{"id":85763,"date":"2026-07-17T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhblog.dream.press\/blog\/?p=85763"},"modified":"2026-07-17T07:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:00:13","slug":"install-lamp-stack-on-vps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/blog\/install-lamp-stack-on-vps\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Install a LAMP Stack on a VPS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) is the classic open-source web stack, powering WordPress (41.5% of all websites in June 2026)<\/a> and a huge share of the PHP web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Installing LAMP on a VPS gives you full root access, predictable pricing, and no per-site fees. The trade-off is that you’re now the sysadmin<\/em>: security patches, backups, and uptime are on you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, the base install takes about 30 minutes, the modern Apache and PHP wiring uses PHP-FPM, and a five-step hardening pass covers the production floor. A 4 GB VPS, like DreamHost’s VPS Stack 4<\/a>, handles a typical PHP app at baseline. Scale up only when the workload demands it.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Your managed-hosting renewal landed in your inbox last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number is bigger than you remember. Your $9-a-month plan is somehow $34 a month now. The marketing email called it a “rate adjustment.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The price isn’t even the annoying part. The plan you signed up for three years ago is now a different plan, and nobody asked you. You can’t ssh<\/strong> into the box. You can’t change the PHP version without filing a ticket. The host doesn’t think of itself as renting you a server. It thinks of itself as renting you permission<\/em> to run a website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LAMP is still the default PHP runtime on the public web. Over four out of every 10 websites run a LAMP application called WordPress. What changed over the last decade is that managed hosts wrapped LAMP in a control panel and started charging more for less of it. A VPS takes the control panel back off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Installing LAMP yourself takes about five steps, plus one key decision (PHP-FPM, not mod_php) that most older tutorials get wrong. Here\u2019s exactly how to do it \u2014 and how to know whether self-managing is the right call for you in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is a LAMP Stack?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"LAMP<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A LAMP stack is the four-piece runtime that serves most PHP applications on the internet.<\/strong> Linux for the OS, Apache for the web server, MySQL (or MariaDB) for the database, and PHP for the application code. It\u2019s been the default open-source web stack since the early 2000s. Versions changed; the shape hasn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “L” is flexible: Ubuntu, AlmaLinux, Debian, and Rocky all count. Pick one and move on. For most people in 2026, the right answer for a new deployment is Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. It is the current default for new installs, and plenty of production servers still run 22.04 LTS, which stays supported into 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of June 2026, according to W3Techs, PHP runs 70.8% of all websites with a known server-side language<\/a>. (Clearly, PHP isn\u2019t dead.<\/a>) WordPress alone powers 41.5% of all websites<\/a>, and it\u2019s a LAMP application by design. In other words, if you run a WordPress site, you’re already running LAMP. You just may not own the server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running LAMP on a VPS<\/a>, versus shared or managed hosting, gets you three things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n