RentServersBy the RentServers team at Wells Software Consulting LLC · Updated
| VPS | Dedicated | Cloud instances | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Shared, virtualized | Whole physical machine | Virtualized, elastic |
| Performance | Varies with neighbors | Consistent | Consistent per instance type |
| Billing | Flat monthly | Flat monthly, sometimes setup fee | Per second or hour, plus egress |
| Scaling | Resize in minutes | New hardware in hours to days | Autoscale in minutes |
| Best for | Small apps, staging | Steady 24/7 workloads | Spiky load, managed services |
The steady-load test
Look at the last three months of usage. If your instances ran at roughly the same size the whole time, you paid for elasticity you didn't use. Price a dedicated server with similar cores and memory; for steady workloads it's often much cheaper per month, and bandwidth is usually included.
Where each one starts
As reference points: VPS plans start around $5.35 a month (GetDeploying), and entry dedicated servers from one major provider start at $147 a month (OVHcloud). Cloud instance prices vary by provider and commitment.
A common path
- Prototype on a VPS or cloud free tier.
- Launch on cloud instances while load is unpredictable.
- Steady state: move the database and core services to dedicated hardware, keep bursty parts in the cloud.