When it comes to Sylius, you have various options to choose from, starting with shared hosting and ending with private clouds. Sylius doesn’t have a preferable hosting provider. Due to that fact, it is crucial to conduct research and choose the hosting option best suited for you.

Along our eCommerce journey, we came through many hosting providers while implementing projects for our clients. This article aims to present the available solutions when it comes to hosting for your Sylius project and show the good and the bad sides of each solution.  

Shared hosting

Shared hosting is based on sharing hardware resources between many users; for example, a client buys space on a computer disc dedicated to his project. As a result, multiple websites utilize a single server. 

Sylius is very efficient when it comes to shared hosting; nonetheless, nothing is perfect. Fortunately, we can fix any obstacles that may be encountered on the way, thanks to our experience with this platform.

It is the most economical hosting option because the cost of maintaining the server is spread over many customers and starts at 10 €. Also worth mentioning here is that there are software applications within the server that make accessing and controlling your website easy. The downside of this solution is that due to the shared resources, heavy traffic like e.g. Black Friday, may slow down the client’s website.

Virtual Private Server and Dedicated Server

A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is a virtual environment separated from a physical server that, in contrast to shared hosting, does not limit your customization options and provides dedicated resources usable only by one account.

VPS and dedicated servers are very similar. In both options, a client gets a dedicated server in a server room. However, the difference is that in the case of VPS, a hard drive is shared between other users. Due to that, some issues may occur, like in the case of PHP Symfony.  Symfony uses a drive to save data and utilize it when needed, e.g. during repeatable operations. Therefore, drive speed is crucial for this. Sharing a hard drive with other users may cause its slower performance which will also slow down the website hosted on it. A dedicated server can handle heavy traffic without a drop in performance due to the dedicated resources and hard drive. Naturally, it comes with a higher price. VPS price starts at 60 €, while the price of a dedicated server is 100 € upwards.

While hosting VPS or a dedicated server, it is possible to partially automate maintenance of the server, e.g. automatic backup in case of a crash. However, it is important to have an administrator or DevOps engineer who will maintain the server and take care of malfunctions. Unfortunately, the price of such a service will definitely be higher than the price of hosting itself. Nevertheless, both options are better than shared hosting.

What’s more, it is crucial to check if the provider has SSD NVMe drives in order to avoid performance issues with your website.

Platform as a Service

Platform as a Service (Paas) is a form of cloud computing that offers a platform and environment so that developers can create apps and services for the Internet. This hosting solution means the service is a platform where we can upload our code or website. The official Symfony PaaS is Platform.sh.

Such a hosting platform is even more automated than shared hosting and provides you with everything needed to establish your website. The configuration is very easy, thus, no programming knowledge is required.

Nonetheless, the performance of this solution leaves a lot of room for improvement. The poor performance is a result of sharing a single machine between many users and a lot of automation. Like in the case of a dedicated server at a similar price, even a well-written application will run slower when hosted on a PaaS, similarly to a dedicated server.

This hosting solution is worth consideration when it is eventually configured for a particular website and doesn’t require DevOps engineer interference. However, the implementation cost of such an operation may be too high for many.

Public and Private Cloud hosting

A public cloud is very close to VPS, which means that we share a disc on a machine. The only advantage of the public cloud over VPS is the possibility of extending resources when needed. As a result, the pricing is higher than VPS.

Private Cloud is a dedicated server that has individual disc and individual resources available only to one customer. Those resources can be easily changed; for instance, a client may add another disc, add RAM, CPU, etc. In other words, the private cloud sells dedicated servers that can automatically scale up, which gives us flexibility.

Unfortunately, it comes with a price. The cost of a private cloud starts at a few thousand euros. However, it can be rented by the hour and paid for using resources.

A private cloud differs from dedicated servers with the possibility of extending resources in real time. Additionally, operating a private cloud is very easy and doesn’t require much effort e.g. adjusting sliders to increase RAM. This hosting solution is best for enterprises with large budgets.

Summary

Explore every solution available on the market and only then make a decision. Don’t believe in everything you see in the advertisements of hosting platforms. Pay attention to the solution’s infrastructure to get the desired performance and avoid problems. If you are a software developer who programs for yourself or just wants to show your work to the client, choose shared hosting or VPS. Even the PaaS will work if automation and performance aren’t your priority. But if you are focused on production and sales, we recommend a dedicated server or private cloud.

Worth mentioning is also the location of the server room. If it is, for example, in Warsaw, the website will run very fast for users from Central Europe. But if the same website is opened in America, it will most likely run slower. That’s why it is important to choose the location of the server room wisely.

If we recommended a platform, we would choose OVH dedicated servers and Google Cloud Platform, which we successfully use for our client’s projects. If you are struggling with the topic of Sylius hosting or need help in Sylius development, don’t hesitate to contact us, we will do our best to help you.