If you are seeking out some of the best dedicated server hosting providers for those in the UK, you’re in the right place!
In this guide, I have tested and put these hosting providers to the test so you can see how they actually perform, especially for website owners in the United Kingdom.
Below, you will find a detailed comparison of these dedicated hosting companies which cover many aspects, such as the quality of the hardware, bandwidth, connection speeds, server locations, uptime, storage, and tons more!
Let’s get started!
7 Best Dedicated Server Hosting UK Picks 2024
1. BlueHost: Best Overall Dedicated Server Host
In a span of 17 years, BlueHost has earned a reputable name for itself in the web hosting industry and now manages a staggering 20 million websites (including this one), and is also the #1 recommendation from WordPress.
As for the core benefits of Bluehost’s dedicated server plans, they provide upgradeable storage, unmetered data transfer limit, complete root access, 1-click WordPress installation, and 24/7 phone and chat support
When it came to the site speed and uptime from Bluehost, I was quite surprised by the numbers. With an average load time of 405ms (tested from London) and uptime of 99.99%, BlueHost is arguably one of the most reliable and consistent providers in the market.
As BlueHost is a US-based company, unfortunately, all its servers are located in the United States. However, BlueHost has partnered up with CloudFare, which allows users to get blazing fast speeds, even for those in the UK.
As for the more nitty-gritty of Bluehost’s dedicated hosting plans, they are currently offering three packages ranging from £59.66 to £89.49 per month.
The standard package starts at £59.66/mo and offers a 4 core CPU, 500GB mirrored storage, 4GB RAM, and 5TB bandwidth!
All dedicated server hosting packages also include one free domain for a year, free SSL certification, and 30 days money-back guarantee!
With unrivalled uptime results, fast speeds, secure servers, and impressive customer support, BlueHost is certainly one of the best dedicated server hosting companies for those in the UK!
Overall, I have found Bluehost to be a great provider who I also personally use for this very website! Highly recommended!
2. Webhosting UK: Fastest Dedicated Server UK Host
With more than 2000,000 websites hosted on their networks and a long list of happy customers, Webhosting UK holds the second spot on my list.
Currently, Webhosting UK offers a stellar lineup for their dedicated hosting plans which include Xeon processors, super-fast SSDs, 64GBs of DDR4 RAM, pre-configured optimized software, proactive monitoring service, and 24/7 customer support via live chat and phone.
Thanks to the latest hardware of the servers, Webhosting UK offers some of the fastest speeds I came across. On average, the speeds were hovering around the 380ms (which is insanely fast), and an average uptime of 99.99%.
As the name suggests, data servers of Webhosting UK are entirely UK-based with servers located in Nottingham, York, Reading, Wakefield, and Maidenhead.
When it comes to pricing, the basic package of a dedicated server costs £59.92 per month and includes a Xeon E3 system with 8GB of RAM, Two-240GBs disks, a free SSL certificate, free website migration, and a 1 GB connection!
So for what you pay and being a locally based UK company, it’s very well priced, not to mention the peace of mind factor knowing they are just a phone call away if any technical issues arise.
Overall, WebHosting Uk is a well-rounded dedicated web host providing that is ideal for UK businesses that are looking to scale.
3. Kinsta: Best Dedicated Web Host For Scaling
Kinsta was founded in Los Angeles in 2013. Although a comparatively newcomer in the market, Kinsta has become a very strong choice for many WordPress users including some big names such as Ubisoft and Tripadvisor!
Some of the standout benefits of Kinsta are their high-security network that continuously monitors websites to prevent any attacks, free regular backups, flexible architecture, continuous uptime monitoring, and quick feedback time.
Kinsta also offers tools like WP-CLI, SSH, and Git which is an exciting addition for developers!
On average, I found Kinsta to be very fast and reliable with an average speed of 420ms and an average uptime of 99.99%.
Kinsta has also made bold claims that they will provide an unparalleled uptime of 99.9%, and in case anything ever goes wrong for more than an hour, you will get a 5% discount on your bill!
As for data centres, Kinsta takes a different approach than it’s main competitors, in that it doesn’t maintain its own servers, but relies on Google’s state-of-the-art Cloud Platform to host websites.
While this may be seen as a disadvantage for some, the ability to scale globally, and locally in the UK, while receiving blazing fast speeds can’t be overlooked.
As for pricing, Kinsta’s basic plan starts at £24 per month which can handle 1 WordPress install, 25,000 visitors, 10GB SSD storage, 50GB CDN, 30-day money-back guarantee, a staging site for testing purposes, and free basic unlimited migration from other hosts.
Overall, I was thoroughly impressed by the benefits offered by Kinsta and I personally am a huge fan of the Google Cloud Platform! So for those looking for unparalleled scalability, Kinsta is a worthy option.
4. Inmotion: Solid All-Round Dedicated Web Host
Since its founding in 2003, Inmotion has over 300,000 customers and is one of the oldest names in the industry and is considered one of the top hosting companies in the industry.
