The Best VPS Hosting Providers 2021
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VPS hosting is one of the most effective ways to host a website. We’re going to walk you through the best providers for the job!
Written and researched by
Our methodology
We put the hours into comparing VPS plans on the areas that matter most to our readers. Read up on how we conduct our hosting research for more info.
Compare the Best VPS Hosting Providers Side by Side
Here are the maximum features offered by each hosting provider. Read on for a more detailed breakdown, and to see which we’d recommend for who:
Our overall ratings are based on the average score of all ratings combined.
Our scores give you an at-a-glance overview of which service offers you the best features, value, and more.
Relates to the average amount of time your website is ‘live’ online. It’s impossible to achieve 100% uptime, but the aim is for providers to guarantee an uptime as close to that as possible.
Obviously, the purpose of a website is to share your information with the rest of the world, and that’s only possible when it’s live. Generally speaking, any uptime above 99.95% is pretty darn good.
- RAM (Random Access Memory) – what fuels your site and allows it to work.
- CPU (Computer Processing Units) – cores within the server that process information.
- Bandwidth – the amount of data that can flow between the server, the internet, and your site.
- Root Access – the ability to customize your server by installing extra software.
- Storage – the amount of space you have for things on your site (content, media, web pages etc.)
- Uptime – how consistently your site is working online.
For a lot of sites, the amounts shown in this table will be excessive and unnecessary. More often than not, the most important things to consider are uptime and cost.
Sure, it’s nice to have huge storage space or bandwidth limits – but none of that matters if your site goes down regularly, or you can’t afford the monthly bill!
A VPS (or virtual private server) is a step up from shared hosting. You still share a server (the computer that makes your site available to visitors online) with other websites, but there are far fewer websites using that server.
The thing is, there are tons of VPS hosting services out there, and choosing the best VPS provider is a tough call. Luckily, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve done the research for you to figure out which VPS services are the best.
We took a look at a wide range of providers, the tools they offered, and what set them apart from the rest. What kind of VPS hosting plans do they offer? What’s their performance like? And do they provide good help and support?
The 8 Best VPS Hosting Providers Are:
- InMotion – Best overall VPS hosting provider
- A2 Hosting – Best value for money
- Bluehost – Best features
- iPage – Best for customer service
- HostGator – Best for reliability
- GreenGeeks – Great server uptime
- Hostinger – Best for dedicated IP addresses
- DreamHost – Best bandwidth
Looking to save money?
Both InMotion and Bluehost are offering discounts that we don’t want you to miss! Our readers can now save 70% on an InMotion plan, which means VPS hosting for $17.99/month instead of $59.99/month. And if InMotion isn’t for you, then you’ll be happy to hear that new Bluehost customers can get VPS hosting from just $18.99/month (it’s normally $29.99/month)!
#1. InMotion – Best overall VPS hosting provider
| InMotion Pros | InMotion Cons |
|---|---|
| Unlimited CPU cores, domains, and email accounts – ideal for hosting multiple sites | One of the more expensive providers (but with very good deals for your first term) |
| Free domain included with 6-12 month plans, and free backups | |
| Free expert migration for WordPress sites |
InMotion sets the bar high when it comes to VPS hosting. Its features alone scored 95% in our research testing, and it’s easy to see why. All plans come with free backups, root access, and unlimited CPU cores and email accounts.
With help available 24/7 via phone, live chat, and a ticketing system, plus a 30-day, money-back guarantee, InMotion is the perfect provider for 99% of readers.
WBE Readers Save Extra With InMotion
InMotion Gallery
Its VPS plans also include between three and five dedicated IP addresses. If this is an important factor for you, it’s worth noting that the maximum available with any other provider’s VPS plan is just two.
InMotion customers get a free domain (with 6-month or 12-month contracts) and free backups. InMotion is the only provider to offer unlimited CPU cores for super speedy processing.
