VPS vs Dedicated Server: What's the Difference?

A VPS (virtual private server) is a virtual machine: a share of one physical server, with its own operating system, root access and a fixed amount of CPU, RAM and storage. A dedicated server is a whole physical machine that only you use. A VPS is cheaper, starts in minutes and can be resized; a dedicated server gives you all of the hardware’s performance and full control over it.

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Before you start

This page explains the difference so you can choose. The guides in this section are for servers where you run the operating system yourself. Read what an unmanaged VPS is if you are new to running servers.

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What is a VPS?

A VPS runs on a physical host computer with a hypervisor, software that pools the machine’s CPU, memory and storage and shares them between isolated virtual machines (KVM, which is built into the Linux kernel, is a common one). Each VPS has:

• its own operating system, which you choose and can reinstall,
• its own IP address and root (Linux) or Administrator (Windows) login,
• a set number of virtual CPU cores (vCPUs), RAM and disk space.

Other customers on the same host can’t see your files or processes. You do share the physical CPUs, disks and network with them, which is why a VPS costs less. On a FREAKHOSTING VPS you manage the machine in the VPS Control Panel: power, reinstall, VNC console, backups and resource graphs.

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What is a dedicated server?

A dedicated server (sometimes called bare metal) is a physical machine in a data centre that is rented to one customer. Nothing else runs on it unless you put it there. You get:

• every CPU core and all the RAM in the machine,
• direct access to the physical disks, including RAID if the server has it,
• the full network port of the machine.

Because there is no hypervisor between you and the hardware, you can also run your own virtualisation (for example Proxmox VE) and split the server into VMs yourself. For tasks that need the provider, such as a hardware check, remote console access or an OS reinstall, open a ticket.

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Which should I choose?

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Is a VPS the same as shared web hosting?

No. On shared web hosting many websites run under one operating system that the host manages; you get a control panel but no root access. On a VPS you have your own operating system and full root access, and you install and maintain everything yourself.

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Frequently asked questions

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Is a VPS as secure as a dedicated server?

The hypervisor isolates each VPS from the others, so other customers can’t reach your files. How secure your server really is depends mostly on how you configure it: updates, firewall, SSH keys and backups. Start with the Linux security checklist.

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Can I run Windows on a VPS or dedicated server?

Windows Server runs on both kinds of server. On a VPS you choose it when you set up or reinstall the server. See which operating system to choose.

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Can I move from a VPS to a dedicated server later?

Yes, but it is a migration, not a button: you set up the new server and copy your data across, for example with rsync and a database dump.

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What does “unmanaged” mean for these servers?

You are responsible for the operating system and software. See what is an unmanaged VPS.

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Related guides

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