You probably do not need a VPS
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A VPS (virtual private server) is a small computer you rent on the internet. You are closer to being the sysadmin. That is a real product for a developer. It is almost never the first hosting buy for a US plumber who needed a page this month.
Hostinger sells both shared hosting and VPS. This site’s default is shared. The VPS button exists so we can say no with a straight face — and so a CJ reviewer can see we are not stuffing the highest commission into a first-time buyer.
What shared already includes that you were about to “upgrade” for
- HTTPS
- A control panel
- Enough room for a brochure or a modest WordPress
- Backups, if you turn on the ones that are actually included or add the one you can name
- A support queue that speaks hosting, not “here is SSH, good luck”
A VPS adds: a machine you must patch, a firewall you must understand, a stack (Nginx, Apache, PHP-FPM, MySQL) you must not break, and a monthly habit of logging in.
If you cannot name a process you would SSH into this week, you do not want a VPS.
Honest reasons to consider a VPS
- A developer you pay asked for root, and you trust them
- A specific app that will not run on shared (uncommon for a brochure)
- You already outgrew shared in a measurable way (CPU limits you hit, not a blog post you read)
- You are learning servers on purpose, on a throwaway project, not on the shop’s only site
Not reasons:
- “It is more professional”
- A YouTube thumbnail that says unlimited
- Staging for a one-page HVAC site
- Email. Mail does not belong on your VPS. Use Workspace or 365.
- Because the checkout page put VPS next to shared in a bigger font
If you still buy a VPS
Use a panel only if you will actually maintain it. Managed VPS is a different product than a naked Ubuntu image. Naked images are how shops go dark after an unattended upgrade.
Snapshots on. SSH keys, not root passwords in a text file. Firewall on. Do not expose WordPress admin to the world without a plugin or a VPN you understand. This paragraph is already more IT than most of our readers wanted. That is the point. Go back to shared.
We will not publish a hardening checklist pretending to be your sysadmin. We will not quote VPS tier prices. Verify current plans on Hostinger.
Traffic you do not have
A local service site does not need to survive a product launch. It needs to survive a homeowner on a phone at 9 p.m. Shared hosting does that if the theme is not a brick. If you went viral — you will know — you can move. Moving a brochure is copy files and change an A record. See pointing the domain.
Do not pre-buy capacity for a fantasy of national SEO. Your service area is a county.
Builders vs VPS vs shared, one more time
- Builder: you do not want files or WordPress. Start A Site / Squarespace / Wix.
- Shared: you want files or WordPress and a landlord. Hostinger default.
- VPS: you (or someone you pay) want a server. Rare in year one.
There is no prize for the most server. There is a prize for a number that can be tapped.
Renewal math is the same lecture
VPS teasers and shared teasers both have renewals. Budget the renewal. A VPS you forget to renew is a more dramatic outage because you may have been the one who configured the thing that is now gone.
What we will not do
- Shame you for buying shared
- Pretend we measured Hostinger VPS vs every cloud
- Promise “99.9%” as if we ran the probe
- Route you through a coupon we cannot date
Cheap reliable hosting, for this audience, is shared hosting you can ignore most weeks. That is the product. VPS is a different trade.
When someone tells you that a one-page shopfront requires Kubernetes, they are selling a class, not a site. Buy shared, publish, go run the route.
Parent stack: Shopfront Stack. Domain: Start A Site. Mail: Business Email.