What is a Dedicated Server and Do I Need One?

A dedicated server is a server that hosts just one website at a time, or in some cases, one client at a time. This client may host several websites on their Dedicated Server. Dedicated servers can be expensive because the hosting company doesn’t have 100 or more clients, each paying for their slice of the server. In this case, you would be paying for it by yourself, so you would have a much higher cost.

However, there are some major benefits to having your own dedicated server. The first is that, since you are the only person using the server, you don’t have to worry about other websites consuming excessive bandwidth or another website getting hacked and potentially putting yours at risk. You basically “own” the server, so you can put whatever you want on it. You have all the CPU, memory, disk, and I/O to yourself. In many cases, you would hire your web host to manage the dedicated server, allowing you to focus on your business rather than the server.

Since the host is managing the server, they are responsible for server upgrades and applying security patches to keep the server secure and protected against unauthorized access.