A Windows VPS is a web hosting environment to host websites, apps, databases, and other services (media streaming, file storage, etc.) with Windows Servers or desktop clients (ex., Windows 11).

Windows hosting offers the simplest way to set up and run Microsoft technologies, such as ASP.Net, Visual Studio, MSSQL, and Office 365 apps, among others.

The Geekflare team has researched and identified the best Windows VPS hosting platforms based on factors such as server coverage, networking, cost, and business size.

You can trust Geekflare

At Geekflare, trust and transparency are paramount. Our team of experts, with over 185 years of combined experience in business and technology, tests and reviews software, ensuring our ratings and awards are unbiased and reliable. Learn how we test.

1. Kamatera

1. Kamatera

Servers in USA, Middle East, Europe, and China

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Datacenters
    US, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Canada
  • Storage
    Up to 4,000 GB
  • Control Panel
    Plesk
$15/month
Free Trial
Try Kamatera

Kamatera Description

Kamatera is a veteran cloud service provider with products ranging from servers, firewalls, web hosting, storage, and more for individuals to enterprise customers.

This cloud service provider has data centers in 21 locations covering the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Kamatera has flexible Windows VPS plans that offer hourly and monthly billing. One of Kamatera’s standout features is that users can customize everything, including server type, number of vCPUs, RAM, data centers, etc., to get exactly the hosting they need.

Founded in 1995, Kamatera is headquartered in New York, US.

Kamatera Features

  • Key feature

    Offers desktop and server Windows versions

  • Key feature

    Provides $100 worth of free 30-day trial

  • Key feature

    Deploys 2.7GHz+ Intel Xeon Gold/Ice Lake processors with promised 99.95% uptime

  • Key feature

    Features pay-as-you-go and hourly pricing with highly customizable hosting plans

  • Key feature

    Enables scaling of resources, including CPU, RAM, and storage

  • Key feature

    Uses SSD storage for better I/O throughputs

  • Key feature

    Provides 24/7 call, chat, and email support

Kamatera Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Subscription customization for every need

  • Advantage

    24/7 Multi-channel tech support praised by several Trustpilot users

  • Advantage

    Managed server (optional)

  • Disadvantage

    No data centers in South America and Africa

  • Disadvantage

    Stringent security measures are cumbersome

2. ScalaHosting

2. ScalaHosting

SPanel Included for Server Management

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Datecenters
    US and Europe
  • Storage
    Up to 2,000 GB
  • Control Panel
    cPanel
$44.95/month
Try ScalaHhosting

ScalaHosting Description

ScalaHosting offers many hosting services, such as cloud hosting, shared hosting, self-managed and fully managed cloud VPS, and email hosting.

The platform provides great flexibility in choosing server resources, including RAM, CPU cores, and SSD storage. By default, users get only one OS option: Windows Server 2019. However, Scalahosting allows users to customize servers based on their needs. In addition, users must add the required number of cPanel and LiteSpeed server licenses, raising the base cost a few notches.

Windows VPS hosting plans are unmanaged, requiring some degree of technical expertise to set up and perform regular maintenance. However, every subscription comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, providing a risk-free trial.

ScalaHosting began operations in 2007 and is headquartered in Texas, USA.

ScalaHosting Features

  • Key feature

    Uses industry-leading NVMe SSD storage

  • Key feature

    Provides 10Gbps redundant network for high-speed connectivity and excellent uptime

  • Key feature

    Enables server provisioning in under a minute

  • Key feature

    Offers 50GB backup space as an addon

  • Key feature

    Ensures 24/7 tech support via email

ScalaHosting Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Flexible subscription models

  • Advantage

    Great customer support per G2 reviews

  • Disadvantage

    Unavailability of managed plans

  • Disadvantage

    Absence of live phone call support

3. Liquid Web

3. Liquid Web

Best for Small to Medium Business

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Datacenters
    US and Europe
  • Storage
    Up to 200 GB
  • Control Panel
    Plesk
$60/month
85% off for 3 months
Try Liquid Web

Liquid Web Description

Active since 1997, Liquid Web has products ranging from VPS, shared hosting, cloud hosting, bare metal servers, and client-customized web hosts. The platform is best suited for high-stakes businesses seeking a performant and highly responsive web server with straightforward subscriptions.

