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Hawk Host Knowledge Base

Comparing semi-dedicated and cloud vps packages

Hawk Host offers both semi-dedicated hosting and cloud vps hosting for higher-resource websites and applications. This article breaks down the differences between the two.

Semi-dedicated hosting

Section titled “Semi-dedicated hosting”
  • Provides cPanel access like standard shared hosting
  • Includes extra software features: SpamExperts email filtering, Acronis backups, PHP Selector, Node.js application manager, LiteSpeed web server, and Imunify360 malware protection
  • Server environment is fully managed by Hawk Host
  • Has limits on PHP processes (15), MySQL concurrent connections (50), and total processes (100)
  • Has CPU, RAM, and disk I/O limits (values increase with higher-tier plans)

A semi-dedicated plan is best for a high-traffic or high-resource website that is already properly optimized. You get the performance of an enterprise-level hosting configuration without any server management responsibilities. If you rely on features like SpamExperts, Acronis backups, or legacy PHP versions, semi-dedicated may be the better choice. A semi-dedicated plan can be migrated to a cloud vps at any time with our team’s help.

cloud vps hosting

Section titled “cloud vps hosting”
  • Full root access within your own private server environment
  • Base OS installation by default — control panels like cPanel/WHM, DirectAdmin, or others must be added separately
  • Does not include SpamExperts, Acronis backups, PHP Selector, or LiteSpeed by default (many can be added through paid licenses)
  • Semi-managed support: We help with critical system-level issues (compute not booting, unresponsive server, services not starting). Support does not extend to website-specific software, custom OS software, or code debugging
  • No software-defined limits on PHP processes, MySQL connections, CPU, RAM, or disk I/O — your sites have full access to all compute hardware resources

A cloud vps is best for applications that need all restrictions removed, or for users who require complete control over their hosting environment. Users who experience DDoS attacks are also best hosted on a compute — we offer DDoS-protected IP options with all compute plans.