Sizing5 min read
A VDS or a managed game server: which one do you actually want?
Root access buys flexibility and costs time. A blunt comparison, and the cases where each is obviously right.
People ask for a VDS when they want control and end up spending their evenings on system administration instead of the thing they wanted to run. Sometimes that is the right trade. Often it is not.
Take the managed game plan when
- You want one to five game servers and no opinions about the operating system.
- You want the install, the configuration and the updates handled.
- You want to hand a friend console access without handing them the machine.
- You would rather restore a backup with a button than remember how you set cron up.
Take the VDS when
- You need software we do not host, or a specific kernel or distribution.
- You are running many services and want to pack them yourself.
- You already administer Linux and the panel would be in your way.
The part people underestimate
On a VDS, everything is yours - including the firewall, the updates, the backups and the 3am restart. The managed plans exist because most people want the server, not the sysadmin job that comes attached to it.