Liquid Web’s premier features are its excellent uptime, 24/7 support, effortless migrations, and hosting security. Additionally, users get 3 levels of server management to pick from, including fully managed, core managed, and unmanaged.

Notably, Liquid Web offerings are limited to Windows Server, lacking any option to choose Windows desktop versions.

Liquid Web Features

  • Key feature

    Offers free server migration with fully managed VPS hosting

  • Key feature

    Includes Cloudflare CDN for global delivery and redundancy

  • Key feature

    Provides firewall and DDoS attack protection

  • Key feature

    Allows custom user creation and granular permissions

  • Key feature

    Ensures round-the-clock chat, call, and email assistance

  • Key feature

    Guarantees 100% network uptime

  • Key feature

    Provides 50 GB Acronis cyber backups

Liquid Web Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Off-site backups availability

  • Advantage

    Built-in security protocols

  • Advantage

    Easy scalability

  • Disadvantage

    Limited datacenter locations for Windows VPS

  • Disadvantage

    Poor customer service according to some Trustpilot users

4. Serverspace

4. Serverspace

Ideal to Host CMS

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Datacenters
    America, Asia, and Europe
  • Storage
    Up to 5,000 GB
  • Control Panel
    Proprietary
$9.55/month
Try Serverspace

Serverspace Description

Serverspace is a cloud technology company with a product line spanning across virtual machines, cloud computing, storage, web and application hosting, among others. Its Windows VPS servers are optimized for multiple CMS, such as OpenCart, Joomla, Drupal, Bitrix, and WordPress.

It boasts an infrastructure based on 3.1 GHz Intel Xeon Gold Scalable processors to provide top-tier performance. The integrated CDN service helps users deploy their websites from all 7 Serverspace data centers for speedy global delivery and to provide redundancy.

Server management is also easier with their own Serverspace control panel, where one can monitor services and costs in a single space. This service started in 2008 and has its head office in Amsterdam, North Holland.

Serverspace Features

  • Key feature

    Guarantees 99.9% uptime SLA

  • Key feature

    Offers pay-as-you-go pricing

  • Key feature

    Allows adding NAT and custom firewall rules

  • Key feature

    Provides flexibility to choose desired CPU cores, RAM, SSD storage, and bandwidth

  • Key feature

    Includes 1 Gbps bandwidth private network among cloud servers at no extra cost

Serverspace Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Custom subscriptions suit various needs

  • Advantage

    Powerful CPUs and inbuilt CDN

  • Advantage

    Easy to use and manage

  • Disadvantage

    Limited global presence

  • Disadvantage

    Support is limited to ticket-based system

5. MonoVM

5. MonoVM

Best Cost-Effective VPS Solution

Geekflare rating score 3.6 out of 5
3.6
|
  • Datacenters
    North America, Europe, and Asia
  • Storage
    Up to 200 GB
  • Control Panel
    Plesk (addon)
$11.90/month
Save 30%
Try MonoVM

MonoVM Description

MonoVM is a powerful Windows VPS host that offers the latest Windows servers across North America, Europe, and Asia.

The platform comes with a RAID 10 setup using enterprise RAID controllers and integrated SSD caching for fast and reliable data storage. It also allows choosing operating systems from Windows Servers (2012 to 2022) to Windows desktop OS (10 & 11).

MonoVM was founded in 2012 and is based in Lithuania.

MonoVM Features

  • Key feature

    Guarantees 99.99% uptime

  • Key feature

    Ensures comprehensive global coverage with servers in 15 countries

  • Key feature

    Uses RAID controllers with integrated SSD caching for data redundancy and good performance

  • Key feature

    Offers unlimited bandwidth for European servers and 1 TB for other locations

MonoVM Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Excellent global presence

  • Advantage

    No bandwidth limits for servers in Europe

  • Advantage

    Latest Windows servers and desktop OS

  • Disadvantage

    Multiple Trustpilot users have reported issues with MonoVM support

  • Disadvantage

    No mention of security features like DDoS protection, firewalls, etc.

