What is Dedicated Hosting?

Imagine you’re living in a big house all by yourself. Every room is yours and you can decorate any way you want. You don’t have to share any space or resources with anyone. In the world of web hosting, that’s kind of like having dedicated hosting.

Dedicated hosting means your website gets its very own server. That’s right – a whole server that’s completely dedicated to your website and no one else’s!

Dedicated servers are all about having complete control of your server. Dedicated server space is sold by hosting providers for various rates that can range from $45 to $250 plus. Mostly this depends on the size of the server, but some hosting providers will throw in a few extra things to entice you to sign up.

Why and When People Use Dedicated Hosting

People usually choose dedicated hosting for big, busy websites. Imagine a bustling online store that gets tons of visitors every day, or a popular blog that’s always uploading new content. These kinds of websites need a lot of resources and high performance to keep everything running smoothly, and dedicated hosting can provide that.

But it’s not just about size and busyness. Dedicated hosting can also be important for security. If you’re handling sensitive information – like customers’ credit card numbers – then dedicated hosting can provide better protection.

With dedicated servers, you want a lot of storage and power if you are building an enterprise website. Otherwise, you may not need as much storage. There are also differences between processors. With single processor servers, you will not spend as much, but if you are purchasing a server with multi-core such as an Intel Xeon processor, then you will likely spend to have that additional power.

Some dedicated hosting options also provide additional features like control panels, applications, security software, malware scanning, malware removal, SSL certificates, and OS installation. These are typically add-ons, but some hosting providers include them with the price of the server.

Choosing A Dedicated Host

Customization

Does the hosting provider have both Linux and Windows options? Does it allow you to allocate space as you wish? Basically, is the hosting provider truly providing a dedicated server? In some cases, hosting providers sell “private servers” that still share space with other cohabitants. You want a dedicated server that is completely your own to customize and control.

Uptime

One thing I do, is rank websites by how stable they are through uptime. You can monitor a hosting provider’s uptime through website monitoring tools. Dedicated hosting servers should never go down if you are not using any bandwidth. If you have a ton of traffic and outgrow your bandwidth, you probably will have to upgrade. In no other situation should your hosting go down unless natural disaster. Each review has an uptime marker sho you know how well the hosting provider does with constant website traffic and bandwidth.

Congestion

You should not have any congestion on a dedicated server, since you are on a dedicated server. With shared hosting, you may have other websites taking up bandwidth on the server and even crashing it if something suddenly goes viral on their website. With your hosting provider and a dedicated server, the only congestion should be felt is if you have gone viral.

Security

Dedicated servers need security options so that you can protect your website against hackers, viruses, and breakage. Firewall configurations are important but time-consuming. Some hosting providers will provide extra built-in security features, so you do not have to worry about it and get started with your server without any security to install except for additional options that you may want.

Customer Support

Lastly, what kind of support does the hosting provider give to the customer? Customer support should be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, especially if you are running an online business or a game that supports multiple users. You will want a hosting provider that makes it easy to get in touch should something go wrong or you want to upgrade before something does go wrong.

Features

If you are a Linux master, then you probably will not need that much additional help. However, it is nice to get started up as fast as possible using some of the customized features of certain hosting providers. For example, Media Temple provides a control panel so that it is easy to monitor your website’s performance. You can install web monitoring tools on your own as well.

The best dedicated server providers are reviewed below. See how the major hosting options stack up against each other based on customization, uptime, congestion, security, and support.

Let’s Take A Look At What I Consider To Be The Best Dedicated Server Hosting for 2023

Bluehost

Dedicated Server Plan: Starting from $89.98/month

If you are a business in need of a medium to enterprise-level website, then Bluehost is a great option with different packages for dedicated servers that match your budget. Bluehost provides a few features included with the price to make it a better option if you do not know how to set up a server or want to get through setup as quickly as possible.

The servers at Bluehost start at $89.98/month and include 1TB of hard drive space, 8GB of RAM, and unmetered bandwidth on the standard package. Bluehost will also setup the server for you and create custom configurations for an additional cost. Bluehost also throws in some website monitoring tools and easy-to-use applications so that you can set up what you need in very little time.

