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If you are not really into sysadmin stuff you should try to avoid VPS if possible. It's not hard but you don't want to be learning while you have more important stuff to do. Check out Heroku or AppFog.

Having said that, Softlayer has a program called Softlayer Catalyst where they give you $1000/month in hosting expenses, mentoring and some other stuff. You can read more about it and apply here: http://www.softlayer.com/partners/catalyst

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Thank you. I will check Heroky, AppFog and the Catalyst program.

Does VPS need more maintenance than a shared hosting?

Don't even consider shared hosting, unless you're setting up a cheap Wordpress site you're better off going for Heroku/AppFog or even a VPS. Shared hosting tends to be slow, unreliable, the support usually sucks and all their promises about "Unlimited X" are bullshit.

VPS do need a lot more work (not sure if I'd call it maintenance) than a shared host since you'll be installing everything from zero and after that you're the one in charge of making sure it stays running. But again, even that if preferable to using a shared host.

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