Virtual Hosting: Also known as virtual hosting, it is a web hosting service. Virtual hosting does not have an independent operating system and does not support SSH remote login. Generally, you can upload a web project, specify the main directory, and it will run. See 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 an independent operating system and can be accessed remotely via SSH.
Generally, a server can virtualize multiple VPS (like dividing a big house into smaller rooms), but the performance of VPS will be lower than the original server.
The server running virtualization software also requires certain configurations.
Cloud Server: It can be understood as an enhanced version of VPS. Cloud servers are obtained by virtualizing from a cloud computing cluster (which can be understood as many servers combined into a super server). Cloud servers have high 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 considered normal. "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 yuan, you can have a decent one.
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 reference.
For smaller companies, monthly payment is recommended to prevent them from shutting down. For important services, it is still recommended to choose major providers.
You can also wait for events like 618, Double Eleven, Black Friday, etc., as vendors usually offer discounts.