Disclaimer: All pricing, specifications, and feature claims in this article are based on publicly available information from each provider's website as of May 2026. Pricing changes frequently — always verify current details on the provider's official site before purchasing.
AWS Bare Metal instances (i3.metal, m6i.metal, c7g.metal, etc.) give you a full physical EC2 host with no hypervisor — perfect for workloads that need direct hardware access. The catch is the price: bare metal instances on AWS often cost 3–5x what equivalent dedicated hardware costs from a specialized provider.
If your workload doesn't require AWS-native services like VPC integration, IAM, or specific managed services, you have many strong alternatives. Here are seven of the best for different use cases.
How We Compare
For each provider, we look at:
- Hardware range and customization
- Geographic footprint
- Network and bandwidth model
- Pricing approach
- Best-fit use cases
1. Hetzner
Hetzner is a German hosting company with a near-legendary reputation for cheap, fast dedicated servers.
- Strengths: Aggressive pricing, simple ordering, generous bandwidth. Their auction marketplace is unbeatable on price-per-thread.
- Trade-offs: Limited locations (Germany, Finland, USA). Email-only support. Strict policies.
- Best for: Cost-sensitive European workloads, web app servers, dev environments, render farms.
2. OVHcloud
One of the largest hosting providers in the world, with data centers across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific.
- Strengths: Global footprint, included always-on DDoS protection, wide hardware range from budget to high-end GPU servers, vRack private networking.
- Trade-offs: Operationally complex with multiple control panels and product lines.
- Best for: Multi-region deployments, regulated workloads, hybrid bare metal + public cloud setups.
3. Equinix Metal
Now part of Equinix's cloud portfolio, Equinix Metal provides on-demand bare metal in many of the world's premier data center locations.
- Strengths: Premium global locations (often in carrier-dense Equinix facilities), Fabric for software-defined cross-connects, hourly billing, deep peering ecosystem.
- Trade-offs: Higher pricing than budget alternatives — you're paying for premium location and network density.
- Best for: Network-intensive workloads, hybrid cloud architectures requiring private interconnect, customers already in Equinix data centers.
4. Latitude.sh
A modern bare metal provider with a developer-friendly experience and an emphasis on networking and edge.
- Strengths: Clean API and Terraform support, fast provisioning, multiple global locations, modern hardware including GPUs.
- Trade-offs: Smaller footprint than the giants. Newer brand with a shorter operational track record than the incumbents.
- Best for: Developer-led workloads, CI/CD pipelines that need bare metal, modern infrastructure-as-code teams.
5. phoenixNAP
A US-focused dedicated server and bare metal cloud provider with a strong compliance story.
- Strengths: Strong compliance certifications (PCI, HIPAA, SOC 2), 24/7 phone support, both monthly bare metal and on-demand "Bare Metal Cloud" billed hourly.
- Trade-offs: Pricing higher than European budget options. Less network-engineering flexibility than carrier-focused providers.
- Best for: Regulated US workloads, enterprise customers wanting traditional white-glove support.
6. Vultr Bare Metal
Vultr extended its cloud platform with bare metal servers in many of its 30+ global locations.
- Strengths: Wide geographic coverage, simple ordering experience, integrates with Vultr's broader cloud and storage offerings.
- Trade-offs: Hardware variety is narrower than dedicated bare metal specialists. Networking is mostly cloud-style abstractions, not BGP/BYO IP.
- Best for: Teams already on Vultr cloud who need occasional bare metal capacity, geographically distributed deployments.
7. Noded
Noded is a network-first hosting provider focused on customers who care about networking and IP infrastructure as much as compute.
- Strengths: Bare metal hosting with full BGP support, BYO IP space, integrated IP transit with 95th-percentile billing, built-in IPAM, and customer-friendly community frameworks.
- Trade-offs: Smaller global footprint than hyperscale providers. Best fit for customers who value networking customization over breadth of managed services.
- Best for: Hosting providers, ISPs, ASN holders, multi-homed customers, anyone needing customizable transit and IP infrastructure.
How to Choose
If You're Just Cost-Optimizing Compute
Hetzner or OVHcloud — they win on Euro-per-thread.
If You Need Premium Network Locations
Equinix Metal or Noded — both prioritize carrier-dense, IXP-connected facilities over raw server price.
If You Need Compliance Documentation
phoenixNAP, OVHcloud, or Equinix Metal — all maintain strong audit trails and certifications.
If You're Going to Run BGP and Announce Your Own IPs
Noded, Equinix Metal, or Latitude.sh — all support advanced networking on certain product lines.
If You Want a Modern API + Bare Metal
Latitude.sh, Vultr, or Equinix Metal — all offer modern provisioning APIs.
If You Need a Single Region + Simplicity
Hetzner — the simplest, cheapest path for European workloads.
What You Lose Leaving AWS
It's worth being honest. Moving off AWS bare metal means you lose:
- Native VPC integration — you'll need a VPN, Direct Connect equivalent, or AWS-side network bridge.
- IAM-based controls — you'll use the provider's own auth model.
- Tight integration with managed services (RDS, S3, DynamoDB, etc.).
- Auto-scaling groups and similar AWS-native automation — you'll roll your own with Terraform/Pulumi/cloud-init.
- Single-account billing — multi-provider billing is more work.
For workloads that don't depend on AWS-native services, the cost savings often dwarf the operational overhead — but make the trade-off consciously.
The Hybrid Pattern
The most common pattern in 2026 isn't to leave AWS entirely. It's to keep AWS for managed services and orchestration, and offload compute-heavy or steady-state workloads to bare metal at a specialized provider. Connect them with VPN, ExpressRoute, or a Direct Connect partner.
This way you keep AWS's ecosystem benefits while paying bare metal prices for the workloads that don't need them.
Want to Explore Bare Metal at Noded?
If your workload involves networking — running BGP, announcing your own IP space, multi-homing across providers, or building anycast services — Noded is purpose-built for that use case. Combined with our IP transit, IXP peering, and integrated IPAM, we offer infrastructure that hyperscalers don't.
Trying to model TCO against AWS? Talk to our team — we'll do an honest comparison and recommend AWS where it's the better fit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is bare metal really cheaper than AWS?
For sustained workloads, almost always — typically 2–5x cheaper for equivalent compute. AWS's per-second billing and managed services can win for bursty or service-heavy use cases.
Can I run Kubernetes on bare metal?
Yes — many large operators do. Tools like Talos Linux, Rancher, and managed K8s services from bare metal providers make this practical.
How do I migrate from AWS bare metal?
Treat it like any other cloud migration: identify dependencies, build the new environment in parallel, replicate data, switch traffic gradually. The hardest part is replacing AWS-native services rather than the compute itself.
Which provider is fastest to deploy?
Vultr, Latitude.sh, and Equinix Metal typically deploy in minutes. Hetzner is usually fast for in-stock servers. OVHcloud varies by line.
Do these providers offer GPUs?
OVHcloud, Equinix Metal, Latitude.sh, phoenixNAP, and Vultr all have GPU offerings. Hetzner has limited GPU options. Always check current availability.