11 Best Unmanaged Dedicated Servers (Feb. 2024)

Imagine you won the lottery and have $1 million to play with. Being responsible, you invest half of your winnings and spend the other half lavishly, starting with a luxury car. You have your heart set on a BMW, and a reasonably priced 2 Series won’t cut it. You want something with a “wow” factor, so nothing less than a near-six-figure 7 series will suffice.

Similarly, if you’re running an enterprise or large-scale business and have all the financial resources you need, an unmanaged dedicated server hosting plan should be your top choice. There is no way you plan to drive away with a shared hosting plan!

And with our list of best unmanaged dedicated servers, selecting a self-managed dedicated hosting plan has never been easier. So, hop in and enjoy the ride!

IONOS is like the Ford Motor Company of web hosting — reliable and diverse. It has ultra-budget-friendly plans for those seeking a Ford Focus type of experience and dedicated servers for those who desire the raw power of an F-450 experience. IONOS dedicated server options will also put a smile on your system administrator’s face. IONOS offers Intel server, AMD server, and fully dedicated storage server plans — for significant storage needs.

AMD servers feature Ryzen Pro and Epyc processors, combined with HDD, SDD, or NVMe storage space. Simply select a USA or European datacenter location and a base AMD server to begin, and you can configure the server to your preferences. IONOS’s Intel servers feature Intel Xeon processors with the same storage options as AMD servers.

These high-performance servers are highly scalable, durable, and equipped with efficient memory. IONOS offers five base Intel server options, each with ample storage space. Each IONOS dedicated server plan is billed by the minute and includes a load balancer, unlimited traffic, firewall management, IPS/IDS, SIEM, Linux and Windows operating system (OS) options, full root access, and a Plesk control panel.

InMotion Hosting provides a wide range of hosting categories, including Minecraft server hosting, and is renowned for its award-winning customer support service. It offers seven speedy, secure, and trustworthy bare metal (unmanaged) plans, ranging from beginner to enterprise-level.

If you want the functionality of dedicated hosting and have the budget for upper-tier virtual private server (VPS) hosting, InMotion Hosting’s Aspire plan hits the bullseye. You can save the most money if you choose a one-year contract.

The Aspire plan includes plentiful SSD storage space, Intel Xeon processors, Linux OSs, DDoS protection, automatic backups, and cPanel licenses. The Advanced plan is another superb, cost-effective option, and InMotion Hosting also offers many plans managed with cPanel. While the plans are slightly more expensive, they include automatic cPanel updates, operating system security updates, and patches, which make your life much easier.

Liquid Web offers some of the best managed hosting services in the business. It manages more than a half million websites and has over 187,000 customers. Its managed dedicated server hosting plans are fairly affordable and offer an unrivaled 100% uptime guarantee, Linux and Windows Server OS options, multiple datacenter locations, and 24/7 customer support.

Liquid Web offers three Intel server plans, the cheapest of which is the INTEL E-2356G plan. This plan is ideal for small apps, multiple websites, high-traffic websites, and resellers and includes sufficient primary (SSD) and backup (HDD) disk space, adequate bandwidth, abundant Acronis Cyber Backup storage space, standard DDoS protection, and Cloudflare CDN.

Other features include a choice of control panel, advanced ServerSecure security, and full root access. The Intel XEON GOLD 6226R plan is a better fit for more intensive needs, and you can also request a custom solution by reaching out to the Liquid Web customer service team.

RedSwitches is distinguished for its ultra-affordable, robust, bare metal dedicated servers. Its servers are 100% customizable and will be up and running in four hours, as guaranteed by the web hosting provider. RedSwitches has more than 20 global datacenter locations and is a worthy choice for your dedicated server hosting infrastructure.

The best part is that RedSwitches offers hundreds of dedicated server options, ranging from cheap (beginner-grade) to super expensive (enterprise-grade). These servers feature the latest Intel and AMD processors and include free, hassle-free server management, world-class security, proactive monitoring, immense flexibility, remote reboots, and 24/7 expert support.

You can also request a custom server. Given the sheer number of options, we won’t recommend a certain package. So browse the dedicated servers and choose one that best meets your needs.

HostGator offers the best of both worlds with its semi-managed dedicated servers. The provider helps take care of all basic server configuration, operating system, and hardware issues and leaves the fun part of dedicated hosting to you. And HostGator knows what it’s doing, with more than 2 million websites under its management.

