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vServer or web hosting?
For a website, web hosting is the right choice. For software that is not available in web hosting, a vServer is suitable.
Web hosting is the right fit if …
- you run a website, a blog or an online shop, including with WordPress, TYPO3 or Shopware
- you need mailboxes for your domain
- you do not want to take care of operating system updates
- you want to ask someone when a problem occurs instead of searching for the cause yourself
We take care of server maintenance, security updates and backups.
A vServer is worthwhile if …
- you want to run software that brings its own services, such as Nextcloud, Matrix, a game server or your own application
- you need your own services on your own ports
- you want full control over configuration and versions
- you run a VPN or a firewall yourself
In return, you are responsible for the system: updates, security and backups are up to you. If that is too much for you, our server management is available as an additional service.
Comparison
| Web hosting | vServer | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | €6.50 per month (Web Visitenkarte, without database), with databases from €15.00 (Web S) | €6.00 per month (vServer XS) |
| Operating system maintenance | done by us | done by you |
| Installing your own software | no | yes |
| Own services and ports | no | yes |
| Root access | no | yes |
| Mailboxes | set up | set up by you |
| Backup | daily by us | Snapshots (from vServer S), backup set up by you |
| Required prior knowledge | none | Linux basics |
Which costs less in the long run?
The vServer has the lower base price, web hosting the lower total effort. If you do not want to maintain the server yourself, you add server management for €30.00. The vServer then costs more than web hosting. Include the working time you put in yourself: updates, security, troubleshooting.
Conversely, as soon as you run two or three services that do not run in web hosting, the vServer quickly becomes the less expensive solution. You then need only one contract instead of several.
How many visitors can web hosting handle?
For most websites, the number of visitors is not the reason to switch. Limits are reached sooner with compute-intensive applications: a shop with many simultaneous orders, a site with a complex search or software that works continuously in the background. The sign of this is not a high number of page views but slow response times despite little traffic.
Both together
The website and mailboxes run in web hosting, and the service that cannot run there runs on a small vServer. This separates responsibilities clearly. If the service fails, the website remains reachable.
What if I make the wrong choice?
You can switch to a larger plan at any time and to a smaller one at the end of the contract term.
See also: View web hosting plans View vServers First steps on the vServer