Best Dedicated Server Hosting: Compare the Top 6 Providers

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Dedicated hosting is what you need when it’s time to level up your site and get a server all to yourself, and our in-depth research points to Bluehost as the best overall dedicated hosting provider. It’s not only the best value for money, but it has fantastic RAM and CPU while also being WordPress’s #1 choice. You really can’t go wrong!

Dedicated hosting features the fastest load times, the best support – and the most expensive price tags. While we recommend Bluehost, there are other great hosting providers to choose from. This article will compare and contrast the top six dedicated hosting providers, and help you choose the one that best suits your website.

Key Takeaways 🔍

  • Bluehost is our top dedicated hosting provider, with plans starting from $141.19 per month
  • IONOS has the cheapest dedicated hosting plans if you’re on a budget
  • A2 Hosting lets you customize your dedicated hosting plan to suit your website needs
  • Consider factors like bandwidth, server location, RAM, and the number of CPUs

Quick Comparison

If you’re short on time, compare our top dedicated hosting provides side-by-side in the table below:

Swipe right to see more
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Bluehost

IONOS

HostGator

InMotion

A2 Hosting

DreamHost

Overall rating
4.7
Overall rating
4.7
Overall rating
4.2
Overall rating
4.2
Overall rating
3.9
Overall rating
3.8
Starting from - Dedicated

$141.19

Starting from - Dedicated

$41

Starting from - Dedicated

$141.19

Starting from - Dedicated

$35

Starting from - Dedicated

Custom plan

Starting from - Dedicated

$141.19

Uptime

99.98%

Uptime

99.99%

Uptime

99.99%

Uptime

99.98%

Uptime

99.95%

Uptime

100%

Max Bandwidth

15TB

Max Bandwidth

Unlimited

Max Bandwidth

Unlimited

Max Bandwidth

1Gbps Unmetered

Max Bandwidth

15TB

Max Bandwidth

Unlimited

Max RAM

16GB

Max RAM

64GB

Max RAM

30GB

Max RAM

192GB

Max RAM

128GB

Max RAM

64GB

Max CPU Coress

4

Max CPU Coress

8

Max CPU Coress

8

Max CPU Coress

24

Max CPU Coress

16

Max CPU Coress

12

Server locations

Utah

Server locations

London, Frankfurt, Berlin, Spain, Nevada, New Jersey

Server locations

Utah, Texas

Server locations

California, Virginia

Server locations

Michigan

Server locations

Virginia, Oregon

Visit Bluehost Visit IONOS Visit HostGator Visit InMotion Visit A2 Hosting Visit DreamHost
This list of our top dedicated hosting provider recommendations was carefully compiled based on our thorough research and testing process. This is to ensure we’re providing you with the most accurate and useful information on the criteria for hosting products that are important to you.

Every web host on the list has been tested and analyzed on the following criteria to calculate our ratings:

  • Help and Support – For example, the host’s knowledge base, and what other support options are available
  • Features – Includes migration, backups, security, domains, control panel, and green hosting
  • Pricing – Includes price range, number of plans, money back guarantee, and billing cycle
  • Disk Space – Includes storage space, bandwidth, cores, threads, and RAM
  • Uptime – This looks at the percentage of your site that will be live as well as server response times

We’ve focused on the categories most prevalent to dedicated hosting that we’ve found to be the most popular and practical for you.

With this in-depth testing, we can fairly rate and compare the best hosting providers to help you feel equipped and ready to make an informed decision.

#1. Bluehost: Best Overall

Editor's Choice

Bluehost

Best Overall for Dedicated Server Hosting

Excellent

4.6

out of 5
  • Best price
  • Great help and support
  • Free backups

Paid Plans: $3.99 - $141.19 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Good uptime guarantee of 99.98%
  • icon yes svg Plans offer the best value
  • icon yes svg Free backups included as standard

Cons

  • icon no svg Only one server, and based in the US
  • icon no svg Only four CPU cores with all plans
Read Review

Bluehost is our overall dedicated hosting king, and it’s easy to see why. Its dedicated hosting plans are among the cheapest of all nine providers, but this doesn’t mean it has compromised on quality.

