The main advantage of a VPS over shared accounts is the root access it provides. This means you will benefit from access to all the resources of the operating system. This way you can install or compile aplications or software any way you like. You can also host as many websites as you want, your only limit being the hardware resources that you choose for your plan. You can also run your own applications, your own e-mail, DNS or FTP servers, or any other types of servers. You can even use your VPS to store backups for your important files and data. You will also benefit from increased security as you will be the only user with access to the resources of the server.