Virtual Hosting: Also known as virtual hosting, it is a type of web hosting service. Virtual hosting does not have its own operating system and does not support SSH remote login. Generally, you can upload a web project, specify the main directory, and it will run. Refer to the Alibaba Cloud virtual hosting product documentation for more information.
VPS: Also known as Virtual Private Server, it is a virtual dedicated server. It is usually obtained by installing virtualization software on a physical server. (It can be compared to installing a virtual machine on a personal Windows system computer.)
- A VPS has its own operating system and can be accessed remotely via SSH.
- Generally, a server can virtualize multiple VPSs (like dividing a big house into smaller rooms), but the performance of VPSs will be lower than that of the original server.
- The server running virtualization software also requires certain configurations.
Cloud Server: It can be understood as an enhanced version of VPS. A cloud server is obtained by virtualizing from a cloud computing cluster (which can be understood as many servers combined into a super server). Cloud servers have higher availability and security, supporting protection against network attacks and disaster recovery backups.
How to Choose
Choose reasonably based on budget and business needs.
For student projects or running a blog site, configurations like 1c1g, 1c2g, or 2c2g are generally sufficient. "c" refers to the number of CPU cores, and "g" refers to the size of memory.
In China: You can generally choose products from major cloud service providers such as Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, and Huawei Cloud. For example, Elastic Cloud Server or Lightweight Application Server. With an annual payment of around 100 RMB, you can have a decent option.
Outside of China: Refer to review websites and make a purchase. Generally, VPS is cheaper than cloud services. For example:
- https://www.10besty.com/best-vps-hosting-services/
- https://www.laozuo.org/myvps
There are many online resources available for further research.
For smaller providers, it is recommended to choose monthly payment to prevent them from shutting down unexpectedly. For important services, it is still advisable to use major providers.
You can also wait for promotions like June 18th, Double Eleven, Black Friday, etc., as vendors usually offer discounts.