Terrible TTFB Times

[pmeenan]

That is an option though you'd be responsible for backing up and failing over to a new server if the hardware dies so it's quite a bit more involved than just managing linux. You'd also be responsible for securing the server and configuring all of the application-level stuff (Apache, MySQL, PHP, APC, etc). Getting them configured right to handle large volumes of traffic can be .... challenging.

That said, you get a LOT more control. It's just not for the faint of heart. If you can do a dedicated server with SSD's then you'll be in a much better position to have a fast server without having to do too much tuning to the apps themselves.

I moved from shared hosting to dedicated hosting for WebPagetest to be able to scale it much better and have been thrilled with the results but I built out the hardware myself and it does take a fair bit of day-to-day maintenence to keep the system going (and have had to deal with hack attacks, etc).