Cheap server — real physical hardware, not VPS
Refurbished HPE / Dell G8-G9 servers with 72h burn-in testing, original hardware, hosted at a Level 3 Information Security DC. Ideal for dev/test, lab, early-stage startups.
- Hardware
- HPE G8/G9 · refurb
- Burn-in
- 72h pass
- Warranty
- Lifetime of rental
Budget tier pricing
All refurbished servers undergo 72-hour burn-in testing with lifetime hardware warranty for the duration of the rental.
- HPE DL360 Gen8
- CPU 1× E5-2620v3 · 2.4GHz
- Cores 6c / 12t
- RAM 16 GB DDR4 ECC
- SSD 2× 240 GB
- Bandwidth 100 Mbps
- 1 IPv4 + 64 IPv6
- HPE DL360 Gen9 / Dell R630
- CPU 2× E5-2620v4 · 2.1GHz
- Cores 16c / 32t
- RAM 32 GB DDR4 ECC
- SSD 2× 480 GB
- Bandwidth 100 Mbps
- 1 IPv4 + 64 IPv6
- HPE DL360 Gen9 / Dell R630
- CPU 2× E5-2678v3 · 2.5GHz
- Cores 24c / 48t
- RAM 64 GB DDR4 ECC
- SSD 2× 960 GB
- Bandwidth 200 Mbps
- 1 IPv4 + 64 IPv6
- 2 Lite servers (16c × 2 = 32c)
- Total RAM 64 GB
- Total SSD 4× 480 GB
- Internal cluster 1 Gbps free
- 2 dedicated IPv4
- Suitable for HA / replica
Prices exclude VAT
4 cases where cheap server is the right choice
You don't always need the latest Xeon Gold — sometimes Gen9 is enough and saves 50%.
Early-stage startup
MVP, early-stage app with 1K-10K users, no need for premium dedicated yet. Save runway, scale up later.
Dev sandbox & test env
CI runner, staging environment, K8s/Proxmox lab, internal tools for the engineering team.
Backup & disaster recovery
DB replica, restic backup, archive log. Powerful enough to pull data but doesn't need to be online 24/7.
Self-host personal apps
Nextcloud, Plex, Jellyfin, Vaultwarden, Home Assistant, personal mail server, Mastodon node.
What do you get and what do you trade off with the budget tier?
| Criteria | Cheap Server (refurb) | New dedicated (Gen10+) |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | HPE / Dell Gen8 – Gen9 | HPE / Dell Gen10 – Gen11 |
| CPU | Xeon E5 v3/v4 · 6-24c | Xeon Gold / Platinum · 32-112c |
| Manufacturing year | 2015 – 2018 | 2021 – 2024 |
| Burn-in test | 72h before handover ✓ | 72h before handover ✓ |
| HW warranty | Lifetime of rental | Lifetime of rental |
| SLA uptime | 99.9% (8.7h/year) | 99.9% (8.7h/year) |
| DC & network | Same partner DC, same peering | Same partner DC, same peering |
| Best for | Startup, dev, lab, backup | Large production, mission-critical |
Need multiple servers for an HA setup?
Contact BKNS for a quote on multi-server setups: HA, master-replica, primary-backup.
Q&A about Cheap Server
Need a specific benchmark for your workload? Request a 24h free test →
HPE / Dell Gen8-9 are enterprise hardware designed to run 24/7 for 7-10 years. After 5-7 years, vendors officially EOL support, but the hardware remains stable. BKNS performs 72h burn-in testing and replaces PSU / fan / disk if needed before rental.
Gen10 (Xeon Gold) has ~30% higher IPC, PCIe Gen4 support, faster DDR4, and built-in NVMe U.2 slots. Gen9 still handles 95% of typical workloads well: web, app, DB under 200GB, mail, file server, VM lab.
BKNS provides hardware warranty for the lifetime of the rental — if a disk, RAM, PSU, or mainboard fails, BKNS replaces it immediately at no extra charge. A hot-spare pool is stationed at the DC for replacement.
Yes. RAM can be upgraded to 256 GB (G9 board max), disk to 4× 1.92 TB SSD. Upgrade fees are based on the accessories price list. Additional hardware can be rented or purchased outright.
99.9% means a maximum of 8 hours 45 minutes downtime per year, or 43 minutes per month. If exceeded, BKNS issues a pro-rated refund by the hour.
Yes. BKNS supports contract migration to Gen10/Gen11 servers at any time — data & OS image migration, no early termination fee. Existing IP / DNS configuration can be retained.