CloudStick is a server control panel for developers and agencies that lets you manage cloud servers on AWS, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, and Hetzner without using the command line. Plans start at $9/month — the Basic plan covers 1 server with unlimited websites; Pro at $19/month and Business at $49/month cover unlimited servers.

Will features I pay for ever get moved to a higher plan?

No. CloudStick is committed to keeping all features you currently pay for within your existing plan. New features may be added to higher tiers, but existing plan features will never be removed or require a forced upgrade.

What happens to my servers if I cancel CloudStick?

Your servers remain fully operational after cancellation. CloudStick does not host your servers — it manages them. If you cancel, you lose access to the CloudStick dashboard, but your servers continue running on your cloud provider.

Is there a free trial for CloudStick?

Yes. CloudStick offers a 7-day free trial on all paid plans with no credit card required. You can explore every feature and upgrade, downgrade, or cancel at any time during or after the trial.

COMPARISONS

Jun 23/2026

VPS vs Shared Hosting: When to Make the Move

9 min read

CloudStick Team

Backend Developer

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VPS vs Shared Hosting

What Is Shared Hosting?

Shared hosting puts your website on a server alongside hundreds of other websites. All sites share the same CPU, RAM, and disk I/O. Your site's performance is directly affected by what your server neighbors are doing — a spike in traffic to another site on the same machine will slow your site down. This is called the "noisy neighbor" problem.

Shared hosting costs between $3 and $15 per month and requires no technical knowledge to operate. Providers like Bluehost, SiteGround, and Hostinger manage everything: OS updates, server configuration, PHP versions, and security patches. You get a control panel (usually cPanel), and you upload your files. It is the right choice for a new site with low traffic, a static brochure site, or anyone who has no interest in server administration.

What Is a VPS?

A Virtual Private Server (VPS) gives you a guaranteed slice of a physical server. Using hypervisor technology (KVM on most modern providers), a single physical machine is divided into isolated virtual machines, each with dedicated RAM, vCPU cores, and disk. Your site's performance is not affected by other tenants.

A VPS gives you root access to the operating system. You choose the Linux distribution, install any software, configure Nginx or Apache exactly as your application needs, run any PHP version, and deploy any number of websites on the same server. On DigitalOcean, a 2 vCPU / 2 GB RAM Droplet starts at $18/month. On Hetzner, 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM costs about $5/month — making VPS hosting significantly more cost-effective than managed alternatives once you have the tooling.

CONTEXT

CloudStick is a server control panel for VPS management. It connects to any VPS on AWS, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hetzner, Linode, or Contabo and gives you a dashboard to deploy websites, manage PHP versions, issue SSL certificates, and handle backups — without writing a single command in the terminal. It starts at $9/month per server with unlimited sites.

Key Differences: Performance, Control, and Cost

The differences between shared hosting and a VPS are not just technical — they affect how your site performs, what you can deploy, and your total cost as you scale.

Performance

Varies — affected by noisy neighbors

Consistent — dedicated resources

Root access

No — managed by host

Yes — full OS control

PHP versions

Limited to host defaults

Any version, multiple per server

Sites per server

1 account, managed by host

Unlimited

Cost

$3–$15/month, all-inclusive

$5–$30/month cloud + $9/month CloudStick

Scalability

Upgrade plans, no granularity

Scale RAM/CPU independently

Custom software

Yes — install anything

Signals That You've Outgrown Shared Hosting

Move to a VPS when you encounter any of these conditions — not after they cause downtime:

Slow page loads despite small traffic

If your WordPress site loads in more than 2 seconds on a $10/month shared plan, you are hitting CPU throttling from your host. A 2 GB VPS running Nginx + PHP-FPM will serve the same pages 3–5x faster.

Exceeding resource limits

Shared hosts enforce CPU and RAM limits per account. If you receive suspension notices or 503 errors during traffic spikes, you have exceeded them.

Running multiple sites

Once you manage more than 2–3 sites, the per-account pricing of managed shared hosting becomes more expensive than a single VPS with unlimited sites.

Custom software requirements

Node.js, Python, Redis, custom PHP extensions, Elasticsearch — none of these are available on standard shared hosting. A VPS lets you install anything.

E-commerce or sensitive data

PCI compliance and security hardening are not possible on shared hosting. A VPS lets you configure your own firewall, disable unused services, and control exactly what software runs.

TIP

Don't wait for an outage to trigger the move. Migrate during low-traffic hours on a weekend. A planned migration with DNS testing takes 2–4 hours. An emergency migration during downtime takes 8–12 hours and costs you SEO ranking.

Shared to VPS Migration Checklist

A migration from shared hosting to a VPS follows a predictable sequence. The goal is zero-downtime: you build the new environment, test it, then switch DNS only when everything is confirmed working.

1. Provision a VPS on your chosen cloud provider
   (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hetzner, AWS Lightsail)
2. Install CloudStick and connect the server
   (auto-installs Nginx, PHP, MySQL via CloudStick)
3. Export your database from shared hosting
   mysqldump -u user -p database_name > export.sql
4. Copy your website files to the new server
   rsync -avz ./public_html/ user@newserver:/var/www/html/
5. Import database to MySQL on the new server
   mysql -u user -p database_name < export.sql
6. Test with /etc/hosts before changing DNS
   Add: [new-server-ip]  yourdomain.com to /etc/hosts
7. Issue SSL certificate (free via Let's Encrypt)
   CloudStick issues SSL in one click from the dashboard
8. Update DNS A record to new server IP
   Wait 24-48 hours for full propagation
9. Keep shared hosting active for 1 week post-migration
   Rollback is trivial during DNS propagation window

"The biggest risk in a migration is rushing the DNS switch. Build, test, confirm — then cut DNS. Keep shared hosting active for a week as your fallback. The cost of one extra week of shared hosting is always less than a failed migration."

VPS Made Simple with CloudStick

The barrier that keeps developers on shared hosting is not cost — it is the complexity of managing a Linux server. Configuring Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL, Let's Encrypt, cron jobs, and backups from scratch takes hours. And unlike shared hosting, if you misconfigure something, there is no support team to fix it.

CloudStick eliminates this barrier. Connect your VPS — from DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hetzner, AWS, Linode, or Contabo — and CloudStick installs a production-ready LEMP stack in under 3 minutes. Deploy a WordPress site, issue a free SSL certificate, configure PHP 8.3-FPM, and set up automated daily backups, all from a web dashboard without touching the terminal.

Unlike Cloudways or Kinsta managed hosting, CloudStick charges a flat $9/month per server — not per site, not as a markup on compute. You pay your cloud provider directly for the VPS, and you pay CloudStick $9/month for the management layer. If you cancel CloudStick, your sites keep running — nothing depends on it staying active. That is the key difference from managed hosting platforms: your infrastructure stays yours.