Managed hosting vs colocation comes down to two questions: who owns the hardware, and who runs the operating system on it. With colocation you own the servers and we run the building around them. With managed hosting we supply the server and our engineers run the OS layer for you. “Managed colocation” is the middle ground people search for, and it means something different at almost every provider, so it pays to know exactly what you’re being sold.
Here’s the whole spectrum, what each option costs at GigeNET today, and who should pick which.
Four options, from most work to least
- Colocation. Your hardware, our space, power, cooling and network. You buy the servers, ship or drive them in, and run everything on them.
- Dedicated server. Our hardware, rented month to month. We replace parts that fail; you run the OS and everything above it.
- Managed dedicated server. Our hardware, and our engineers run the OS layer: patching, monitoring, troubleshooting. You still decide what gets deployed.
- Managed colocation. Your hardware, plus some layer of operational help from the provider. How much help is the whole question, and it’s covered in its own section below.
Colocation vs managed hosting vs dedicated: the comparison
| Colocation | Dedicated (self-managed) | Managed dedicated | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns the hardware | You | GigeNET | GigeNET |
| Who replaces a failed part | You (you supply the spare) | GigeNET, 2-hour guarantee | GigeNET, 1-hour guarantee |
| Who runs the OS and patches | You | You | GigeNET engineers |
| Upfront cost | The servers, plus a setup fee ($100 for 1U in Chicago) | $0 setup | $0 server setup |
| Monthly price at GigeNET | From $99 for 1U in Chicago; LA and Ashburn quoted | From $126 | Server price plus $99 ($79 with cPanel) |
| Time to go live | As fast as you can buy, ship and rack the gear | In-stock builds same or next day | In-stock builds same or next day |
| What you need in-house | Hardware and sysadmin skills | Sysadmin skills | Someone who owns your application |
Prices and terms come from our server colocation, dedicated servers and managed servers pages, and the hardware replacement and response terms are set out in our Service Level Agreement (SLA).
What colocation hosting is, and what it costs
Colocation means your server sits in a locking cabinet in someone else’s data center and runs on their power, cooling and uplinks instead of an office closet on a business internet line. You keep full control of the machine. You’re also on the hook for it: if a drive dies, it’s your drive, and the replacement has to come from you.
At GigeNET, Chicago colocation comes as four flat packages: 1U for $99 a month, 2U for $199, a half rack for $799 and a full rack for $1,400, each with a one-time setup fee. Every package includes a 1 Gb/s uplink, a /29 of IP addresses, redundant dual-circuit power and some free remote hands time (1 hour, or 2 on the full rack). Los Angeles and Ashburn colocation is quoted per deployment.
Power is the line people get wrong. We don’t bill per kW. Each package comes with a set number of amps and receptacles, and the full rack gets dual 20A 120V circuits; for the smaller packages the amps and receptacle count are on your quote. Measure what your servers actually draw under load before you pick a package. Most people run out of amps long before they run out of rack units.
Colocation is the cheapest way to run hardware you already own. It’s rarely the cheapest way to run hardware you’d have to buy. If you’d be purchasing a brand-new server just to colocate it, renting a dedicated server is often cheaper over a few years, and we ran that math in colocation vs dedicated: a 36-month cost breakdown.
What managed hosting covers
Managed hosting is a dedicated server (or a cloud VM) where the provider runs the operating system layer. The word “managed” gets stretched a lot in this industry, so here’s exactly what our Enterprise Server Management plan includes, per the managed servers page:
- OS updates and security patches, on demand and scheduled with you
- Advanced monitoring of load, RAID, swap, services and website uptime
- Troubleshooting and server administration
- A free cPanel account migration if you’re new to GigeNET
- A higher-capacity DDoS protection tier than self-managed servers get
It costs $99 a month per server, or $79 on a server with a qualifying cPanel license, on top of the server itself. You keep full access, root too if you need it.
Know the limits before you buy. Our SLA’s general rule is up to two hours of support per server per month, and custom code your team wrote stays yours to maintain. Malware protection, server hardening and backups are separate options on the order form. That’s a fair deal for a team without a sysadmin. It’s a poor deal if you expected someone to babysit your application.
