One of the most established companies on our list of top discount hosting companies, 1&1 Hosting dedicated servers have been a staple of the company’s operation since they first launched way back in 1988.
Since that time, the European outfit have gone all out to keep up with the increasing demands of both web users and website owners alike, frequently updating both their back-end operations and customer-facing product offer to ensure they remain relevant in a world where hosting giants like GoDaddy and HostGator are swallowing up arguably more than their fair share of the market.
In the following 1&1 Hosting dedicated server review, our web hosting experts look at the pros, the cons, the facts, stats and more, all combined with their own personal experience of using 1&1 hosting to help you decide if 1&1 web hosting are the right choice for you when it comes to investing in a dedicated hosting solution.
1&1 Dedicated Server Pricing
Right from the off, there’s two things we really like about 1&1 hosting’s pricing structure. First, there’s the fact that, much like rivals HostingSource, they offer far more than the standard three or four different packages, providing greater flexibility and ensuring that businesses of all shapes and sizes can get their hands on a reliable dedicated server no matter what their budget.
The second has much to do with the fact that 1&1 are the only non-US company on our list. Why is this a good thing? Well, it means that for users in the United Kingdom, Europe and elsewhere, there’s no need to start working out how much the US dollar prices charged by other companies is actually going to cost you in your own currency. 1&1 will happily present you with the prices in your own currency, meaning it’s much easier to work out how much your dedicated server is actually going to cost you in the long run.
Kicking things off, we have our entry level servers whose first term prices range from $49.99 up to $999.99 per month (ongoing prices are $59.99 and $119.99 respectively).
These plans are ideal for anyone who simply wants to test the waters with a dedicated server without making a huge initial investment, or for those who are close to outgrowing their current hosting solution but don’t necessarily need the vast resources that come packaged with many higher-level dedicated hosting solutions.
For the $49.99 plan, you’ll get a 2 core AMD Dual processor, 2GB of ram and a 500GB hard drive powered by RAID-1. With the top end plan, you’ll get 4 core, 16GB ram and 1000GB of space. Bandwidth allocations appear to be uncapped no matter which plan you invest in, which is a nice touch and one you won’t find with many of 1&1’s competitors.
If those entry-level plans don’t quite pack enough power for your online enterprise, the Performance Servers are well suited for medium-large websites and online projects, and range in first term price from $139.99 to $199.99 (or $199.99 and $299.99 after the first term).
The bottom-end package comes with an AMD Opteron 6338P 12 core processor, 32GB of RAM and a RAID-1 2,000GB hard drive.
Meanwhile, the $199.99 package is powered by the popular Intel Xeon E5-2640 processor, an industry standard comparable with most leading dedicated server plans across the web. Along with that, you get six cores, 32GB of RAM and 2000GB of RAID-1 diskspace. Whilst this may not seem like there’s much difference between the two, this one is all about speed, power and performance rather than size alone.
Features
If you needed another reason to like this company, the vast number of features that come as standard with 1&1 Hosting dedicated servers may well be it.
Starting with the basics, one domain name is included in your plan, as is one static IP address. Whilst other server providers may include more, those plans are usually more expensive, and if you do need more, you always have the option to buy more with 1&1. Subdomains and add-on domains are unlimited, as is 1&1 web mail, with each of your mailboxes coming with an allotted 2GB of storage space.
Security is covered by the 1&1 Firewall, with the option to pay for an SSL certificate, and there’s everything you need to properly configure and maintain your server, including cPanel, full root access, recovery and backup tools and more.
Performance & Reliability
In keeping with most of the leading discount dedicated server companies, 1&1 use redundancy to ensure top performance and loading speeds, and in our own personal experience we’ve found they very rarely -if ever- do anything but deliver the kind of speed, power and performance that they promise when you first sign up.
The back-end processors are all top of the range, so you can be sure that you’ve got the latest technology driving your websites and keeping them running at their optimal best no matter what happens.
Customer Service
Again talking purely from personal experience, our experts agree that 1&1’s customer service is fairly typical of most dedicated server companies, in that most problems are solved quickly and efficiently once you actually get through to speak with somebody. Response times are about average with many of their competitors, and you have the usual support methods to go through – live chat, email and telephone. In terms of the latter, there’s a separate number for dedicated server support, meaning you not only avoid the queues that come with the standard support line, but that you get to speak to a specialist who knows dedicated servers far better than the usual shared hosting support staff.
Our Verdict
All in all, it’s fair to say that we like 1&1 Hosting a lot, primarily because they’re one of the few non-US companies we’ve found that provide great value for money with packages to rival anything their American counterparts can come up with. Though you may be able to find cheaper solutions if you look around, 1&1’s pricing is very competitive, and for the price you pay, you do get a lot of features, a set-up and configuration process that’s as easy as any we’ve seen elsewhere, and plenty of flexibility to expand your server as your needs grow.