Comparison: ThePlanet.com and Softlayer.com – Dedicated Server and Add-on Prices
At a certain point a web host has to think about getting dedicated servers. Leasing a server is often the first step to building the next successful web host startup. We are going to compare some of the more common add-on features of dedicated servers from 2 of the more popular providers for dedicated servers. We also looked common prices for popular server configurations with both providers. We looked at the websites of theplanet.com (ServerMatrix) and softlayer.com for this review. Please keep in mind that prices can vary and that each provider might apply different prices at different models of servers. For this review we concentrated on exactly the same features (e.g. hard drive size, number of IP addresses, cpanel license, etc.).
Secondary Hard Drive / 250 GB
ServerMatrix / ThePlanet.com = $60.00 per month
Softlayer.com = $20.00 per month
100 Mbps Uplink
ServerMatrix / ThePlanet.com = $10.00 per month
Softlayer.com = $10.00 per month
cPanel/WHM/Fantastico
ServerMatrix / ThePlanet.com = $20.00 per month
Softlayer.com = $25.00 per month (includes RVSkin)
Additional IP Addresses /
ServerMatrix / ThePlanet.com = $8.00 per month / 13 IP Addresses
Softlayer.com = $12.00 per month / 16 IP Addresses
Network Attached Storage
ServerMatrix / ThePlanet.com = $20.00 per month / 20 GB
Softlayer.com = $10.00 per month / 20 GB
Both providers offer initially low prices, but then choosing add-on services is bumping up prices significantly. We then tried to configure servers on both websites. The idea was to create orders for matching servers or at least as close as possible configuration-wise. Here are screenshots of the end results.
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ServerMatrix / ThePlanet.com offers the better CPU and a minimum management plan, while Softlayer offers a significant lower price that leaves plenty of room to hire an external server management company and still save a good chunk of money. If a customer does not need the more powerful CPU the Softlayer.com offer is very compelling. It comes with more bandwidth and currently the better customer reviews.
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