The best VPS hosting services for 2026: Expert tested and reviewed

As your new business or online project grows, you might find that shared web hosting can no longer keep up with you. Slow performance, traffic limitations, restricted storage, and low levels of support can prevent your venture from reaching new heights and may negatively impact customer experience. Upgrading to a virtual private server (VPS) hosting service is one of the best ways to improve hosting speed, reliability, resource allocation, and access to useful third-party features, while keeping your project in budget. VPS services provide dedicated resources and isolate your hosting from other customers in a virtual environment, giving you more power, flexibility, scalability, and uptime reliability. The services we recommend offer varied pricing, customizable resources, reliable security, and scalability to suit your needs. In ZDNET's July update, we completed an in-depth editorial revision of our 2026 guide and revised our FAQ to answer more of your most frequent question. We also added Liquid Web to our favorites, and BuyVM as an interesting alternative VPS service.Also: The best VPNs: Expert tested and reviewedGet more in-depth ZDNET tech coverage: Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome and Chromium browsers.What is the best VPS hosting service right now?We selected as the best VPS hosting service in the market today. This service strikes a balance between performance, security, and price, offering a range of options suitable for individuals and businesses. Plans start at only $2 per month, which is very affordable for VPS hosting, and free 24/7 support is available.Another of our favorites is . Available from $6.49 per month, Hostinger provides a range of VPS solutions, including varying virtual central processing unit (vCPU) options, random access memory (RAM), and storage. Automatic weekly backups are included as standard.Also: The best cloud hosting services for 2026: Expert tested and reviewedAfter thoroughly researching and testing a range of VPS hosting providers, we identified the best services, from highly customizable offerings to beginner-friendly products and those seeking solid support. Read on to explore what's on offer by our favorite VPS services.The best VPS hosting services of 2026 Latest news in the hosting spaceTwo men were arrested in the Netherlands, and roughly 800 servers were seized due to alleged links to a web hosting company that allegedly facilitated cyberattacks.Dreamhost launched a new self-managed VPS service for AI applications and development. A new study revealed 28% of business leaders believe their organization wouldn't survive more than two days without a website. Hostinger research suggests that the majority of emails are now automated, with only 13% of emails actually written by humans. A new Sophos report revealed that bulletproof hosting services are being rented out with VMs for use in ransomware campaigns. VPS hosting FAQs Latest updatesJuly 2026: In ZDNET's July update, we performed an editorial review and revised our FAQ to answer more of your most frequent question. We also added Liquid Web to our favorites, and BuyVM as an interesting alternative VPS service.March 2026: In ZDNET's March update, we refreshed our 2026 guide, examining recent customer reviews and updating our recommendations with the latest news in the VPS hosting space. January 2026: In ZDNET's January update, we completed a thorough review of our guide for 2026 and refreshed the services we recommend. More VPS hosting services to consider If you would like to explore our other recommendations for hosting services, check out our favorite picks for web hosting, the best free web hosting options around, and our top choices for email hosting in 2026.