Best bare metal server providers

Tired of noisy neighbours in your VPS? It’s time to go with the bare metal server.

Dedicated servers have a single-tenant system which gives you complete access to the hardware. These servers remove the layer of virtualization giving you the best performance as well as security.

Let’s see the best bare metal server providers to choose from.

9 Best bare metal server providers

We will now see some of the best dedicated server providers you can use.

1. Vultr (Best Overall)

Vultr is a high-performance and the most reliable bare metal server. They have 100% SLA uptime with credits reward. In simple words, if your server is down, you will get hourly credits for it.

You will get a 10 Gbps network dedicated speed with low latency. A few plans also have 25 Gbps in case you’re looking for a higher uplink. Not to mention, it’s a single-tenant dedicated server.

There is no virtualization layer. You will get direct access to the hardware.

Here, you will get infinite possibilities for the operating systems. You can not only install Linux and Windows but you can also upload your custom ISO for no extra charge.

Their app marketplace will allow you to install any app you want including Docker, Gitlab, cPanel, etc.

Server Locations

• US: Honolulu, New Jersey, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and Miami.
• Europe: Stockholm, Netherland, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Warsaw, and Madrid.
• Asia: Japan, South Korea, Singapore.

Specs

• RAM range: 32 to 1024 GB.
• CPU range: 4 cores 8 threads to 64 cores 128 threads.
• Disk storage range: 2×240 GB to 2×480 GB SSD and 6×6.4 TB NVMe.

You can add SSD and NVMe both in certain plans. The first few plans only allow SSD.

Starting price

• The pricing starts at $120 a month.
• The hourly charge is $0.179.

Visit Vultr

2. Contabo (Best Runner-up)

If you require a high amount of storage space, Contabo is the choice for you.

They also offer high-specs servers with no virtualization. The base price is very low. However, when you add a few addons, your price will go up. It’s highly recommended for the people who want to start slow and add the resources as you move.

You can get managed or unmanaged servers. The server can be configured as you need. You will also get unlimited incoming traffic.

Server Locations

• US: Central, east, and west coast (might cost up to $40 extra).
• Europe: Germany.

Specs

• RAM range: 256 GB to 2 TB REG ECC.
• CPU range: 10 cores to 2×16 cores.
• Disk storage range: 500 GB SSD to 12×4 TB SSD and 3×1.9 TB NVMe.

They offer 12 slots for HDD or SSD and you will get 3 slots for NVMe.

Starting price

• The base plan on the pricing page doesn’t include storage price.
• It costs $180 GB a month if you add a 500 GB SSD.
• If you go with less than 12-month billing, a setup price of up to $129.99 is applied.

Visit Contabo

3. InMotion Hosting

InMotion’s self-managed bare metal servers offer unmetered bandwidth for all their plans.

If you are worried about security, they provide a complete security suite that includes free SSL, malware protection, DDoS protection, and automatic backups.

You will get smart routing which allows you to have better uptime. They provide 99.99% uptime for all the data centers. You will have direct access to the root. Further, you can also select your preferred OS.

If it’s not available in the list, you can also upload your custom ISO file.

They also offer managed services if you’re not planning to go with all the technicalities. The enterprise-level hardware is also easy to scale. You can add resources as you go.

Server Locations

• US: Washington DC and Los Angeles (California).

Specs

• RAM range: 16 GB to 1 TB DDR4.
• CPU range: 4 core 8 threads to 24 cores 48 threads.
• Disk storage range: 1 to 50 TB.

Starting price

• The pricing starts at $99.99 per month for annual billing.
• The renewal rate is $129.99 per month.

Visit InMotion

4. OVH

OVH offers cheap bare metal servers to get started. The uplink is lower as the price is cheap. The maximum bandwidth you can select is 500 Mbps public.

However, this is just for the “Rise” and other cheap servers.

They offer a wide range of servers. You can choose from more than 60 pre-configured servers. Don’t worry, you can filter out the servers to choose the right one.

Now, if you don’t want to go with the cheap servers, you can head over to the “advanced” server where the price will increase but you will get more bandwidth and better specs. You will get private bandwidth of up to 25 Gbps.

Server Locations

• US: Oregon and Virgin
• Europe: France, Germany, Poland, and the UK.

Specs

• RAM range: 4 to 512 GB RAM.
• CPU range: 2 cores 4 threads to 24 cores 48 threads.
• Disk storage range: 2×2 TB to 4×3.80 TB SSD NVMe.

Starting price

• The original price starts from just $5.99 a month. However, it’s mostly out of stock.
• The server in Europe or US will start at $14.99 per month.
• If you want private dedicated bandwidth, the advanced server starts from $87.84 per month.

Visit OVH

5. Cherry Servers

CherryServers is for the people looking for a super-fast host at a very affordable price.

The performance of Cherry Servers is awesome. When it comes to python and machine learning projects, CherryServers can load the app in a few milliseconds. They have a guarantee for premium performance per node.

You can customize your server as per your need. You will get the server set up in a few minutes as everything works on automation. It will also allow you to monitor your resource usage. You can access the hardware with a KVM remote.

The bandwidth is also great. You will get 1 Gbps uplink with up to 30 TB free traffic in the base plan.

To get cheap plans, you can head over to the “light-weight” tab on the pricing page. They have classified the servers based on their usage.

Server Locations

• Europe: Lithuania and Netherland.

