The best dedicated server hosting for you depends on what would hurt most: the bill, an old CPU, a missing city, or a bad night when nobody is obliged to answer your ticket. We’re GigeNET, one of the six hosts in this comparison, so every competitor figure below comes from that company’s own website, checked on September 29, 2026. Where we lose, we say so.
Who should pick whom
Start with the workload; the table below has the numbers.
- Lowest possible bill, and an old chip is fine: OneProvider starts at $25.99 a month on a 2009 Xeon L5520. ReliableSite’s $49 special is a 4-core Intel whose exact CPU varies, and InterServer lists a 2012 Xeon at $54.
- Unmetered 1 Gbps on a build-your-own server: InterServer. Its build-your-own servers start at $149 with an unmetered 1 Gbps port.
- A modern desktop-class CPU for little money: ReliableSite lists a Ryzen 5 5600X at $99 a month.
- Lots of US cities: OneProvider, which lists 36. Liquid Web runs five US data centers of its own.
- A 100% network promise with fast hardware swaps: Liquid Web. It promises 100% network uptime with credits of ten times the downtime, and replacement of failed hardware within 30 minutes of identifying the problem.
- A business that wants a US host with a published SLA credit schedule, a support response time you can claim credits against, a reasonably priced managed option, unmetered 10G in Chicago and SOC 2 Type II: that’s us. We’ve been in business since 1998. Start with our dedicated servers.
The dedicated server comparison table
Read on each host’s own pages on September 29, 2026. “Not published” means we couldn’t find it publicly. CPU launch years are Intel’s and AMD’s.
| GigeNET | InterServer | Liquid Web | ReliableSite | ServerMania | OneProvider | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest listed server | $126/mo | $54/mo (rapid deploy) | $44/mo for 2 months, then $88 | $49/mo (specials) | FAQ: “typically” from $50/mo, depending on stock | $25.99/mo (was $39.99) |
| CPU in it (launch year) | Xeon E3-1230 v1 (2011) | Xeon E3-1270 v2 (2012) | Xeon E-2134 (2018) | 4-core Intel, CPU varies (32 GB DDR3, 1 TB SSD) | Not stated | Xeon L5520 (2009) |
| Bandwidth on it | 30 TB, then $0.02/GB | 1 Gbps unmetered on its build-your-own plans | 10 TB | Not listed on the specials table | Not stated | 30 TB on 1 Gbps |
| US locations | 3: Ashburn, Chicago, Los Angeles | 3: New York region, Dallas, Los Angeles | 5 own sites; entry box Lansing only | 4: New York metro, Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas | 3: New York metro, Buffalo, Los Angeles | 36 cities listed |
| Setup fee / term | $0 / month to month | $0 / monthly | Not published / monthly, 1 or 2 years | $0 / monthly, 10-day notice | Not published / not published | Not shown / monthly default |
| Uptime SLA / public credit schedule | 99.5% (99.95% managed, 100% with HA Guarantee) / yes | 99.9% network / “case by case,” capped at 50% | 100% network / yes, 10x downtime | 100% network / none found | 100% network / yes, 5% per hour, capped at 80% | Varies by location / no single schedule |
| Support response in writing | 30 min (15 managed), with SLA credits | Goal of 1 to 3 hours, “no guarantee” | Chat under 1 min, tickets 1 hour, “not guaranteed” | Averages 15 min or less | 15 min (FAQ) | No time stated |
| Managed option | $99/mo, or $79 with cPanel | Extra support at $160/hour | Fully managed from $154/mo list | +$99/mo | $39.99 to $129/mo | Self-managed; support plans $79 or $149/mo |
| Compliance attestation on site | SOC 2 Type II | Not published | Mentions “SOC 2 documentation” | Data centers “SSAE 16 Type II” audited | Facilities “SAS70 Type II certified” | Not published |
| 10G unmetered | Chicago, from $499/mo | Listed from $703/mo (Los Angeles); 10G port option $500/mo | Not published | +$599/mo add-on | FAQ: “generally” from $849/mo | From $459/mo (Los Angeles, “Fair Usage”) |
How we picked the six
These are the hosts that show up in US Google results for the searches our buyers run, like “best dedicated server providers” and “top dedicated server hosting.” Psychz ranks too, but its pages didn’t show prices we could cite, so OneProvider got the sixth slot. Hivelocity doesn’t rank for these searches, so it’s out.
