You probably already know about Spaceship as a subbrand of Namecheap. And they provide cheaper hosting than Namecheap. Starlight Virtual Machines is a cheap unmanaged VPS with some features. I have had good and bad experiences with this hosting, so here is my review of Spaceship (Starlight) hosting.
Key Features:
Spaceship VPS runs on AMD EPYC 7742 CPU, DDR4 3200 RAM, NVMe SSDs and has a 1Gbps network speed.
- Server config: Launchpad allows you to perform basic server management tasks, such as turning off/on, rebooting, destroying, and reinstalling.
- Security: SVM has few security features, but you can change the SSH port.
- Supported OS: CentOS, Fedora, Ubuntu, AlmaLinux.
- Server analysis: Real-time insight into servers’ performance and health.
- Customization: Starlight VPS doesn’t have many customizations. And there is no control panel; instead, there is only a launchpad.
I’m usually a big fan of unmanaged VPS hosting and like to experiment with them. Also, there are managed VPSs that differ from self-managed VPSs. A managed VPS gives you everything you need without configuring the server, but it’s expensive. Actually, I like unmanaged VPSs, and I can handle them myself.
So, Spaceship VPS is an unmanaged hosting service, but its performance isn’t as impressive as DigitalOcean, Katapult, VULTR, etc. (particularly time to first byte).
Here, I bought their Standard 1 VPS plan, which is less than $5/mo. It comes with an AMD vCore, 2GB RAM, 25GB NVMe, and 1TB bandwidth.
I agree; it’s decent compared to others. Also, you can get a 4GB RAM/2vCore package for under $12/mo. Suitable for various types of websites.
With Ubuntu, I’ve installed WordPress with the default software pack, which includes OpenLiteSpeed and MariaDB. An SSL certificate is pre-installed.
Here is a sample TTFB test without any optimization.
Clearly, performance isn’t ideal; it’s only okay in some parts of the US since they only have one data center in Arizona.
You need to use some speed tactics to fix this problem. Cloudflare APO is a paid add-on designed to optimize WordPress’s performance, especially in terms of first-byte speed. So here is a sample TTFB test using APO.
To make things even better, you can use a powerful cache plugin like FlyingPress. There are many ways to optimize WordPress websites, but I’m not here to explain them all. But web hosting speeds matter, especially for dynamic sites.
What Makes Spaceship VPS Better?
First, Starlight Hosting offers a very competitive price; they’re cheaper than most of the competition. Yes, there are cheaper ones like WebDock.
With this VPS, software installation is easier when you deploy or reinstall virtual machines. You can choose some apps based on your OS and VM specs. Then, selected apps will be automatically installed whenever you deploy or reinstall.
Using MariaDB with Ubuntu, you can install OpenLiteSpeed and WordPress with a single click. And, using this method, you can easily install or reinstall WordPress in Spaceship Launchpad. Downside is you can’t customize much.
Of course, if you just want a simple website without optimizations, that’s fine. However, for serious production websites, it is always better to use a VPS with cloud control panels such as xCloud, RunCloud, CloudPanel, etc.
Spaceship VPS Plans and Prices
Their pricing approach is nice because you don’t have to pay upfront. Since plans have monthly billing periods with post-billing, you’ll pay hourly for the previous month. Also, make sure you terminate your VPS instead of switching it off.
In other words, you’ll only pay for how much you use it. When you terminate your VPS, you won’t get billed. So you can try Spaceship VPS for a few cents.
There are three types of hosting configurations for Spaceship VPS.
Standard: This is the cheapest option and suitable for small—to medium-sized websites. It is ideal for development and testing scenarios and applications that use moderate CPU and memory.
With the Standard 1 plan, you get 1 AMD core, 2GB RAM, 25GB NVMe, and 1TB bandwidth for less than $5 a month. Statistically, you can get up to 8 cores and 16GB RAM for $50 a month.
CPU-optimized: You’ll pay a little extra for these virtual machines, but they’re great for sites with high CPU usage and also work for VPN servers.
With more CPU cores, you get a faster processing speed, whereas a dedicated CPU means the cores aren’t shared. And get this… CPU-intensive sites are those with heavy processing or uncacheable dynamic content. Particularly useful if you use fancy WordPress themes or want to host documentation sites.
CPU-optimized 1 plan starts at almost $8 and includes 2 vCores, 2GB RAM, 25GB storage, and 4TB transfer – You can get up to 8 vCores.
Memory-optimized: It fits if you need more RAM and need to handle large databases and memory cache. If you have static sites, these aren’t necessary; however, they prove helpful when a large amount of RAM is being utilized.
These are suitable for caching heavy objects in memory or expiring files. Expensive options – however, you can get up to 16GB RAM droplets for 45 USD.
Downsides to Starlight Spaceship VPS?
Starlight VPS from Spaceship is a developing product, so expect some features you won’t find in it yet. Actually, they need some work in these areas…
- Only one data center: As of this writing, they have a data center in Phoenix, USA, so you can host a site in the US or use it as a VPN in the US. But for others, this is a big downside, so I hope they’ll add more data centers. Use a CDN like Cloudflare paid plans or FlyingCDN to reduce global latency.
- No control panel: Starlight Hosting lacks a proper control panel. They only provide “Starlight Manager,” which has basic tools for handling your server. However, this is a weak point compared to other cloud hosts.
- A little slow: I have used various VPSs, from large to small ones, throughout the years. So, Starlight VPSs aren’t that fast. TTFB’s performance isn’t as good as competitors – but it’s enough for most static content sites.
- Hard to use SSH terminal: They shouldn’t have created that kind of SSH terminal. It’s useless – so you’ll need an external SSH client like Putty.
- Non-customizable: As I mentioned, they don’t offer an actual control panel, so there aren’t many customizations. You can install WordPress, but you can’t customize it server-side.
There can be more cons and don’t expect UI or performance like Linode, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Katapult, etc.
My Final Thoughts On Starlight VPS Hosting
OK, friends. Starlight Virtual Machines (Spaceship VPS) is a suitable hosting option for static websites and US VPN servers. These are powered by AMD EPYC and NVMe SSDs and deliver 1Gbps network speed. But, there are three key issues, including the lack of control panel, only US data center and poor SSH terminal.
For testing purposes, I used their entry-level hosting plans – performance was not very impressive, but I don’t think it will be a big deal for most people.
You can install OpenLiteSpeed with WordPress during virtual machine deployment. It includes a free SSL certificate – issue is that you can’t customize.
I like their pay-per-use pricing model—instead of paying upfront, you pay after you’ve used the service. And I don’t know how their support works because, unless there’s a server-side problem, I don’t need web hosting support.
So, Spaceship VPS is suitable if you want to try hosting a website in the US and also for US VPN servers. I mean, there are definitely better VPSs out there.
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