It’s worth noting, however, that InMotion only offers Windows hosting, not Linux hosting. Windows is more popular, but if you do need Linux, you’ll be better off with A2 Hosting instead.
InMotion offers fantastic discounts, so it’s worth signing up for an even longer plan to make the most of them.
InMotion’s renewal prices range from $37.99 to $162.99 depending on which plan you sign for, and for how long. They can seem expensive compared to some providers (such as Hostinger), but come packed with storage and bandwidth, so are good value.
But in fact, its help and support didn’t wow us. In testing, it fell below our expectations of ‘good’ service by 13%, leaving us pretty underwhelmed with the performance of its email, live chat, and knowledge center.
You can request a migration from the support team once you’ve signed up to a plan. They don’t place any limitations on the size or nature of the site, and the process takes 2-5 business days.
#2. A2 Hosting – Best value for money
| A2 Hosting Pros | A2 Hosting Cons |
|---|---|
| Fantastic value for money, and an anytime money-back guarantee | Doesn’t include a free domain name |
| Managed and unmanaged VPS hosting plans | Max 150GB storage – this is one of the lower max limits on the market |
| Free expert migration (for managed VPS plans only) |
A2 Hosting offers an anytime money-back guarantee, which shows how confident it is in its plans. We found that A2 Hosting offered good value for money, particularly when it came to its unmanaged VPS plans, which offer a really affordable entry point. Like InMotion, A2 Hosting also offers a free site migration service.
A2 Hosting Gallery
A2 Hosting has three standard managed VPS hosting plans, and one ‘Turbo VPS’ plan. The three standard plans range from $49.99 – $86.99 per month for a one year contract, with the price rising to $69.99 – $119.99 per month thereafter. A2 Hosting has a more expensive entry plan than other providers, but this is reflected in the features on offer.
The ‘Turbo VPS’ plan is an interesting, if slightly unusual offer; stripped-back storage and a unique focus on speed, with ‘up to 20x faster Turbo Servers’. This plan starts at $99.99 per month.
It generally matches up pretty well to competitors like InMotion, but lost points in a couple of areas – namely for not including a free domain name, and having a pretty low uptime guarantee (99.95% versus 99.97 – 99.99% from most competitors). This means your site could be down for an extra few hours a year.
However, A2 Hosting’s support fell below our expectations in testing, due mostly to its live chat and knowledge center. We were actually pleasantly surprised by its email support, which was by far A2 Hosting’s best support channel.
- This is only available if you’re moving to one of A2 Hosting’s managed VPS plans
- A2 Hosting will only carry out the migration if your current hosting provider uses cPanel (the most common web hosting control panel software)
Failing this, you can opt to carry out the migration yourself, and A2 Hosting has guides to assist with this.
#3. Bluehost – Best features
| Bluehost Pros | Bluehost Cons |
|---|---|
| Really strong uptime guarantee of 99.98% | 30GB – 120GB storage, which is less on average than other providers |
| Great help and support | |
| Ideal for photography websites |
Bluehost is better known for its WordPress hosting, but it still has everything you need from a VPS service. And if you’re yet to purchase a domain name, Bluehost is the only provider we’ve tested that gives you one free of charge, forever. It also has the best help and support we’ve tested.
Bluehost Gallery
It’s a great entry plan for people who want a hands-off hosting experience, but without the larger price tag. Storage is a little low, but if this is a problem, the Enhanced plan comes with double (60GB) for just $11 per month more. The Ultimate plan doubles this again ($59.99 per month), so there’s plenty of room to grow your site.
A free domain for as long as you’re with Bluehost is a great perk, and 99.98% is a good uptime guarantee. Bluehost’s plans don’t scale up as far as some other providers’ (storage, for example, caps out at 120GB, which is one of the lowest ‘upper’ limits), but this is reflected in the lower price range. You can move to a dedicated server if you outgrow the VPS plans Bluehost has to offer.