It offers three affordable semi-managed dedicated hosting plans, each of which includes Intel Xeon CPUs, sufficient HDD or SSD storage space, unmetered bandwidth, choice of operating system and control panel, DDoS protection, and an IP-based firewall. The Value Server plan, in particular, is budget-friendly and loaded with features.

If you are looking for the best value for money, we recommend the Power Server plan. As the name suggests, it offers the power and features you expect of a top-class dedicated server, all at a reasonable price. Chat with HostGator if you have any questions — team members are available 24/7 and are extremely helpful. Alongside Bluehost, we also recommend HostGator for WordPress hosting.

GoDaddy stakes claim as one of the best all-around hosting providers in the business. While it is most famous for its domain registration service, GoDaddy’s high-powered dedicated servers delight system administrators and developers.

GoDaddy offers four unmanaged dedicated servers and four fully managed servers. The bare metal servers are fairly priced and offer several incredible base-level features, including Intel Xeon processors, NVMe SSDs, two global datacenter options, built-in security, choice of Ubuntu, CentOS, or Windows OSs, and monitoring and alerting.

GoDaddy’s monitoring and alerting capabilities are worth highlighting. It monitors server uptime, resources, and domains at five-minute intervals and alerts you if it identifies any issues, ensuring you are on top of your website security. Note that GoDaddy’s fully managed plans only come with a CentOS option, so if you seek a Windows hosting experience, an unmanaged plan is the way to go.

While InterServer is not the flashiest of web hosts, it is one of our favorites. Its hosting plans tend to include many industry-leading features and custom technologies. InterServer’s unmanaged dedicated hosting plans include a degree of managed support for free. Its tech team handles all server hardware issues and repairs services that are not functioning.

Apart from that, your server’s hardware is in your hands. InterServer offers nearly 20 dedicated server options, featuring Intel Xeon, AMD Ryzen, and AMD EPYC processors. You can deploy preconfigured servers immediately, prepare and deploy within 15 minutes, or configure servers to your liking.

Standout features include six operating system options, three GUI-based control panel choices, DDoS protection, remote reboots, 24/7 uptime monitoring, floating IPs, IPMI or iLo access, and remote OS reinstall. You can also request a custom dedicated server solution by reaching out to InterServer support.

A2 Hosting is the fastest web host on the planet, hands down, and who doesn’t like speed? It offers state-of-the-art managed and unmanaged dedicated servers. While A2 Hosting has four worthy unmanaged dedicated hosting plans, you should look at its most popular (and highest priced) plan, the HYPER 2 TURBO AMD plan.

A2 Hosting’s server architecture is optimized for speed and performance, and its Turbo server technology is sought after. The HYPER 2 TURBO AMD plan is twice as expensive as the HYPER 1 plan (and very favorably priced) but offers all the speed (Turbo-enabled) and performance (AMD Rome processors) you need.

It also includes fast CPU cache, SwiftServer features, Cloudflare compatibility, SSH access, boot shutdown and reboot control, and easy, one-click software installs (such as WordPress). If you are concerned about the environment, you will be happy to know that A2 Hosting is a 100% carbon-neutral web host.

OVHcloud specializes in unmanaged dedicated hosting, offering complete control of your server environment, maximum availability, a wide array of customization features, and great security and performance. OVHcloud offers complete global coverage and is one of the most experienced web hosts around with 40 datacenters in operation.

OVHcloud also provides hundreds of dedicated server options. You can set filters such as your budget, preferred processor brand, the number of processor cores you need, favored storage type, and ideal datacenter location to arrive at the best choice.

Once you select a base server, you can configure it to meet your requirements. Each of these servers offers unlimited traffic and is ready for deployment in a matter of seconds. It is worth noting that OVHcloud offers some of the cheapest dedicated servers we have seen on the market.

HOSTKEY is a green hosting service provider that offers unmanaged, instant deployment and custom-configured dedicated server options. Instant dedicated servers are pre-configured, but we recommend a custom server if you want to assemble one that meets your needs. If you are looking for an American or European server location, HOSTKEY has your back, as its servers are located in the US, Netherlands, Germany, Russia, and Finland.

While HOSTKEY’s website isn’t the easiest to traverse, it more than makes up for that with the sheer number of custom server configurations it offers. To begin customizing a server, select your preferred processor type. From there, set the hardware, software, network, and SLS configurations of your choice.

Keep in mind that HOSTKEY allows you to install a non-standard operating system through IPMI. Once you configure your server, you can double-check the features and check out.

