VPS or dedicated server rental: what do you need?

Should you rent a VPS or a dedicated server? The question comes up once a game server, web hosting or a bot plan is no longer enough. Both give you root access and your own IPv4 address. The difference is in what you share, how predictable the performance is and what you pay. Below you will find the differences, a short checklist and the VPS and dedicated server plans you can rent from us.

What is the difference between a VPS and a dedicated server?

A VPS (virtual private server) is a virtual machine on a physical server that you share with other customers. With us that is KVM. Your VPS has its own number of vCores, its own memory and its own storage, with its own operating system and root access. The physical machine underneath is still shared.

A dedicated server is the whole physical machine. No hypervisor, no neighbours: every core, all the memory and every disk is yours. That is why it is also called bare metal.

The differences that matter:

• Performance: nobody else runs on a dedicated server, so your performance depends only on what you put on it. A VPS has its own vCores and memory, but shares the physical CPU and disks with other VPSs.
• Isolation: on a dedicated server the memory and disks are physically yours alone. For some businesses and projects that is a hard requirement.
• Control: with both you choose your operating system and get root access. With a dedicated server you can also have the hardware extended, and the DDoS protection can be configured per port.
• Price: with us a VPS starts at €3.00 per month, a dedicated server at €70.00 per month plus a €90.00 one-time setup fee.
• Delivery time: a VPS is virtual and does not need to be set up physically. A dedicated server is set up physically for you and is typically delivered within 24 to 48 hours of order confirmation.
• Growing: you upgrade a VPS to a bigger plan, and the change takes effect at the next billing cycle. With a dedicated server you arrange a hardware upgrade with support, or you add a second machine.

With both you manage the operating system and the software yourself: installing, updating and securing. We take care of the hardware, the network and the DDoS protection.

When is a VPS enough?

For most projects a VPS is the logical choice:

• Websites and web applications that need more than web hosting, for example your own stack with Node.js or Docker.
• Discord bots, scrapers and scripts that have to run 24/7. If you only have one bot, Discord bot hosting from €0.50 per month is cheaper and simpler.
• Your own VPN, mail server, monitoring or test environment.
• A single game server you want to manage entirely yourself, for example with Pterodactyl. If you mainly want to play, a plan from our game hosting is easier: the game panel, backups and DDoS protection are already included.
• A database, cache or API next to your game server or website.

A VPS shares the physical hardware. If the CPU has to run flat out day and night, you are better off with a dedicated server.

Dedicated server rental: when is it the better choice?

You rent a dedicated server when your workload needs the whole machine, or when you want to run a lot on it at once:

• A network of game servers: several Minecraft servers behind a proxy, or a few FiveM and Rust servers side by side, on one machine with your own panel.
• A big FiveM community: many players, many resources and a database that is busy all the time. Then you want many cores, fast memory and storage you share with nobody.
• Many Minecraft servers: a hosting project or community with ten or more servers. On a dedicated server you divide 64 to 128GB of RAM across your servers yourself.
• Heavy databases and applications: a MySQL or PostgreSQL server with many concurrent connections, or software that uses every core at once.
• Projects with isolation requirements: you want to be sure nobody else runs on the same hardware.

A cheap dedicated server or the heaviest one?

A cheap dedicated server, such as our Xeon Bronze at €70.00 per month, gives you a whole machine with 64GB of RAM for little money. That suits many small servers with few players, or software that mainly needs memory. The Xeon plans run on DDR4 with SSD storage.

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D is our heaviest plan: 16 cores, 128GB of DDR5 and two 2TB NVMe drives. Pick it when one large, busy game server or database has to get everything out of the machine. For game servers the speed per core counts for a lot. That is why our own game servers run on the Ryzen 9 9950X. So do not look at gigabytes alone, but also at how many cores and how much memory each server really needs. How much RAM each game needs is covered in How much RAM does your game server need?

Checklist: VPS or dedicated server?

These six questions usually give you the answer within a minute:

1. Do you run one website, bot or server, or a whole set? One: VPS. A set: dedicated.
2. Do you need more than 32GB of RAM or more than 8 cores? Then you are beyond our VPS plans and end up with dedicated.
3. Does the CPU need to run flat out all the time, as with a big FiveM server or a busy database? Dedicated.
4. Is isolation a requirement from your customers or your company? Dedicated.
5. Do you want to start small and pay per month, 3, 6 or 12 months? VPS.
6. Is your budget under €70.00 per month? Then a VPS is the answer, and you move over when you grow.

