VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. It is a virtual server. Also called a virtual dedicated server (VDS), a VPS hosting environment imitates a dedicated server within a shared hosting environment. It is technically both dedicated hosting and shared hosting. Though a virtual server appears to be a dedicated server, it’s different and installed on a computer that serves multiple websites. A single computer can come with a number of VPSs, and each VPS has its own OS (operating system) that runs the hosting software for a particular user.