We often get asked at meetups and conferences questions about when is it appropriate to upgrade from a Shared Hosting plan to a VPS or even a Dedicated Server. I usually respond more generically because there are a few factors you should weigh when deciding if it's time to upgrade your hosting account. Below is a breakdown of certain scenarios where you should definitely consider a VPS over your Shared Hosting account.
-
Your cron jobs are not finishing due to resource usage and PHP timeouts.
-
Resource limits are being reached on a consistent basis.
-
Your sites require non default configurations.
-
There are bursts of traffic to your sites with many concurrent users.
-
You have an online store with several hundred products.
These are general guidelines for when you may need to upgrade. Of course there are several more reasons that would warrant a need to upgrade.
Even if you have a new or smaller site, it's always a good idea to remain prepared for growth. That's because over time as your websites grow, you'll need a little bit more power to keep them running smoothly.
