The real criterion: your software, not your preferences
Start by writing down the software this server will have to host. Not your technical wish list: the real one, the one that will end up in the specification. Nine times out of ten that list decides on its own. A French business application — Sage, EBP, Cegid, Ciel — ships as a Windows product. A legacy .NET Framework application only runs on Windows. A need for Active Directory or full SQL Server points the same way.
Conversely, if your list holds a web server, an API, a Node or Python runtime, a Docker container, a MySQL or PostgreSQL database, Linux is at home. Those building blocks were born there, documentation is more plentiful, updates are simpler and the bill is lower. Running WordPress on Windows is an expensive misunderstanding; running Sage on Linux is a technical dead end. Personal preference only comes into play when the list does not decide.
- Windows is required by: French accounting and ERP software, .NET Framework, IIS, COM, full SQL Server, Active Directory, and any graphical remote desktop use.
- Linux is the natural choice for: websites, APIs, containers, workers, open-source databases, bots, development and testing environments.
- The most common grey area: a .NET 6, 8 or 9 application, cross-platform, which runs perfectly well on Linux — see our .NET hosting page.
- The trap: deciding out of habit. "We have always used Windows" gets expensive across a fleet of web servers, and "we put everything on Linux" burns weeks when a business application exists nowhere else.
RDP versus SSH: two opposite ways to drive a machine
On Windows you administer over RDP: a graphical session, a desktop, a mouse. You open the server the way you open your own PC. On our Windows VPS, RDP access is optimised up to 60 FPS, with full administrator access and a backup VNC console for when RDP itself stops answering. That access mode is what makes Windows usable by someone who is not a system administrator: they land in an environment they already know.
On Linux you administer over SSH: a console, text, commands. It is lighter, scriptable, easy to automate, and it works fine over a poor connection — but it requires being comfortable on the command line. This difference is not cosmetic: it determines who, inside your organisation, will be able to work on the server. Our RDP connection guide walks through the Windows side step by step.
- RDP: full graphical session, shared clipboard and drives, redirected printers. Available from Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
- SSH: text console, minimal bandwidth, script automation, cryptographic keys instead of passwords.
- Windows limit to know: the system allows 2 simultaneous administrative RDP sessions. Beyond that, for multi-user application access, Microsoft RDS CAL licences are required, at your expense.
- Linux limit to know: SSH opens no graphical desktop. If your users must see an application window, Linux will ask for extra work that Windows does natively.
Real total cost: the machine, the licence, the memory
Comparing €8 with €4.99 only makes sense if you count everything. The price of the machine is just the first line. On the Linux side, the server distributions we offer — Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux — are free software: the cost of the system is zero, today and in three years. On the Windows side, By-Hoster installs Windows Server 2025, Windows Server 2022 or Windows 11 at no extra charge, but neither provides nor resells a Microsoft licence: you must hold a valid one for your usage.
Most hosts stay quiet about this, which is exactly why we put it in writing. On top of the system licence may come RDS CALs as soon as several people work over remote desktop, a SQL Server licence when Express is not enough, and the licences for your business software, which remain yours. Our Windows Server licensing guide lays out that framework without dodging.
- Linux machine: from €4.99/month, system included, no licence to plan for.
- Windows machine: €8/month (Core), €13/month (Plus, the most chosen), €26/month (Max), €49.99/month (Titan). Annual commitment takes 10% off, i.e. €7.20/month on the Core.
- Microsoft licence: your responsibility, bought from Microsoft or a reseller. We do not bill it, so we cannot supply it.
- SQL Server: Express is free but capped at 10 GB per database, 1 socket or 4 cores and 1.4 GB of RAM for the engine. Standard and Enterprise are paid.
- The invisible line: memory. A Windows server needs more RAM to deliver the same service, which mechanically pushes you towards a bigger configuration.
Memory footprint: what the system takes before your applications
This is the most concrete difference, and the one most often overlooked at quotation time. Windows Server ships a permanent graphical interface: it runs continuously, even when nobody is connected, and it reserves memory before your first application starts. A Linux server administered over SSH has no such layer: it devotes most of its memory to the service it actually delivers. At equal configuration, the same job therefore leaves more headroom.