#4. iPage – Good service at a very reasonable price
| iPage Pros | iPage Cons |
|---|---|
| Really affordable renewal prices | One of the lowest uptime guarantees at 99.94% |
| Good value and good all-round provider | |
| Free backups and free domain |
iPage doesn’t ‘shine’ for any one particular factor, but it is pretty cheap, and a good all-rounder. Its Basic plan offers particularly good value, with prices starting at just $19.99 per month.
iPage Gallery
- Basic: $24.99 per month ($19.99 per month price for longer contracts)
- Business: $59.49 per month ($47.99 per month price for longer contracts)
- Optimum: $99.99 per month ($79.99 per month price for longer contracts)
When you look past the initial promotional prices, that’s where iPage’s value really shines through. It doesn’t ‘slash’ its prices for the first term, like some partners, so you won’t face that huge leap in costs once your initial term is over.
Uptime is a real low point for iPage, however, with a guarantee of just 99.94%. It also only provides Linux hosting, not Windows.
#5. HostGator – Best for reliability
| HostGator Pros | HostGator Cons |
|---|---|
| Very heavy discounts for first term | Most expensive starting price |
| High storage limits of between 120 and 240GB | No free domain name |
| Best uptime guarantee (99.99%) | Same bandwidth and RAM as cheaper plans |
HostGator has the best uptime guarantee, strong features, and tons of storage. What lets HostGator down is its value for money – a starting cost of $79.95 per month is enough to put off those on a tight budget, although it does offer heavy discounts (75%) for the first term.
HostGator Gallery
- Snappy 2000: Starts at $19.95, renews at $79.95
- Snappy 4000: Starts at $29.95, renews at $119.95
- Snappy 8000: Starts at $39.95, renews at $149.95
While its discounted prices offer a pretty good deal, you can see how the price leaps after this first term.
However, HostGator doesn’t include a free domain, and also only offers Linux hosting, not Windows.
#6. GreenGeeks – Great server uptime, and most eco-friendly
| GreenGeeks Pros | GreenGeeks Cons |
|---|---|
| Greenest hosting provider – offsets its carbon footprint by 300% | No promotional or long term discounts (but this does make things more simple) |
| Really generous 10TB bandwidth on all plans – perfect for traffic surges | No free domain or free backups |
| Free site migration for VPS plans (but double check the exceptions) |
Sitting in the middle of the park, GreenGeeks actually offers some features that get the green light from us. At 99.98%, it has the joint-second best server uptime of all the VPS web hosts we tested. It offers a generous 10TB bandwidth on all its plans, plus up to 8GB RAM on its highest plan, and also has a big focus on eco-friendly hosting.
GreenGeeks Gallery
- 2GB Plan: $39.95 per month
- 4GB Plan: $59.95 per month
- 8GB Plan: $109.95 per month
Most people choose GreenGeeks because of its green credentials, and just want reassurance that its features are good enough to prevent a negative impact on their site. And broadly speaking, we’re happy to give you that reassurance; GreenGeeks actually has one of the best bandwidth offers around, a 99.98% uptime guarantee, and no real ‘problem’ areas.
Just keep in mind that backups are a paid extra ($25+).
#7. Hostinger – Best for dedicated IP addresses
| Hostinger Pros | Hostinger Cons |
|---|---|
| Really cheap prices – a good first step up from shared hosting | Max 800GB bandwidth (other providers have 1TB as a minimum) |
| Lowest uptime guarantee (99.91%) | |
| No phone support |
Hostinger offers stripped-back VPS plans at super low prices. There are some compromises (namely uptime and bandwidth), but it’s a super affordable way for a smaller site to access the benefits of VPS hosting, without the price tag.
Hostinger Gallery
Bandwidth is one area where this really shows. All the other providers in this ranking offer a minimum of 1TB bandwidth, while Hostinger’s plans only stretch to between 1,000 and 8,000GB. This means Hostinger may not be right for your site if you anticipate any large surges of traffic.
