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How do I determine what size server I need?

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Determining the appropriate size for a VPS (Virtual Private Server) for your WordPress site involves considering several factors, including your site's traffic, content, and specific requirements.

 

If you're uncertain, we recommend starting on our Starter plan and then our support team can monitor the server load for you once you start using WP Bolt, and can recommend if you should keep this size server or upgrade to a larger plan.

 

Here are steps to help you make an informed decision:

  • Analyze Current Traffic: Start by understanding your current website traffic. You can use tools like Google Analytics or server logs to get an idea of how many visitors your site receives on a daily or monthly basis. Look for trends and growth patterns. If you're under 30,000 monthly visitors, the Starter plan should be fine in most circumstances. It can be fine for much larger visitor numbers as well, depending on factors like caching and how resource-intensive your plugins are.

  • Identify Resource Intensive Plugins/Themes: WordPress plugins and themes can vary in terms of resource usage. Some may require more CPU and RAM than others. Identify and list down any resource-intensive plugins or themes you plan to use. Examples include e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, membership plugins (eg S2Member or MemberPress), forum plugins, or plugins/themes that collect stats on pageviews and store them in the WordPress database. In addition, any plugin that does localisation based on the visitor location is also likely to be more resource intensive as it requires a database request and response for each page load via the admin-ajax.php file.

  • Content Types: The type of content you host on your site can impact server requirements. If you have a lot of media files (images, videos), these can consume more storage space and bandwidth.

  • Caching: Implementing caching solutions like page caching, object caching, and browser caching can significantly reduce server load. Consider whether you'll be using caching and its impact on server requirements. We recommend using WP Rocket for caching.

  • Database Optimization: WordPress relies heavily on the database. Optimize your database and consider using a caching mechanism for the database to reduce database server load.

  • Content Delivery: If your site has a global audience, consider using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to offload some of the server load and improve page load times.

  • Security Measures: If you plan to implement additional security measures such as a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or DDoS protection, consider their resource requirements.

  • Operating System and Software: Decide on the operating system and server software you'll use (e.g., Apache, Nginx, PHP version). Different software choices may have varying resource demands.

  • Server Location: The physical location of your VPS server can affect website performance, especially for geographically distributed audiences. Choose a server location that is closest to your target audience.


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