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Grok — all four for Every Bluehost VPS, VDS and Dedicated server is a virtual machine with DDR5 RAM and NVMe storage, on a host with a CPU base clock of at least 2.4 GHz. Most hosts use AMD EPYC processors, but the processor isn't guaranteed. What changes between products is how much of that hardware you get, whether it is reserved for you, and who manages the software on it.
This article covers four products:
- Self-Managed VPS: a virtual server you run yourself, with full root access and your choice of operating system or application.
- Managed VPS: the same hardware as Self-Managed VPS, with cPanel & WHM included and the Advanced Hosting support team looking after the server.
- Dedicated Hosting: a virtual server whose CPU and RAM are reserved for you and not shared with other customers' servers.
- Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS): functionally the same as Dedicated Hosting, with vCPUs locked to your server and a different range of plan sizes.
Self-Managed VPS and Managed VPS run on the same hardware platform. The difference between them is the software license and the level of support, not the server underneath.
At a glance
The main hardware difference is resource reservation: VPS resources are allocated from an overcommitted host, while Dedicated resources are reserved.
| Feature | Self-Managed VPS | Managed VPS | Dedicated Hosting | VDS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Server type | Virtual machine | Virtual machine | Virtual machine | Virtual machine |
| CPU and RAM | Allocated, host overcommitted | Allocated, host overcommitted | Reserved, host not overcommitted | vCPU locked to your server at the hypervisor |
| Processor | From 2.4 GHz base; usually AMD EPYC, not guaranteed | From 2.4 GHz base; usually AMD EPYC, not guaranteed | From 2.4 GHz base; usually AMD EPYC, not guaranteed | Usually AMD EPYC, not guaranteed |
| vCPU | 1–8 (custom up to 32) | 2–8 | 8–32 | 1–64 |
| RAM (DDR5) | 2–16 GB (custom up to 64 GB) | 4–16 GB | 32–128 GB | 6–384 GB |
| Storage (NVMe) | 50–450 GB (custom up to 2,000 GB) | 100–450 GB | 1,000–3,000 GB | 50–1,050 GB |
| Network port | 1 Gb/s | 1 Gb/s | 1 Gb/s | 1 Gb/s |
| IPv4 addresses | 1, plus up to 7 bought at checkout | 1, plus up to 2 more on request (3 total) | 1, plus up to 2 more on request (3 total) | 1, plus up to 7 bought at checkout |
| IPv6 | No | No | No | No |
| Data centers | 9 | 9 | 5 | 5 |
| Operating system | Choice of 6 Linux families, control panels or one-click apps | AlmaLinux 9 with cPanel & WHM (managed). Other images available, unmanaged | AlmaLinux 9 with cPanel & WHM (managed). Other images and Windows available, unmanaged | AlmaLinux 9 with cPanel & WHM (managed). Other images and Windows available, unmanaged |
| Server management | You | Bluehost Advanced Hosting team – if using Alma 9 + cPanel, otherwise you. | Bluehost Advanced Hosting team – if using Alma 9 + cPanel, otherwise you. | Bluehost Advanced Hosting team – if using Alma 9 + cPanel, otherwise you. |
Virtualization and resource reservation
None of these products are a bare-metal physical server. Each one is a virtual machine on a physical host, sharing that host and its hypervisor with other customers' virtual machines.
VPS hosts are overcommitted. A VPS host sells more vCPU and RAM in total than it physically has, because most servers don't use their full allocation at the same time. This keeps VPS prices low. The trade-off is that your server's performance can vary when other customers on the same host are busy.
Dedicated hosts are not overcommitted. The vCPU and RAM in your Dedicated plan are reserved for your server and are not shared with or affected by other customers' usage on the host.
If your workload needs consistent performance under sustained load, choose Dedicated Hosting rather than VPS.
Note: how hardware appears inside your server
The hardware in your plan is part of what you buy: the vCPU, RAM and NVMe storage are provided by the physical hardware described in this article.
Because your server is virtualized, the operating system sees that hardware through the virtualization layer. Tools such as lscpu, /proc/cpuinfo, lspci or dmidecode may report generic device names, descriptors and drivers instead of the physical CPU, disk or network card model.
This is expected and doesn't reduce performance. Your server's performance comes from the underlying hardware, not from the names the virtual devices report.
