4 Best VPS hosting providers for businesses

Are you a small business owner with a website that’s developed beyond the capabilities of shared web hosting? Or are you running a startup with big ambitions from day one, and expecting high traffic to match? These are just two scenarios where VPS hosting could be perfect for your business.

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. This type of hosting can be thought of as a mid-way point between shared and dedicated hosting. Not only is it private, but it offers a virtual copy of the operating system. This provides more resources than shared hosting, without the price tag and management requirements of dedicated hosting.

However, with so many hosting providers to choose from, it can be difficult to make a decision. Thankfully, we’ve compiled a guide to the best VPS hosting providers to help make the process easier for you.

Our research was based around the five key areas that are considered essential for small businesses: help and support, features, value for money, disk space, and uptime performance. This helped us identify our top four VPS hosting providers for small businesses:

• InMotion – best overall VPS hosting provider
• Bluehost – best for features
• HostGator – best for disk space
• A2 Hosting – best for value for money

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BEST ALL ROUND
Provider InMotion	Provider Bluehost	Provider Hostgator	Provider A2 Hosting
Best for Best overall VPS hosting provider	Best for Great range of features, including root access & free backups	Best for Best provider for businesses requiring a large amount of disk space	Best for Value for money
Plans 2GB RAM – $26.99 per month 4GB RAM – $34.99 per month 6GB RAM – $34.99 per month 8GB RAM – $83.99 per month	Plans Standard – £14.26 per month Enhanced – £22.52 per month Ultimate – £45.04 per month	Plans Snappy 2000 – $19.95 per month Snappy 4000 – $29.95 per month Snappy 8000 – $39.95 per month	Plans LIFT 4 – $49.99 per month LIFT 8 – $72.99 per month LIFT 16 – $86.99 per month MACH 8 – $74.99 per month MACH 16 $99.99 per month
Visit Try InMotion	Visit Try Bluehost	Visit Try Hostgator	Visit Try A2 Hosting

InMotion: Best overall VPS hosting provider

InMotion VPS Hosting

4.5

Best choice for shared WordPress-specific hosting. InMotion is offering massive savings on all hosting plans until 1/12/21. You could save hundreds of pounds on the cost of your plan.

Get InMotion now

• Free domain Yes
• Free SSL Yes

• Unlimited websites
• Unlimited email addresses
• Security tools and marketing suite

Summary InMotion is a superb choice of provider for any business looking for a hosting plan, scoring top marks for features, disk space, and help and support. InMotion claims to exponentially improve performance and speed with every plan, and all of its hosting packages are kitted out with everything you need, including a full security suite and marketing tools.

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InMotion is a US-based web hosting provider. It offers a range of hosting services, including VPS hosting, as well as shared, dedicated, and WordPress solutions. And with InMotion stating that it received over 25,500 customer compliments in 2019, it must be doing something right. Not only this, but InMotion is number one – it’s the best overall VPS provider.

Both managed VPS hosting and self-managed cloud VPS hosting are available. In this article, we’ve focused on InMotion’s managed VPS hosting service, as this is likely to be suitable for most small businesses. This is because it offers more resources than shared hosting, without needing the technical knowledge required for dedicated hosting. We go into more detail about the different types of VPS hosting in the specific section below.

InMotion offers a particularly strong range of features, such as optional root access and free backups. Although Windows servers aren’t available, the unlimited CPU cores across all plans are certainly welcome! Amounts of RAM and bandwidth will vary depending on your chosen plan, as will the number of dedicated IP addresses available.

Disk space is another area in which InMotion shines: between 75GB and 260GB of storage is available, depending on the plan you choose.

On top of this, InMotion provides high quality help and support. It has an online support centre that features more than 5,000 articles and guides. As well as this, you can get help through 24/7 live chat and phone service, as well as ticketed support.

InMotion providers Linux VPS server hosting – Windows, unfortunately, isn’t available. Other areas in which InMotion could improve are its uptime performance – 99.97% is good, but it could be better – and the value for money it offers.

There are four managed VPS plans available:

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2GB RAM	4GB RAM	6GB RAM	8GB RAM
Cost $26.99 per month	Cost $34.99 per month	Cost $34.99 per month	Cost $83.99 per month
Features 45GB disk space 24/7/365 U.S. based support Resource monitoring dashboard	Features 75GB disk space Unlimited monthly bandwidth Handle 10x more traffic with optimized configurations	Features 105GB disk space 3 dedicated IP addresses Unlimited email	Features 140GB disk space Free launch assist Live-state and scheduled snapshots

Check out InMotion's VPS hosting plans Try InMotion

Note that InMotion offers a 30-day money back guarantee.

