Rat Race Armaggeddon: The Best Dedicated Hosting Plans

Want to jump straight to the answer? The best dedicated hosting plan for most people is definitely BlueHost.

A good dedicated host will have a major impact on the performance of your website.

If you’re pushing your current hosting setup to the limits, you’ll really appreciate having a server of your own. So will visitors to your site who get a fast, flawless experience.

With dedicated hosting, you also get a lot more control over the server. So you want to pick something that matches your technical confidence and in-house IT resources.

I’ve researched and narrowed down the best dedicated servers with every type of skill-level and website in mind. So no matter what you’re looking for, I’m confident you can find a workable solution on this list.

Top 7 Best Dedicated Hosting Plans for 2021

Keep reading or follow the links to learn more about a particular product I’m recommending:

Bluehost — The best overall dedicated hosting plan
InMotion — The best dedicated web host for small businesses
HostGator — The most reliable dedicated hosting
A2 Hosting — The fastest dedicated hosting
Liquid Web — The best bundle packages for dedicated hosting plans
Media Temple — The best dedicated hosting for enterprises and resellers
AccuWeb & Hostwinds — The cheapest dedicated hosting plans

There’s a few things to understand about dedicated hosting in order to make an intelligent purchase.

But if you already know what you’re looking for, it’s time to dive into the best plans on the market today. We always keep this list refreshed, so you can be sure that the information is accurate and up to date.

#1. Bluehost – Best Overall Dedicated Hosting Plan

Visit BlueHost

Normally starts at $119.99/month
Free domain and SSL certificate
Tuned for optimum performance
30-day money back guarantee

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Bluehost offers dedicated hosting plans that are some of the most cost-effective options that you’ll find.

Bluehost gives you the best value while still providing exceptional service.

There are three dedicated server plans for you to choose from. Here’s what they look like:

Standard Plan

Pricing starts at $79.99 per month (renews at $119.99).
500 GB of storage.
4 GB of RAM.
5 TB of bandwidth.
3 IP addresses.

Enhanced Plan

Pricing starts at $99.99 per month (renews at $159.99).
1 TB of storage.
8 GB of RAM.
10 TB of bandwidth.
4 IP addresses.

Premium Plan

Pricing starts at $119.99 per month (renews at $209).
1 TB of storage.
16 GB of RAM.
15 TB of bandwidth.
5 IP addresses.

The standard or enhanced plan is more than enough for most websites. However, there’s plenty in the premium plan that is worth the extra cost for dedicated hosting.

All dedicated hosting plans from Bluehost come with a free SSL certificate, free domain for one year, and 24/7 customer support.

For those of you who are more advanced and want to make custom installations to your server, Bluehost gives you full root access as well.

I doubt you’ll need it, but Bluehost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. So you can always back out in the first month if you change your mind.

#2. InMotion – Best Dedicated Web Host for Small Businesses

InMotion offers a great dedicated web hosting solution that’s perfect for small businesses.

They offer some of the best technical and customer support I’ve seen in a web host. While some of might not think that’s too impressive, customer support is actually a massive selling point.

Why? Simple: Customer support is like a fire extinguisher. You never want to need it. But when there’s a fire burning down your house, you’ll be damn glad you have it.

Their support team is available through live chat, phone, and email. It doesn’t take long to connect to an agent either.

Their uptime and loading speeds are also top notch. For uptime, you’ll be looking at around 99.99% rates on average. Your loading speed will be equally nice as InMotion is known for their speed.

Plans for unmanaged dedicated hosting start at $99 per month. This is attractive price-wise, but I really only recommend it for knowledgeable systems admins and developers who are comfortable troubleshooting server issues.

The prices for a managed dedicated server aren’t too bad either—but they certainly aren’t the cheapest. When you renew, expect the contract to be considerably higher.

While managed servers cost a bit more, it’s worth it for business owners that don’t have a lot of experience managing servers. InMotion will take care of all the backend work for you. Paying an extra couple bucks each month to get a managed plan will cost a lot less than hiring an IT professional.

Overall, it’s a solid dedicated web host I’d recommend to small businesses purely due to their customer support.

#3. HostGator – Most Reliable Dedicated Hosting

HostGator is arguably the most well-known web hosting provider on the market today. They have exceptional uptime rates, also making them one of the most reliable web hosts you can choose.

However, their loading speeds fall a bit short of industry averages.

With that said, the dedicated server plans offered by HostGator are definitely ones that you should take into consideration, especially if you’re looking for a more affordable option.

Value Server — $118.99 per month
Power Server — $138.99 per month
Enterprise Server — $148.99 per month

If you compare that to the other plans we’ve looked at so far, HostGator is priced just slightly above Bluehost, but lower than InMotion.

