Bare metal servers are cost-effective solutions

Bare metal servers are often considered more expensive than cloud hosting or VPS options, but that’s not necessarily accurate. Opting for a bare metal server can be the more cost-effective option based on your business’s unique needs. This is especially true when you consider the ongoing server maintenance costs, not just initial costs. 

When deciding on a web hosting solution, it’s crucial to look at how much it’s going to cost you to maintain and scale your business over time. When you look at the long run, bare metal servers offer significant cost savings opportunities that can make them the more cost-efficient solution. 

Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of bare metal servers and the different ways they can help you reduce costs over time.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What is a bare metal server?
• Bare metal server use cases
• Benefits of bare metal servers
• Bare metal server costs
• How bare metal servers reduce costs
• How to find the right bare metal server provider
• Final thoughts: Reduce your costs with a bare metal server

What is a bare metal server?

The term bare metal server refers to a physical server that provides hosting for a single tenant instead of multiple tenants. Companies usually rent the physical server through an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) provider that manages the server, keeping it powered, connected to the internet, and protected by physical security.

Because a bare metal server only has one tenant, you get 100 percent access to the server’s computing and storage resources and can choose your operating system.

Bare metal vs cloud servers

Bare metal servers are an alternative to cloud hosting, which is a virtual server system. Cloud hosting can be dedicated or shared with other tenants where you don’t have complete isolation.

Cloud servers also come with a pre-installed hypervisor layer that makes it possible for a single server to run several virtual machines (VM) on a single set of hardware, such as when using VMware.

Is bare metal the same as dedicated? 

Both bare metal and dedicated servers refer to single-tenant physical servers that don’t rely on virtualization. 

So, what’s the difference? 

Dedicated servers traditionally require manual provisioning, come with a pre-installed operating system, and may have limits on available processing power and storage hard drives (HDD). As a result, provisioning usually takes longer on a dedicated server, but it can have initially low costs. 

In contrast, bare metal servers give you more control over operating systems and automate provisioning. With bare metal, you can also choose from a range of hardware options, from basic to cutting-edge, depending on your needs.

This configuration means your virtual machine has access to the server’s full resources minus a small portion that powers the hypervisor and virtualization layers. As a result, you get the scalability of the cloud, powered by the control, security, and top-tier performance of bare metal without the higher bare metal server costs.

Bare metal server use cases

Bare metal servers are often used by companies that need maximum configurability, increased performance, and higher-level security. 

Here are a few use cases where bare metal provides a competitive advantage over other options.

• Adtech and fintech: These applications often involve real-time bidding (RTB), and bare metal’s increased performance provides fast data access. Plus, bare metal allows for added security. 
• Banking and financial institutions: Bare metal can allow for more stability plus effective and proactive security measures when supporting online banking websites and apps.
• Real-time analytics: Platforms that offer real-time data insights need to be able to customize their hardware to support workloads.
• Healthcare: Bare metal servers provide higher security levels and reliable access to medical data necessary for optimizing day-to-day operations and meeting requirements of regulations like HIPAA.
• Ecommerce and retail: As the trend of online shopping grows, retailers need better performance from their web hosting to ensure a positive and consistent customer experience. Plus, even startups in this industry need systems capable of supporting PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) in order to take credit cards as payment.
• Gaming: Bare metal provides top-tier performance and configurability that can quickly support heavy graphics and 3-D rendering for gaming apps.

Benefits of bare metal servers

While cloud hosting and dedicated servers can be strong hosting options, there are several key benefits when you choose a bare metal server. 

