Finding the right VPS hosting can be a tricky proposition.
The ideal host should provide enough a well-running VPS and
support to help you out if you get in a bind, at as low a
price as possible. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find
out how most vendors meet these criteria before purchase.
As a result, you will have to do some detective work, using
clues left by the vendor, comments by current and former
customers and any other data you can find in order to
discern which host will provide the most bang for your
hosting buck.
In the VPS world, as well as elsewhere, quality generally
is roughly proportional to price. Generally, you'll get
more capacity, better service and more reliability if you
pay more. Keep this in mind when you see a vendor offering
a virtual server with lots of features for very little
money. In cases like this, if it seems impossible for the
product to be available for such a low price, it generally
means that a) the vendor is offering less than it seems, or
will be less reliable when it comes to performance and/or
service, b) the vendor will provide what they list, but
will go out of business soon due to an unfeasible business
model or c) the vendor has found a remarkable breakthrough
that allows them to make a profit where other vendors
can't. The last point is rarely the case.
It's relatively easy to find a host who is worth the money
when things are going well. What separates the good hosts
from the bad hosts is their behaviour when things go wrong.
A good host will give you the ability to reach them at any
time of day, whether by phone, IM, email or forums.
Speaking of forums, the good hosts will have them, and will
have people saying good and bad things. A great host will
acknowledge when something goes wrong, tell exactly what
happened in their forums, and outline their plan to prevent
such occurrences in the future. A bad host will just delete
any critical posts from their forums.