Featured Partners
3
IONOS
Starting price
$US2 ($2.95 AUD) per month
Drag-and-drop interface
Yes
SSL certificate included
Yes
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Dedicated server hosting solutions give you several advantages over shared or virtual private server (VPS) hosting, but the main benefit is control. With dedicated hosting, physical servers are dedicated to a single customer rather than multiple customers. You get to optimise your servers for your specific resource needs and take control over site performance and security.
The best cheap dedicated server hosting services are flexible and scalable so that you can adjust storage, memory and central processing unit (CPU) cores, and transfer capacity according to your changing needs. Forbes Advisor conducted an in-depth evaluation of the dedicated server hosts on the market today. This review introduces you to our pick of the seven best cheap dedicated hosting services we found for Australian businesses.
Note that all prices below are listed as they are displayed on the provider’s website. Where prices were listed in US dollars, we converted into Australian dollars afterwards.
The below list represents a selection of our top category picks, as chosen by Forbes Advisor Australia’s editors and journalists. The information provided is purely factual and is not intended to imply any recommendation, opinion, or advice about a financial product. Not every product or provider in the marketplace has been reviewed, and the list below is not intended to be exhaustive nor replace your own research.
Featured Partners
On Bluehost.com’s Website
Starting price
$140.07 AUD
Storage
1 TB to 2 TB HDD
CPU Cores
Four to eight
On HostGator’s Website
Starting price
$US3.75 ($5.62 AUD) per month
Storage and Bandwidth
Unmetered
Extras and inclusions
Free domain registration for a year, free website and domain transfer, free SSL certificate, free email
3
IONOS
On IONOS’s Secure Website
Starting price
$US2 ($2.95 AUD) per month
Drag-and-drop interface
Yes
SSL certificate included
Yes
$26.45 AUD
per month
50 GB to 800 GB SSD
One to 16
$26.45 AUD
per month
50 GB to 800 GB SSD
One to 16
MochaHost was recently included among Forbes Advisor’s top picks for best web hostingservices. Our extensive review of dedicated hosting solutions shows that MochaHost is also one of the best overall cheap dedicated hosting options on the Australian market today.
MochaHost offers dedicated hosting for Linux and Windows Cloud servers. All plans come with a 99.9% uptime guarantee, enterprise-level SSD-SAN storage and 24/7 technical support. Free CDNs, free unlimited 256-bit SSL certificates and free migration assistance are also available.
The two starter plans are limited to 4,000 GB in monthly traffic, but higher-tier plans are unmetered. All plans come with unlimited email boxes, FTP accounts, parked domains and full administrator access.
Who should use it:
MochaHost offers several budget-friendly dedicated hosting plans and unbeatable renewal pricing, which makes it our top choice for the best overall cheap dedicated hosting service.
Pricing & Plans
Plans are available in one-month, three-month, six-month, annual, two-year and three-year packages. MochaHost is the only provider on our list that offers a lifetime discount guarantee; as long as you commit to dedicated cloud hosting with a two- or three-year package, your renewal rate will be the same as your initial price plan.
There are nine plans to choose from for Linux, which range in price from $26.45 AUD to $139.79 AUD per month, and nine Windows plans that range from $34.01 AUD to $200.24 AUD per month. The main differences among the plans involve resource capacities for CPU cores, RAM, storage and CPU power. Both managed and unmanaged plans are available.
$US32 ($48 AUD) per month
per month
240 GB to 800 GB SSD or 1,000 GB to 6,000 GB HDD
Four to twelve plus 2.8 GHz to 4.2 GHz Turbo Boost
$US32 ($48 AUD) per month
per month
240 GB to 800 GB SSD or 1,000 GB to 6,000 GB HDD
Four to twelve plus 2.8 GHz to 4.2 GHz Turbo Boost
IONOS dedicated hosting services offer tremendous value, which makes this provider attractive for small businesses on a budget. IONOS offers both solid-state drive (SSD) and hard disk drive (HDD) servers on its dedicated hosting plans. SSD servers are the newer technology and are faster, so if speed is important to you, go with SSD. HDD servers have higher storage capacity, which is essential if your website is resource-heavy.