So for those of you who are looking for a dedicated server in that low-to-mid price range, HostGator fits the bill.

The HostGator dedicated server plans offer 8 GB, 16 GB, and 30 GB of RAM, respectively. If you compare that to the other plans we’ve reviewed, it’s a great value for the price.

HostGator has unmetered bandwidth for all dedicated servers, which is another added bonus.

Overall, if you want a dedicated server that’s a step above the lower pricing tiers while still delivering exceptional uptime and quality customer support, HostGator has you covered.

#4. A2 Hosting – Fastest Dedicated Hosting

A2 Hosting isn’t as well known as some of the other web hosting providers on our list. But they still offer some of the best dedicated servers on the market today.

If you want blazing fast speed, look no further than A2 Hosting.

In addition to the great performance of their hardware, A2 Hosting has a wide range of hosting options for you to choose from. This can’t be said for every other provider out there.

Here’s an overview of the pricing, features, and benefits of their dedicated hosting plans.

As you can see, A2 Hosting has a dedicated server plan for everyone. They offer unmanaged hosting and fully managed hosting options at an affordable rate.

Their Core Flex Server is fully managed and still provides root access to website owners who want that added level of customization.

I always like to recommend products and services from companies that stand behind what they’re selling. That’s why it’s always nice to see a web hosting providers offer something like a 30-day money-back guarantee.

A2 Hosting takes that promise to an entirely new level with their anytime money-back guarantee.

Now, there are definitely some stipulations here. I’m sure you can’t use the service for a year and then call and ask for a refund. According to their site, accounts canceled within 30 days of use will get a full refund.

Accounts canceled after 30 days will be refunded a prorated amount of the unused service. There are even stipulations about how refunds will be issued for requests after 120 days.

While I’m not anticipating that you’ll want to cancel your plan, it’s nice to know that it’s an option and you’re not locked in if you’re unhappy.

Overall, A2 Hosting offers competitive pricing, service, support, and performance for their dedicated servers.

#5. Liquid Web – Best Bundle Packages for Dedicated Hosting Plans

Liquid Web is another lesser-known web hosting provider. But their servers, performance, and support earn them a top spot on our list.

Pricing for these hosting plans are a bit high, but it’s a great choice for those of you looking for a higher-end plan, without breaking the bank on unnecessary features.

Here’s an overview of the dedicated hosting plans offered by Liquid Web.

Intel Xeon 1230 v6

Starting at $199 per month.
16 GB of RAM.
5 TB of Bandwidth.
2 x 240 GB of SSD primary disk.

Intel Xeon Silver 4108

Starting at $299 per month ($359 per month for dual CPU).
32 GB of RAM.
8 TB of Bandwidth.
2 x 480 GB of SSD primary disk.

Intel Xeon Gold 6130

Starting at $499 per month ($699 per month for dual CPU).
32 GB of RAM.
8 TB of Bandwidth
2 x 480 GB of SSD primary disk.

As you can see, there isn’t an upgrade in terms of storage or bandwidth from the Silver to Gold server plans. The biggest difference is that the Gold server has 16 cores, while the Silver server only has 8.

The Gold server can be used for big databases, large SaaS companies, and virtualization on your website.

If you’re going to use Liquid Web for dedicated hosting, I strongly recommend that you take advantage of their bundle pricing. Take a look at the value bundles and compare it to the specs that I’ve listed above.

As you can see, you get significant upgrades without spending too much more money. The value packs include all of the recommended add-ons at a more reasonable price than purchasing them individually.

So if you were willing to spend the $499 on the Gold package, you can double the RAM and bandwidth for just another $50 per month. It’s well worth it.

All Liquid Web dedicated servers include:

CloudFlare CDN
Root access
Dedicated IP address
Standard DDoS protection
IPMI access
Business-grade SSD storage

Another great benefit of Liquid Web is their transparency. Plans are month-to-month and rates won’t increase upon renewal.

Click here and use coupon code QUICKSPROUT to get 40% off 2 months of any Liquid Web hosting plan.

#6. Media Temple – Best Dedicated Hosting for Enterprises and Resellers

Media Temple is a very unique offering on this list. As such, they’re not going to be for everyone.

In fact, their dedicated plan starts at $2,000 per month. They’re also made specifically for enterprise-level hosting.

So even if your small business website generates tons of monthly traffic, you should look elsewhere for a dedicated server if you’re not at an enterprise level.

Media Temple offers both managed hosting and self-managed hosting plans. With a whopping 128 GB of RAM, you’ll be able to run complex tasks on your site. Dynamic content, CMS, and high volumes of traffic won’t slow you down.

These dedicated server plans are best for enterprises who plan on reselling. You’ll have enough power and control to rent space your clients on one server.

