There are a lot of similarities between VPS hosting options and Dedicated servers.

Both options offer you increased control over your hosting environment, especially with regards to the software that is installed. Both options offer you the option of purchasing the specs that you need when it comes to hardware.

Though this analogy is overly simplistic, you can think of a VPS plan as a light version of a dedicated server. A VPS plan is set up like a shared plan but behaves like a dedicated server. A VPS plan offers you a chance to try out the most premium of hosting options, a dedicated server, without the cost.

Cost
It will be no surprise to you that VPS plans are cheaper than dedicated servers. When a web host can put multiple customers on a single server, they can charge less to each customer.

Most web hosts tend to fall somewhere in between these two extremes. You will need to speak with the web hosts you are interested in to see exactly what they offer (and what they do not). Not all managed hosts operate in the same way or offer the same services.

In addition to considering how much of these administrative tasks you want to tackle on your own (as well as what you are comfortable doing), you will need to consider your budget. No rule of thumb says how much managed services run, but they do have a cost (sometimes considerably so).