Learn more: Read our IONOS website builder review.
Pricing & Plans
There are six AMD SSD/NVMe server plans to choose from, which range from a maximum of $US75 ($113 AUD) to $US425 ($642 AUD) per month. All SSD plans include unlimited traffic, one free domain and the RailGun content delivery network (CDN). Storage ranges from 240GB to 800GB and RAM from 8GB to 64GB. AMD HDD pricing ranges from a maximum of $US70 ($105.80 AUD) to $US405 ($612 AUD) per month. Intel SSD/NVMe server pricing ranges from $US100 ($151 AUD) to $385 per month ($581 AUD) and HDD pricing goes from $US100 ($151 AUD) to $US365 ($551.70 AUD) per month.
IONOS also offers special sever deals, with SSD deals starting at $US50 ($75 AUD) per month with a $US50 ($75 AUD) setup fee and HDD fees starting at $US32 ($48 AUD) per month with a $US50 ($75 AUD) setup fee. These deals have an initial term of 24 months. All HDD plans come with unlimited traffic, a free domain, a CDN and 12GB to 64GB RAM. The two lowest tiers offer 1,000GB of storage, and the two highest tiers provide 2,000GB of storage.
Who should use it: IONOS offers a good value for the power it delivers, which makes it an excellent dedicated hosting option for small businesses that need reliable and secure website hosting.
$US73 ($110 AUD)
per month
1,760 GB SSD or up to 1,790 TB NVMe
Eight to 32 using one or two CPUs
$US73 ($110 AUD)
per month
1,760 GB SSD or up to 1,790 TB NVMe
Eight to 32 using one or two CPUs
If you have a resource-heavy website that requires ample power or storage, you’ll want to look at InterServer dedicated hosting solutions. While InterServer offers affordable starter plans, its higher-tier plans deliver the ultimate in performance, even for high-traffic websites. For example, you can get up to 32 CPU cores (two CPUs) and 1,760 GB of disk space.
InterServer offers three graphical user interface (GUI)-based control panels: Plesk, DirectAdmin and cPanel/WHM. All plans come with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack protection. There are no setup fees and free managed support is available for basic functions such as control panel reinstallation, hardware issues, operating system reinstallation and DNS, SQL and FTP server repair.
Pricing & Plans: Choose from 14 InterServer dedicated hosting plans that range from $73 ($110 AUD) to $US530 ($801 AUD) per month. The main differences among the plans are CPU capacity, storage limits and RAM. Upgrades are available for hardware, bandwidth and IP addresses. Options for both Linux and Windows operating systems (OS) are available—there’s a $US20 ($30 AUD) to $US200 ($302 AUD) per month upcharge for going with Windows instead of Linux.
Who should use it: InterServer offers excellent dedicated hosting services for those who need high levels of processing power and storage at a reasonable price.
$US69.99 ($105.79 AUD)
per month
1 TB SSD to 4 TB SSD
Four to 24
$US69.99 ($105.79 AUD)
per month
1 TB SSD to 4 TB SSD
Four to 24
InMotion Hosting gives you a choice of Bare Metal or cPanel dedicated server account management, though Bare Metal plans are up to 22% cheaper. Along with other solutions in the dedicated server hosting space, InMotion offers considerable flexibility so you can get the exact resources you need to optimise your website’s performance.
In addition to annual plans, you can sign up for a six-month, three-month or monthly plan, though you’ll be charged more for these shorter-term commitments.
Pricing & Plans
Four plans are available in two categories: Aspire, Essential, Advanced and Elite, while are available in as either Managed with cPanel or Bare Metal. The Bare Metal plans range on price from $US69.99 ($105.79 AUD) per month to $US229.99 ($346.13 AUD) per month (billed annually), and the Managed with cPanel plans range in price from $US89.99 ($136 AUD) to $US259.99 ($392 AUD) per month (billed annually).
Who should use it: If you’re tech-savvy and want to minimise hosting costs, InMotion’s Bare Metal dedicated hosting services could be the best option for you.