Uptime for Bluehost has been decent over the past six months, averaging at 99.97% with a few fails in the past 90 days. Customer support is available 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week through Bluehost, and you can contact them through live chat. My experience with Bluehost customer service has always been positive. I can get to speak to a representative via Live Chat in less than 2 minutes.

HostGator

Dedicated Server Plan: Starting from $89.98/month

HostGator offers some good hosting options for those looking to buy a dedicated server package. This provider offers a fewa features including customization of SSD storage, RAM, and data transfers. HostGator provides unlimited data transfers, which is better than most of the dedicated server hosting providers.

You can find Linux and Windows dedicated hosting. This is important if you want to customize your server with different applications in a certain language. You can install all kinds of applications into your dedicated server including WordPress or other CMS platforms, as you will have plenty of space on your own server.

Uptime has been reliable for HostGator, remaining at 99.99%, and customer service reviews show HostGator is reliable and offers extensive customer support options.

Conclusion
HostGator provides a decent price for a good dedicated server with lots of features including custom setup from their customer service team. Security options may be extra. The lowest rate must also be purchased upfront instead of month-to-month pricing.

Liquid Web

Dedicated Server Plan: Starting from $149.25, discounts available

You can find Linux-based and Windows-based dedicated servers on Liquid Web. Another benefit is that there is no shared hosting through Liquid Web, so whenever you purchase a plan, you are getting your own dedicated host and server. There are a number of different configurations to choose from, including a high-end, 32 CPU core processor that starts at $411.75/month (reverting to $549 after promotional period).

If you are looking just for the basics, you can start with their dedicated hosting plan at $149.25. This is a single processor server that you will have to set up on your own without all the bells and whistles.

Uptime on Liquid Web is pretty standard at 99.98% with a few downtime failures in the last six months that brought down their rating. They do now have data centers in the US central area and west coast (Michigan and Arizona) as well as Amsterdam in the Netherlands for European customers. The customer support team is friendly and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Conclusion
Liquid Web has a number of different SMB and enterprise-level plans for whatever you want to do with your storage. The price difference between Liquid Web can grow as you add more storage and features. You can start out with a smaller server and grow your hosting packages through Liquid Web’s customization options.

InMotion

Dedicated Server Plan: Starting from $69.99/month (unmanaged dedicated server)

Want to configure your server with 3TB of storage? Then InMotion has a good dedicated server for you. InMotion offer two types of dedicated server packages. There are managed servers and unmanaged servers. For each of these there are a variety of plans to chose from. For managed hosting services, InMotion only offers Linux-based dedicated web servers. The servers come with between 16GB and a staggering 512GB of RAM depending on the scale of the package you require. Also, for the enterprise level packages, Raid1 software is included.

InMotion are one of the providers I have reviewed where their dedicated server plans have remained steady in price over the years. When last reviewed in 2021, managed server prices ranged from $139.99/mo to $539.99. Today, they offer two new additional packages at either end, with ‘Aspire’ $89.99/mo, and ‘CC-3000’ $739.99/mo.

Managed Dedicated Servers

The unmanaged dedicated servers are good for system admins or devs that have a skill set to perform server management themselves. With these packages you can choose the operating system so they are not just Linux based. These packages are a little cheaper than the managed server options.

Unmanaged Dedicated Server

However, one drawback would be the limitation on data transfers on the basic ‘Aspire’ package. Most hosting providers offer unlimited data transfers, but InMotion will set your limit to 10TB of monthly data. This increases to unlimited bandwidth on every other level of package however, which is an improvement on their previous cap or 25TB on even the most prestigious of packages.

InMotion does not have issues with uptime and remained 99.99% on average over the past six months. Their customer support is a little lacking, and you will not find technical support available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Conclusion
InMotion offers a good price for a dedicated hosting service that provides all the SSD space and RAM to build any Cloud engine you want. However, there are a lack of customization options and free features that are included with other servers. You will have to pay extra to have your server set up through InMotion.

Read My InMotion Hosting Review

DreamHost

Dedicated Server Plan: Starting from $149/month

There are lots of built-in security features to love about DreamHost. This provider really cares about its customers’ websites and offers firewall protection, as well as SSL certificates. Their dedicated hosting options start at $149/month and come with 1TB of storage and 4GB RAM. You can configure the servers with up to 16G of RAM as well.

They also offer an enhanced server package where you can get 2TB of storage and from 16GB to 64GB RAM. Enhanced server packages start from $279 per month.

Dreamhost Dedicated Server Pricing

Server Type	RAM / Storage	Price per month
Standard Dedicated Server	4GB / 1TB	$149
Standard Dedicated Server	8GB / 1TB	$189
Standard Dedicated Server	16GB / 1TB	$229

Server Type	RAM / Storage	Price per month
Enhanced HDD Dedicated Server	16GB / 2TB	$279
Enhanced HDD Dedicated Server	32GB / 2TB	$329
Enhanced HDD Dedicated Server	64GB / 2TB	$379
Enhanced SSD Dedicated Server	16GB / 240 GB SSD	$279
Enhanced SSD Dedicated Server	32GB / 240 GB SSD	$329
Enhanced SSD Dedicated Server	64GB / 240 GB SSD	$379

DreamHost does not have Windows-based servers, which is a drawback. With Linux-based servers, you can build most applications with a variety of different languages. If you wanted to build a website using Microsoft’s operating system, you would not be able to.

Uptime has been relatively good for DreamHost in the past six months with an average of 99.96%, and their customer support is questionable. They do have an extensive knowledgebase, but it may difficult to get in touch when you have issues.

Conclusion
DreamHost provides a decent amount of storage for the price, but without Windows-based servers and customer support issues, you will be better off getting with a company that offers excellent customer service for the price.

GoDaddy

Dedicated Server Plan: Starting from $129.99/month, discounts available

GoDaddy is the King of discounted web hosting. Their dedicated hosting comes with a rock-solid uptime, so you never have to worry about your website going down. They have also recently added 24/7 technical support with live chat so that you can get problems resolved quickly.

If you want to start a business with a dedicated server, GoDaddy is one of the better options. This is because you can build in Linux or Windows, and plans start at a pretty low rate but offer 32GB of RAM, 2TB of storage, and unlimited monthly data transfers.

While the 32GB of RAM is not the largest amount of memory available, it does scale up to 256GB of RAM on higher tiered packages. GoDaddy has a very competitive product that is easy to set up and comes with a lot of security features. You can also add on some of the other features at a pretty cheap cost, such as firewall protection and SSL certificates.

Conclusion
GoDaddy is a good startup website host if you want a dedicated server. The cost is cheaper than others and offers a larger amount of storage for the base plan than other competitors.

Hostwinds

Dedicated Server Plan: Starting from $122/month

Hostwinds is a dedicated reseller and has received a ton of good reviews for being a cheap option with a lot of storage. Their dedicated hosting plans offer affordability with enterprise-level power and support. You can customize or prefab Windows-based dedicated servers, or a servers coming with a variety of different Operating Systems. Those hosting the Windows OS are slightly more expensive, starting at $147/month.

You can create a configurable server with up to 3TB SSD storage per drive bay with a maximum of four drivers using Hostwinds. These servers also come with up to 128GB of RAM and unlimited monthly data transfers. If you were able to max out all that you could do with these servers, you may spend over $1,000/month though.

Customer support has been highly reviewed with Hostwinds, and they offer multiple ways to get in touch whether you need technical support by phone or live chat. Uptime is also incredible at an average of 99.99% over the past six months.

Conclusion
If you want a dedicated server with a lot of options and storage, this is the best choice as far as power and uptime.