• Increased control: Bare metal servers give you root access, which means you can fully customize the server to your needs, including choosing an operating system.
• Security: When you opt for bare metal, you have physical isolation of your server, which means you’re less likely to experience issues from another tenant who might not have effective security protocols. There are also fewer software layers, meaning fewer components that may be vulnerable to an attack. Plus, you can install whatever security measures you prefer.
• Support: Hosting companies that offer bare metal servers, like Liquid Web, include dedicated support, giving you access to superior customer care 24/7/365.
• Reliability: Bare metal servers are 100 percent dedicated to you, which means you don’t have to deal with the noisy neighbor effect or worry about downtime caused by load spikes from other tenants.
• Performance: When you have full access to a server’s resources, you can configure it specifically to your business’s needs, giving you optimal performance and less latency.
• Cost-efficiency: The ability to adjust your server and software to your unique needs also leads to more predictable costs, which makes it easier to budget more effectively.

Bare metal server costs

Because of the added performance and security benefits, it’s a common misconception that bare metal server costs are significantly higher than other options. 

However, while bare metal servers can have higher upfront costs when compared to VPS or shared hosting, the customization and performance benefits you get often offset initial costs and make bare metal servers a very cost-efficient option in the long run. 

Liquid Web offers a range of bare metal hosting plans, including managed dedicated hosting starting at $199 per month for full control, enterprise-grade SSD storage, cutting-edge security, and top-tier performance. We also offer cloud metal plans starting at $115 per month with no additional setup costs that give you all the benefits of bare metal with the robust scalability of our cloud platform.

How bare metal servers reduce costs

Bare metal servers can help your business reduce costs with cost-saving opportunities over the life of your plan and by decreasing risks for costs from security breaches. Let’s take a look at how.

Reduced hardware costs

Bare metal servers give you the same performance and customizability you would have if you bought your own servers and built a data center without the associated costs of maintaining an IT ecosystem and support staff on-premises. When you build a data center, you need to purchase physical servers and supporting items like cooling systems and networking equipment, hire IT staff and physical security, and fund ongoing costs like electricity.

In contrast, bare metal servers are rented from a provider, which means you’re not responsible for the upfront building costs or the ongoing expenses of maintaining the server, powering a data center, or paying for physical security. Instead, you pay a more predictable ongoing cost to your provider, who handles the maintenance of the physical server and handles much of the IT support in the case of managed hosts like Liquid Web. 

No virtualization overhead

Virtualized environments, like cloud and virtual private servers (VPS), rely on hypervisors to manage several machines. While you may not be charged for the hypervisor layer itself, you often have to pay for the resources needed to manage it, which causes you to have overhead costs for processing and memory storage. Bare metal servers, on the other hand, are non-virtualized, meaning you can eliminate this overhead and use those resources more efficiently. 

Lower software licensing fees

Another common ongoing cost for virtual environments is software licensing fees, depending on the pricing models that software vendors use. 

In general, there are two standard costing methods.

• Per-processor licensing: In a virtual environment, the total virtual CPUs may be used to determine pricing. With bare metal servers, you can potentially reduce costs because the provider will only use the physical processors to determine pricing.
• Virtualization layer licensing: Some software vendors require licensing for each virtual layer or virtual machine that’s run on a hypervisor. Bare metal servers don’t require an additional virtualization layer, so that you can generate savings for ongoing software licensing. 

Another benefit of bare metal servers is the ability to consolidate your workloads onto a single server, so you don’t have to incur additional licensing costs to have the same software on multiple machines.

Reduced maintenance costs

Compared to virtual environments, bare metal servers require less overall management and troubleshooting. This is because bare metal has a minimal software stack that doesn’t include a hypervisor layer or virtualization software. As such, there are fewer layers to monitor, which can reduce overall maintenance costs. 

Bare metal servers can also reduce maintenance costs by providing more reliable performance. As a single-tenant hosting option, they eliminate issues caused by the noisy neighbor effect, meaning you won’t have to deal with the cost of troubleshooting performance-related issues caused by other users. 

Lower risk of financial loss from security breaches

The average total cost of a security breach in the U.S. in 2023 was $4.45m, including $1.3m in lost business. 

If your business involves working with sensitive data such as medical records, financial account numbers, credit card information, or other personally identifiable information, the cost of a data breach can be disastrous. A single HIPAA violation alone could run $50,000. In addition to financial losses, security breaches can lead to lower consumer trust and damage the brand reputation you’ve spent so much time building.

