What is a VPS?
A VPS (virtual private server) is a computer rented in a datacenter and reserved, virtually, for your sole use. You install whatever you want on it, personal cloud included: it is self-hosting without a machine at home. It is meant for users comfortable with administering a server. The topic continues in chapter 6 of my book, Vivre sans Google.
Information verified on July 13, 2026
A VPS, short for virtual private server, is a computer running in a datacenter that you rent by the month. Virtually all yours: the physical machine is shared between several customers, but each one gets a sealed slice, like an apartment in a building.
What is it for? Practicing self-hosting without a machine in your living room. You install your own services on it: file cloud, calendar, photo albums, personal website. Your data leaves Google without depending on a NAS plugged in at home, and the datacenter’s fast, stable connection does the rest. Power outage at home? Your server keeps running.
An honest caveat is in order: a VPS remains an option for advanced users. Installing, updating and securing a server, often from the command line, is not something you improvise, and one oversight exposes your data instead of protecting it. If that description puts you off, take it as a useful signal: a NAS or an encrypted cloud is enough for most people.
Where it plays out: chapter 6 of the book helps you decide where your files should live, and the Simple self-hosting (NAS) category compares solutions that require no sysadmin skills.
This topic is chapter 6 of my book
It answers these questions, among others:
- how do you empty Google Drive without losing anything, Google Docs included?
- encrypted cloud, NAS or personal server: which one fits your profile?
- and what does a NAS at home really involve, day to day?
Forthcoming 22/10/2026 from Éditions Eyrolles
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Tech jargon, translated
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