What “managed colocation” means
There’s no standard definition. When a provider says managed colocation services, they usually mean colocation plus one or more of these:
- Remote hands. Engineers on site who reboot servers, swap drives you’ve shipped in and reseat cables. Some providers include a block of hours; most bill extra time.
- Monitoring. Ping and hardware checks at the light end, full OS and service monitoring at the heavy end.
- Managed network. The provider runs your firewall, load balancer, switching or BGP sessions instead of you.
- OS and application management on your hardware. The managed hosting list above, applied to servers you own.
- Backups and hardware lifecycle. Offsite backups, spare parts on site, racking, cabling and RMAs handled for you.
That’s a wide range, from “we’ll push the power button” to “we run the whole stack”. When you compare quotes, get each provider to put four things in writing: which of the items above are included in the monthly price, what the hourly rate is after any free time, what the response time is, and who holds root on the servers.
One more thing nobody mentions. Even with the most managed colocation contract going, a dead part in your server is still your part. Unless you’ve stocked spares on site, the fix waits for shipping. That’s the single biggest operational difference from a rented dedicated server, where replacing the part is the host’s job.
What GigeNET offers for colocated servers
I’ll stick to what our live pages say. In Chicago, engineers are on site 24/7/365, and each package includes free remote hands time, with extra time quoted on request. Response-time terms for remote hands are in the Support and Remote Hands section of our SLA. If you run more than one package we can link them on a private network, so replication and backup traffic stays off the public uplinks.
Beyond that, our Chicago colocation page says plainly that if you also need managed services, backups or a hybrid setup combining colocation with dedicated servers, we can build it. That’s a quote, not a published package. We can also manage the OS layer on servers you own and colocate with us, or do one-time work such as a rebuild or a migration. Both are quoted case by case, so tell us what’s on the servers and what you need.
Colocation vs managed services: who should pick which
Pick colocation if you already own good servers, you have people who can run them and fix them, and you need hardware we don’t stock. It’s also the right answer when you’re leaving an office server room and the gear still has years left in it.
Pick a self-managed dedicated server if you have a sysadmin but don’t want to buy hardware or keep spares. You get root, a flat monthly price with $0 setup, and failed parts become our problem.
Pick managed dedicated if nobody on your team owns patching and monitoring. Unpatched servers don’t fail on day one. They fail months later, mid-incident, and that’s when you learn nobody owned them.
Ask about managed colocation if you have to own the hardware (a licensing, procurement or depreciation reason, say) but you don’t have the people to run it day to day. Get the scope in writing.
And if your load is spiky or short-lived, none of these fit well. Look at cloud servers instead, which bill by the hour.
Not ready to order yet?
Tell us what you’re colocating, roughly how many rack units and what it draws, and we’ll email you a price. Rather talk it through? Call (800) 561-2656.
FAQ
What is managed colocation?
It’s colocation, where you own the servers and rent space, power and network, plus operational help from the provider. That help can be as light as remote hands or as heavy as full OS and network management. Because there’s no standard definition, ask every provider for a written list of what’s included and what’s billed by the hour.
Is colocation cheaper than managed hosting?
Usually, if you already own the hardware and have the staff to run it. In Chicago our 1U colocation starts at $99 a month, against $126 for an entry dedicated server plus $99 for management. Once you count buying the server, keeping spares and the hours your own team spends on it, the gap closes fast.
Can I get my colocated servers managed by GigeNET?
Yes, on request. We can take on ongoing management of the OS layer on hardware you own, or one-time jobs such as a rebuild or a migration. It’s quoted case by case rather than sold as a package, and the same goes for backups or a hybrid colocation-plus-dedicated setup. Send us what’s on the servers through the quote form and we’ll tell you what we can take on.
How is colocation power billed?
Per package, as amps and receptacles, not per kW. The full rack in Chicago comes with dual 20A 120V circuits, and the amps for smaller packages are on your quote. LA and Ashburn power is set in the custom quote.
We’ve been running servers since 1998, and our data center locations page covers where they live. If you’re still not sure which side of the line you’re on, send us your server count, power draw and what you want handled and we’ll price colocation and managed hosting side by side. More about us is on our about page.