CPU
Every server runs on a processor with a base clock of at least 2.4 GHz. Most hosts use AMD EPYC processors, but the processor model isn't guaranteed, and you can't choose which host your server is placed on. The AMD EPYC hosts use two generations:
| EPYC generation | Base clock | Boost clock |
|---|---|---|
| Zen 5 | 2.7 GHz | 4.1 GHz |
| Zen 4 | 2.4 GHz | 3.7 GHz |
CPU is sold as vCPUs. One physical CPU core provides two vCPUs, so 8 vCPU corresponds to 4 physical cores. On VPS plans, actual performance can vary because hosts are overcommitted. vCPUs are not pinned to specific cores, sockets or NUMA nodes.
Memory and storage
Every plan uses DDR5 RAM and NVMe SSD storage. Storage sizes in each plan are the advertised allocation for your server.
Bluehost does not currently publish per-server disk throughput, IOPS limits, RAID configuration, or how much of the advertised storage is usable after the operating system is installed. Plan for some of your disk to be taken by the OS and any software that comes pre-installed.
Network and IP addresses
Each server's network connection is limited to 1 Gb/s. This applies to every plan, including the largest Dedicated plan. Data transfer is unmetered: there is no monthly transfer cap, so your server isn't cut off or charged extra after a set amount of traffic, subject to our Acceptable Use Policy. The 1 Gb/s port speed limits how fast data moves, not how much.
Every server includes one dedicated IPv4 address. IPv6 is not available.
- Managed VPS and Dedicated Hosting: up to 2 more IPv4 addresses are available free on request from Support.
- Self-Managed VPS: up to 7 more IPv4 addresses can be bought at checkout. They can't be added after the server is provisioned.
For current pricing on additional IP addresses, visit bluehost.com.
DDoS protection is included at the network level on every product.
Data center locations
You choose your data center at checkout. Prices and hardware are the same in every location. The location can't be changed after the server is provisioned; moving means buying a new server and migrating to it.
| Region | Location | Self-Managed and Managed VPS | Dedicated Hosting |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Ashburn, US | Yes | Yes |
| North America | Phoenix, US | Yes | Yes |
| North America | Toronto, Canada | Yes | Yes |
| Europe | London, UK | Yes | Yes |
| Europe | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Yes | Yes |
| Europe | Frankfurt, Germany | Yes | No |
| Asia-Pacific | Mumbai, India | Yes | No |
| Asia-Pacific | Singapore | Yes | No |
| Asia-Pacific | Sydney, Australia | Yes | No |
Plan specifications
Self-Managed VPS and Managed VPS plans with the same number in their name have identical hardware; for example, NVMe 8 and Enhanced NVMe 8 are both 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM and 200 GB NVMe. Prices change often, so check the storefront for current pricing.
| Product | Plan | vCPU | RAM (DDR5) | Storage (NVMe) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-Managed VPS | NVMe 2 | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB |
| Self-Managed VPS | NVMe 4 | 2 | 4 GB | 100 GB |
| Self-Managed VPS | NVMe 8 | 4 | 8 GB | 200 GB |
| Self-Managed VPS | NVMe 16 | 8 | 16 GB | 450 GB |
| Self-Managed VPS | Custom | 1–32 | 2–64 GB | 50–2,000 GB |
| Managed VPS | Standard NVMe 4 | 2 | 4 GB | 100 GB |
| Managed VPS | Enhanced NVMe 8 | 4 | 8 GB | 200 GB |
| Managed VPS | Ultimate NVMe 16 | 8 | 16 GB | 450 GB |
| VDS | Dedicated 1 | 1 | 6 GB | 50 GB |
| VDS | Dedicated 2 | 2 | 12 GB | 100 GB |
| VDS | Dedicated 4 | 4 | 24 GB | 200 GB |
| VDS | Dedicated 8 | 8 | 48 GB | 400 GB |
| VDS | Dedicated 16 | 16 | 96 GB | 650 GB |
| VDS | Dedicated 32 | 32 | 192 GB | 900 GB |
| VDS | Dedicated 64 | 64 | 384 GB | 1,050 GB |
| Dedicated Hosting | Standard NVMe 32 | 8 | 32 GB | 1,000 GB |
| Dedicated Hosting | Enhanced NVMe 64 | 16 | 64 GB | 2,000 GB |
| Dedicated Hosting | Premium NVMe 128 | 32 | 128 GB | 3,000 GB |
Note: VDS plan names such as "Dedicated 4" or "Dedicated 64" are only plan names within the VDS product. They are not Dedicated Hosting plans.
