do you recommend vps or shared hosting?

[electrogypsy]

my website currently uses vbulletin 4 on a dreamhost VPS, and it's still slow, and gets database errors/timeouts, etc, and stops working at all when i drop the ram below 600mb.

im really liking xenforo, but i was wondering if it works well on shared hosting? or, what specs would you recommend (ram, etc) for a VPS?

my site currently has 4,000 members, 800 or so active, and about 30-40 online at any given time. thanks!

 

[Jose Amaral Mota]

How many guest pop in during that high period....

You can find shared for $4 to $15 with 50+ connection......

 

[James]

I'd recommend (personally) a VPS over shared any day of the week. Even if I have 5 people visiting my site every 6 months, I'd still choose VPS over shared.

 

[Floris]

Despite that many disagree with me, I have completely written off shared hosting for various reasons.
http://mrfloris.com/blogs/why-shared-hosting-is-history-upgrade-to-vps/

 

[electrogypsy]

I'd recommend (personally) a VPS over shared any day of the week. Even if I have 5 people visiting my site every 6 months, I'd still choose VPS over shared.

Why? You don't cite any reasons besides your preference.

How many guest pop in during that high period....

You can find shared for $4 to $15 with 50+ connection......

Total users at peak is usually about 70. Although once it got up to 220.

What I'm looking for here is info about weather xenforo would run well on shared hosting, or if it's *highly* recommended to run it on a VPS, based on the size of my forum.

 

[James]

To answer your question, XenForo should run smoothly on a shared host, though faster on a VPS.

It really depends on what you want. You want to be able to run a forum of 30-40 concurrent users? A shared host will work fine.

 

[electrogypsy]

To answer your question, XenForo should run smoothly on a shared host, though faster on a VPS.

It really depends on what you want. You want to be able to run a forum of 30-40 concurrent users? A shared host will work fine.

Thanks for the reply, I'll consider that. I am still weighing my options, so anyone feel free to chime in, I'm up for shared hosting/VPS company suggestions as well.

 

[electrogypsy]

To answer your question, XenForo should run smoothly on a shared host, though faster on a VPS.

It really depends on what you want. You want to be able to run a forum of 30-40 concurrent users? A shared host will work fine.

Also, how much ram would you recommend for xenforo on a VPS? Is 512 enough to start out with?

 

[Paul B]

I run my site on shared hosting. Never had any problems.
It's not the busiest site in the world but we have had over 200 online at once, with 50 in chat.

If you can afford/justify the cost of VPS then sure, go for that.
Until my site starts paying its own way though, it will stay on shared.

 

[electrogypsy]

Until my site starts paying its own way though, it will stay on shared.

Thanks for the advice, I'm pretty much in the same boat. I switched to a VPS on dreamhost, but their server is such a pain to configure properly that I've given up and am seeking a new host.

 

[principia]

I´m on shared also, and like Brogan have never had problems.
And also, its much easier than on VPS and you have more time for your forum/members because there is no work to do on the server
On my SMF Forum I have 64MB and its enough all the time (max is 25 online at same time) and with XF I will start with 128MB. Hope thats enough.

 

[electrogypsy]

On my SMF Forum I have 64MB and its enough all the time (max is 25 online at same time) and with XF I will start with 128MB. Hope thats enough.

Who are you hosting with? I've never seen VPS hosting with any less than 512.

 

[principia]

Who are you hosting with? I've never seen VPS hosting with any less than 512.

Its not a VPS Server, just normal Webhosting (shared) and in Germany. Typically in Germany there´s only 64MB (for php Memory).
For about three Years I have running Wordpress+SMF on this. (as I said max 30 User online at same time) and it runs without any Problems, where Wordpress needs around 40-50MB (you see, SMF needs little Memory )

Now I´m testing XF with some Addons (Portal, Blog, Media) and have 128MB for php Memory and No Worpress anymore, because I only want to have one System. Momently I´m waiting for ragteks Articlesystem (coming soon in 1-2 Weeks) and a Importer from SMF and I switch.

 

[Blandt]

No ... there are VPSs starting 64 MB or 128 MB ..

Here is a VPS company on a budget : http://www.thrustvps.com/

I got an account last week ... I am currently trying them out .. so far so good. The good news is they use XEN virtualization which let you install full core of any distribution of your choice (heck even Windows )

you have to know how to manage your own server ...

 

[Decent60]

I run my site on shared hosting. Never had any problems.
It's not the busiest site in the world but we have had over 200 online at once, with 50 in chat.

If you can afford/justify the cost of VPS then sure, go for that.
Until my site starts paying its own way though, it will stay on shared.

I pay $16 a month for my VPS (DirectAdmin, full root and 1 extra IP)



As for the topic, VPS > Shared Host....but as long as you get a good host, shared host is a very cost effective solution. Likewise can be said about a VPS. I had a horrible experience where the host decided to overfill the servers, and my own VPS wasn't even able to utilize the RAM I was supposed to get (our whole server used a max of 128MB...and that was during the upgrade portion of our site; we barely got 40MB when they oversold). Find a good host that suits your needs and only leave them if you run into problems.

 

[Decent60]

No ... there are VPSs starting 64 MB or 128 MB ..

Here is a VPS company on a budget : http://www.thrustvps.com/

I got an account last week ... I am currently trying them out .. so far so good. The good news is they use XEN virtualization which let you install full core of any distribution of your choice (heck even Windows )

you have to know how to manage your own server ...

The only problem I had with them is that their Support isn't the brightest. Beyond that, I had a server setup and fully running in about 12 hours (had to wait for DirectAdmin license email).

 

[Blandt]

The only problem I had with them is that their Support isn't the brightest. Beyond that, I had a server setup and fully running in about 12 hours (had to wait for DirectAdmin license email).

You get what you pay for (No support) .... in my case I didn't need support ... I only need good hardware and a reliable connection (Servers in LA)

 

[Sadik B]

I have run sites on shared, vds and dedicated. A good shared host (i would recommend bluehost) is ok if you have traffic in the range of 1000 - 2000 visits in a day at max with about 40-50 or at max about 100 people simultaneously online.

VPS is definitely better but obviously will cost more and involve work to maintain. It is justified only if you have high traffic and the site pays for itself.

My personal preference and what I currently run all my sites on, is obviously dedicated servers.

 

[Null]

Personally, I'd recommend a VPS. I'd also recommend going with Linode.

If you have a VPS you have more flexibility with your specific configuration and needs. You can run any OS you wish, change your webserver to one of your liking, change the PHP configuration to better suit your forum/website and the list goes on.

But, XenForo runs perfectly well within a shared hosting environment.

 

[Moses]

Personally, I'd recommend a VPS. I'd also recommend going with Linode.

If you have a VPS you have more flexibility with your specific configuration and needs. You can run any OS you wish, change your webserver to one of your liking, change the PHP configuration to better suit your forum/website and the list goes on.

But, XenForo runs perfectly well within a shared hosting environment.

I also run Linode, typically with 100 users online and around 400 members signing in a day. It's also running a wordpress install with ~200k pageviews per month and has no performance issues.

That said, nginx is a far superior webserver on a (memory) budget.