VPS / Cloud
Full root access, your rules.
VPS/cloud gives you a dedicated slice of compute — install anything, tune anything, scale by changing the box. DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Linode, Vultr at the SMB end; AWS EC2 + GCP Compute at enterprise. Best fit when you need custom stacks, deep performance tuning, or predictable monthly spend without managed-host premiums.
VPS instance · crescentek-prod-01
Dublin DC185.92.44.128Uptime 47d
Tier
Nano
€5/mo
1 vCPU · 1GB · 25GB
Starter
€12/mo
2 vCPU · 2GB · 50GB
Standard
€24/mo
4 vCPU · 8GB · 160GB
Performance
€48/mo
8 vCPU · 16GB · 320GB
Heavy
€96/mo
16 vCPU · 32GB · 640GB
vCPU cores
35% avg load
c0
RAM usage
0.7 / 1 GB
nginx
mysql
php-fpm
system
other
NVMe disk
8 / 25 GB
32%
used · 17GB free
Network throughput
340 / 1000 GB
Fits: Dev / staging / side projects
Best-fit scenarios
When VPS is the right call.
Custom stacks not on managed hosts
Django, Rails, custom Node, specific Python versions, self-hosted CMSs. VPS gives you the OS to install anything.
Database + app on one box
MySQL + PHP + nginx all local = minimal network overhead. Good for mid-traffic apps where latency between tiers matters.
Dev teams with Linux skills
If someone on your team is comfortable with SSH + systemd + nginx config, VPS is half the cost of managed hosting for equivalent performance.
Multiple sites on one server
Agency or individual hosting 10-30 small sites. VPS at €20/mo can handle this; equivalent on shared cPanel needs multiple plans.
Data sovereignty requirements
Pick a specific DC location (Frankfurt / Amsterdam / Dublin). Know exactly where your data lives. Managed hosts sometimes abstract this away.
Predictable monthly cost
Flat monthly price. No per-request fees, no bandwidth surprises under the included allowance. Budget certainty managed cloud doesn't always offer.
The provider landscape
Which VPS/cloud provider for which job.
Hetzner
Germany
From
€4.49/mo
Stack + price reality
Best value VPS in Europe. Falkenstein/Nuremberg DCs. Prices 30-50% lower than AWS/DO for same specs. Stack: great.
Best use
Irish SMBs wanting EU-hosted, raw cost-efficient compute
DigitalOcean
USA (Global)
From
€5/mo
Stack + price reality
Developer-friendly dashboard, Droplets simple to manage, excellent docs. NYC/LON/FRA/SFO regions. Stack: great DX.
Best use
Dev teams wanting smooth experience + predictable pricing
Linode (Akamai Cloud)
USA (Global)
From
€5/mo
Stack + price reality
Similar DO feel; owned by Akamai. Good performance, solid support, predictable billing.
Best use
Teams preferring Akamai's network backbone
Vultr
USA (32+ regions)
From
€3.50/mo
Stack + price reality
Aggressive pricing; wide regional footprint; slightly less polished than DO/Linode dashboard. Stack: good value.
Best use
Cost-first teams needing specific regional coverage
AWS EC2 / GCP Compute
Global hyperscalers
From
~€10/mo base (plus usage)
Stack + price reality
Full cloud ecosystem, elastic scaling, endless services. Steeper learning curve. Billing complexity.
Best use
Enterprise/regulated workloads, complex multi-service apps
Scaleway (FR)
France (Paris/Amsterdam)
From
€4.99/mo
Stack + price reality
European alternative to AWS; good for teams with EU-only data requirements. Full cloud suite.
Best use
French-data-sovereignty, EU-only compliance requirements
The true TCO
€20/month VPS isn't really €20/month.
The VPS itself is cheap. Running it properly in production takes time, expertise, and extras the listing price doesn't include.
The VPS itself
€20/mo
Advertised price for Standard tier (4 vCPU, 8GB). Base instance only.
Backups
+€4-8/mo
Provider backup plans. Or configure your own to S3/Backblaze. Either way, real cost.
Monitoring (Uptime)
+€0-15/mo
UptimeRobot free tier OK for solo. Datadog/New Relic for proper monitoring is €15-50/mo.
Sysadmin time / retainer
€200-800/mo equivalent
Patches, updates, security hardening, backup verification, incident response. 4-8 hrs/mo at real hourly rate.
Traffic overages
€0-50/mo
Bandwidth beyond included (usually 1-5TB). Most sites stay under; media-heavy sites bleed here.
SSL, DNS, email
€0-20/mo
Free with Let's Encrypt + Cloudflare DNS. Transactional email service (Postmark/Resend) €15+/mo.
Security incidents / downtime
Varies (can be painful)
Hacked? Compromised? €1,000-5,000+ cleanup. Without monitoring + backups, it's your problem to solve.
Realistic TCO: €20 VPS + €6 backups + €15 monitoring + €300 admin time = €340/mo equivalent. That's often around the same as managed WP hosting. Pick VPS for control + custom stacks; pick managed if you don't need those.
Honest limits
When VPS is the wrong choice.
Teams without Linux comfort
VPS = you are the sysadmin. If no one on the team runs `apt update`, reads error logs, or configures nginx — you'll struggle. Managed hosting fits better.
Need elastic auto-scaling
VPS has fixed specs. Traffic spike 10×? Manual resize + restart. For burst-heavy workloads, Vercel/Netlify/Cloud Run auto-scale without effort.
Small brochure sites
5-page marketing site on a €20 VPS is overkill. Shared cPanel, Webflow, or Cloudflare Pages handles that for €5-10/mo with less to manage.
When security is on you
VPS arrives blank. Firewall, fail2ban, security updates, intrusion detection — all you. Miss something and the consequences are yours. Managed hosts handle the baseline for you.
You want vendor-level SLA
Self-managed VPS has no application-level SLA — if your PHP crashes, that's your problem. Managed hosting guarantees uptime; VPS only guarantees the VM runs.
Serverless or edge workloads
If request patterns are bursty or global, edge platforms (Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge, Lambda) fit better than provisioning fixed-size VPS capacity.
Frequently asked
VPS/Cloud questions.
Hetzner for value + EU hosting (Falkenstein DC is the closest major EU DC to Ireland). DigitalOcean if DX and support matter more than €2-3/mo savings. For AWS-mandated clients, EC2 but expect 3-5× the cost of Hetzner for equivalent specs.
Related
Related hosting options
Going VPS? We'll set it up right.
60-minute infrastructure call. Share the stack + traffic + compliance needs; we'll spec the right VPS provider, tier, and config. Most clients use us for initial setup + ongoing retainer — more reliable than self-managing.