In recent years, technological advancements have resulted in a change in the web hosting industry. From Shared Hosting and Dedicated Servers, virtualization has allowed hosting companies to offer VPS Servers with features better catered to modern and growing websites. Hence, it is no surprise that VPS Servers have gained tremendous popularity over the last few years.
When you decide to buy VPS Server Hosting, you need to decide between Windows and Linux operating systems, HDD or SSD-based virtual servers and managed or unmanaged services. When virtual servers were launched, many site owners stayed away since managing a virtual server required some technical skill.
With time, as hosting companies understood the difficulties faced by them, they launched Managed VPS Server Hosting plans where the provider took care of all the technical tasks on behalf of the site owner. While these plans were slightly costlier than the Unmanaged VPS plans, they also offered many benefits.
If you are thinking of buying a Virtual Private Server Hosting plan and are unsure of whether you should choose Managed or Unmanaged VPS services, then here is a quick comparison between the two to help you decide.
Managed vs. Unmanaged VPS Hosting
| Feature | Unmanaged VPS Hosting | Managed VPS Hosting |
| Price of the hosting plan | Unmanaged VPS plans are cheaper than Managed VPS plans since you take care of the site management and maintenance tasks. These include running daily backups, updates, security scans, etc. | Managed VPS plans are costlier than Unmanaged plans because the hosting provider dedicates a technical expert to manage your site on your behalf. |
| Availability of adequate resources | In Unmanaged plans, the responsibility of keeping tabs on the available resources belongs to the site owner. If the resources are getting used up, then the site owner needs to coordinate with the hosting provider to scale up. | Since a technical expert manages your site, resource utilization is monitored by him too. If there is overuse, then he advises you and recommends scaling up. This can save a lot of time and effort. |
| Server Access | With unmanaged plans, you get unrestricted access to the virtual server. This is because you will have to configure and manage the virtual server. | Since you are not running maintenance tasks, Managed VPS plans have layers of server access control. |
| Technical Support | With Unmanaged VPS plans, the provider will only offer support for any network or hardware-related issue. You have to take care of all other issues in-house. This can be managed efficiently if you have the technical expertise or an in-house IT team. | With a Managed VPS Hosting plan, the hosting provider offers complete technical support, including the configuration and performance of the VPS. This is ideal if you don’t have the expertise or manpower to manage the virtual server or if you are a new website owner. |
You can also check out the following video to understand the differences better:
Summing Up
Every website has specific requirements from the hosting plan. Therefore, there is no plan that will be perfect for all sites. Assess what your site needs and look at the tasks that you will have to perform if you opt for Unmanaged VPS Hosting plans. If you think it is not something that you can handle, then a Managed VPS Hosting plan makes more sense. Decide judiciously. Good Luck!