Advantages and disadvantages of VPS

Advantages of VPS

High cost performance

Compared to dedicated servers, VPS offers a lower cost plan. In most cases, the initial cost is several hundred thousand yen and the monthly fee is several tens of thousands of yen, but with VPS, there is no initial cost and the monthly fee is less than 500 yen.

Of course, the server specs will be reduced, so if you want to operate a larger server, it may be more cost-effective to choose an occupied server, but for small to medium-sized businesses, VPS is a very cost-effective server.

High scalability

VPS is a highly scalable server that allows you to easily upgrade your server specs.

Depending on the server provider, the number of CPU cores, RAM, storage, and transfer bandwidth can be increased as needed from the online management screen. You can easily scale up as well as scale down, allowing you to quickly adjust resources when needed.

Highly Customizable

Since VPS is the same as an occupied server in terms of operating system, it offers much more flexibility than shared rental servers or server-less servers managed by an operator, allowing you to install your own software and customize settings.

Since VPS gives you administrator rights to the server, it is not an exaggeration to say that you can do almost anything you want to do on the server with VPS if you do not consider specifications and technical capabilities.

Increased security.

VPS allows for more detailed security settings on a per-network and per-OS basis, making it possible to increase security compared to shared rental servers, which are subject to security settings on the administrator's side. Also, the server is completely separated from other users systematically, albeit virtually, so security is higher.

However, it is important to note that because VPS is a highly flexible server, it can conversely become a less secure server if you are not knowledgeable and do not follow security settings carefully.

Disadvantages of VPS

Need to manage by yourself

All servers set up with VPS require self-management.

Regular maintenance is required, including server updates, backups, and security patching. Also, these tasks require some technical skills.

Professional skills are required.

VPS requires more complex and technical operations than shared hosting. Therefore, setting up and managing the server requires a high level of technical skill.

More expensive than shared rental servers

Although the price of VPS is decreasing every year, it is inevitably higher than shared rental servers, which can be rented for as little as around 100 yen per month. Therefore, for a small business or personal use, a VPS may seem more expensive for your budget.

Also, in terms of the "specialized skills required" mentioned above, if you are going to manage the server yourself, you will need to pay for the cost of acquiring specialized knowledge, and if you are going to ask a technician to manage and build the server for you, you will also have to pay for the cost of the work.

Basically, you have to deal with it yourself.

In the case of shared rental servers, the management side prepares for a certain degree of program stability, including the interface, but in the case of VPS, once the server is up and running, the basic rule is that you have to "solve everything yourself".

In other words, you will need to research and deal with building applications on the VPS and dealing with errors on your own, and the support of the VPS service is limited to resolving problems with the server itself.

Therefore, if a problem arises, it can take a considerable amount of time to resolve it yourself.

VPS is similar to a dedicated server.

VPS is used by many companies and individual users because of its low cost, high flexibility, high security, and high reliability, while offering performance similar to a dedicated server. However, VPS also has drawbacks and should be thoroughly considered before making a choice.