6. Google Cloud

6. Google Cloud

Best for Scalability and GCP Integration

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Datacenters
    America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa
  • Storage
    up to 9,000 GB
  • Control Panel
    Proprietary
$39.69/month
Try Google Cloud

Google Cloud Description

Google Cloud is a leader in the cloud hosting industry, offering unmatched reliability worldwide. Users can choose the desired Windows server and configure every aspect of the hosting before opting for its flexible pay-as-you-go subscription.

It supports up to the latest Windows Server 2022. However, users have to bring their own client for using desktop versions, including Windows 11 and Windows 10.

Users can also adjust parameters such as RAM, storage, datacenter, and the number and type of CPUs, making Google Cloud one of the most customizable hosting providers available today. Additionally, users can either go with the default pay-per-use billing or commit time to get discounts.

Google Cloud is headquartered in California, the US. It started operations in 2008.

Google Cloud Features

  • Key feature

    Provides highly customizable Windows VPS hosting

  • Key feature

    Ensures worldwide presence covering over 20 countries

  • Key feature

    Implements industry-leading security best practices, including data encryption and redundancy, physical safety, and integrity checks

  • Key feature

    Offers usage-based billing with optional, discounted annual commitments

  • Key feature

    Guarantees a minimum of 99.9% uptime SLA based on the number of instances

  • Key feature

    Provides technical support package add-ons in addition to free, basic support

Google Cloud Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Global network for excellent redundancy and speedy delivery

  • Advantage

    Great flexibility in choosing resources

  • Advantage

    Effortless scalability and good customer support

  • Disadvantage

    Can be overwhelming for beginners

  • Disadvantage

    SSH is rather slow

  • Disadvantage

    Support packages can be expensive

7. Cloudzy

7. Cloudzy

Offers Dedicated Static IP

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Datacenter
    US, Asia, Europe
  • Storage
    Up to 1,500 GB
  • Control Panel
    Proprietary
$7.96/month
Save 20%
Try Cloudzy

Cloudzy Description

Cloudzy offers Windows VPS based on performant hardware, including NVMe SSD storage, 3.2+ Ghz CPUs, DDR4 RAM, and up to 10 Gbps connections.

Users can install Windows Server versions from 2012 R2 to the latest 2022, with a 99.95% uptime guarantee. There are multiple tiers available, and users can also choose customized plans by requesting the support team.

Cloudzy has limited global datacenter locations. However, the options are decent with 9 locations spanned across Europe, Asia, and the US. Based in Dubai, UAE, Cloudzy has been in the business since 2008.

Cloudzy Features

  • Key feature

    Uses 3.2+ GHz CPUs with NVMe SSD

  • Key feature

    Provides 10 Gbps connectivity

  • Key feature

    Offers custom subscriptions

  • Key feature

    Guarantees 99.95% uptime SLA

  • Key feature

    Allows choice between Windows Servers 2012 to 2022

Cloudzy Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Top-notch infrastructure, including DDR4 RAM and high-performance connectivity

  • Advantage

    Custom VPS plans for power users

  • Disadvantage

    A few Trustpilot reviews have mentioned networking problems

  • Disadvantage

    Absence of live phone call support

8. AWS

8. AWS

Best for Big Business and AWS Integration

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Datacenters
    America, Asia, Europe, Africa
  • Storage
    Up to 64TB
  • Control Panel
    Proprietary
$5.95/month
Try AWS

AWS Description

Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2 offers excellent flexibility in choosing every aspect of the hosting package, such as CPUs, RAM, storage, networking, and datacenters.

The interface and pricing can be challenging to get hold of, but once someone surpasses that barrier, AWS provides unrivaled performance and freedom.

AWS, with its per-second pricing, allows users to focus on the core business rather than maximizing hourly usage. However, one can commit to yearly usage, with the option to pay nothing, partial, or all the amount upfront for varied levels of discounts.

One can also host Windows desktop clients with Amazon Workspaces, which is offered as DAAS (desktop-as-a-service).

Since 2006, AWS has been operating globally, with its base in Seattle, USA.