Servers.com lives up to its name and offers a fascinating selection of next-gen dedicated DELL servers with cloud scalability, dedicated account managers, and around-the-clock support.

These servers have built-in redundancy, flexibility, consistent uptime, and reliable low latency. Servers.com offers 12 basic server options, which clients can configure to their tastes. You can set your preferred filters or scan through each of these server options to select the best one.

These servers feature Intel Xeon processors, multiple datacenter locations, and ample storage, RAM, and bandwidth. Servers.com offers high performance at a fair price, so it is definitely worth exploring.

Dedicated server hosting is the most expansive and expensive web hosting category. In shared hosting, VPS hosting, and cloud hosting (to a degree), clients share server resources. Dedicated web hosting gives you a server just for your project or business server.

Dedicated hosting is the best option if you seek premium performance, security, and control. But you should explore its pros and cons before making the investment decision, as a dedicated server for hosting isn’t cheap. Here are some of the pros and cons of dedicated servers:

Pros	Cons
Better overall performance, with faster page loading speeds and lower latency. This is crucial in today’s attention-dominated economy.	You will have to contend with a high upfront cost for the server and increased costs for server maintenance, support, and management services (a managed server plan is pricier than an unmanaged one).
Complete control of your server environment allows you to implement custom security measures.	An unmanaged server can be challenging to manage, especially if the administrator does not have relevant experience.
You can customize the server’s hardware and software components to meet particular requirements and easily scale server hardware components as and when your business grows.	Compared to shared servers and virtual private servers, a dedicated server consumes much more energy and resources, thereby having a greater environmental impact (look for green web hosts).

While dedicated server hosting is a fascinating option, especially for large organizations and businesses, it has considerable drawbacks. Weigh its pros and cons and select it only if it makes sense in the long run. Your next best option is unmanaged VPS hosting.

There is a saying, “Do what is easy and your life will be hard. Do what is hard, and your life will be easy.” It is safe to say that managed hosting does not abide by this life lesson. Simply pay a fee for the managed hosting plan of choice and make yourself a bag of popcorn while the pros set up and administer your website. If you do not have the personnel, skillset, or time to manage your website, managed hosting is the way to go.

As you may have guessed, unmanaged hosting, or self-managed hosting, refers to the management of all aspects of your website by yourself. You must have some technical knowledge to navigate an unmanaged hosting plan. While managed hosting is more expensive than unmanaged hosting, we recommend it if you have the budget.

A managed hosting plan allows you to focus on core business tasks while your website needs fall to web host’s team of experts. Managed hosting may also offer additional features and services, such as software application management, access control policies, and managed firewalls.

While a dedicated server is better than a non-dedicated server, shared server, virtual private server, or cloud server, you need to factor in your needs to answer this question. Dedicated servers are expensive and are not meant for everyone. For example, if you have a small budget and need resources to operate a small website, a shared hosting plan should be more than enough.

A cloud hosting plan or VPS hosting plan should fit larger budgets and website needs. Now, if you are ready to scale up your business and want to bring your offerings online, or have recently secured funding and are ready to launch the next big thing, you may need a dedicated server hosting plan.

A dedicated server offers all the flexibility, customization, security, and performance you could hope for.

A good, entry-level dedicated server hosting plan costs around $100 per month, and advanced plans can cost well above $500 monthly. For example, IONOS bills for its Intel dedicated servers by the minute, and its highest-priced server costs nearly $400 per month.

InMotion Hosting’s dedicated servers (bare metal plans), on the other hand, cost between $70 and $700 per month. Each web host offers a different pricing model with its feature-packed dedicated hosting plans. While web hosting is typically a long-term investment, a dedicated server plan purchase should be meticulously planned.

Remember, the longer the plan duration, the more savings you will see. Opt for a plan that offers the bare minimum and scale when the time is right.

IONOS, InMotion Hosting, and Liquid Web are undoubtedly some of the best dedicated server hosting providers. IONOS, in particular, is a worthy contender for the title of best dedicated server host. It offers three dedicated server categories, each of which is as powerful as the next.

If you do not crave the latest or most expensive technologies but need a powerful dedicated server, IONOS offers a separate selection of discounted (Intel and AMD) server deals. The longer your contract length, the greater the discount.

InMotion Hosting offers numerous managed and unmanaged dedicated hosting plans as well, so do check them out. Our list features 11 solid dedicated web hosts, so thoroughly review each one to make the right choice for your website. May the best web host win!