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4 Best Cheap Dedicated Server Hosting (2018)
We know, cheap dedicated server hosting sounds like an oxymoron. The top floor of the hosting high-rise is typically reserved for high-powered enterprises with large demands for bandwidth, data storage, and computing power. Just because you need extra oomph in your hardware, however, doesn’t mean you need to break open the piggy bank.
Dedicated servers are exactly what they sound like: The server’s entire resources are devoted to powering your site or application with the utmost performance, processing power, and storage. The important investment can pay dividends when you find hosting providers that bring the most value to their dedicated server packages.
While the word “cheap” needs to be taken with a grain of salt here, we’ve compiled the 10 best options for cheap dedicated hosting plans depending on your specific needs and budget.
1. Best Value Dedicated Server
Right off the bat, we should explain the difference between cheap and value hosting. Although we’ll occasionally cover free hosting services, we usually encourage looking past the price tag and examining the bang for your buck. In most cases, spending a few extra dollars unlocks a ton of useful features that will streamline your hosting experience and make a big difference in site performance and visitor experience.
Our top-notch host might not be the cheapest, but Liquid Web excels by offering the utmost functionality, flexibility, and customer support for a price that we’re not sure why it isn’t higher. Whether you’re looking for Windows or Linux servers, four CPU cores or 24, Liquid Web technicians are on standby with always-there Heroic Support and a 100% network uptime guarantee. The premier host even includes perks such as built-in backups, enhanced security, DDoS protection, SSD RAID 1 storage, and the CloudFlare CDN.
2. Cheap Managed Dedicated Server
You’re going for premium hardware, why not go with premium support? Managed hosting goes beyond 24/7 technical support by configuring software, installing patches and updates, and maintaining all aspects of the environment. Managed hosts take care of all things infrastructure so you only have to focus on your business, website, or application.
Liquid Web offers three tiers of managed services, ranging from self-managed to fully managed, where technicians manage a customer’s hardware and web server and supply best-effort support for third-party software. Core-managed dedicated server plans cover server infrastructure, hardware, and core elements of the LAMP stack, while self-managed plans only cover the hardware and infrastructure.
Our favorite host for managed servers, however, is InMotion Hosting. Coupled with SSDs that produce 20x faster hosting services, InMotion provides scalability, flexibility, and reliability. The company’s managed hosting team handles security patches and updates for the operating system and cPanel, guaranteeing faulty hardware replacement in two hours or less.
3. Cheap Unmanaged Dedicated Server
For experienced developers and site administrators, managed hosting services might be an unnecessary added expense. Unmanaged servers take time and technical expertise to maintain, leading many to argue that managed server hosting comes out ahead when your time is factored into the costs.
Most hosts offer at least some form of managed services, given that the hardware is living in its own facilities or datacenters. Even if the hosting provider insists on hardware and infrastructure management, they’re usually plenty willing to butt out of your web server if you ask nicely. There will be more pressure and demands on you to keep everything running smoothly and securely, but your host will continue offering technical support if you run into a jam.
HostGator strikes the perfect balance with its unmanaged dedicated servers, giving customers complete control over their hosting environment while not leaving them out in the cold. HostGator allows for full root access and oversight of all server settings, services, and accounts through cPanel and WHM control panels. In addition to around-the-clock server monitoring, HostGator welcomes customers to call, chat, or email premium support agents any time, any day.
4. Cheapest Dedicated Server for Linux
Choosing between the Linux or Windows operating system for your server typically boils down to what you’re hosting and what languages or technology you need to support. As an open-source platform, Linux has a much broader range of support and flexibility — in fact, Linux is the L in the all-too-popular LAMP stack, followed by Apache, MySQL, and PHP, Perl, or Python.
Logos of Linux, CentOS, Ubuntu, and Debian
Linux hosting plans can come in several different flavors, including Linux, CentOS, Ubuntu, and Debian.
As you’ll see in the cPanel section a little further down, Linux and cPanel tend to be the default hosting configuration providers make available. Popular providers InMotion Hosting and HostGator, for example, have gone all-in on Linux and don’t even offer a Windows plan.
King in the open-source realm, Bluehost is an easy pick for top Linux hosting services. The well-regarded hosting provider is known particularly for using open-source programs, including Linux and OpenStack, to power its infrastructure, and Bluehost is one of only four hosts to be endorsed by the WordPress Core team.