Dedicated servers of Inmotion are backed by industry-leading Xeon processors, blazing-fast SSDs, and DDR4 RAMs. There is also automatic regular backups provided to every customer which is an added bonus!
As for speed and uptime, I received an average uptime of 99.95% and a typical response time of 322ms when tested from a London based server.
When it comes to the server locations, InMotion has two main data centres, both located in the US: Los Angeles and Virginia Beach, which to be honest, is not the best for UK based websites.
The good news, however, is that Inmotion will help you in setting up a CDN account (Cloudflare, Incapsula, etc.) to enable your website to be cached in multiple UK cities for lightning-fast load times.
Currently, Inmotion offers a wide range of dedicated server plans starting from £108 per month which includes Intel Xeon E3-1246 v3 processors, 16GB DDR3 RAM, and 1TB SS storage.
Included in the essential package is a free SSL (HTTPS) certificate, 30-days money-back guarantee, tools like WP-CLI and WHM, and more. Premium packages also include support up to 50TB of storage, an option of 16 CPUs, and a 90-day money-back guarantee!
Overall, Inmotion is a great contender that provides a while glove service for larger website owners!
5. SiteGround: Great Provider With Amazin Customer Service
SiteGround is one of the oldest and best dedicated web hosting providers in the industry. Founded 16 years ago, in 2004, SiteGround is reported to have been servicing over 2,000,000 domains worldwide and is known for exceptional services!
Their servers have multi-core CPUs ranging from 3 cores to 32 cores which can be coupled with the latest generation SSDs and RAMs, with an option to customize it as per your needs.
SiteGround also issue SSL certificates to every domain, create daily backups, 15-day refund, supports SSH and SFTP, and a dedicated IP for your peace of mind!
As per my testings, SiteGround showed a stellar performance with an almost perfect uptime of 99.99% on average, making it one of the most reliable web host provider. Site speed also showed satisfactory results with an average load time of 673ms.
Upon registration, you will be asked to choose the server location from Asia, Australia, America, or Europe. They even have a server in London, thereby promising you exceptional speeds and reliable performance!
Considering the features offered, one would think that packages of SiteGround will be expensive. However, that is not the case. The entry-level plan is priced at £62 per month which will provide you with access to 3 core CPU, 6GB RAM, and 40GB SSD storage, and 5TB data transfer.
For those looking for most custom options, Siteground also offers customised plans by configuring the server as per your requirements. All Siteground plans offer free access to the content delivery network, daily backups, and access to useful resources like SideGround webmail!
Overall, SiteGround is a great choice for those who are looking to craft a customisable plan according to their needs. They check all the boxes of a quality web hosting provider and are highly recommended for UK-based online stores, corporate websites, and professional bloggers!
6. Ionos
Previously known as 1&1, IONOS is one of the big names in the dedicated server hosting industry dating back to 1998. With the help of over 90,000 servers and 15 data centres, Ionos is currently serving 12,000,000+ customers!
Some of the standout features of Ionos include their powerful Intel Xeon Gold and Silver processors, DDR4 ECC RAM, and storage that is handled by SSD, and NVMes. Furthermore, the servers are protected by the latest IDS/ISP and SIEM technologies and advanced firewall to prevent any DDoS attacks!
Ionos also boasts encrypted remote access, full root access, 1 GB/s bandwidth, 24/7 phone support, and even one-on-one support from a dedicated personal consultant.
When it came to the numbers, I received an average load time of 649ms to load and a perfect 100% uptime, meaning the site never went down, not even for a minute! Ionos also has server locations in the UK which is a bonus.
As for the pricing, the Ionos basic plan starts at £0.075 per hour, which translates to around £54 per month. The lowest plan ‘L-16 HDD’ offers an Intel Xeon E3-1230 v6 with 16GB DDR4 and 1000GB data storage capacity and comes with free SSL Wildcard certification!
7. a2 hosting
a2 hosting was established in 2001 and now powers over 500,000 websites amongst their range of dedicated server and shared hosting plans.
With all of the company’s dedicated server plans, you will get a guarantee 24/7/365 support from a team of professionals, Intel Xeon CPU, 512GB RAM, and SSD storage that is customisable depending on your needs.
For the last 12 months, I was getting an average uptime of 99.93%, which is great, but in the last 6 months, the figures hit the magical number of 100%. Similarly, I was consistently getting speeds around 320ms, which is astonishingly fast.
It was also good to know that all their data centres are SSAE16 certified and are maintained in a closely regulated environment.
Since a2 hosting has 4 data centres; two in the United States, one in Singapore, and one in Europe, the lack of a data centre in the UK is a slight disadvantage. Fortunately, a2 hosting also offers free support of CloudFare which can load pages 200% faster!
As for the pricing, A2 hosting plans start from £77 per month for an unmanaged dedicated server hosting. With the basic plan, you will get Intel Core i3 clocked at 3.1+ GHz, 8GB RAM, two 500GB hard drives, and data transfer of 10TB.