AWS Features

  • Key feature

    Offers excellent customization options for hosting Windows servers in 20+ countries

  • Key feature

    Provides per-second billing with multiple discounted plans

  • Key feature

    Ensures region and instance level uptime SLAs

  • Key feature

    Enables auto-scaling based on user-defined conditions

  • Key feature

    Allows pausing and resuming instances

  • Key feature

    Implements industry-best security, including data encryption, network, and instance isolation

  • Key feature

    Provides custom support packages

AWS Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Per-second pricing makes it affordable

  • Advantage

    99.99% Uptime SLA

  • Advantage

    Up to 100 Gbps connections

  • Advantage

    Excellent scalability

  • Disadvantage

    Interface can be complicated for beginners

  • Disadvantage

    Support packages cost extra

9. Vultr

9. Vultr

Best for Beginners

Geekflare rating score 4.2 out of 5
4.2
|
  • Datacenters
    America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia
  • Storage
    Up to 1600 GB
  • Control Panel
    Proprietary
$24/month
Try Vultr

Vultr Description

Vultr hosts Windows VPS servers (2016, 2019, & 2022) in the cloud and comes with a massive global footprint.

One of the major upsides of using Vultr is its simplified control panel and API, which allow for the easy creation and maintenance of Windows server instances, and this makes Vultr the best hosting option for beginners.

Additionally, Vultr uses multiple service providers for good reliability and network redundancy. Its network is an all-SSD infrastructure, offering high throughput. Users also get a remarkable 100% uptime SLA, which is extremely rare in the hosting industry.

Vultr has been in the web hosting business since 2014, with its base in Florida, US.

Vultr Features

  • Key feature

    Features datacenters in 32 cities covering 19 countries

  • Key feature

    Provides low latency network backed with 100% uptime SLA

  • Key feature

    Includes firewall and 10Gbps DDoS attack protection per instance

  • Key feature

    Uses 100% SSD and high-performance Intel CPUs for hosting

  • Key feature

    Enables secure connection of Vultr instances to 3rd-party cloud providers or in-house datacenters

  • Key feature

    Offers ticket-based support

Vultr Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Worldwide datacenters

  • Advantage

    High-performing hardware

  • Advantage

    Easy to use

  • Advantage

    Auto-backups

  • Disadvantage

    Limited tech support channels

  • Disadvantage

    Customer support is slow to respond

10. Alibaba Cloud

10. Alibaba Cloud

Best for Chinese Market

Geekflare rating score 4.2 out of 5
4.2
|
  • Datacenters
    Asia, US, and Europe
  • Storage
    Up to 64 TB
  • Control Panel
    Proprietary
$11.96/month
Up to 86% off on Annual Plans
Try Alibaba Cloud

Alibaba Cloud Description

Though Alibaba has a few worldwide datacenters, this service is primarily aimed at providing Chinese presence with its coverage of 13 mainland cities. Users can choose from Windows server 2012 R2 to 2022 in English and simplified Chinese language.

The cloud servers are part of Alibaba’s Elastic Compute Service (ECS) module. Users can use this service on a pay-as-you-go basis, monthly subscriptions, or yearly discounted plans.

With its base in Zhejiang, China, Alibaba Cloud started operations in 2009.

Alibaba Cloud Features

  • Key feature

    Guarantees 99.975% uptime SLA for single instances and 99.995% for multi-zone services

  • Key feature

    Enables auto-scaling based on user-defined CPU or network utilization metrics

  • Key feature

    Allows turning off hyperthreading and certain vCPUs to save costs

  • Key feature

    Utilizes native CDN infrastructure with 3200+ global points of presence

  • Key feature

    Allows implementing firewall rules per ECS instance

  • Key feature

    Offers custom support packages in addition to free basic assistance

  • Key feature

    Provides Layer 3 to Layer 7 DDoS protection

Alibaba Cloud Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Designed for the Chinese market

  • Advantage

    Can be scaled easily based on requirements

  • Disadvantage

    Poor documentation

  • Disadvantage

    Some Trustpilot reviews mention bad customer support

11. Azure

11. Azure

Best for Enterprise and Microsoft Integration

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Datacenters
    America, Asia, Europe, Australia, and Africa
  • Storage
    Up to 28,000 GB
  • Control Panel
    Proprietary
$14.30/month
Try Azure

Azure Description

Azure is a decent hosting option if your application stack predominantly consists of Microsoft technologies. Another factor in its favor is the choice of datacenters, which list over 50 global locations.