Specs

• RAM range: 16 to 1536 GB.
• CPU range: 4 to 40 cores.
• Disk storage range: 2×250 GB to 10x2TB.

Starting price

• The price starts at $118 per month.

Visit CherryServers

6. Fasthosts

Fasthosts is recommended if you’re looking for a server with virtualization. It uses Hypervisor for virtualization. You can create multiple VMs to run different projects.

They also offer a load balancer in case you are having traffic spikes. The bandwidth is unlimited. You can choose from various Linux distributions and Windows. Unfortunately, they don’t allow you to upload ISO files.

Additionally, there are very few add-ons. So, you can’t add extra storage or RAM if you want. Scaling could be hard.

It’s a cloud bare metal server powered by their CloudNX platform. It’s a great host if you are looking for servers in the UK.

Server Locations

• US: Yes.
• Europe: Germany and UK.

Specs

• RAM range: 32 to 256 GB DDR4 ECC.
• CPU range: 4 to 32 Cores.
• Disk storage range: 480 GB to 2×8 TB (SSD, HDD, and NVMe).

Starting price

• Starts at £50 which converts to roughly $61.15.

Visit Fasthosts

7. Heficed

Heficed is the go-to bare metal server provider if you want to assign a lot of IPs to your server. You can assign up to 4096 IPs to a server. You will also get floating IPs here.

It’s a low latency network and you will also get a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Talking about server configuration, you can add resources whenever required.

The server is cheap for small and mid-sized apps. However, if you want to host enterprise-level projects, the cost increases drastically.

They have 9 unique locations to host your data. You have full control over the server.

Server Locations

• US: Los Angeles, Chicago, and Reston.
• Europe: London, Frankfurt, and Milan (Italy).

Specs

• RAM range: 16 to 96 GB.
• CPU range: 4 to 6 cores.
• Disk storage range: 240 GB to 10×1.92 TB SSD.

Starting price

• The base plan will cost you $59 a month which renews at $129 a month.
• If you’re looking for a cheap renewal price, the 2^nd plan will cost you $79 which renews at $119.

Visit Heficed

8. PhoenixNAP

Looking for a bare metal server with no hypervisor? PhoenixNAP is the right choice for you.

You can deploy the server in a few minutes. You have unlimited freedom with the server with the automation. You get custom-built IaC modules such as Ansible, Pulumi, Puppet, Chef, and Terraform.

Further, you can also use API, CLI, and SDKs to automate your web apps.

To manage Kubernetes, they use Rancher. You will get up to a 50 Gbps network. Talking about traffic, you will get 15 TB for free. Thereafter, you can pay per GB. The support is also great.

If you want to customize the server, you will have to register your account.

Server Locations

• US: Phoenix, Ashburn, Seattle, Atlanta, and Chicago,
• Europe: Amsterdam and Belgrade.

Specs

• RAM range: 16 to 768 GB RAM
• CPU range: 4 to 56 cores
• Disk storage range: 2x 240 GB SSD to 2×2 TB NVMe

Starting price

• The pricing starts at $46.18 per month for 12-month billing.
• The hourly charge is $0.08.

Visit PhoenixNAP

9. Accuweb Hosting

Accuweb Hosting has been in the industry for more than 19 years. They have more than 1000 plans to choose from. These are pre-configured servers that you can use.

Does this mean you can’t customize it? Absolutely not. You can configure the server however you wish. You can add storage, RAM, Control panel, server, OS, etc. directly at the time of purchase. You can even add it later on if required.

When it comes to bare metal server management, you can choose to manage it yourself or go with the managed addon. There are more than 10 data center locations to choose from.

You will get unlimited bandwidth (for some plans) with a server monitoring feature. They also provide DDoS protection.

You will surely find your preferred server configuration here as they have plenty of plans and you can customize any of them as per your need.

Server Locations

• US: Denver, Ohio, Oregon, and Northern Virginia.
• Europe: London, Ireland, Frankfurt, and Paris.

Specs

• RAM range: 8 to 512 GB.
• CPU range: 4 cores 8 threads to 32 cores 64 threads.
• Disk storage range: 500 GB 4×4 TB.

Starting price

• The pricing starts at $105 per month.

Visit Accuweb Hosting

Which is better bare metal or virtual machine?

Without a doubt, a bare metal server provides better consistent performance as compared to a VM.

Bare metal servers don’t have any layer of virtualization. You will get full access to the hardware. When you add the VM, it decreases the performance. In some cases, multiple VMs are created and shared with the user.

Whereas, in a bare metal server, you are the only tenant giving you full access to the hardware and resources. As a result, the performance is great.

A bare-metal server requires more care than compared to VM. In case you mess up the VM, you can restart the VM without affecting other web apps. Some bare metal servers allow you to create and run your VM for different apps.

Conclusion

It’s up to you which bare metal server you want to go with. Each of the server discussed are reliable and has excellent performance. Depending on the requirements, you can choose the one that fits you.

Don’t forget to double-check the price after you configure the bare metal server as per your need. If you are confused, here are the two best options to go with.

• Best overall: Vultr (You can use their $50 free credits to try the server)
• Best Budget: OVHCloud

FAQ

Are bare metal servers faster?

Yes, bare metal servers provide the fastest performance as compared to any other servers out there. It also depends on the hosting provider you have selected.

How much does a bare metal server cost?

It depends on the host. Typically, the average cost of a bare metal server starts from $100. It goes higher depending on the plan you choose. Some servers will also cost you less.