If uptime matters, check whether the VPS provider has decent backup policies before anything else. I recently saw a setup where daily full-server backups were included with 30-day retention, plus recovery options for databases, directories, or the whole VM. That was on hostpro.com
VPS infrastructure running KVM and NVMe storage. Their servers are available in the US, Poland, and the Netherlands too, which helps reduce latency depending on the audience region. Support was also available through live chat without extra fees.