There are dozens of virtual private server providers in the UK.

So, comparing plans to find the best deals can often be time consuming.

That’s why we’ve created this handy guide on what to look for in the best VPS plan.

Find a package with all the following characteristics and you can’t go far wrong.

1. Unlimited bandwidth

In your search for the ultimate VPS plan, you can immediately discount any packages that put caps on bandwidth.

Instead, look for plans that come with unlimited bandwidth.

Unlimited bandwidth is a key ingredient in a website that has premium load times.

And we all know the importance of load times – research suggests that a two second delay in load times can lead to abandonment rates of 87 per cent.

2. Uptime guarantee

One recent study suggested that IT downtime costs US businesses $700 billion a year.

If you’ve ever experienced downtime yourself, you’ll know that it can lead to sales being missed, it can deter customers from returning to your website, and it can be plain stressful for all the staff at a company.

So, in your search for the best VPS provider, you should look for an uptime guarantee that’s set in stone.

At Heart Internet, for example, we promise 99.9 per cent network availability as part of our Service Level Agreement.

3. Performance monitoring

This is a feature that really sets a VPS plan apart. Not all providers include VPS performance monitoring in their packages.

Yet, the functionality can offer so much insight.

With Heart Internet’s VPS plans, you can set up email alerts to notify you about important elements like high resource usage.

4. Speed

If you’ve been researching VPS plans for a while and your eyes have started to glaze over, you might not notice this subtle difference in VPS plans.

Many providers offer SSD storage. However, there’s SSD storage and there’s NVMe SSD storage – the latter can deliver speeds up to three times as fast as the former.

At Heart Internet, we include the superior NVMe SSDs in our plans.

5. Support

If you ever have a concern about your server, you’ll want help or answers as quickly as possible.

So, it’s worth taking a look at the support offering of a VPS provider.

Ideally, you’ll want to find a company that you can contact through email, phone and live chat, too. It’s the trifecta of support.

6. Backups

Some VPS providers charge extra for backup functionality. In some instances, the bill for this can add up to an extra £20 a year.

At Heart Internet, we include weekly backups in the cost of our VPS plans.

7. VPS server cost

Many VPS providers will try and catch your attention by using words like ‘cheap VPS’.

While it’s only natural to want a product that’s budget-friendly, you should be aware that the cheapest VPS isn’t always the best.

For example, you may find a VPS that’s £1 a month, but you’ll probably find it comes with mere megabytes of RAM and inferior storage.

Also, if you see a deal on VPSs, it can help to scrutinise that deal. The £1 sale price of a mid-range VPS (think 4CPUs) can often shoot up to more than £20 after the introductory offer ends – a good guide price for a middle of the road virtual private server is around £13 – like at Heart Internet.

Also be aware that the cost of your VPS can go up as you configure your server – for example, adding a control panel can cost more. It’s worth making a note of the cost of these add ons when looking into the price of VPS packages.

8. Reviews

If you’re struggling to choose between VPS providers, the proof of the pudding is in the review sites.

Take a look on TrustPilot to see what a company’s customers say about their products and services.

Heart Internet, for example has a TrustPilot score of 4.6/5. Customers regularly call us ‘super helpful’, ‘knowledgeable’ and ‘efficient’.

Ready to find out more about self-managed VPS hosting at Heart Internet?

There are six self-managed VPS plans to choose from at Heart Internet.

Each one can be configured in a multitude of different ways – think OS, control panel and apps.

Resources start at 1CPU, 2GB RAM and 40GB of NVMe SSD storage and go up to 16CPUs, 32GB RAM and 800GB of NVMe SSD storage.

For the full list of product specs visit out product pages.