The most obvious reason to rent a VPS is basically using it for hosting a website. However, it must by surprising for someone, this use is not the only one and there is a whole bunch of ways a VPS can be applied. In today’s article, we are going to have a closer look at all the possible and impossible uses of VPS. Who knows, maybe after reading it you’ll discover, that VPS is exactly what you need.

What is VPS and why is it so versatile?

VPS or Virtual Private Server is a hosting solution that lies somewhere between a dedicated server and shared hosting. Like in the case of shared hosting, VPS is represented by a single physical server (parental server) that is divided between numerous users. However, while in shared hosting, the users share the same resources of the same server and compete for them, there is no place for competition between VPS users – due to virtualization technology, each VPS gets its own operating system and dedicated resources. That’s why eventually, a VPS works like a dedicated server, but a less powerful and – most importantly – less expensive. That’s why, if you need a reliable, performative, secure, and cost-efficient hosting solution, VPS is most probably what you need.

The uses of VPS

Now that we know what VPS is, we’ve got to see what we can apply it for. The most obvious decision is to host host a website, but this article is dedicated to the alternatives. So, let’s see what other uses of VPS there are. 

Hosting a Web Server

Since you own a virtual server, you can apply it to anything a usual apply a server to. You can, for example, run web server software: Apache, Nginx, OpenLiteSpeed, upload HTML files.

Moreover, you can use the lamp-server package to velocize the installation for Ubuntu, or Centmin Mod for OS.

Saving Money via Self-Hosting Apps

Using your VPS to host application is a good way to save money you would spend on SaaS. You’ll have to invest some of your effort, time, and attention in it, but eventually this will pay off, especially if you already have some technical expertise and experience.

Unlike corporate SaaS solutions, self-host are completely free and nearly as good as the paid ones. There are many of them and a simple Google research will let you discover what you need. For example, instead of Dropbox you can quietly use NextCloud, which is open-source and greatly liked by the users.

Game hosting

Playing multiplayer games can be a great way of spending your leisure. With VPS you can rise the quality of it and to it for a much lower price than with a dedicated server. Game hosting isn’t really that consuming in terms of server resources, so you don’t really have to overpay when opting for one. Go for VPS hosting and you’ll get and incredible gamer experience.

Mail hosting

If you don’t need a website, you may still need a corporate mail adress for your employees or some further goals. For this you can use your VPS, and actually just the vary basic VPS plan will be enough, and you won’t have to pay extra for the number rof mailboxes as you would in case of SaaS solutions. You may still need some more technical, but learning this skills will serve you for a long term.

VoIP

VOIP (short for Voice Over Internet Protocol) is a phone service over the internet. This protocol allows you to use your VPS as a phone service for calling people’s actual phones, communication with colleagues, employees, etc.

VPN

Security and privacy are always important and you shouldn’t ignore VPN as one of possible ways of providing them, especially if you often accesss public WiFi and handle sensitife data. However, trusting VPN providers is not always the best choice, as some of them have been known for selling their clients data. That’s why you can just use your VPS to host you own VPN you’ll have full control over. Use OpenVPN for this – this is a great free open-source app – and profit from the privacy on the internet.

Backup

Nothing is eternal, and you can’t predict the last day of the hardrive of your computer. The harddrive that can contain important data, projects in progress, etc. That’s why backup is a neccessary security option. For performing it you could, of course, use some external storage, like USB-sticks or another hardrive, but a more convenient way would be setting up an online backup with your VPS, wich you could perform any time you acccess the internet. Rent a VPS and you can stop worrying about losing your data by an accident.

Conclusion

As you have seen, there are various purposes you may use a VPS for. This list is not finite and you’ll probably find various other applications for your VPS. You may make up your mind to profit from your VPS in this way either if you don’t need it for your Website anymore, if you unused capacities you have paid for, or if it is just a better solution for your needы. If anything of this is your case, go and check out Ubuntu VPS Hosting by VPS Extra. Good luck and see you next time!