*based on USD to GBP currency conversion at time of writing

All plans offer:

• Free domains with all 6-month and 12-month plans
• Multiple allowed domains/websites
• Unlimited email accounts
• Comprehensive support
• Unlimited CPU cores
• Optional root access
• SSL certificates
• 99.97% uptime
• Free backups

Bluehost: Best for features

Bluehost VPS Hosting

4.6

The best all-rounder for shared hosting.

Get Bluehost now

• Free domain For 1st year
• Free SSL Yes

• 24/7 customer support
• Unlimited websites
• Custom themes

Summary Bluehost is an excellent choice for small businesses looking for a hosting provider. It offers top-notch help and support, as well as strong uptime performance – all at an affordable price. In fact, in research conducted specifically for Startups.co.uk, Bluehost was found to be the best overall hosting provider. This research included analysis of ten hosting providers across a variety of categories that are crucial for small business owners, including types of hosting, features, and more.

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Founded in 2003, and part of the Endurance International Group since 2010, Bluehost offers a range of web solutions. This includes an array of different hosting options, as well as domains, emails, and more. It has partnered with WordPress for more than 10 years, and hires internal experts specifically for WordPress.

Bluehost scored highly in our research for its features. This includes root access, free backups, and the ability to have unlimited email accounts, no matter which plan you’re on. It offers a free domain, and there aren’t any restrictions on the number of allowed domains/websites on any of its plans.

At 99.98%, Bluehost offers strong uptime performance. This is better than InMotion, but lower than HostGator. An area in which Bluehost could really improve in is disk space – with only 30GB available on its Standard plan, this is the lowest amount of storage available when compared to other providers’ offerings at a similar level.

That being said, Bluehost is another top performer when it comes to help and support. There are plenty of online help resources available, as well as 24/7 live chat, a 24/7 phone line, and ticket-based support.

Although Windows isn’t available, Bluehost offers solid Linux VPS server hosting.

You can choose from three VPS hosting plans:

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Standard	Enhanced	Ultimate
Cost £14.26 per month	Cost £22.52 per month	Cost £45.04 per month
Features 2GB available RAM Two CPU cores One dedicated IP address 1TB bandwidth 30GB storage	Features 4GB available RAM Two CPU cores Two dedicated IP addresses 2TB bandwidth 60GB storage	Features 8GB available RAM Four CPU cores Two dedicated IP addresses 3TB bandwidth 120GB storage

Check out Bluehost's hosting plans today Visit Bluehost

A 30-day money back guarantee is available.

All plans include:

• Unlimited allowed domains/websites
• Unlimited email accounts
• SSL certificates
• 99.98% uptime
• Free backups
• Root access
• Free domain

HostGator: Best for disk space

Hostgator VPS Hosting

4.5

Best for uptime performance.

Get HostGator now

• Free domain Yes
• Free SSL Yes

• One-click WordPress installs
• Unmetered bandwidth
• Free SEO tools - with business plan and above

Summary Owned by the same company as Bluehost, Hostgator is another one of the world's most widely used hosting providers. Its prices are fairly average and it offers a very generous 45-day money-back guarantee. Our researchers found Hostgator to be the best provider for uptime with a 99.99% guarantee.

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HostGator was founded in 2002, and has its headquarters in Texas.

Disk space is a clear strength, with HostGator providing a very generous amount of storage across all plans. The lowest tier – Snappy 2000 – includes 120GB, which is equal to the highest amount of storage on offer from Bluehost. In contrast, HostGator’s maximum available storage is 240GB, which is included on the Snappy 8000 plan.

With 99.99% uptime performance, HostGator leads the way out of the four providers showcased in this article.

However, this all comes at a cost – literally – since HostGator scored the lowest in the value for money category out of the four providers. If budget is your main concern, then other providers may be more suitable.

HostGator is another provider that excels with its help and support offering. It has an online support portal, as well as video tutorials. 24/7 live chat and 24/7 phone support are also available, as well as a ticket system.

Note that phone support is temporarily only available 8am-9pm EST, although 24/7 chat agent support is still available as normal.

Although Windows isn’t an option, HostGator uses Linux VPS server hosting.

There are three plans for VPS hosting available:

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Snappy 2000	Snappy 4000	Snappy 8000
Cost $19.95 per month	Cost $29.95 per month	Cost $39.95 per month
Features 2GB available RAM Two CPU cores 1.5TB bandwidth 120GB storage	Features 4GB available RAM Two CPU cores 2TB bandwidth 165GB storage	Features 8GB available RAM Four CPU cores 3TB bandwidth 240GB storage

Check out Hostgator's hosting plans today Visit Hostgator

HostGator provides a 45-day money back guarantee.