In fact, Bluehost offers some of the best help and support of any provider we tested. When it comes to features, it even offers free backups, which is rare.

Help and Support Performance

Bluehost excelled in our customer service research, exceeding our expectations more than any other provider we tested.

  • Bluehost’s live chat exceeded our expectations by 3%
  • Bluehost’s knowledge base exceeded our expectations by 15%

Speedy live chat responses and informational knowledge base articles put Bluehost well ahead of the pack.

The downside of Bluehost? Fewer CPU cores than most providers, and a cap of bandwidth at 15TB. If you’re a large website with an international audience, Bluehost might not be for you. Otherwise, it could be just what you’re looking for.

Bluehost: Pros and Cons

Bluehost ProsBluehost Cons
  • Good uptime guarantee of 99.98%
  • Plans offer the best value of any dedicated hosting provider
  • Free backups included as standard
  • Only one server, and based in the US
  • Only four CPU cores with all plans

Bluehost Dedicated Hosting Prices

Bluehost offers three dedicated server plans: Standard, Enhanced and Premium, and they all come with a money-back guarantee, 24/7 support, and four CPU cores.

New customers can get dedicated hosting from $141.19/month with Bluehost (for a 36-month term).

So what do you get for $141.19/month?

  • Free website domain for one year
  • Free SSL certificate
  • 4 CPU cores & 4GB of RAM
  • 5TB of bandwidth & 500GB of storage
  • 24/7 support via phone & live chat

All of Bluehost’s dedicated hosting plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if you’re not completely happy with the service you receive, you’ll get a full refund.

The pricier the plan, the more storage, RAM, and bandwidth there is. The Enhanced plan is the best value, as it offers the same storage as the Premium plan. Check out our Bluehost Pricing Review for a detailed breakdown.

If all this is looking a bit much, then perhaps one of Bluehost’s VPS hosting plans would be better. Instead of getting your dedicated server, VPS hosting gives you a private room. Think of it like the penthouse suite in a hotel. And Bluehost’s penthouse is the nicest on the market. We gave it a 4.6 out of 5 in our research, the best we tested

#2. IONOS: Best for Affordability

IONOS

Best for afforability

Excellent

4.2

out of 5
  • Best site speed
  • Affordable plans
  • Hidden fees

Paid Plans: $0.5 - $35 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg 8 plans
  • icon yes svg Best site speed and server response
  • icon yes svg Affordable starting prices

Cons

  • icon no svg Additional fees
  • icon no svg No email or live chat
Read Review

IONOS is our silver medal stunner with a respectable overall score of 4.5 out of 5 for its dedicated hosting service. It has great scores across all our evaluation metrics for dedicated hosting and has the fastest site speed and server response time of all the hosting providers we looked at. It is also the most affordable provider on this list, with plans starting at $41 per month.

If you need more power, then there are range of different plans for you to choose from, giving you a lot of room to pick the support your site needs. It also doubles up as a website builder, meaning you can build your site with them as well.

However, IONOS isn’t all gold. It has a nasty habit of sticking you with additional fees at checkout and makes you pay more if you use Windows. There’s also poor help and support, with no email or live chat support across all plans.

IONOS: Pros and Cons

IONOS ProsIONOS Cons
  • Range of server deals
  • Best site speed and server response 
  • Affordable starting prices
  • Additional fees
  • No email or live chat

IONOS Dedicated Hosting Prices

IONOS offers six server options for its dedicated hosting plans: AMD servers, Intel servers, ARM servers, Server deals, Storage servers, and GPU servers. Starting prices range from $41 to $3,990 per month.

All of these plans come with unlimited bandwidth, daily backups, and free domains. IONOS also has the most server locations, with servers based in London, Frankfurt, Berlin, Spain, Nevada, and New Jersey.

