6

It appears to me that VPS and VM is the same thing because of the way they both work. But if we dig little deeper, is there any noticeable difference between the two like physical hardware, management or scalability? Can anyone provide difference and similarities between the both? Or VM is just a new-age name for old VPS?

TIA

2 Answers 2

8

The two are often used interchangeably but even two things both named VM or VPS can be quite different on a technical level.

In the end, a VM is more of a technical term while VPS is a marketing item.

3
  • I'm looking for technical differences. Could you please explain?
    – swap
    Jul 8, 2016 at 18:00
  • 2
    @swap: Sven actually gave you all the relevant information, which is quite limited based on the question. A VPS is a marketed VM. Jul 8, 2016 at 18:10
  • 2
    A VPS might not be a virtual machine. Sometimes it's just a container. Jul 8, 2016 at 18:45
5

My understanding of the terminology.

A VM is a virtual machine, it runs it's own kernel (though in some cases it may be a special one specific to the VM platform) and you run software on that kernel just like you would on a real machine.

A Container abstracts stuff so it looks like you have your own machine but your services are still provided by the host kernel. This uses less resources but means you are tied to the same kernel version as the host.

A VPS is a VM or Container sold for the purposes of acting as a "private" server without giving you your own private server hardware.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .