As of May 2019, there were nearly 340,000 web hosting providers around the world.
That’s a lot of options to choose from when you’re looking for a hosting service. How can you be sure you’re choosing a reliable hosting service?
We’ve compared many services and narrowed it down to our top 6 picks for the best dedicated server provider. Read on to see which companies we recommend.
What Is a Dedicated Server?
A dedicated server is exactly what it sounds like – a web server that’s dedicated to your use. There are no other users sharing resources on it and you can use it however you wish.
This is in contrast to shared hosting and virtual private server (VPS) hosting.
Types of Hosting Accounts
Shared hosting is the least expensive type of web hosting. The hosting plans you see that only cost a few dollars a month run on shared hosting. In this case, you share the server with dozen or even hundreds of other users, each with their own website.
Shared hosting tends to have poor performance and more potential security risks since you’re at the mercy of all the other users on the same server as you.
VPS is still shared but it uses virtualization technology to segment the various users from one another. VPS hosting offers better performance and security than a shared server but you’re still limited in what you can do.
Benefits of Dedicated Server Hosting
With dedicated server hosting, you have complete control over the server. This means there are no restrictions on what kind of software or web apps you install. You can even choose what operating system you want to use as the foundation of your site.
You also get full access to all the server’s resources — storage, RAM, processing power, network bandwidth, etc. You don’t need to worry about another user hogging resources and slowing your website’s response time down.
And more importantly, you have complete control over the server’s security. There’s no chance of another user doing something dumb and creating a security flaw for a hacker to exploit.
Our Top Picks for Dedicated Server Provider
While there are thousands of providers, they don’t all provide the best dedicated server hosting. Some have slower backbone connections to the internet, some don’t have the most up-to-date equipment, and others have poor customer service and support.
The following six companies are our choices for top dedicated server hosting providers.
- HostGator
HostGator has a reputation for excellent customer service and support. They offer live chat and phone service but you also get access to an online support section that has hundreds of video tutorials and articles that will answer many of your questions.
Their plans start at less than $100 per month and they all include unmetered bandwidth, which means you won’t face overage fees if your site gets a sudden traffic spike.
- NetDepot
NetDepot’s dedicated server hosting plans are even more affordable, starting at around $60 per month. But at the entry-level, you still get a powerful server with dual processor cores, plenty of RAM, and a generous 20 terabytes of bandwidth.
NetDepot provides 24/7 support through their online ticketing system as well as an extensive knowledge base with answers to many common questions and instructions for typical tasks you’ll need to perform.
- DreamHost
DreamHost’s dedicated server hosting plans also include unlimited monthly data so you won’t get saddled with unexpected bandwidth fees. They have strong security features and powerful domain management tools to manage multiple sites running on your server.
DreamHost is a good choice if you’re using WordPress to power your website. It offers a “staging” feature for WordPress sites that lets you configure and test your site without having to make it live to the public.
- Liquid Web
Liquid Web has a reputation for the power and performance of its dedicated servers. They cater to companies of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprise customers.
You can choose from a range of operating systems including several different Linux-based options or Microsoft Windows Server. Their customer service is second-to-none and their service offers one of the highest uptime rates of any web hosting provider.
- A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is another top-rated hosting provider when it comes to uptime. This is the percentage of time that the provider guarantees your server will be up and running. There are always maintenance tasks and other things that have to get done to servers, so 100% uptime is difficult to reach but A2 Hosting guarantees 99.9% every month. That means less than 45 minutes each month.
They also offer a feature called Turbo Server Boost which is a customized performance profile that offers page load speeds up to 20 times faster than other hosting providers.
- Inmotion Hosting
Inmotion Hosting’s dedicated server plans come with anywhere from 5 to 15 IP addresses. This is ideal if you plan to host several websites on your server or if you want to offer different services from a single website. Separate IP addresses can help with search engine optimization as well as website performance.
Inmotion has one of the best money-back guarantees in the business and a solid uptime guarantee as well, at 99.999%. It also offers an intuitive site-building tool that makes it easy to design and deploy your website.
Which Dedicated Server Web Hosting Option Is Best for You?
We’ve narrowed it down to six choices, but how do you choose the right dedicated server provider from this list?
Start by figuring out the top priorities for your website and then compare the hosting features to find which service best meets your needs. You can always scale your server up if you need more resources but it’s more complicated to move to a different host. Making the right choice from the start will save you a lot of time and work down the road.
Be sure to check out the Technology section of our blog for more helpful tips and tricks for working with your tech gear.
