Picking The Right Server Size

When deploying your first server, selecting the right server size might be the most important decision.

If you pick a server that is too small, your site might throttle – causing visitors to get HTTP 500 errors. On the other hand, if you pick a very big server, you’ll be constantly paying more than you actually need to.

While selecting a server, we need to strike a balance between cost and server capacity. You are not limited to a selection of cloud providers displayed in the dashboard; RunCloud supports all cloud providers that provide an Ubuntu server, so you can shop around to find the best deals.

When looking for an ideal server, keep the following points in mind:

  1. Hobbyist/test server: If your site is unlikely to receive traffic from any real users, then you can probably get away with the cheapest offering from your VPS provider.
  2. Small business: If you are expecting your site to get intermittent traffic and want to maintain an online presence, then we recommend starting out with 1 GB of RAM, and scaling it up as you grow.
  3. Medium Business/Agency: If you plan to deploy multiple sites on your server, and are expecting a lot of traffic on your site, then you should pick a server with at least 2 GB RAM. Depending upon your needs, it might even be appropriate to deploy a server with 4 or 8 GB RAM.
  4. Large Businesses: If you are running a very popular website that will get a large amount of traffic throughout the day, then you should consider using a group of smaller servers scattered across the globe, rather than using one very big server. This provides better fault tolerance, and reduces loading times for your website. Contact our customer support to talk to an expert about this.

Our Recommendations

RunCloud can run on any x86 based server with at least 512 MB of RAM and a public IP address. However, we recommend using a server with at least 2 GB RAM and 2 CPU cores if you plan to deploy more than 1-2 websites on your server.

CPU-Optimized Servers

CPU-Optimized Servers are designed to handle high-performance applications that require a lot of processing power and memory. They are usually more expensive than standard servers, but they can deliver faster and more consistent performance.

WordPress sites that rely heavily on caching (such as using a cache plugin or a CDN) may not need CPU-Optimized Servers, as caching reduces the load on the server by serving static files instead of dynamic requests.

WordPress sites that use plugins which create background tasks, collect data, scan the site, or integrate with external services may benefit from CPU-Optimized Servers, as these plugins can increase the CPU usage and slow down the site. 

WordPress sites that serve a lot of un-cached requests (such as WooCommerce, BuddyPress, or membership sites) may also require CPU-Optimized Servers, as these requests need more processing power.

How Do I Know If I Need To Upgrade My Server? 

We encourage you to read our knowledgebase article about improving performance on RunCloud. If you are still unsatisfied with the responsiveness your server after applying the optimizations, then it is likely to be the right time to upgrade your server.