Dedicated Servers
Bare Metal vs Cloud VPS UK
Understand when bare metal outperforms VPS - and when a VPS is the better choice
Understand when bare metal outperforms VPS - and when a VPS is the better choice
About This Feature
Bare Metal vs Cloud VPS UK is a decision that shapes your application's performance ceiling, cost profile, and operational complexity. Both options provide UK data residency through AS212868 routing with LINX and LONAP peering - the difference is in resource isolation, performance consistency, and hardware access. A cloud VPS runs as a virtual machine on shared physical hardware: multiple tenants share the same CPU, RAM, and storage subsystem, which causes resource contention and unpredictable performance spikes. Bare metal (dedicated server) provides exclusive access to all hardware resources - no CPU steal, no RAM contention, no I/O sharing. For most applications, a well-specified VPS is entirely sufficient and more cost-effective. For workloads that are CPU-intensive, I/O-heavy, latency-sensitive, or require compliance-driven hardware isolation, bare metal provides capabilities a VPS cannot match. Understanding the difference helps you choose the right infrastructure tier for your workload without over-spending on dedicated hardware or under-provisioning on shared resources. Traffic from every server passes through Juniper MX204 edge routers and Juniper EX top-of-rack switches - a consistent, enterprise-grade switching and routing stack rather than a mix of commodity hardware.
Key Benefits
Every plan includes these capabilities as standard - no tier-gating, no hidden extras.
VPS: cost-effective for most workloads - shared hardware with isolated resources from £4.99/mo
Bare metal: exclusive hardware access for CPU-intensive, I/O-heavy, or compliance-sensitive workloads
Both run on UK infrastructure with AS212868 routing, LINX/LONAP peering, and DDoS protection
Upgrade path: start on VPS, scale to dedicated when workload demands it - no data migration required
Technical Specifications
Real specs on real hardware - not marketing numbers.
VPS: from 1 vCPU / 1GB RAM - scales to 16 vCPU / 32GB RAM on AMD Ryzen
Bare metal: from dual-core Xeon to 128-core EPYC, 64GB–512GB RAM
Both: NVMe SSD, 10Gbps backbone, UK data residency, 99.9% uptime SLA
Use Cases
This feature is particularly well suited to these workloads and teams.
Developers and small teams who started on VPS and are hitting performance limits - this comparison helps them understand when their workload has genuinely outgrown VPS and when a dedicated server is the right next step.
Applications where database performance is the bottleneck - CPU steal on VPS disproportionately affects database query times. This comparison explains why database workloads benefit most from dedicated hardware.
Teams evaluating infrastructure options for compliance-sensitive workloads - this comparison addresses hardware isolation requirements, audit logging, and the difference between single-tenant and multi-tenant infrastructure.
FAQ
Talk to our team about the right choice for your workload
VPS from £4.99/mo. Dedicated servers from £49/mo. No contracts.
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