While there’s no way to protect yourself entirely from every potential attack on your data, bare metal servers offer top-tier security options that lower your risk of experiencing a security breach and the associated costs.

When you use a bare metal server, your data is physically isolated from other tenants and their virtual servers, making it much harder for hackers to access your information. Having more control over the server also lets you customize your security configurations for optimal protections, such as instituting zero trust and your own access management controls. 

Reduced energy consumption

Hypervisor layers used in a virtual environment are constantly running in order to manage shared resources between multiple machines, which generates more heat and can lead to increased power consumption. 

In a bare metal server, you’re not sharing the server with another tenant, so the server only operates in response to your needs and doesn’t add heat from someone else’s activities. As a result, bare metal servers allow you to use the server’s resources more efficiently, reduce power consumption, and lower your energy costs.

How to find the right bare metal server provider

In addition to finding the right type of hosting for you, it’s crucial to choose a trustworthy service provider with a proven performance record and top-notch customer support. Here are the features to look for when choosing a bare metal server hosting provider.

Reliable performance

On their own, bare metal servers provide top-notch performance. That said, the reliability of your provider can impact the quality of your hosting service. As such, you want to look for a provider that has a long track record of guaranteed performance. Liquid Web’s cloud metal plans offer a 100 percent power and uptime guarantee

High levels of customization

While bare metal servers offer more customization than VPS hosting and cloud services, different providers offer different levels of configurability. To get complete control over your physical server, look for plans that offer root access and flexible server configuration options.

In particular, look for several control panel options so you can choose the one that’s most familiar to you and supports your apps. For example, Liquid Web offers root access and lets you choose between InterWorx, cPanel, and Plesk for your control panel. 

Additionally, consider choosing a provider like Liquid Web that lets you pick the exact CPU model you want based on speed, memory, and disk space. This way, you get the performance you need without paying extra for resources you won’t use.

Fully managed services option

Bare metal servers offer more customization, but this can mean more complexity and higher IT staff costs if you don’t have an IT background. Look for a provider that can fully manage your server for you so you can ensure you get the best configurations for your business without having to outsource IT support or spend all of your time trying to learn your management panel. 

That said, if you already have an IT team, you may not need as much management support from your provider. With Liquid Web’s cloud metal plans, you can choose the management level that’s right for you.

Proactive security measures

While bare metal servers are more secure by nature, you also want a provider that takes a proactive approach to detecting and preventing possible threats. This ensures maximum protection against data breaches so you can keep costs low and maintain trust with your customers. 

All of Liquid Web’s cloud metal servers come with standard DDoS protection to monitor and shield your website against potential attacks. For businesses concerned with data compliance, Liquid Web offers several compliance scanning features that can meet your specific business needs, including PCI scanning and HIPAA compliant hosting. 

Operating system compatibility

Some bare metal hosting providers don’t let you choose your operating system, which impacts integration options with your existing systems. Before committing to a plan, make sure the provider you select works with your operating system or gives you the option to install it on the server. Liquid Web’s servers are compatible with both Linux and Microsoft Windows.

Expert customer support

Because bare metal servers are highly configurable and more complex, you’ll want access to technical experts in customer support who can help you set up your environment and quickly deal with any questions or issues that arise. 

Liquid Web’s customer support team members receive extensive training and can be reached quickly via chat or help desk.

Final thoughts: Reduce your costs with a bare metal server 

Bare metal servers often come with a higher initial cost, leading some companies to look elsewhere and miss out on the powerful benefits that far outweigh the initial cost. For high performance, maximum configurability, and customizable security, bare metal servers can be an excellent, cost-effective option. 

Liquid Web offers flexible hosting plan options to meet the needs of any business. Beyond bare metal hosting, Liquid Web also offers cloud metal plans starting at $89 per month with no additional setup costs for businesses that want the combined benefits of cloud and bare metal.

Check out our plans or reach out to us to discuss which would be best for your hosting needs.