The other major downside is uptime. Hostinger has the lowest uptime guarantee of the providers we researched at just 99.91%, so statistically, your site is likely to be down for the longest. It does, however, offer a free domain name – another money-saving perk.
Most people choose GreenGeeks because of its green credentials, and just want reassurance that its features are good enough to prevent a negative impact on their site. And broadly speaking, we’re happy to give you that reassurance; GreenGeeks actually has one of the best bandwidth offers around, a 99.98% uptime guarantee, and no real ‘problem’ areas.
Just keep in mind that backups are a paid extra ($25+).
#8. Dreamhost – Best bandwidth
| Hostinger Pros | Hostinger Cons |
|---|---|
| Unlimited bandwidth | No phone or live chat support |
| Prices start at $10 per month, making it one of the cheaper options | Doesn’t come with root access |
| No money-back guarantee offered |
So DreamHost isn’t outright the best at anything. But unlimited bandwidth is still something to be very proud of – it’s only offered by two other providers! It’s also towards the cheaper end of the pricing spectrum, with a starting price of only $10 per month.
DreamHost Gallery
That said, unlimited bandwidth is a great pro, and storage is consistent with other providers.
How to Choose the Right VPS Hosting
Most people turn to VPS hosting once they’ve outgrown their shared hosting plan, so you want to make sure you aren’t going to run into that same issue any time soon. That said, VPS hosting can also get pretty expensive, so you don’t want to be paying for more than you need.
Here’s a reminder of the key factors to look out for, depending on your needs:
1. High Uptime Guarantee
You want the guaranteed uptime to be as high as possible, because this means your site will be down for the least amount of time. Those 0.01% differences can amount to a couple of hours, so consider how much of a disaster this kind of outage would be for your site
2. Plenty of Bandwidth
Bandwidth controls how much traffic your site can handle, while still maintaining good load speeds. If you experience big spikes in traffic (e.g. an ecommerce store with a large social media following), having plenty of bandwidth is essential. Sites with a fairly steady stream of traffic don’t need to worry as much about this.
3. Enough Storage
Calculating the total size of your website isn’t the easiest, but you can get a rough idea by running a ‘typical’ page through a web page size checker tool, and then multiplying this by the number of pages on your site.
If you have a lot of hi-res images or self-hosted videos, this is likely to drive up your storage needs significantly.
4. Help and Support
It’s easy to overlook help and support when choosing your plan, but if something goes wrong with your website, you’ll soon regret not giving this more consideration! Bluehost has the best help and support of any provider we’ve tested, but all of the providers on this list (apart from the final two – Hostinger and DreamHost) offer 24/7 support via live chat, phone, or both.
5. Migration Services
If you’re not hugely tech confident, signing up to a VPS provider that will migrate your site for free can be a huge weight off your shoulders.
Summary: Best VPS Hosting
You should now have a really clear idea of the best VPS hosting options, and know what each one is particularly good at. To recap, here’s that list again:
The 8 Best VPS Hosting Services:
- InMotion – Best overall VPS hosting provider: starts at $17.99/month.
- A2 Hosting – Best value for money: starts at $34.99/month.
- Bluehost – Best features: starts at $18.99/month.
- iPage – Best for customer service: starts at $19.99/month.
- HostGator – Best for reliability: starts at $89.95/month.
- GreenGeeks – Great server uptime: starts at $39.95/month.
- Hostinger – Best for dedicated IP addresses: starts at $9.95/month.
- DreamHost – Best bandwidth: starts at $15.99/month.
InMotion was the clear winner for us when taking features, support, uptime and value into account. It offers the best VPS hosting service across the board, and should be the go to provider for most readers.
A2 Hosting is especially good for non-technical folk due to its outstanding help and support, while Bluehost’s plans come packed with useful features.
The only way you’re ever going to know for sure, though, is by testing them out. Every provider (bar DreamHost) has a money-back guarantee, so it’s worth trialling one for a month or so to see what you think.
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