*based on USD to GBP currency conversion at time of writing

All plans offer:

• Multiple allowed domains/websites
• Two dedicated IP addresses
• Unlimited email accounts
• Extensive support
• SSL certificates
• 99.99% uptime
• Free backups
• Root access

A2 Hosting: Best for value for money

A2 VPS Hosting

4

Best value for money

Get A2 Hosting now

• Free domain No
• Free SSL Yes

• Unlimited websites
• Free automatic backups
• Money-back guarantee

Summary A2 Hosting is a great value hosting provider offering all major types of hosting. All plans beyond the most basic shared hosting plan come with unlimited websites, unlimited email accounts, and a 99.9% uptime commitment. Its shared WordPress hosting is particularly good value, with automatic updates for software and plugins, free site migration, and a turbo server.

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A2 Hosting was launched in 2001 by a UNIX systems administrator, and is independently owned.

Similar to InMotion, A2 Hosting offers the following types of VPS hosting: unmanaged, managed and core. We’ve focused on managed hosting, as this type of hosting is likely to be the most relevant option for many small businesses.

Like all the other providers in this article, A2 Hosting offers considerable assistance to customers, and scored top marks for its help and support. It has an online knowledge base, with FAQs and resources to help you locate an answer yourself. But further help is available, should you require it: A2 Hosting provides 24/7 live chat and 24/7 phone support, as well as the option to submit a support ticket.

A2 Hosting offers the best value for money of the four providers listed. It especially stands out when comparing the providers’ highest prices, with A2 Hosting charging the least at this level. The anytime money back guarantee is also appealing – indeed, of the four providers featured here, this flexibility is unique to A2 Hosting.

While there’s sufficient disk space provided on each plan, the amount of storage didn’t wow us, especially in comparison to some of the other providers. Uptime performance was another weak area – in fact, 99.95% is the lowest available of the four providers.

But the available features are worth a mention: both InMotion and A2 Hosting offer the same amount of RAM on all plans, but A2 Hosting does so at a more competitive price. Root access and free backups are included, while A2 Hosting is the only provider in this article to have both Windows and Linux VPS server hosting.

The five managed VPS plans provide:

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LIFT 4	LIFT 8	LIFT 16	MACH 8	MACH 16
Cost $49.99	Cost $72.99	Cost $86.99	Cost $74.99	Cost $99.99
Features 4GB RAM 150GB SSD Storage 2 TB Transfer 2 Cores Free SSL Certificate	Features 8GB RAM 250GB SSD Storage 3 TB Transfer 6 Cores Free SSL Certificate	Features 16GB RAM 450GB SSD Storage 4 TB Transfer 8 Cores Free SSL Certificate	Features 8GB RAM 150GB NVMe Storage 2TB Transfer 2 Cores Free SSL	Features 16GB RAM 250GB NVMe Storage 3 TB Transfer 6 Cores Free SSL

Check out A2 Hosting's hosting plans today Try A2 Hosting

Note that all plan prices are offered on a prepaid basis.

A2 Hosting provides an anytime money back guarantee.

All plans include:

• Multiple allowed domains/websites
• Substantial customer support
• Two dedicated IP addresses
• 99.95% uptime performance
• Unlimited email accounts
• SSL certificates
• Free backups
• Root access

Best VPS hosting UK: How to choose a provider for small businesses

Searching for VPS hosting providers might feel a bit overwhelming – there are so many to choose from, with many offering low prices and speedy services. Although price is a key consideration for a lot of small business owners, it’s not the only factor to take into account when making your decision.

The providers included in this article are some of the top VPS hosting companies available on the market, and have made it into this list for UK small businesses. But how was this conclusion reached?

Our research analysed providers based on the following five factors, which were considered crucial for small business owners looking to select a VPS hosting service provider:

• Help and support – the providers were assessed on factors such as if a knowledge centre and ticketed support were available, as well as live chat and phone support (including if 24/7 support was on offer for both of these). All of the providers included in this article scored top marks in this category
• Features – our research reviewed the amount of RAM available, as well as if root access and free backups were included. It also looked at whether Windows and/or Linux servers were available, plus the number of CPU cores. In addition, how many email accounts and dedicated IP addresses were offered, along with if free domain names were possible, were taken into consideration. The number of allowed domains/websites, as well as available bandwidth and if SSL security certificates were included for free, were also all assessed
• Value for money – this category reviewed providers’ pricing options, including the number of plans available, along with the starting and highest prices (excluding discounts), plus the timeframe of any money back guarantees
• Disk space – each provider was assessed on the amount of storage it offers, per plan
• Uptime performance – uptime is measured as a percentage, and the figure determined how providers were rated in this category. 99.97% and above is good, while 99.99% is excellent, although 100% is impossible

Which type of VPS hosting is best for my business?

Just as there are different types of hosting in general, there are also options within VPS hosting itself. You can choose from managed or unmanaged VPS hosting: some providers offer both options, while others may offer more, or only provide a managed service.