Creating your perfect Azure Windows Server becomes easy with Microsoft’s Total Cost of Ownership Calculator. The estimator allows users to select the type of machine, vCPU, RAM, storage, disk type, and bandwidth and compares the cost if you install the same resources in-house.

Azure SLAs for virtual machines depend on several factors, such as the type of storage and the number of instances, and swing between 95% and 99.99%.

While this was about Windows servers, you can also opt for Azure Virtual Desktops to host the latest Windows desktop clients.

Microsoft started Azure back in 2008 and is headquartered in Washington, US.

Azure Features

  • Key feature

    Features 50+ datacenter locations worldwide

  • Key feature

    Guarantees up to 99.99% uptime SLA

  • Key feature

    Offers custom support packages with free basic assistance

  • Key feature

    Provides pay-as-you-go pricing and discounted plans with annual payments

  • Key feature

    Allows maximum flexibility to choose a custom Windows Server package

  • Key feature

    Enables easy management of cloud and on-premise infrastructure with Azure auto-manage

  • Key feature

    Utilizes Microsoft Defender for Cloud to manage security across different cloud providers

Azure Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Very scalable structure

  • Advantage

    Best for integrating with other Microsoft services, including Azure Arc, Active Directory, Microsoft 365, etc.

  • Advantage

    Extensive reach with its globally spread datacenters

  • Disadvantage

    Expensive compared to other similar services

  • Disadvantage

    Difficult to use for novices

12. Hostwinds

12. Hostwinds

Best for Fully Managed Windows Server

Geekflare rating score 4.0 out of 5
4.0
|
  • Datacenters
    US and Europe
  • Storage
    Up to 9 TB
  • Control Panel
    Proprietary
$10.99/month
Try Hostwinds

Hostwinds Description

Hostwinds provides the flexibility to go entirely hands-off with its fully managed Windows server subscriptions or be cost-efficient and get world-class infrastructure with self-managing.

Built on Intel CPUs and SSD drives, Hostwinds provides a redundant network with a 99.9999% uptime guarantee. Its cloud portal allows simplified backup and storage management, firewall configuration, and and provides load balancers among different servers.

Founded in 2010, Hostwinds operates out of its hub in Washington, US.

Hostwinds Features

  • Key feature

    Provides fully managed and unmanaged Windows servers

  • Key feature

    Includes automatic nightly backups with custom recovery options (specific files or entire backup)

  • Key feature

    Allows choice from Windows Server 2012, 2016, & 2019

  • Key feature

    Implements load balancing among different servers

  • Key feature

    Offers 24/7/365 technical assistance via live chat and tickets

Hostwinds Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Good customer support

  • Advantage

    Free website transfer

  • Advantage

    Real-time server monitoring

  • Disadvantage

    Only 3 datacenters worldwide

  • Disadvantage

    Lacks subscription customizability

13. Interserver

13. Interserver

Best for Customer Support

Geekflare rating score 4.0 out of 5
4.0
|
  • Datacenters
    US
  • Storage
    Up to 480 GB
  • Control Panel
    Plesk

Interserver Description

Interserver has a wide range of products, such as shared hosting, cloud VPS, storage, and dedicated servers. It offers the latest Windows Server 2022, with subscriptions best suited for beginners to mid-level users.

The platform’s Windows Server plans are few in number, giving set configurations without any customization. Likewise, there is no scaling option within the user dashboard. However, you can upgrade resources by requesting Interserver tech support.

This hosting service has been operating since 1999, with its base in New Jersey, US.

