[regularfry]

Depending on how the host configures things, VMs can be much more reliable. If I know my data is striped onto a 16-disc array, and can be live-migrated onto a different storage box in case the RAID controller goes funny without me having to care or even notice, that's more than I can reasonably set up with a $60/month server. Couple that to live migration of the VM process itself if the hardware it's running on goes wonky, and you've got a recipe for as much uptime as you want.

All this does depend on the VM host actually implementing these things properly, but they are out there.