Managed VPS hosting

This option means the provider will manage setup and updates, as well as backups, security, and more. This is ideal for startups without the resources to handle all of these functions themselves, or for those that don’t have the technical skills to do so. Then again, although there’s far less to worry about, your access is limited.

Unmanaged VPS hosting

While the provider is responsible for installing the operating system, you’ll have to take care of software, security, backups, and more if you opt for unmanaged VPS hosting. Even though this option offers greater control and freedom, you’ll need to have sufficient technical knowledge or resources to manage this properly.

In this article, we’ve focused on managed hosting, as this is likely to be more suitable for many small businesses.

For more help, you can contact the providers directly to explain your requirements. They can assess your business needs, and offer insight into which plans could be an ideal match.

• InMotion
• Bluehost
• HostGator
• A2 Hosting

How much do VPS hosting plans cost?

VPS hosting is provided on a pay monthly basis, with plans ranging from around £15 to around £70 – the cheapest plan featured in this article is Bluehost’s Standards plan at £14.26 per month. The price of the plan will depend on how much RAM and which featured you need.

There are usually around three plans to choose from, although some providers may offer a different amount. All of the providers included in this article offer some kind of money-back guarantee.

How we test hosting providers for small businesses

We tested 27 hosting providers to evaluate them in terms of price, performance, features, help and support, and more so we can make the most useful recommendations to small UK-based businesses.

Our rigorous testing process means these products have been scored and rated in five main categories of investigation and 30 subcategories – in fact, we covered 282 areas of investigation in total and we look at these for all hosting types. We then gave each category score a ‘relevance weighting' to ensure the product's final score perfectly reflects the needs of our Startups.co.uk readers.

Our main testing categories for hosting providers are:

Price: the cost associated with the hosting services provided by a hosting provider, such as subscription plans, pricing tiers, and any additional fees or charges.

Performance: the speed, reliability, and overall performance of a hosting provider's servers. It encompasses factors such as server uptime and response time.

Features: the specific functionalities and capabilities provided by a hosting provider, including storage space, bandwidth allocation, and server location.

Help and Support: the assistance and resources available to users when they encounter issues or need guidance, e.g. tutorials and email or chat support.

Market Analysis / Customer Score: the assessment of the hosting provider's position and reputation in the market.

The Startups product testing process

Next steps: comparing VPS hosting providers

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BEST ALL ROUND
Provider InMotion	Provider Bluehost	Provider Hostgator	Provider A2 Hosting
Best for Best overall VPS hosting provider	Best for Great range of features, including root access & free backups	Best for Best provider for businesses requiring a large amount of disk space	Best for Value for money
Visit Try InMotion	Visit Try Bluehost	Visit Try Hostgator	Visit Try A2 Hosting

It may be tempting simply to opt for the cheapest provider on the market, but there’s a lot more to choosing a VPS hosting provider than the price tag (although if budget is your primary concern, A2 Hosting could be ideal).

It’s important to take a close-up look at the providers, and review the details of different plans. Some points to consider include: what’s the uptime performance like? How much RAM, bandwidth and storage is available? And what else is included on top of the necessary functions? These can help you to streamline the available options to find a provider that’s best for your business.

If you’re still not sure, we’d suggest opting for InMotion as your VPS hosting provider. It’s our overall best VPS hosting provider, and regardless of which of its three plans you choose, you’ll benefit from unlimited CPU cores. Get started with InMotion now!

FAQs

What is VPS hosting?

Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is designed for website owners that need more than what a shared hosting service can offer, but aren’t yet at the stage where they require their own dedicated server.

This is because VPS hosting uses a virtual server, which has a specific copy of the operating system (OS) installed. Better still, since it’s private, it’s only available for your website to use – meaning there’s no need to worry about other sites taking all the bandwidth.

What’s the cheapest VPS hosting?

From our research, A2 Hosting offers great value for money. It scored the highest out of the four providers in this category, with plans priced from £49.99 to £99.99 per month, excluding discounts.

While A2 Hosting may be ideal for budget-conscious business owners, be aware that what it offers in terms of affordability, it lacks in other areas – namely disk space and uptime performance. You can learn more about A2 Hosting VPS pricing in the specific section above.

VPS vs shared hosting: Which is better?

Whether VPS or shared hosting is better depends on your business requirements. For example, if you’re just starting out, or run a low-traffic website and want a hands-off hosting service, then shared hosting is likely to be the best choice.

Alternatively, if your business is growing, or you’re already using a shared hosting provider and your website requires more resources, then VPS hosting is likely to offer the features and functions that could help take your business website to the next level.

Learn more about the different types of hosting with our guide to the best web hosting for small businesses.