A2 Hosting

Dedicated Server Plan: Starting from $105.99/month

If you’re looking for a dedicated server that offers speed and reliability, A2 Hosting is a great choice. Their servers start at $105.99/month for an unmanaged service, and include 16GB of RAM, 2×1 TB storage, and 6 TB transfer on the Hyper 1 package. Managed packages are a little more expensive, starting at $155.99 on the Warp 1 package on a 2 year subscription.

There are 7 tiers of package in total for both managed and unmanaged servers, with the most expensive options setting you back between $450-$506 respectively. Here’s an overview of the lowest 4 tiers for both managed and unmanaged that A2 offers:

A2 Hosting is all about speed. They offer a Turbo Boost feature that can load pages up to 20 times faster compared to standard hosting. This is a huge advantage for websites with high traffic or complex operations.

Their uptime is impressive, averaging 99.99% over the past six months. This means your website will be available and accessible to your visitors almost all the time.

A2 Hosting also offers a choice between Linux and Windows hosting, which gives you the flexibility to use the platform that best suits your needs.

Customer support is a strong point for A2 Hosting. They offer 24-7/365 support through phone, live chat, and email. Their support team, also known as the “Guru Crew,” is knowledgeable and quick to respond.

Conclusion
I think A2 Hosting offers a solid dedicated hosting plan that combines speed, reliability, and excellent customer support. While their plans might be a bit pricier than some competitors, the quality of service and features offered make it a worthwhile investment.

Ionos – From 1and1 Hosting

Dedicated Server Plan: Starting from $47/month

The price for a dedicated server hosting through Ionos is unheard of. Most dedicated hosting costs start at $100 or more. Ionos provides three dedicated hosting tiers with SSD storage, and four with regular HDD storage. These are dedicated hosting servers, which is different than purchasing your own dedicated service.

The entry-level dedicated servers start at $47 with 12 GB of Ram, 1000GB of storage, and unlimited data transfers. If you are managing a small website with very little traffic, this should meet your needs. You can also check out the XL-64 SD package if you are looking for something with more storage. These plans start at $140/month.

Uptime is not always reliable through Ionos, though better than when they were 1and1. I found their uptime dipped to 99.01% in the past six months. You may have more congestion by purchasing some of their smaller “dedicated servers,” but you should check that you are purchasing your own server and not sharing any space with other customers.

Conclusion
You pay more for very little with Ionos. While they do offer some enticing “dedicated hosting tiers,” these tiers may not come with your own server, leading to congestion and possible slowdown of your website’s load time.

Rackspace

Dedicated Server Plan: Customized quotes only

Rackspace is considered the top when it comes to hosting. This is because their sites never go down, and they let you work out a custom quote for your space needs. However, if you are a smaller outfit, Rackspace is likely going to be a little bit too much. If you are a bigger business or want a server that can be partitioned into multiple purposes, this is the right way to go.

Rackspace dedicated servers feature custom security options, architecture design, migration assistance, cloud environments, and response time guarantees. You can choose SSD storage from 480GB to 800GB, and you can get up to 3TB of RAM.

Conclusion
In my experience, Rackspace offers a truly superior server for a bigger website or gaming server if you need. You will get tons of storage options and guaranteed uptime. Their customer support is always available and located in the US, so you can always talk to someone about any issues and get them fixed typically within a couple of hours.

Media Temple

*As of January 2023, Media Temple is no longer accepting new customers and is in the process of merging and migrating over to Go Daddy.*

Dedicated Server Plan: Starting from $2,000/month, all options included

Media Temple only offers enterprise-level dedicated server hosting. This means that you are a Linux master and can set up your server yourself. However, you get all of the storage you could ever want including 10TB monthly bandwidth, 128 GB buffered DDR3 RAM, dual-socket, multi-core Intel Xeon processors, and 1TB all SSD storage.

Media Template also has managed dedicated servers that come with an easy-to-use control panel and dashboard, as well as performance monitoring tools, daily backups, OS, application updates, security and malware scanning, and automated malware removal.

Conclusion
If you want to spend the big dollars on a dedicated server that will last forever, you can purchase one of the masterful units from Media Temple. This is not for small businesses but for enterprises or game servers that need to support a ton of traffic.