We took each host’s cheapest listed server, then read its SLA and terms. ServerMania’s configurator prices didn’t load for us, so we quote its FAQ. Sales are labeled. No review sites.
Where GigeNET wins
A support response time with money behind it
Support hours and promises vary across these six. Ours is the only published SLA we found that puts a response time in writing with credits attached. Our SLA commits to thirty minutes on the Essential tier and fifteen minutes on managed servers.
Liquid Web aims to answer chats in under a minute and tickets within an hour, and says those times are not part of an SLA. InterServer’s goal is 1 to 3 hours with no guarantee. ReliableSite says it averages 15 minutes or less. ServerMania’s FAQ offers a 15 minute response time, and its SLA covers network uptime. OneProvider’s SLA page says tickets aren’t live chat and “immediate responses are very rare.”
Say a ticket sits for 90 minutes. On our Essential tier, that’s a 10% credit on the month. On a managed server it’s 25%. Under the other five hosts’ published terms, we found no credit for it.
An SLA you can read before you buy
Our credit schedule is public, with separate tables for network availability, hardware replacement and support response, capped at that month’s fees. ServerMania and Liquid Web publish good schedules too. InterServer grants credits “on a case by case basis,” capped at 50% of the base fee. We couldn’t find a public credit schedule behind ReliableSite’s 100% network SLA. OneProvider says SLAs differ by location.
SOC 2 Type II
We’re SOC 2 Type II certified. Liquid Web mentions “SOC 2 documentation” for financial customers. ReliableSite says its data centers completed SSAE 16 Type II audits, and ServerMania says its facilities are SAS70 Type II certified. Those two statements describe the buildings. If an auditor will want a report, ask each host which company it covers.
Unmetered 10G in Chicago
Our 10 Gbps unmetered servers start at $499 a month in Chicago. InterServer’s 10G unmetered servers were listed from $703 (Los Angeles), and its 10G page also offers 10 Gbps unmetered as a $500 monthly bandwidth option. ServerMania’s FAQ says its 10G unmetered servers generally start at $849. ReliableSite lists 10G unmetered as a $599 monthly add-on to the server. OneProvider beats us on price: it listed a Los Angeles server at $459, marked down from $569 and labeled “Fair Usage.” We didn’t find a 10G unmetered server in Chicago on any of the other five sites.
Worked example: a video origin moving 300 TB a month on a metered server with 30 TB included would pay about $5,400 in overage at $0.02/GB. Unmetered 10G in Chicago starts at $499.
Our transit comes from PCCW, Cogent, GTT and Zayo. If a 1 Gbps unmetered port is enough, the Xeon D-1541 Special is $159 a month in any of our three regions.
Management at a flat monthly price
Management is $99 a month per server, or $79 if the server has a cPanel license. Advanced Monitoring comes with it; on its own it’s $49 a month. A cPanel Premier Metal license is $49.50. Managed servers also move up to our 99.95% availability tier with 1-hour hardware replacement and the 15-minute response.
That’s mid-pack: ReliableSite also charges $99, ServerMania runs $39.99 to $129, and InterServer bills extra support at $160 an hour.
Servers are month to month with a $0 setup fee. If you’re coming from another cPanel host, the cPanel-to-cPanel migration is free. Moving something other than cPanel? We help with the move. On larger deployments it’s often included; smaller jobs are quoted up front.
