How do I choose between shared hosting, a VPS and a managed platform?

Short answer: choose by how much operations work you are willing to own. The more control you want, the more you maintain.

Shared hosting

• Good for: simple WordPress and PHP sites with modest traffic.
• Pros: cheapest, panel-based, no server administration.
• Cons: limited control over PHP versions, extensions and background processes; noisy neighbours; usually unsuitable for long-running Node processes.

VPS (virtual private server)

• Good for: multiple sites, custom stacks, Node or Laravel with queues and cron.
• Pros: full control, predictable cost, you can run anything.
• Cons: you own security updates, firewalling, backups, monitoring, TLS renewal and recovery. If you do not have time for that, it is a liability.

Managed platforms

This covers platform-as-a-service and managed WordPress or app hosts.

• Good for: teams that want to ship, not administer servers.
• Pros: deploys from Git, automatic TLS, scaling and rollbacks, little maintenance.
• Cons: higher cost at scale, vendor-specific features, less control, and sometimes limits on background workers or build time.

Questions to decide

1. Do I need background workers, websockets or custom binaries?
2. Who patches the server at 2 a.m.?
3. What does an hour of downtime cost the client?
4. What is the traffic now, and in a year?
5. Can I automate backups and restore from them?

A sensible path

Use shared or managed hosting for simple client sites, a managed platform for apps you want to ship quickly, and a VPS when you need control and have the discipline to maintain it (automatic updates, a firewall, off-server backups and monitoring).

Whatever you choose, test restoring a backup before you need one.