Being on the most developer-friendly provider, a2 hosting is an excellent contender for the eCommerce business looking for a dedicated web hosting provider. If you value unrivalled speeds, terrific uptime, and top-notch customer service, a2 is the right choice for you!
How I Found The Best Dedicated Web Hosting Providers
The web hosting industry is highly saturated and choosing the right service provider for the website is a technical task.
As your whole business relies on your website, it is important to make an informed decision and choose only the best dedicated server hosting for your business.
Therefore, before making the decision, the first thing you need to do is inform yourself of the important aspects of the dedicated web hosting that you need to consider.
Let’s take a look at the elements of web hosting that I considered before choosing my top dedicated web hosting providers:
Speed
Making a great first impression is a must for every business. The first thing that a user notices when visiting a website is how quickly it loads. If your website loads fast, you have made a great impression!
The speed of a web hosting server is gauged through three elements:
i) Response time
Response time is the number of milliseconds it takes for a web browser to receive a response from the server. The benchmark time for response time to be considered satisfactory is under 200ms.
ii) Page load time
As the name suggests, page load time is the average amount of time it takes for a website to load completely. The time is calculated from when you type in the address till the page is completely loaded. The recommended page load time is 3 seconds or less.
iii) Uptime
Uptime defines reliability. By definition, uptime refers to the total amount of time your server was available for use as intended. Downtime means the time your server was unavailable or not working as it was supposed to. My benchmark for a good uptime is at least 99.93%.
Security
Before signing up, I consider the security measures offered by the provider. SSL certifications, regular cloud backups, domain management tools, two-factor authentication, live site monitoring after regular intervals, prevention against DDoS attacks, and 24/7 availability of hack experts in case of an unfortunate event are just a few things I look for.
Flexibility
Some companies offer fixed plans with little to no flexibility in the terms and specifications. Having the choice to upgrade the storage, RAMs, and processor without any hassle is a huge plus for me. Depending on the business and purpose, I prefer having multiple choices and flexible plans to adjust accordingly.
Server Location
If the host company’s server database is located far from my main user base, it is a deal-breaker for me. Since we are focusing on dedicated Webhosting for UK websites, having a server located in the United Kingdom is my first priority
Price and plans
Who doesn’t love affordable plans? Due to cut-throat competition between providers, pricing is one of the deciding factors for me. I don’t look for cheap plans, but for plans offering value-for-money.
What Is Dedicated Server Web Hosting?
As the name suggests, dedicated web hosting is a service in which a physical server is dedicated exclusively to provide service to a single customer.
This provides the user with complete control over the resources, thereby allowing them to manage, optimize, and configure it to cater to their needs and requirements.
Think of dedicated hosting as an option in which the web hosting provider leases the entire server machine to a customer which is solely controlled by that particular customer, and no one else. These machines are managed in a safe and secure environment called data centres.
This begs the question, why should you lease an entire server for yourself and not choose the regular hosting or shared hosting?
There are various reasons why dedicated web hosting is a good idea. Let’s talk about it.
1. Flexibility: You can easily configure the server to match it to your unique requirements.
2. Full control over resources: Being the sole controller of the server gives you complete control over the server, its applications and operating system.
3. Security: Servers are placed in a secure environment under 24/7 continuous monitoring of professionals, always ready to respond to any mishappening.
4. Performance: You can optimize the server uniquely to cater to your business needs and get the desired performance.
You can read more about that here.
Types of Dedicated Hosting and Servers
Broadly speaking, there are two types of dedicated hosting servers; managed servers and unmanaged servers.
1. Managed dedicated server
As the name infers, on this type of hosting, the host manages and oversees every task and troubleshoot all issues. The hosting company undertakes full responsibility for ensuring smooth performance.
This enables the companies not to worry about allocating their own technical expertise, thereby enabling them to focus better on their core work.
All the work from installing the operating system to managing apps is handled by a team of professional engineers hired by the hosting provider.
There are three plans of managed dedicated servers types that you can get:
- Self-managed
- Core managed
- Fully managed
2. Unmanaged dedicated server
Unmanaged hosting is the opposite of managed dedicated hosting.
This means that the client will not get routine support from the hosting provider and will have to get indulged in performing day-to-day tasks necessary to remove any hiccups affecting the performance.
Though the provider will ensure to keep the server lights on by whatever means necessary including replacement of failed hardware components or server reboots, it will not provide any software or security support.
You can read more about it here.
Is Dedicated Server Hosting Worth It For Those in the UK?
Dedicated web hosting is a great choice for those who admire performance and security, but doesn’t want to lose control over the resources.
If you are managing a huge website with 50,000+ unique daily visitors, having a dedicated server for your website would be the safest and reliable choice for you.
A huge turndown with shared and regular hosting is that since the majority of the data centres are located in the United States, your website may not always get the best performance. Whereas, for UK-based eCommerce and large corporate sites, having a server located in the UK can give a huge boost to your business.
Choosing the right plan is a difficult task. Therefore, we have provided you with a list of the top 7 dedicated web hosting providers. Take a look at all the options and decide which plan suits your business the best!