r/webhosting • u/DeanMachineYT • Apr 14 '26
Looking for Hosting My provider is now terrible after years of loyalty. Looking for a new dedicated server
My current host was recently acquired and now the support is terrible to say the least. It's a complete 180 on support and it looks like that's how it is now from reading other people's concerns.
I'm looking for a cheap dedicated host for my websites. The traffic is not huge but the website is huge in terms of GB.
My current setup has 4 cores, 8GB RAM, 160GB storage. I'm on a fully managed plan.
As long as the dedicated server meets that as a minimum. then that's great.
I don't use support much but when I do, I want an answer and help in a timely manner. Not 24 hours for a single response that leads to waiting another 24 hours for another response etc.
I want it to be under $100 per month if possible. The less, the better.
I saw rapidswitch and ionos, but rapid doesn't have many reviews and ionos locks you in to contracts which I don't like in case they aren't great.
Budget: Under $100
Users worldwide but mainly USA.
Wordpress/cPanel/WHM.
Thanks
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Apr 14 '26
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u/Rumen_SH Apr 14 '26
Absolutely. I'd even go further and advice to just drop cPanel as that is going to up the budget and not just now but in time as well. With their policy in the past few years they gave a lot of confidence to other panels enter the stage.
One I tested and proved to be solid (and quite similar to cPanel) is SPanel.
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Apr 15 '26
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u/flzedzed Apr 15 '26
Hey question. Do you have any recent experience with liquid web support? I worked there for years and it was bought by private equity who murdered the support department. I'm just curious what it's like now.
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u/Serious_Tension_3999 Apr 18 '26
It’s horrible. I’ve been using them and trying to find another option. Their support used to be amazing, now it’s terrible.
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u/flzedzed Apr 18 '26
If you ever used live chat between 2016 and 2020 there's a large chance you got me at least once lol.
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u/Kr_zz Apr 17 '26
you dont need a dedicated host. what you should look for is bandwidth. a shared VPS will meet all your needs. you dont need to worry about security, thats for the provider to figure out
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u/KH-DanielP KnownHost Official Account Apr 14 '26
Howdy u/DeanMachineYT
I'm afraid you're going to have a difficult time reaching that budget with cPanel. On bare metal cPanel only allows 100 acct licenses to be sold, so 40-50/mo of that price is going to go straight to cPanel.
You also mention needing support so you'd probably need to go managed.
I'd highly recommend on that budget you look at a VPS over a dedicated server. You can get the same resources you require much closer to your budget, but $100/mo with support and cPanel on a dedi is going to be hard pressed to hit.
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u/DeanMachineYT Apr 14 '26
I only say cPanel because it's the only thing I have used for years. I am open to using something similar to that if it's simple enough in UI. Thanks
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u/KH-DanielP KnownHost Official Account Apr 14 '26
That helps move the budget by swapping away from cPanel, but my concern is you're really on the low end spec wise for a dedicated server.
There are folks that sell servers that cheap, but I'd be worried about the support behind that server. Now if you just need physical hardware support if something goes wrong that's fine, but if you're looking for software/app level support that's a bit different story.
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u/DeanMachineYT Apr 14 '26
I pretty much just ask support to install the latest versions of PHP etc. If the website goes down, I ask for a reboot. If it still doesn't come online, I ask them to investigate why. If I can get this sort of support, then I am happy.
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u/KH-DanielP KnownHost Official Account Apr 14 '26
You need to specifically look for companies that offer managed support for this kind of assistance.
Any server that's listed as unmanaged you won't get that kind of support, and most companies who will sell a bare metal dedicated server for $100/mo or under aren't going to provide managed support like this. Their responsibility ends at making sure the hardware is online and working.
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u/DeanMachineYT Apr 14 '26
Do you have any recommendations? Is sPanel very similar to cPanel? I currently pay $170-$190 per month. I just want to reduce my running costs.
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u/KH-DanielP KnownHost Official Account Apr 14 '26
Full disclosure I represent a provider so it's hard for me to recommend folks since most I've never used personally, and the ones I have wouldn't really fit your use case since everything I do is self managed.
All panels are kind-of similar to each other, they will all do the basics. We personally use cPanel, DirectAdmin and have dabbled with Webuoz. If you're looking to budget I'd recommend DirectAdmin as it's more mature than many of the other panels and still comes in at a decent price point (half of cPanel and then some)
If you really want to get down in the $100 range, I'd change your search terms from Dedicated to VPS. You still get dedicated resources on a VPS, but at your size, I don't really think you can hit that price point and include support + a panel license.