$US89.98 ($136 AUD)
per month
512 GB to 1 TB SSD (or up to 2 TB HDD)
Four to eight
HostGator is one of the most popular web hosting services around and has a reputation for delivering reliable and secure hosting services. HostGator’s dedicated hosting solutions offer the same quality and value available through the company’s shared and VPS hosting options.
All HostGator plans include full root access, free content transfers, unlimited MySQL, three dedicated IPv4 IPs, unlimited outgoing emails and unmetered bandwidth. HostGator lets you select the control panel that works best for you: cPanel/WHM, Softaculous, Plesk or Plesk Application Vault. You can create manual backups and schedule backups, so you never have to worry about losing valuable resources or data.
Who should use it:
HostGator offers simple dedicated hosting plans that are perfect for websites with moderate performance requirements.
Pricing & Plans
Choose from HostGator’s Value, Power or Enterprise plans, which start at $US89.98 ($136 AUD) to $US139.99 ($211.59 AUD) per month, respectively. Each plan offers a different level of CPU cores, RAM and storage. For example, with the Value plan, you get four core CPUs, 8 GB RAM and 1 TB HDD, while the Power plan offers eight core CPUs, 16 GB RAM and 2 TB HDD or 512 GB SSD. Enterprise is HostGator’s top-tier plan, which includes eight core CPUs, 30 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD.
HostGator offers monthly, three-month, six-month, annual and two-year plans, but to get the lowest price, you’ll need to go with a three-year plan. Come renewal time, expect your plan to renew at 15% to 52% higher, depending on which level of commitment you choose with your initial purchase.
$US79.99 ($120 AUD)
for first month only
1 TB to 4 TB HDD
Eight to sixteen
$US79.99 ($120 AUD)
for first month only
1 TB to 4 TB HDD
Eight to sixteen
TMDHosting offers dedicated server solutions designed for performance and speed, making TMDHosting an excellent provider for high-traffic websites.
All plans include unlimited bandwidth and are fully managed by Linux-certified experts. TMDHosting offers a 15-minute guaranteed response time when you reach out to its technicians for any matter. Choose from seven hosting data centres around the globe; for best performance, select the centre closest to your website audience.
TMDHosting offers 24/7/365 dedicated support, cPanel/WHM, free application updates, free application installation, free template installation, free components installation and a free domain. Security audits are performed daily and every plan includes a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Pricing & Plans
Four plans are available that vary in price relative to the term length you purchase. For example, you’ll pay $US79.99 ($120 AUD) for your first month hosting for the Starter plan and thereafter $US144.99 ($219.15 AUD) per month with a three- or six-month commitment, or $US119.99 ($181.36 AUD) per month with an annual commitment.
The key differences among the Starter, the Original, the Smart and the Super Powerful plans are level of storage, CPU and RAM capacity. The Starter plan offers 1 TB storage, eightCPU cores with eight threads, and 8 GB DDR4 RAM. The Super Powerful plan offers 4 TB storage, and sixteenCPU cores with 16 threads and 32 GB DDR4 RAM.
Who should use it: Those with high-traffic websites should consider TMDHosting for the power and performance it delivers, as well as for access to the company’s highly responsive technical support.
$140.07 AUD
per month (36-month term)
1 TB to 2 TB HDD
Four to eight
Bluehost is a beginner-friendly hosting provider that offers both managed and unmanaged dedicated hosting services. Every Bluehost plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a free domain for the first year.
Monthly, three-month, six-month, annual, two-year and three-year plans are available. You’ll need to make a three-year commitment to receive the lowest price. Bluehost offers 24/7 dedicated hosting support and the company’s technical specialists build and rack your server and get it live on the network within 24 to 72 hours of your plan purchase.
Who should use it:
Bluehost offers simple hosting plans and dedicated customer support that make its dedicated server hosting services ideal for beginners.
Pricing & Plans
Bluehost offers three plans: Standard, Enhanced and Premium. The lowest starting price for plans ranges from $140.07 AUD per month to $216.23 AUD per month. There are several differences among the plans, including the CPU GHz, threads and cache allotments, network bandwidth, RAM and storage capacity and the number of dedicated IP addresses provided.
Bandwidth is unmetered, while RAM ranges from 8 GB to 30 GB. You get three dedicated IPs with the Standard plan, four with the Enhanced and five with Premium.