Interserver Features

  • Key feature

    Provides 24/7 live chat, phone, and ticket-based support

  • Key feature

    Guarantees 99.9% network uptime SLA

  • Key feature

    Offers monthly and yearly payments

  • Key feature

    Includes server management, including monitoring, updating, and security with Plesk

  • Key feature

    Features datacenters in New Jersey and California

Interserver Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Predictable and affordable pricing

  • Advantage

    Helpful customer support

  • Disadvantage

    No subscription customization

  • Disadvantage

    Extremely limited datacenter coverage

14. Accuweb

14. Accuweb

Good for Forex Trading

Geekflare rating score 4.0 out of 5
4.0
|
  • Datacenters
    North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia
  • Storage
    Up to 200 GB
  • Control Panel
    SolidCP and Plesk
$14.99/month
Try Accuweb

Accuweb Description

With 16+ global locations and a cost-effective price tag, Accuweb is a good option for entry to mid-level users. This Windows server hosting comes in two flavors: fully and self-managed. However, there are only 4 hosting plans, and one cannot customize resources.

On the upside, every user gets SolidCP and Plesk at no extra cost. Each subscription also gets weekly backups (with daily backups as a paid add-on), a server firewall, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and antivirus setup support.

Moreover, every server gets high-speed connections, which is great for gaming servers or forex VPS hosting. Users can also test the servers risk-free with Accuweb’s 7-day money-back policy.

Established in 2003, Accuweb is based in Washington, US.

Accuweb Features

  • Key feature

    Deploys Intel Xeon E7 series & higher processors

  • Key feature

    Provides high speed and data redundancy with RAID 6/RAID 10 storage

  • Key feature

    Ensures at least 1 Gbps connection for each VPS server

  • Key feature

    Offers MailEnable & Smartermail email server setup assistance

  • Key feature

    Allows choice between Windows Server 2016 & 2019

  • Key feature

    Includes integrated load balancing with every plan

Accuweb Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Great features/price ratio

  • Advantage

    Call, email, and ticked-based support

  • Disadvantage

    Lacks resource customization

  • Disadvantage

    Limited scalability

15. Ultahost

15. Ultahost

Best for Medium Business

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|
  • Datacenters
    North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa
  • Storage
    Up to 1024 GB
  • Control Panel
    Plesk addon
$17.50/month
Save up to 50% on 3-Year Plans
Try Ultahost

Ultahost Description

With its powerful hardware and fully managed Windows servers, Ultahost is an excellent choice for small to medium business owners. It’s based on top-class Intel processors and NVMe SSDs, ensuring excellent performance.

Every user gets migration assistance and Cloudflare CDN integration at no extra cost.

Ultahost has datacenters in 13 global locations. While the number isn’t anything to boast about, the coverage is truly global. Additionally, there are no bandwidth limits for the subscription plans, making Ultahost stand apart from the competition.

Ultahost started in 2019 and is currently headquartered in Delaware, US.

Ultahost Features

  • Key feature

    Utilizes Intel Xeon Gold and Platinum processors, NVMe SSDs, and DDR5 RAM

  • Key feature

    Offers unlimited bandwidth with all Windows VPS plans

  • Key feature

    Provides Windows servers (2019 & 2022) and desktop clients (Windows 10 & 11)

  • Key feature

    Includes enterprise-grade DDoS protection and BitNinja security coverage

  • Key feature

    Provides free offsite daily backups with a one-click restore capability

  • Key feature

    Guarantees 99% uptime

  • Key feature

    Offers monthly, quarterly, and yearly plans

Ultahost Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Easy to set up and use

  • Advantage

    Top-of-the-shelf hardware

  • Advantage

    Offsite backup management

  • Disadvantage

    Absence of pay-as-you-go pricing

  • Disadvantage

    Rigid subscriptions

16. IONOS

16. IONOS

ISO 27001 Certified Data Centers

Geekflare rating score 4.2 out of 5
4.2
|
  • Datacenters
    US and Europe
  • Storage
    Up to 640 GB
  • Control Panel
    Plesk (on-request)
$12/month
Save up to 10% on Annual Plans
Try IONOS

IONOS Description

IONOS is a fully-fledged web host with products ranging from domains, website builders, e-commerce hosting, cloud servers, and more.

Its Windows VPS is based on NVMe SSD storage, offering quick data transfer speeds. IONOS offers a 99.9% service uptime guarantee, failing which users receive compensatory credits.

Users can pick from the US, the UK, Germany, and Spain datacenters, which meet international standards of data security, risk management, and compliance.