Our VPS plans: from €3 per month

Every VPS runs on KVM from Amsterdam, with its own IPv4 address, network-level DDoS protection and full root access. You pick Debian, Ubuntu or Windows Server 2022 and log in over SSH or RDP. There are two lines:

• Budget VPS (Intel Xeon, SATA SSD): from 2GB of RAM with 2 vCores and 10GB of storage for €3.00 per month up to 32GB of RAM with 8 vCores and 200GB of storage for €19.00 per month. In between are 4GB (€5.00), 8GB (€9.00), 16GB (€13.00) and 24GB (€16.00). Meant for websites, bots and light workloads.
• Premium VPS (AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, DDR4, NVMe): 4GB with 2 vCores and 60GB NVMe for €6.00 per month, 8GB (4 vCores, 100GB) for €12.00, 16GB (6 vCores, 200GB) for €24.00 and 32GB (8 vCores, 400GB) for €48.00. Meant for game servers and high-traffic applications.

Plans up to 16GB include 1TB of bandwidth per month, larger plans 2TB. Pay per 3, 6 or 12 months and you get 5%, 10% or 15% off. The Premium VPS can be sold out. The VPS page shows the current stock, and Notify me sends you an email as soon as there is room again.

Our dedicated servers: from €70 per month

Our dedicated servers are located in the Netherlands and come with their own IPv4 address, 5TB of bandwidth per month, full root access and DDoS protection that can be configured per port, at no extra cost. You choose Ubuntu, Debian or AlmaLinux. Another operating system can be arranged on request.

• Xeon Bronze 3104 (6 cores, 6 threads), 64GB DDR4, 512GB SSD: €70.00 per month. The entry point for a small network or a few game servers.
• Xeon E5-2603 v3 (6 cores, 6 threads), 96GB DDR4, 512GB SSD, both upgradable: €110.00 per month. For when you mainly need a lot of memory.
• Xeon E5-2680 v4 (14 cores, 28 threads), 128GB DDR4, 512GB SSD: €120.00 per month. Plenty of cores for many servers at once.
• Ryzen 9 9950X3D (16 cores, 32 threads), 128GB DDR5, 2x 2TB NVMe: €250.00 per month. Our heaviest plan, for big FiveM communities and busy databases.
• Custom dedicated: a different CPU, more RAM or other disks? We build a server to your specification. Contact us.

Dedicated servers are billed monthly, plus a €90.00 one-time setup fee per server. All specifications and ordering: dedicated server rental.

Frequently asked questions

Can I run a game server on a VPS?

Yes. You install a panel such as Pterodactyl yourself and put your servers in it. If you only run one Minecraft or FiveM server, a game server with us is usually easier. The game panel, backups and 1Tbps+ DDoS protection are included, without installing anything yourself.

Is there a contract?

No. You cancel whenever you want and your server keeps running until the end of the paid period. A VPS is billed per month, 3, 6 or 12 months. A dedicated server is always billed per month.

Can I move from a VPS to a dedicated server later?

Yes. You order the dedicated server and move your data yourself. Our free migration service covers game servers and web hosting. For a VPS or dedicated server we are happy to help with advice through a ticket.

What DDoS protection do I get?

A VPS is protected by network-level DDoS mitigation. On a dedicated server the protection can be configured per port, so it matches what runs on each port. With both it is included in the price.

What uptime and support can I expect?

We target 99.9% uptime. Support is available every day from 09:00 to 24:00 CET through Discord, ticket or email. For outages we aim to respond within an hour.

Do you have a Ryzen VPS or dedicated server?

Yes. The Premium VPS runs on an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and our heaviest dedicated plan on a Ryzen 9 9950X3D with DDR5 and NVMe. Looking for a different Ryzen, such as a 5900X? Ask about the options for a custom dedicated server.

Still not sure? Send us a message through support or on Discord and we will help you work out which server fits your project.

Read also: Renting a VPS: what to look for before you buy and How much does a VPS cost? Pricing and hidden costs.