Unmanaged Dedicated Hosting

The most basic (and cheapest) form of dedicated hosting is unmanaged. The hosting company provide you with a server and other related hardware, an operating system and a connection to the internet, but that is it.

The more advanced stuff, such as installing custom software and the latest security updates is your responsibility. If you have an IT department that can easily handle server maintenance, an unmanaged plan may be the most cost effective option.

Alternatively, you can outsource these tasks to an independent server maintenance company.

This will usually work out a bit cheaper than simply paying for a fully managed server from your web host, but it may not be quite so convenient or hassle free - you are having to deal with two different companies instead of just one, which is more time consuming and usually less efficient.

The simplest, but most expensive option, is to choose managed hosting.