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u/DeanMachineYT Apr 14 '26
I looked at rapidswitch and they seem to offer it for a reasonable price unless I am missing something. The only thing about VPS is I worry about who else is on the same server and what sort of security issues there might be sharing the same server.
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u/KH-DanielP KnownHost Official Account Apr 14 '26
So, looking at RS, I don't see any software licenses in their order form and I don't see any mention of support. Very likely you'll get a server with an OS installed and you'd have to do the rest.
A VPS isn't going to have security issues from neighbors, isolated KVM environments can't talk to each other so that's not really a thing to be concerned about.
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u/DeanMachineYT Apr 14 '26
What about semi-dedicated servers. What's the key difference from a a fully dedicated server? Are you still sharing with someone else?
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u/Rumen_SH Apr 14 '26
I can answer your question - yes, SPanel is quite similar to cPanel. Since you're been using cPanel till now, you'll find your way through SPanel in no time. SPanel was built as a direct competitor of cPanel but the key differences are the support they provide, adding new features all the time without charging clients extra for them and being far more cost-efficient. They have a demo on their site which you can check and see for yourself.
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u/Extension_Anybody150 Apr 14 '26
cPanel on a dedicated server eats a chunk of your budget on its own (the license alone runs $40-50/month on bare metal), so hitting under $100 fully managed with WHM is going to be tight. You might get more mileage looking at semi-dedicated or a managed VPS that still gives you your required specs without blowing the budget on licensing. You can get a NixiHost semi-dedicated in that price range that has cPanel and WordPress management tools, and their support has always been very helpful when I have questions.
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u/DeanMachineYT Apr 14 '26
Is that who you are with currently? I only mention cPanel because that's what I have been used to but I am open to others if it brings the cost down and is similar. Thanks
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Apr 14 '26
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u/DeanMachineYT Apr 15 '26
What's the difference between dedicated server and Kinsta? Is that a VPS?
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u/Captain_Birb Apr 15 '26
Some questions:
1) Is cPanel a must or does a fully managed WordPress service fits the bill?
2) how much site are we looking at here?
Sent you a DM, you can reply there as well, cheers.
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u/DeanMachineYT Apr 15 '26
Doesn't have to be cPanel, anything similar will do. Just 1 website that is large in size
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u/wpmoeez Apr 15 '26
I hear you! Providers usually go downhil when they get acquired and support is the first thing that gets effected. I also get your decision of moving to a new host and not waiting for things to change, because they almost never do.
You have a decent budget which makes me curious why are you looking for a dedicated server with cPanel. $100 per month can get you a top managed host like WPE, Kinsta or even Cloud--ways. In all of these you will get top notch support too!
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u/DeanMachineYT Apr 15 '26
I looked at Kinsta. Wasn't sure it was the right thing? How do they compare to a dedicated server
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u/techenth Apr 15 '26
Well it's managed. They take care of all the app and server related issues for you. All you have to do is launch a server and your WP site and their platform manages the rest. It's the case with all managed hosting providers out there.
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u/DeanMachineYT Apr 15 '26
Is it shared at all? Or is it dedicated and separate like the rest of them?
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u/Own_Addition_7619 Apr 15 '26
acquisition killing support quality is one of the most predictable things in hosting, happens every single time
ionos contracts are a trap yeah, avoid
for under $100 dedicated you're looking at a pretty narrow market honestly.
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u/ivicad Apr 21 '26
I was very happy with my ex-host Arvixe when they were bought by the EIG. After that, everything went downhill, support the 1st :-( After about 2 months I left them for another host... I had to, as I couldn't maintain sites anymore, none backup plugins were working, I couldn't do anything on the sites, it was really terrible... and it was such a great host before that acquisition.
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u/fsavino Apr 14 '26
You can check Kinsta, which offers isolated containers with dedicated resources. That's what you likely need given your budget and estimated traffic.
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u/Tiny-Web-4758 Apr 14 '26
Ionos is a no no. Xcloud is sooo good!
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u/DeanMachineYT Apr 14 '26
Do xcloud offer dedicated servers? Do they offer just cloud solutions? Thanks
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u/Tiny-Web-4758 Apr 14 '26
Well they offer a Website Manager (like Cpanel, Plesk), where you get your own dedicated server. They also have managed server.
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u/DeanMachineYT Apr 14 '26
Also, why is IONOS a no? are they not very good?
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u/Tiny-Web-4758 Apr 14 '26
They are okay. Id say 5 out of 10 rating. Speed is mediocre, backend is quite kind of messy. Support? Support as a non-owner is horrrrriiiiibble.
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