If you want to save some money, Media Temple offers discounted rates for long-term contracts.

Annual plans start at $20,000, which is essentially two months free compared to the month-to-month rate. Two-year contacts and three-year contracts are priced at $38,000 and $54,000, respectively.

Again, these dedicated servers are not for everyone. But for those of you who have agencies and plan to resell your server space, this will be your best choice.

Cheapest Dedicated Hosting Plans

There are a couple of more cost-effective hosting plans that are worth considering if you’re looking for a great rate. While these options are suitable, they each fall short in certain areas, which is why I grouped them in a category of their own.

AccuWeb Hosting

The dedicated hosting plans offered by AccuWeb start at just $80 per month.

Along with a great rate, you’ll also get great service. AccuWeb works with you to create a dedicated hosting service that’s perfect for your business’ exact specifications.

You’ll get a server in a location that’s close to where you are based. AccuWeb has servers located in the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore, the UK, and other areas throughout the globe.

For those of you who like lots of options, AccuWeb has the most dedicated server choices on our list, by far.

There are six different single-processor dedicated servers that you can configure, and nine dual-processor dedicated servers. That’s 15 different options!

A few other features they offer:

Intel Xeon and scalable servers
8 GB to 512 GB RAM options
SATA, enterprise, SSD, NVMe disk options
Self- and fully-managed Linux and Windows servers
Bare metal dedicated servers

While pricing for some of these configurations starts at more than $300 per month, the entry-level server pricing at just $80 per month is best for those of you looking at low-cost options in this category.

I consider AccuWeb Hosting a “cheap” dedicated server because their uptimes and loading speeds are inconsistent. So you’ll have to weigh the cost compared to the performance when making your decision.

Hostwinds

Founded in 2010, Hostwinds is another lesser-known option on the market. They have dedicated server plans starting at just $79.50 per month as an introductory offer.

I like Hostwinds because their dedicated server plans are super easy to customize. Directly on their website, you can configure things like:

Server drives
RAM
RAID
Operating system
Bandwidth
IP Addresses

All dedicated servers are fully managed, have nightly backups, and 24/7 server monitoring.

Similar to AccuWeb, Hostwinds doesn’t have the best uptime and loading speeds. But with that said, it’s still a suitable option to consider for low-cost dedicated hosting.

What is Dedicated Hosting?

Dedicated hosting plans provide a dedicated server to a single client. This means that you won’t be sharing your server resources with other websites.

You don’t get this benefit with a shared, VPS, or cloud hosting plan.

Dedicated servers are essentially the top of the line in web hosting. Since you won’t be sharing resources like RAM, CPU output, and bandwidth, you can expect superior performance on your website.

It’s arguably the best form of web hosting. But it’s also the most expensive.

Who is Dedicated Hosting For?

A dedicated hosting plan is ideal for larger organizations or websites with high volumes of traffic.

If you own a local restaurant or small business with just a few thousand visitors per month, you don’t need a dedicated server. You’d be better off with shared or VPS hosting.

However, if your website has upwards of 50,000 or 100,000+ visitors per month, you should consider a dedicated hosting plan. Dedicated servers make it easy for you to scale your website as well.

Traffic isn’t the only thing to consider. There are other types of services, such as cloud hosting, that can accommodate scalable site traffic.

Dedicated hosting plans are for businesses that want complete customization and flexibility of their server functions. That’s why large ecommerce businesses and enterprises typically choose a dedicated server.

Websites that require strict security, such as ones that involve medical data or financial information should be using a dedicated server.

Finally, dedicated servers are for websites that can afford it. While most of you can find some great cost-effective options, there are dedicated plans out there starting at $1,000 or $2,000 per month.

Conclusion

So what’s the best dedicated hosting plan? It depends on what you’re looking for.

My guide has something for everyone. What’s best for you might not be best for everyone else.

And when it comes to dedicated servers, there is no shortage of options to choose from. Instead of spending hours searching for the best one, find what you need in my guide above.

Our top overall pick is Bluehost. With them, you’ll get exceptional service and reliability at a palatable price.

If you’re looking for speed and performance above all else, take a look at HostGator (which provides excellent uptime) and A2 Hosting (which delivers exceptional site speeds).

The size of your business may dictate the best fit for you.

Larger operations should shortlist Media Temple, which is also a top choice for site resellers.

Need scalability or a degree of customization to your dedicated hosting plan? Liquid Web offers a great array of add-on packages, bundles, and features.

Small businesses will be well-served by looking into InMotion for their combination of great performance and customer support.

If your small business is looking to fit dedicated hosting into a constricting budget, then take a look at our top choices for cheaper plans, AccuWeb and Hostwinds.