#3. HostGator: Best for Bigger Sites

HostGator

Best for Bigger Sites

Very Good

3.7

out of 5
  • Best help and support
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Generous promotions

Paid Plans: $3.95 - $159.99 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Plenty of ways to get help and support
  • icon yes svg Unlimited bandwidth across all plans
  • icon yes svg Promotional prices are very generous

Cons

  • icon no svg Servers both located in the US
Read Review

HostGator’s pleasant mascot charms many, and they are our number one choice for shared hosting providers. In terms of dedicated hosting, they are in third place.

While not excelling in performance, HostGator dominates in the help and support category with a 4.9 out of 5 in our research. With an array of help and support options (including 24/7 phone and live chat), we think it’s the best for bigger sites, giving you the necessary support for when your site may be getting a little too big for just one person to manage.

HostGator’s prices aren’t the cheapest, but you certainly get a lot of help for your buck. The downside? Both servers are located in the US, so this might not be the best option for sites with a large international audience

Hostgator: Pros and Cons

HostGator ProsHostGator Cons
  • Plenty of ways to get help and support
  • Unlimited bandwidth across all plans
  • Promotional prices are very generous
  • Servers both located in the US

HostGator Dedicated Hosting Prices

With HostGator, you have three dedicated plan options: Value, Power, and Enterprise. All come with unmetered bandwidth, which is a huge plus. The Power Server plan is the middle option and is the one HostGator recommends.

For annual payments, the prices are:

  • Value – $141.19/month
  • Power – $238.79/month
  • Enterprise – $343.79/month

#4. InMotion: Best Range of Features

InMotion

Best for Range of Features

Very Good

4.3

out of 5
  • Most CPU cores
  • Best features
  • Worst value for money

Paid Plans: $3.49 - $539.99 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Huge number of CPUs (24) available
  • icon yes svg Good help and support

Cons

  • icon no svg Plans are more expensive than average
Read Review

InMotion’s dedicated hosting plans have a lot to offer across the board, but its standout feature is the number of CPU cores on offer.

What does this mean for you? Well, if you have a tech-heavy website, it’ll help keep site speed down, and stop users from bouncing away from your site. What’s more, it’ll encourage Google to rank your site higher. Not something to be sneezed at!

In our research, we gave it 4.8 out of 5 for features, the highest of any provider we tested. It also scores a shocking 2 out of 5 for value for money – the lowest among the brands we tested. Its plans are an investment, but they reflect the quality InMotion brings to the table.

InMotion: Pros and Cons

InMotion ProsInMotion Cons
  • Huge number of CPUs available on the top plan
  • Good help and support
  • Plans are more expensive than average

InMotion Dedicated Hosting Prices

InMotion offers nine different dedicated hosting plans, split into three categories: Starter, Custom, and Premium. The Aspire plan is the cheapest option, costing $35 per month. The eight other plans range from $99 to $339.98 per month.

#5. A2 Hosting: Best Storage

A2 Hosting

Best for Storage

Good

4

out of 5
  • 2 x 1TB Storage
  • No free backups
  • Expensive plans

Paid Plans: $6.59 - $529.99 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Good storage

Cons

  • icon no svg No free backups offered
  • icon no svg Poor help and support
  • icon no svg Relatively low uptime of 99.95%
Read Review

A2 Hosting scores quite high in disk space, coming second with a 4.3 out of 5 in our research. Top configurations for the provider include between 16GB and 128GB storage.

However, you’ll need to talk directly to the host’s sales team to get a dedicated set up. Aside from that, there’s nothing A2 Hosting really fails at, but there’s also nothing it particularly succeeds in either.

A2 Hosting: Pros and Cons

A2 Hosting ProsA2 Hosting Cons
  • Good storage
  • No free backups offered
  • Poor help and support
  • Relatively low uptime of 99.95%

A2 Hosting Dedicated Hosting Prices

A2 Hosting requests interested users get in touch with its sales team to discuss custom plans and to reserve a dedicated server. There’s no set pricing or subscriptions to sign up to, but this gives you the flexibility to create a plan that best suits your needs.

