The Basics
A dedicated server is a physical machine leased entirely to a single customer. Unlike shared hosting — where dozens of websites share the same hardware — or a VPS — where a single physical server is partitioned into virtual machines — a dedicated server gives you exclusive access to every CPU core, every gigabyte of RAM, and every I/O operation.
That exclusivity matters more than most people realise.
Shared vs VPS vs Dedicated
| Shared | VPS | Dedicated | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resources | Shared | Virtualised partition | 100% physical |
| Performance isolation | None | Partial | Full |
| Root access | No | Yes | Yes |
| Cost | Lowest | Mid | Higher |
When You Actually Need Bare Metal
Most small projects are fine on a VPS. You should consider a dedicated server when:
- CPU-intensive workloads — video transcoding, ML inference, or large compiles saturate virtualised environments quickly.
- High I/O databases — PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MongoDB at scale benefit enormously from dedicated NVMe with no I/O contention.
- Compliance requirements — PCI DSS, HIPAA, and similar frameworks often mandate physical isolation.
- Consistent latency — gaming servers, trading systems, and real-time APIs can’t tolerate the “noisy neighbour” effect.
The HostingNodes Difference
Our bare-metal fleet runs the latest AMD EPYC and Intel Xeon processors, paired with DDR5 ECC RAM and Gen4 NVMe arrays. Every server is provisioned in under two minutes and monitored around the clock.
Ready to see the specs? Browse our plans →