Why use a VPS?

Before I was aware of VPS's I used netlify and Vercel to host any sites, I also used things like Supabase and Firebase for databases. It didn't cost much because I wasn't actually using a lot, bandwidth wasn't a worry, storage was not a worry, nor was speed.

Once I had started using more resources up it was clear to me I needed a solution that works for me, not too expensive as i'm still not using that much but more then the free version, and with more freedom to do what I want.

And then I stumbled upon Digital Ocean Droplets. They seemed to solve all the issues I was having. A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is essentially a computer that you have access to, but it is stored elsewhere (like cloud storage). You can then access the computer via ssh and do with it as you please. Depending on the provider you can have a linux OS or a window OS - usually costing a bit more for windows.

Once I had my linux VPS spun up I installed Coolify and from there it was as easy a 3 clicks to get a new postgres instance, or connect my GitHub account to build and deploy a SvelteKit application on each repo push.

The bandwidth is more then enough, it costs next to nothing, and I am not limited to a certain vendor. I have the choice to install whatever software I would like, if analytics are what i'm after, I can start a Umami and there are no limits, even docker containers can be ran. A VPS is exactly what I need.