AWS is a bit more expensive but can be cheaper if you use the right size or number of machines. For example, run 25 machines during the day and less at night r

AWS is a bit more expensive but can be cheaper if you use the right size or number of machines. For example, run 25 machines during the day and less at night rather than buying enough hardware to meet peak demand. Though there are some cool extras that come with AWS such as the ability to add EBS volumes, take S3 snapshots, etc. This can give you options that VPS or dedicated don't. But a VPS is basically the same thing. I suggest you test out "cloud" instances and see how much load they support and then compare comparable hosting plans at various places based on cost and reliability. We host 200 sites on a machine similar to an AWS small with more processor (2g ram with tons more processor - about 11 compute units but rarely hit 25%) Though io is 3-4 times as fast. Some of the sites are pretty active. If you just have a single small site, it would be way more than you need at this stage. Though a VPS would be great because you can get a feeling for how much power you need. I've considered "cloudsites" from Rackspace but based on page loads, I think it would cost $450/month. That's a bit more expensive than running powerful collocated hardware...but nice since they manage it. It would be fun because they track your machine usage so you are motivated to write efficient code. Though I think it starts at $150.