Bare Metal Compute vs. Dedicated Servers: what's the difference?
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Both give you a full, unshared physical server, no virtualisation layer, no noisy neighbours. Dedicated Servers is Worldstream's established long-lease hardware line. Bare Metal Compute is the on-demand physical-server product under Cloud Technology, built for AI/HPC workloads and software that's licensed per physical core or can't run virtualised at all.
Same hardware model, different product
It's easy to assume "bare metal" and "dedicated server" are just two names for the same thing. At Worldstream they're related but distinct products. Both put you on a physical machine with nothing else running on it. The difference is how the product is packaged, provisioned and positioned.
Dedicated Servers is Worldstream's long-standing hardware line: you order a specific configuration, it's built and provisioned for you, and you run it for the length of your contract. It's covered in detail in the Dedicated Servers category.
Bare Metal Compute sits under Cloud Technology, alongside Private Cloud and Flexible Cloud. Worldstream describes it as physical servers made available directly, without a virtualisation layer: the workload runs straight on dedicated hardware, giving maximum performance, predictability and control. It's aimed specifically at workloads that are difficult to virtualise: high-performance computing, big data analytics, AI and ML workloads, large databases, latency-sensitive applications, and software with licensing restrictions that rule out virtualisation.
Comparison
| Bare Metal Compute | Dedicated Servers | |
|---|---|---|
| Provisioning model | On-demand, part of Worldstream's Cloud Technology line-up | Ordered and provisioned as a long-lease physical server |
| Virtualised | No, workload runs directly on the hardware | No, full physical machine, no hypervisor layer added by Worldstream |
| Typical use case | AI/HPC, big data analytics, large databases, latency-sensitive workloads, licensing that prohibits virtualisation | General-purpose dedicated hosting, databases at scale, compliance-sensitive workloads, steady high traffic |
| Resource access | Full CPU, memory and storage; free to run your own virtualisation layer if you want one | Full CPU, memory and storage of the ordered configuration |
| Where it's covered in this KB | This category, "Bare Metal Compute" | Dedicated Servers category |
Why Worldstream offers both
The two products overlap in one important way: neither one shares physical hardware with another customer. Where they diverge is intent. Dedicated Servers is the default choice for general-purpose physical hosting. Bare Metal Compute exists for the smaller set of workloads where virtualisation itself, even a thin hypervisor layer, gets in the way of either performance or a software licence.
If you're not sure your workload actually needs the bare-metal distinction, see When to choose Bare Metal Compute for AI or licensing-restricted workloads for the two concrete reasons Worldstream gives for reaching for it.