Differences between renting and buying a server

Buy or rent a server? What is more profitable?

Everyone who has ever felt the need to have a server has certainly asked: «What is more profitable: to buy or rent? ». Of course, it is not easy to answer this question yourself because, on the Internet, you can find a huge number of offers to buy or rent, each of which may seem more favorable than the others. So, how do you make the right choice?

In this article, we'll help you understand this topic by explaining what a server is and why you need one. We'll explain what its cost depends on, and answer whether it's better to buy or rent a server.

What is a server?

A server is a very powerful computer that stores, analyses and transmits data and processes user requests.
These devices are familiar to those who own their own website, because without a server it is impossible to store the information on it and quickly process user requests.

But the uses of such equipment don't end there, because it is also used in the following areas:

• Business: these devices are used to store data and, if necessary, to process and analyze it for further forecasting of certain situations. Many companies also use servers to ensure the operation of corporate resources, such as e-mail.
• Application development and use: in this case, such equipment provides query processing and data storage, which includes information about users, their actions and more.
• Training and further exploitation of neural networks: few people know that effective training and further exploitation of artificial intelligence requires a very powerful computer that can quickly perform various calculations and process a large amount of information.

What does the cost depend on?

Before we look at renting and selling in detail, let's find out what the cost of a server depends on:

• Technical specifications: if you need equipment with high performance and a large amount of RAM, you should be prepared for it to be quite expensive.
• Number of users: as a rule of thumb, the more people visit your site, the greater the traffic consumption, so servers suitable for high bandwidth sites are much more expensive.
• Services provided: equipment, after renting which you get the right to use additional protection against the destructive influence of various programs or the ability to contact technical support at any time of the day, will cost much more.

Which is more profitable: buying or renting?

Experts believe that the rationality of buying and renting depends directly on your goals. That's why before choosing a suitable option you should determine what you need it for.
Let's take a closer look at which case it will be more profitable to buy and which one will be more profitable to rent.
Buying: This option offers a huge range of possibilities, as you have the right to select components and make any changes you need. However, it should be realized that after purchasing such equipment, there is a need to spend money on qualified specialists who will be responsible not only for the maintenance of the equipment, but also for solving all the problems that arise in the process of operation.

In general, it's worth buying a server if you want to:

• Site, which will definitely be visited by a huge number of people, for example, some online shop of popular goods (clothes, shoes, cosmetics, electronics and household appliances) or news portal for residents of your country;
• Online cinema, a site specializing in publishing large numbers of images or music;
• Store a huge amount of information necessary for the effective functioning of your company. At the same time, be sure to take into account the fact that the purchase is justified only for very large companies that really need a lot of space to store all the data and organize the work of corporate resources.

Renting: in this case, the amount of flexibility you have in making any changes depends directly on which server you choose, because companies using a dedicated server have a lot more flexibility than those using a virtual server, which involves renting out one server to multiple people. Of course, the price will also depend on the type of server you choose, so a dedicated server is more expensive than a virtual server.

It's worth renting a server if:

• You have just launched your project, and it has yet to develop;
• You don't plan to use certain equipment for at least 5 years for it to pay for itself;
• You don't want to select maintenance specialists and pay for their work yourself.

Based on this, we can judge that most projects are suited to renting rather than buying servers, as buying is only rational for very large projects that are willing to use the equipment for a long time and spend a lot of money on maintenance.

Conclusion

So the rationale for buying or renting depends directly on your goals and capabilities. But practice shows that for most projects, the second option is the most favorable, as leasing eliminates the need to hire additional specialists for maintenance.

Our rental offers can be seen in the «Select Server» section. And, if you need help with your choice, you can contact our support team, who will respond at any time of the day or night. We will be glad to see you among your clients!