Where GigeNET loses
Entry price
Our cheapest server is $126 a month for a Xeon E3-1230 v1 in Chicago or Los Angeles. All five others start lower: OneProvider at $25.99, Liquid Web at $44 for two months (then $88), ReliableSite at $49, InterServer at $54, and ServerMania, whose FAQ says its servers typically start around $50 depending on stock.
CPU age
The E3-1230 v1 launched in 2011. InterServer’s $54 E3-1270 v2 is a year newer (2012) and Liquid Web’s E-2134 dates from 2018, while OneProvider’s L5520 is older (2009). Our Xeon D-1541, at $248 a month or $159 as the Special, dates from 2015. If your workload lives on single-thread speed, a Ryzen such as ReliableSite’s $99 5600X will beat anything in our entry tier.
Locations
We run three US regions. OneProvider lists 36 US cities, Liquid Web runs five US data centers and ReliableSite four. If you need Dallas, Miami, Seattle or New York, we’re not your host.
The network SLA headline, and short outages
Liquid Web, ServerMania and ReliableSite all promise 100% network uptime. Our Essential tier promises 99.5%, and our hardware replacement target is 2 hours (1 hour managed) against Liquid Web’s 30 minutes from when the problem is identified.
Run the numbers on a 3-hour outage in a 30-day month. That’s 99.58% availability. On our Essential tier it earns no credit. On a managed server it’s 5%, and with the HA Guarantee it’s 10%. ServerMania pays 15% of the base fee. Liquid Web gives 30 hours of service credit, a bit over 4% of the month. So for short outages on an unmanaged server, ServerMania’s schedule pays more than ours. Ours pays harder on long ones: below 85% availability, every tier credits 100% of the fee.
Where each competitor is strongest
InterServer is a value pick for bandwidth-heavy work: its build-your-own servers start at $149 with an unmetered 1 Gbps port, and its rapid-deploy list starts at $54. Its SLA excludes hardware failures and dedicated servers aren’t refundable once service starts, so keep backups and size the box carefully before ordering.
Liquid Web has the fastest written hardware replacement target we found (30 minutes) on top of its 100% network promise. The $44 entry price is 50% off for two months, for new accounts, in Lansing only; after that it’s $88.
ReliableSite has Ryzen and Core i7 specials above its $49 box: a Ryzen 5 5600X at $99, a Core i7 9700K at $119 and a Ryzen 7 3700X at $139. It also sells management as a $99 add-on and says its first ticket response averages 15 minutes or less.
ServerMania publishes a clear credit schedule for network downtime, offers a 15 minute support response in its FAQ, and has management plans from $39.99 a month.
OneProvider lists the most US cities and the lowest entry price here. Servers are self-managed, with paid support plans if you want more, and SLA terms vary by location, so read the one for your city.
FAQ
OneProvider, at $25.99 a month for a Seattle Xeon L5520 server on September 29, 2026, marked down from $39.99. Liquid Web’s $44 promo, ReliableSite’s $49 and InterServer’s $54 come next, and ServerMania says its servers typically start around $50 depending on stock. GigeNET starts at $126. Compare the CPU and bandwidth too.
No. An SLA is a promise to pay credits when a target is missed, and the credit schedule decides what it’s worth. Read the exclusions and the claim window before comparing headline numbers.
Of these six, GigeNET’s is the only published SLA we found that ties a support response time to credits: 30 minutes on self-managed servers and 15 on managed ones. The others we could check state goals, averages or FAQ figures without a credit schedule.
DDoS protection is included; ask us for the current capacity in writing. Ask every host what happens when an attack goes past what’s included. Our SLA excludes denial of service attacks from credits, and Liquid Web’s SLA lists attacks as an exclusion too.
Pick a host whose SOC 2 report covers the hosting company, not only the building. GigeNET is SOC 2 Type II certified; ask any host for the report before you sign.
Got a quote from one of these hosts? Send the spec through our custom quote form and we’ll price the same workload, or browse our dedicated servers to compare configurations yourself.