Should I get the cheapest dedicated server?

When shopping for a dedicated server is it best to get the cheapest dedicated server that has the same specs or are there other things to consider?

Of course, it's always nice to get a cheap offer, but at what cost?

First, check the reviews of the company selling the dedicated server. Is it a reputable company? How long have they been in business? If they're a new company, chances are they are unreliable and will soon go out of business selling ultra-cheap dedicated servers. However, OVH and online.net are reputable and they offer really cheap dedicated servers.

Do you need managed dedicated servers? If so, they won't be cheap.

Do you want new and powerful hardware? If so, they won't be cheap.


If you find multiple reputable companies selling great dedicated servers, then get the cheapest one out of all of them. But don't get the cheapest dedicated server you can find online. If it's too good to be true, it's probably not good at all.

No. You do need to compare everything.

- Where are the server located?
- How long has the provider been in business?
- Do they own the hardware, or are they just reselling?
- Does their network/power have a "single point of failure" all the way to the server? (You'd be amazed how many providers advertise their network redundancy, but have a single network drop and single power connection to each rack!

When shopping around, always contact their sales department. See how friendly they are. Explain your needs and budget. This will help you get the best configuration for your needs, at the best deal. If they respond with "yes we have servers, see our plans here (url)", move on, as they obviously don't care.

If it fits all your criteria, by all means.

If price is your only criteria, then going with the cheapest is the only thing you could do.

If you want good connectivity, reliable support, decent hardware, etc. etc. etc. Then add those to your criteria. Usually the ones that fit more stringent criteria aren't the cheapest. But sometimes they're not that far.

JoseQ

I would like to ask why you really want to get a cheap dedicated server ? However as RDO servers said you have to gather the information of the server provider organization , their reviews , support quality etc...

Furthermore , if by chance you get a cheap dedicated server first make sure that the server IP is no blocked , its cleaned in RBLs

As the other members have stated there ARE other things to consider. Everyone likes to save money for one reason or another but you don't want to save money at the expense of reliability, performance, support and some other key factors.

If EVERYTHING was EXACTLY the same between multiple hosts then I guess that going with the cheapest can be a wise choice. The thing is that most of the time there are some key differences between hosts, some you may see and others that you will not see.

Always look at the Complete picture before considering Just price!

NickR said:

If you find multiple reputable companies selling great dedicated servers, then get the cheapest one out of all of them. But don't get the cheapest dedicated server you can find online. If it's too good to be true, it's probably not good at all.

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Great advice, thank you!

RDO Servers said:

When shopping around, always contact their sales department. See how friendly they are. Explain your needs and budget. This will help you get the best configuration for your needs, at the best deal. If they respond with "yes we have servers, see our plans here (url)", move on, as they obviously don't care.

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Great, this is the kind of tips and advice I can really use. Thank you.

TMS - JoseQ said:

If you want good connectivity, reliable support, decent hardware, etc. etc. etc. Then add those to your criteria. Usually the ones that fit more stringent criteria aren't the cheapest. But sometimes they're not that far.

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The reliable support part is something else that will be a high priority.

24x7CSM said:

I would like to ask why you really want to get a cheap dedicated server ?

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Well I don't necessarily want the cheapest but I just didn't realize that there were so many other aspects to consider.

Gecko said:

The thing is that most of the time there are some key differences between hosts, some you may see and others that you will not see.

Always look at the Complete picture before considering Just price!

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I am starting to realize that, thanks.

DefaultUser said:

When shopping for a dedicated server is it best to get the cheapest dedicated server that has the same specs or are there other things to consider?

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SLA, Support Service, DDoS Protection, Hardware / Parts Brand Quality, Datacenter Tier (Such as power / network redundancy), Managed or Unmanaged services, and so on, everything will vary in terms of pricing, so with this you'll have budget or premium services.

If you are hiring it for a business, then all the mentioned points must be properly covered when seeking for services, but if this is just some kind of test or hobby, then you can generally go for the cheapest you find...

Sometimes its not really good to buy the cheapest thing everytime, but if its available by a trusted website, then you should get it, because i bought VPS before cheap and they were really bad.

You can ask around about reviews for a specific host. Longevity is usually a good indicator as well. Some hosts just started hosting 1-2 years ago vs others that have been around longer than a decade.

Fly-by-night hosts usually don't last more than 2-3 years before their [poorly designed] business model crumbles.

The whois information is always unreliable. You could just purchase an old domain and the original registration date will still be there. I have domains for dedicated server companies that never actually got started. I could just slap on a website and say we've been in business since 2005.

It would be much easier to ask around on a forum and see if X or Y company is reliable and hear from actual customers.

I suppose the question you should really be asking yourself is, how important is the server to you? In terms of what you are using it for, is it to experiment on little projects of your own, or is it holding mission critical software to a large company? Is it for a small low traffic website, or does it hold a very critical website?

When it becomes a question of how important the server is to you, you must start to question what are you getting for the lowest price possible? Or, Not getting in fact. The last thing you want to discover is that there was a trade off for having the cheapest dedicated server, a trade-off from a service or feature that you really need at those critical points.

Do what others have suggested so far, do a check on the company, check the reviews, give them a call, ask them questions, build up a rapport and seek to understand how they operate etc. This will give you some sort of indication of what kind of service and support you'll receive, and if you get on with them or not.

TMS - JoseQ said:

The whois information is always unreliable. You could just purchase an old domain and the original registration date will still be there. I have domains for dedicated server companies that never actually got started. I could just slap on a website and say we've been in business since 2005.

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Good point, thanks.

Are you planning to develop the domains into websites some day?

Lampard said:

Check out reviews of the company, most places like at forumweb.hosting, where you can find reviews.

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Right, I have already found quite a bit of good information here. The people seem more happy to help us that don't know as much than on other forums I have tried in the past.

Datacentreplus said:

When it becomes a question of how important the server is to you, you must start to question what are you getting for the lowest price possible? Or, Not getting in fact. The last thing you want to discover is that there was a trade off for having the cheapest dedicated server, a trade-off from a service or feature that you really need at those critical points.

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Well at first it wouldn't be as important as it would be for learning purposes I guess but then later there will be live websites. I understand what you are meaning about the trade-offs between price and other things. It seems like most people go for the lowest priceas their choice. What do you put a priority on first?

Datacentreplus said:

Do what others have suggested so far, do a check on the company, check the reviews, give them a call, ask them questions, build up a rapport and seek to understand how they operate etc.

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But if I call them before I am a customer then won't they just tell me what they think I want to hear and not give accurate answers?

Sadly, along with the video games, I also have a ton of DVDs & BluRays... luckily I stopped collecting those thanks to Netflix and all the streaming services. I started realizing that movies that were still shrink-wrapped in my collection were showing up there (and looking better than DVD). =)

DefaultUser said:

When shopping for a dedicated server is it best to get the cheapest dedicated server that has the same specs or are there other things to consider?

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Depends on what you mean by "cheap." Bandwidth quality and quantity can really create big differences in prices. Make sure you know your needs in that area

try to find a good balance between price and quality
check the dedicated servers offers in the forum you're going to find a good one at an optimum price.

If you are looking for very cheapest dedicated server and reliable datacenter for that? you must take a look on soyoustart because they are part of OVH and providing good and cheap dedicated vps along with free ip's ( you just need to pay $3/ip for setup (onetime) and you can add upto 16 ip's)

I will recommend OVH. They are best and cheapest.

Hello! Most of very cheap DC has worst support so be careful

You should consider of Network, Location and Price .