Pick a workload. Make room for it. Keep enough headroom for what comes next.
Websites, apps & APIsFrom localhost to a deliberate first deployment.Development & stagingRoom for your tools, experiments and preview environments.Databases & servicesGive a larger working set the memory it needs.
Start with the bottleneck.
A small static site and a busy database do not need the same balance of resources. Memory constrains working data and concurrent processes. CPU affects compute-heavy tasks. Disk capacity determines what you can store. Transfer depends on what you serve to the outside world.
A VPS is a foundation, not an application subscription.
You install and operate your software. Third-party licenses and support are separate unless explicitly included. Confirm the terms of your software vendor and any special infrastructure requirements before ordering.
Choose the right starting configuration