPS for work-related purposes so it was exciting to apply what I’d learnt to my own personal blog. But it only took a few months for a few things to sink in:
- Managing a VPS takes quite a bit more time than a shared hosting account – not just the setup, but also the maintenance of security patches etc
- A VPS with enough resources to take the same traffic as shared hosting service costs more than the latter
- A VPS with managed services (so that you don’t have to deal with the maintenance) costs US$30 upwards
- My blog doesn’t really get so much traffic that it needs the resources of a VPS (a little ego-shattering but true)
- I run a standard install of WordPress (plus a few plugins) which are well supported by just about every shared hosting service
Ultimately, a VPS gives you a great deal of flexibility and power – but if you’re only going to be hosting a simple low-traffic blog on it, then it’s overkill in terms of cost and effort (i.e time). Perhaps some day when I have more need for the resources will I switch back to a VPS.
Right now I’m on a US-based shared hosting provider by the name of powerMonster.
Don’t be put off by the odd sounding name – the cost is low, speeds are fast (I’m on their Litespeed/DirectAdmin server in Los Angeles) and they have excellent technical support – responding to my support tickets in 15 minutes or less! I’d greatly recommend anyone looking for a fast webhost with good service to check them out!
