Definition

VDS hosting – virtual dedicated server.

VPS hosting – virtual private server.

There is no difference between VDS and VPS.

Virtual private server usually is required by the site which uses creative solutions or overloads usual shared hosting. It is a borderland between dedicated server and shared hosting. You can manage your server, install any programs exept operating system.

What is it for?

Small business – if you need to guarantee a safety using creative technologies.

Medium business – if a middle-sized company has a lot of products, needs to provide tech support or exclusive selling features.

E-commerce – e.g. if you set up a new online store or provide tech support for software which is available for downloading from the site.

Big projects – e.g. if you have a site which gets a lot of visitors.

Usually a transition to virtual dedicated server is initialized by hosting provider when your site overloads a shared hosting server or you need a creative solutions which cannot be embed on a dedicated server because of security considerations.