#6. DreamHost: Free WordPress Plugin

DreamHost

Free Plugin For WordPress

4.3

out of 5
  • 100% uptime
  • Good site speed
  • No phone support

Paid Plans: $2.95 - $379 / month

Pros

  • icon yes svg Free plugin for WordPress
  • icon yes svg Unmetered bandwidth for all plans
  • icon yes svg 100% uptime guarantee

Cons

  • icon no svg Help and support could be better
  • icon no svg Not the best value plans
Read Review

DreamHost is a decent provider – it boasts 100% uptime and a money-back guarantee if it doesn’t hit this mark. There are also nine different plans and the second-highest site speed.

But we’re going to have to yuck your yum on DreamHost a bit. The help and support are lacking, with no phone facilities. This, combined with a relatively low performance across our research for features, disk space, and high costs, doesn’t inspire much positivity, finding DreamHost at the bottom of our list.

DreamHost: Pros and Cons

DreamHost ProsDreamHost Cons
  • Free plugin for WordPress
  • Unmetered bandwidth for all plans
  • 100% uptime guranteed
  • Help and support could be better
  • Not the best value plans

DreamHost Dedicated Hosting Prices

What’s odd about DreamHost’s plans online is that they separate them by Standard and Enhanced, which you can then customize how much RAM and storage you need. There’s also the free plugin to WordPress, which is super useful for all budding website builders. The lowest price starts at $165/month (billed annually), and the most expensive is $625/month (billed annually).

How Do You Choose a Dedicated Server Hosting Provider?

As you’ve seen from this article, there’s plenty to consider when you’re choosing a hosting provider. This includes:

  • Memory – The amount of RAM your hosting server can provide. This will ensure your website can load quickly and handle all processes smoothly.
  • Bandwidth – The amount of allocated data you can transfer between server and site. More bandwidth ensures faster load times, which is crucial to reduce the bounce rate for visitors to your site.
  • Location of servers – Where your server is physically located. The closer to your audience, the better, or they will suffer latency (or lag) when on your site.
  • Number of CPUs – The CPU is the brain of your computer, and the more brains the better! More CPU cores allow more processes and data to be handled, letting you add more to your site.
  • Value for money – This is the price of the hosting provider against the features it offers. You want to hit a good balance where the price accurately reflects the product.
  • Guaranteed uptime – The amount of time your website will be live in a year. The hosting provider will need to do maintenance, so 100% cannot be guaranteed (although some do), but 99.9% is the average, with a total of eight hours of downtime per year.
  • Help and support – The support the provider offers to assist you. Hosting can be tricky, so it’s essential they teach newcomers how the process works.

It’s worth noting here that value for money doesn’t mean the lowest prices – while it may not offer the cheapest plans on the list, the value for money Bluehost offers earns it a solid overall score of 4.7 out of 5 in our research.

Best Dedicated Server Hosting: Summary

This article has taken you on a whistle-stop tour of the best dedicated hosting providers, as determined by our extensive independent research. Now let’s recap.

Best dedicated servers:

  1. Bluehost – Best overall dedicated hosting provider
  2. IONOS – Best for affordability
  3. HostGator – Best for bigger Sites
  4. InMotion– Best for range of features
  5. A2 Hosting – Best for storage
  6. Dreamhost – Free plugin for WordPress

Our independent research found Bluehost to be the best all-around provider, making it a safe choice for anyone looking for a dedicated hosting provider for their website. It offers the best value for money, and its RAM and CPU offerings are great too. It’s WordPress’s #1 choice, and ours too!

At the end of the day, it’s about deciding what’s most important to you and making this your priority. All of these providers offer a money-back guarantee trial, so experiment and find the one that suits the needs of your site.

Until then, Happy Hosting!

Written by:
I started writing about the wonderful world of the web more than three years ago, and haven’t looked back since. Put simply, there’s never been a more exciting time to get online. Having tested all of the best website builders and ecommerce platforms on the market, myself and the other writers at Website Builder Expert are in a great position to help you do just that. Why wait to get started?

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