VPS vs Shared Hosting for WordPress - When Is It Time to Move Up
WordPress runs on both shared hosting and VPS, but the experience is very different. Shared hosting works for low-traffic sites with basic requirements. As traffic grows and plugin complexity increases, the case for VPS becomes overwhelming.
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Performance Benchmark: Shared vs VPS WordPress
| Metric | Shared Hosting | VPS (2 vCPU/2GB) |
|---|---|---|
| TTFB (uncached) | 800-2000ms | 150-400ms |
| TTFB (cached) | 150-400ms | 50-100ms |
| Concurrent users before slowdown | 10-30 | 100-300 |
| Monthly traffic limit | 25-100 GB | 2-5 TB |
| PHP version control | Limited | Full |
| Redis object caching | Not available | Available |
When WordPress Outgrows Shared Hosting
Clear signals that you need to migrate: Time-to-first-byte is over 800ms on a warm (non-cold-start) page load. Your WooCommerce store has more than 1,000 products and checkout is slow. You install a plugin that requires Redis or Memcached (not available on shared hosting). You receive a 'resource limit exceeded' email from your host. Your site goes offline during traffic spikes from social media or news mentions. You need to run WP-CLI scripts, cron jobs, or background processing.
Migration to VPS: What Is Involved
WordPress migration to VPS involves: provision VPS, install LEMP stack (Linux/Nginx/MySQL/PHP), set up PHP-FPM with correct version, install and configure WordPress, migrate database (mysqldump + import), migrate files (rsync), configure nginx vhost, set up SSL (Certbot), test on staging IP before DNS cutover. The whole process takes 2-4 hours for an experienced admin. AnubizHost VPS plans include full root access to complete this process yourself, or managed DevOps assistance if needed.
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