Self-Managed VPS custom builds are configured with sliders in the checkout configurator. A custom build costs slightly more than a preset plan with the same specification. Managed VPS custom plans are available through Sales.
Upgrades and resizing
You can upgrade to a larger plan within the same product from your Bluehost account. Downgrades are not supported, and an upgrade never changes your data center. Upgrades do require a reboot to complete and thus some downtime. This is so the disk can be resized.
- Self-Managed VPS: upgrades go to preset plans, up to NVMe 16.
- Managed VPS: upgrades go to a larger Managed VPS plan.
- Dedicated Hosting: upgrades happen in place on the same server, without a migration.
There is no direct upgrade path between products. Moving from Managed VPS to Dedicated Hosting, for example, requires a new server and a migration.
Reliability and redundancy
Each server is one virtual machine on one physical host. If that host fails, your server is unavailable until the host is restored. There is no automatic failover or high-availability option.
If you need redundancy, run more than one server, ideally in different data centers, and keep backups somewhere other than the server itself:
- Managed VPS and Dedicated Hosting: cPanel backups are on by default, but they are stored on the server's own disk. They don't protect you if the server or its host fails.
- Self-Managed VPS: no backups or snapshots are provided. All backups are your responsibility.
Platform capabilities and limits
These apply to every product unless a product is named.
| Capability | Availability |
|---|---|
| Docker and containers | Allowed on all products |
| Nested virtualization | Not available |
| Private networking between servers | Not available |
| Windows | Not available on Self-Managed VPS or Managed VPS. Available on dedicated servers as an unmanaged option, with a Windows Server 2019 license. You can bring your own Windows Server 2022 license instead, where your Microsoft licensing terms permit it |
| Outbound port 23 (Telnet) | Blocked. Other ports are blocked only in response to major vulnerabilities |
| Firewall | Managed VPS and Dedicated with cPanel: nftables is installed and configured for the ports cPanel & WHM uses, per cPanel's firewall guidance. Unmanaged servers: some images and apps have firewall software installed and enabled by default, such as Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW), while others do not |
| Brute-force protection | cPHulk enabled by default on Managed VPS and Dedicated Hosting |
| Root access | Full root on all products, including Managed VPS and Dedicated servers with cPanel |
| Operating system images (Self-Managed VPS, Managed VPS and Dedicated Hosting) | AlmaLinux 10, 9, 8 · CentOS 10, 9 · Debian 13, 12 · Fedora · Rocky Linux 10, 9, 8 · Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, 25.10, 25.04, 24.04 LTS, 22.04 LTS. Also available: control panel images and one-click application images |
| Operating system: Managed VPS and Dedicated Hosting | AlmaLinux 9 with cPanel & WHM is the only managed option. Any other image, including Windows on Dedicated, makes the server unmanaged |
| Custom kernels | Not supported |
| Reverse DNS (PTR): Self-Managed VPS | Set by contacting Support |
Frequently asked questions
Q: Are any of the servers "bare metal"?
A: No. All servers are virtualized for ease of management. The virtualization overhead is minimal, and it exists to facilitate rescue, maintenance, updates and support.
Q: Can I get a list of the CPU flags enabled? I need to know the exact CPU capabilities.
A: Yes. The sample below is from a server provisioned in September 2026, read from /proc/cpuinfo. Flags can differ between hosts, because a server may be placed on either a Zen 4 or a Zen 5 host.
Model name: AMD EPYC 9J45 128-Core Processor
Flags:
Q: If I have an older server type, is it automatically upgraded to a current offering?
A: No. A legacy server is not converted into a newer offering. It stays as purchased until you upgrade it to a larger plan in place (in that same flavor's class) or migrate to a new server.
Q: Can I host a local LLM using software such as Ollama, llama.cpp or KoboldCpp?
A: Yes. However, we do not provide any GPU or AI hardware in our Q4 2026 offerings listed above, so any LLM has to run on CPU only. We install it on request at checkout, but we don't provide support for configuring or running it.
Q: I bought a plan with X GB of storage. Why do I have less than that available?
A: Your plan includes the full amount of storage, but the operating system and any apps or software, such as cPanel, need space to install. The amount used varies depending on what is installed.