Forbes Advisor evaluated dozens of dedicated server hosting service providers and combed through hundreds of relevant data points to create this review. We then translated our findings into a point system based on a five-star rating.
Here are the key factors included in our review process:
About Star Rankings
You will note that we have included a star rating next to each product or provider. This rating was determined by the editorial team once all of the data points above were considered, and the pros and cons of each product attribute was reviewed. The star rating is solely the view of Forbes Advisor editorial staff. Commercial partners or advertisers have no bearing on the star rating or their inclusion on this list. Star ratings are only one factor to be considered.
If you’re choosing a dedicated server hosting service for the first time, there are a few things you must do to ensure you select a provider that will fulfil your needs. Your choice can make all the difference in how well your website performs, as well as how much you’ll pay for dedicated services.
First, evaluate providers based on the level of storage, RAM, bandwidth and CPU cores offered. The more resources you need to store and run your resources, the more you’ll pay for the hosting service. It’s wise to work with a vendor that makes it easy to add resources as you need them rather than making you pay for features you don’t require yet.
Next, consider the total cost of doing business with the dedicated server hosting provider. Many offer deeply discounted introductory rates to attract customers, and then renewal rates skyrocket. Other providers give you only the bare minimum features and make you pay an add-on fee for features you might need, such as multiple IP addresses or migration support. Be sure you’re 100% clear about the total costs of the plan you’re buying.
Finally, do your homework on the provider’s reputation for reliability. Look for an uptime guarantee and consider what existing users say about the dedicated hosting service provider.
The most significant benefit of dedicated server hosting is control – you use a server that no one else is using, so you have full control over how the server is configured. Here are a few more advantages of dedicated server hosting:
Featured Partners
On Bluehost.com’s Website
Starting price
$140.07 AUD
Storage
1 TB to 2 TB HDD
CPU Cores
Four to eight
On HostGator’s Website
Starting price
$US3.75 ($5.62 AUD) per month
Storage and Bandwidth
Unmetered
Extras and inclusions
Free domain registration for a year, free website and domain transfer, free SSL certificate, free email
3
IONOS
On IONOS’s Secure Website
Starting price
$US2 ($2.95 AUD) per month
Drag-and-drop interface
Yes
SSL certificate included
Yes
The best cheap dedicated server hosting services are flexible and scalable so that you can adjust storage, memory and CPU cores, and transfer capacity according to your needs. The very best services offer unlimited bandwidth, strong uptime guarantees and superior customer service.
Additional local research: Anna Rey
Dedicated hosting generally costs between $30 AUD and $400 AUD per month, depending on your resource needs. The more CPU, storage and RAM capacity you need, the higher the price you’ll pay for dedicated hosting services.
Dedicated hosting comes with advanced performance-enhancing features that drive the price up, so it’s not right for everybody.
Those who manage single or multiple websites that require considerable data processing power and storage often find that dedicated hosting is the best way to gain the control and user experience they want. If you’re on the fence, you may want to explore VPS hosting services as an alternative to dedicated server hosting.
Forbes Advisor selected a handful of top web hosts as favourites, including MochaHost, Bluehost, IONOS, InterServer, and TMDHosting .
Websites that have high volumes of traffic or large spikes in traffic, or that manage large volumes of data, will benefit most from dedicated hosting. New businesses that are creating a website for the first time often launch their sites using more affordable shared hosting solutions.
If you’re looking for the best cheap dedicated server company, take a good look at MochaHost, which has plans that start at $30.61 AUD per month.
If you’re tech-savvy and prefer to manage and configure your server yourself, InMotion Hosting offers terrific bare metal hosting plans. IONOS also offers powerful yet budget-friendly dedicated server solutions that small businesses will appreciate.
The vast majority of dedicated hosting services offer top-level security features, such as data encryption and the option to add a secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate to your site. You should always examine your system of choice’s security features before committing.
Janette Novak is a freelance journalist and consultant who specializes in teaching online business and small business marketing. Previously, Janette owned a boutique marketing agency and served as a Chief Marketing Officer for a leading professional training services provider.