VPS, dedicated server, cloud?
When your site has passed MPV and gets OK traffic and occasional heavy traffic, what is a better/easier/more suitable (balance with ease & cost) hosting option: VPS, dedicated server, or cloud, if one is not very competent with host management?
If you don't feel competent managing a server, VPS or dedicated server probably isn't the route you want to take unless you are having someone else manage it.
If it is PHP based, you may consider having Cloudways manage a VPS for you - I've recommended them for clients and so far they have been great. If it is not a PHP based project, you could look into Dreamhost's managed VPS set up.
Cloud is definitely an option, but costs can run up if you are not careful. I personally prefer VPS or dedicated myself because the costs stay consistent but I know a lot of people prefer the cloud route.
Thanks for the reply. After I did some research, I thought cloud VPS would be a good balance of price, flexibility, and upgradeability. But I found out cloud VPS doesn't support root access or node.js. My only options are traditional VPS, dedicated server, or cloud apps. I think I will start with VPS first and then upgrade to higher resources VPS and get cPanel with it to help with the management. Let me know if you can think of any cons with this setup.
If you are using node, you may want to checkout Dreamhost's managed VPS. It doesn't give you root access but you can run node using passenger:
https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/216635318-Enabling-Passenger-for-Node-js
If you want a managed VPS, they probably aren't going to give you root access.
I haven't used it, but if you decide to just go with a VPS, you may want to checkout installing CapRover (https://caprover.com/) on a VPS. It might match up well with what you are wanting.
CapRover looks pretty interesting. I will check it out. Thanks!