Our sizing benchmark, published on the site, reflects that: count 4 GB of RAM minimum for light Windows use (RDP and office work, a single user), and 8 GB as soon as you add business software, SQL Server Express or several simultaneous users. That is why all four of our Windows configurations start at 8 GB: below that, the experience degrades from the second application onwards. Every additional RDP session consumes its own share.
- Windows, light use: 4 GB of RAM minimum for one user on RDP and office applications.
- Windows, business software: 8 GB once an accounting package, SQL Server Express or several sessions come in — Windows - Core covers that at €8/month.
- Windows, several heavy applications: 16 or 32 GB, meaning Windows - Plus at €13/month or Windows - Max at €26/month.
- Linux: with no graphical interface, memory goes to the service itself. That is what lets modest web services live on far smaller configurations.
What runs better on each side
Once licensing and memory are settled, technical affinities remain. They are real, documented and in no way ideological: each system was designed for a different application world, and each keeps a clear edge on its home ground. Forcing a piece of software to live at the neighbour's always costs more than the rent you saved.
The good news is that the choice is not exclusive at company scale. Plenty of businesses run their website and APIs on a Linux VPS at €4.99/month, and keep a Windows VPS at €8 or €13/month for the accounting software accessed over RDP. Two specialised machines often cost less, and work better, than a single one trying to do everything.
- Windows does better: French business software (Sage, EBP, Cegid, Ciel), .NET Framework and IIS, SQL Server, Active Directory, remote workstations, trading applications shipped as Windows builds.
- Linux does better: web servers (Nginx, Apache), APIs and microservices, Docker containers, MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, scheduled jobs, bots, dev and test environments.
- A draw: .NET 6, 8 and 9, cross-platform; PostgreSQL, available on both; the Node, Python and Java runtimes, which run everywhere.
- What does not change: in both cases the machine is virtualised with KVM via Proxmox, hosted in our single datacentre DC-FR_NA(01) in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, under French jurisdiction and GDPR, with no transfer outside the European Union.
Switching camps: how to migrate without breakage
There is no in-place conversion from a Windows server to a Linux one: the file systems, configuration formats and software have nothing in common. A migration always means bringing the new machine up beside the old one, then switching over once everything checks out. That method has one decisive advantage: at no point are you left without a working server.
- Inventory what actually runs on the current machine: applications, services, scheduled tasks, databases, mount points, certificates. This is the step everyone rushes, and the one that sinks migrations.
- Check that every building block exists on the target. Software with no Linux equivalent, or a dependency on IIS, COM or a Windows component, stops the migration right here — and finding out now rather than on a Friday evening is good news.
- Take a snapshot of the existing server before touching anything. Snapshots are included and triggered from the client area: that is your safety net for the whole operation.
- Order the target machine in parallel. It is delivered in 10 minutes, which lets you work on both servers at once. Changing system family means changing product line: open a ticket from the client area and the team will guide you.
- Export data in neutral formats — SQL dumps, archives, CSV exports — rather than copying binary files tied to the original system.
- Replay the installation on the target, then test in real conditions with your users while the old server is still running. Only cut production over after validation.
- Cancel the old machine only once the new one is proven. Our plans have no commitment and are covered by the 48-hour money-back guarantee: a few days of overlap cost little, a mistake costs a lot.
The 5-question decision grid
If you only have two minutes, answer these five questions in order. The first one that returns "yes" has already decided for you: the following ones then serve to size and budget, not to reopen the debate.
- Does even one of your essential applications exist only as a Windows build? If so, it is Windows, and the debate ends there. No compatibility layer replaces a vendor who does not support your configuration.
- Do your users need to see a graphical desktop remotely? If so, Windows and its RDP access do natively what Linux only achieves with extra configuration.
- Does anyone on your side know how to administer Linux from the command line? If nobody feels up to it and there is no budget for managed services, a poorly maintained Linux server will cost you more than the price gap.
- Do you hold, or can you buy, the required Microsoft licence? System, plus RDS CALs if several people work over RDP, plus SQL Server if Express is not enough. If the answer is no, Linux becomes the only realistic option again.
- Can your budget absorb the full gap? Machine (€8/month versus €4.99/month), plus licences, plus the extra RAM. If yes, take Windows with confidence. If not, first look for a Linux equivalent to your software — and if none exists, revisit the budget rather than the system.