IONOS plans are rather pre-defined, and there is no flexibility to create a server with custom CPUs, RAM, and storage. However, users can still choose the datacenter, Windows Server version (2019 or 2022), and backup add-on storage of their preference.

Founded in 1988, IONOS has its base set up in Montabaur, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

IONOS Features

  • Key feature

    Provides 24/7 live chat and call support

  • Key feature

    Includes custom firewall rules, DDoS protection, and intrusion prevention

  • Key feature

    Offers Acronis cloud backup and recovery addon

  • Key feature

    Includes two email addresses with every plan, each with 2 GB of storage

  • Key feature

    Provides Windows Server 2019 & 2022

IONOS Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Robust security protocols

  • Advantage

    Intuitive interface, even for beginners

  • Advantage

    Provides consistent performance

  • Disadvantage

    Limited customization

  • Disadvantage

    Lacks a global presence

17. Contabo

17. Contabo

Best for Small Business

Geekflare rating score 4.2 out of 5
4.2
|
  • Datacenters
    US, Europe, Asia, and Australia
  • Storage
    Up to 2.4 TB
  • Control Panel
    Plesk (addon)
$14.50/month
Try Contabo

Contabo Description

Contabo specializes in VPS and dedicated servers and has a presence in over 13 global locations. Users can pick from 6 different server configurations to get started and scale resources later as needed.

Like many providers, Contabo doesn’t let users customize core server resources, including vCPU and RAM. However, users are free to choose their desired datacenters, type of storage (SSD or NVMe SSD), backup storage, and private networking. A few addons allow opting for third-party apps (such as Plesk control panel), server monitoring, server management, and SSL certificates.

Contabo started operations in 2003 with its headquarters in Bavaria, Germany.

Contabo Features

  • Key feature

    Allows scaling resources such as CPU, RAM, and storage

  • Key feature

    Provides Windows Server 2016, 2019, & 2022

  • Key feature

    Offers call (Monday to Friday) and ticket-based support

  • Key feature

    Provides NVMe SSD storage for high I/O throughput

  • Key feature

    Includes 2 hours of server management per month for users opting for managed service

Contabo Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    GDPR-compliant infrastructure

  • Advantage

    Option to opt for managed service

  • Advantage

    Trustpilot reviews praise performance for the given price

  • Disadvantage

    Customer service is lacking in query resolution

  • Disadvantage

    Cannot fully customize CPU and RAM combinations

Difference between Windows VPS vs Linux VPS

Windows VPS and Linux VPS differ on multiple fronts, such as security, ease of use, cost, performance, and more, as summarized below.

AttributeWindows VPSLinux VPS
Ease of useGraphical user interface makes it more beginner-friendlyNo GUI by default, but can be installed if needed.
PerformanceMore resource intensive, making it unsuitable on a resource-scarce VPSComparatively better performance for equal underlying resources
SecurityClosed source ecosystem, making it a target for cyberattacksSince it’s open source and backed by a large community, vulnerabilities are identified and patched quickly
CompatibilityASP.NET, MSSQL, .NET, and other Windows-aimed commercial softwarePHP, Ruby on Rails, Java, Python, MySQL, and other open-source software stack
Control PanelsPlesk, SolidCP, WebsitePanel, etc.cPanel, Plesk, Webmin, SPanel, etc.
CostHigher cost due to separate license fee from MicrosoftLess expensive, with multiple free licensing options as well

4 Benefits of Windows VPS

  1. User Interface: Windows Server inherits similarities from its desktop clients, which is the most popular operating system globally. This makes it easy for users to connect with Windows VPS, with little to no learning curve.
  2. Software Support: Windows VPS provides unmatched compatibility with Microsoft technologies, including .NET, ASP.NET, SharePoint, Exchange Server, IIS, Microsoft 365 apps, Active Directory, and more.
  3. Customer Assistance: Windows VPS is eligible for professional support from Microsoft experts. This organized and structured tech support is invaluable for businesses, regardless of scale.
  4. Remote Access: A Windows VPS offers highly secure server management from anywhere with its Remote Desktop Access (RDP). This does not need any additional configuration or support to get started and is natively built into Windows servers.