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Bare Metal is a cloud service that provides dedicated physical machines — not shared with any other tenants — in multiple global locations.

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Bare Metal provisioning

When a Bare Metal server is provisioned, Gcore allocates the entire physical machine exclusively, sets up networking (simple public access or a private network landscape with other cloud services), and installs the operating system (pre-built OS images or a custom ISO file). Because the server is fully isolated, all compute and networking resources are dedicated to a single tenant. Bare Metal servers can be managed via:

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Bare Metal configurations

Gcore offers three types of in-stock configurations:
  • High frequency. Single-socket servers designed for hosting applications that require high processor frequency.
  • Infrastructure. Multi-core, multi-socket configurations designed for hosting applications that demand a high number of cores and are optimized for multithreading.
  • Storage. Configurations optimized for storage-intensive workloads with large disk capacity.
For a custom configuration, contact the Sales team.

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Platform features

Bare Metal supports the following operating systems: Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, Rocky Linux, and Windows. Use a pre-built OS image or upload a custom ISO. Bare Metal servers are deployed with LACP-aggregated network ports by default, supporting up to 4 bonds per server. This improves server availability and traffic throughput. Both public and private interfaces can be assigned to a server, enabling Bare Metal servers and Virtual Machines to be connected in single private networks.

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Benefits of Bare Metal

Bare Metal servers offer the following benefits:
  • High performance. Direct access to the physical components of the server and 100% of its resources.
  • Fault-tolerance. Minimized server downtime with power backup and redundant network interfaces. If the primary power supply goes down, the backup supply starts automatically. If a network port fails, traffic is automatically routed to the second port.
  • Data security. Single-tenant access to the hardware prevents unauthorized access. An entire physical server is dedicated exclusively to the account.
  • Fast deployment time. Server ready within 10–15 minutes after purchase.
  • Easy management. Create, rebuild, and control Bare Metal servers via the Customer Portal, API, or Terraform.
  • Scalability. Scale resources on demand. New Virtual Machines and Bare Metal servers can be created and connected to existing ones. Resources added temporarily can be deleted to stop charges.
  • Hybrid landscape. Combine Virtual Machines and Bare Metal servers in single private networks.
  • Gcore integration. Integrate Bare Metal with other Gcore services: CDN, Streaming, and DDoS Protection.

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Use cases

Bare Metal servers are a strong fit for the following workloads:
  • Gaming applications where superior performance and low latency are critical.
  • High-performance computing (HPC) for CPU-intensive workloads: machine learning and AI modeling.
  • Big data analytics that need optimal computing resources, security, and storage.
  • Database servers where moving a database from a Virtual Machine to a Bare Metal server improves performance.
  • Containers/virtualization that are best deployed on dedicated servers and managed via an API.
  • E-Commerce websites and applications.
  • Video production/game development rendering.

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Pricing

Bare Metal servers are billed per minute. The price depends on the configuration and location. Two billing options are available:
  • The pay-as-you-go (PAYG) model is best for short-term rental, where charges apply only for the minutes the service is used.
  • A monthly subscription is best for long-term rental with a fixed monthly charge.
Volume discounts are available for 12-month commitments or multi-server purchases. Contact the Sales team for details.
A Bare Metal server is billed even when stopped because all resources remain reserved. To stop charges, delete the server.

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Trial period

A Trial Period is available. It expires after 14 days, after which the account switches to the basic PAYG plan.

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Bare Metal vs. Virtual Machines

For most organizations, the choice between Bare Metal and Virtual Machines depends on the application or workload type. It is common to use a mix of Bare Metal servers and virtualized resources across a cloud environment. Virtual Machines are the more common cloud computing model because they offer greater resource density, faster provisioning times, and the ability to scale up and down quickly. Bare Metal servers are the right fit for use cases that require dedicated resources, greater processing power, and more consistent disk and network I/O performance:
  • Performance-centric workloads: HPC, big data, high-performance databases, gaming, and finance workloads that benefit from complete hardware control.
  • Apps with complex security or regulatory requirements: Physical resource separation combined with a global data center footprint helps organizations meet complex security and regulatory demands.
  • Large, steady-state workloads: Applications — ERP, CRM, and SCM — with stable ongoing resource demands.

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Bare Metal vs. Dedicated servers in hosting

Bare Metal servers in Cloud and Dedicated Servers in Hosting target different workloads and differ in management approach, billing model, and integration capabilities.
Bare MetalDedicated Servers
ManagementGcore Customer Portal, API, TerraformDCImanager, IPMI, SSH
Server administrationAutomatedDone manually
BillingPer minuteFixed amount monthly/daily
ScalabilityOn-demand within 10–15 minutes for basic configurationsLimited
Interaction with other Cloud servicesYesNo
Interaction with other Gcore servicesYesNo
UsabilityComplex infrastructure, intensive workloads, possible traffic spikes, networks between Virtual and Bare Metal servers, interaction with other Cloud services (Load Balancers, Managed Kubernetes), internal virtualization and containersSmall- and medium-sized projects, simple web applications, predictable workloads, low budget

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Security Groups not supported for Bare Metal servers

Bare Metal servers do not support Security Groups because they operate directly on physical hardware rather than through the cloud networking layer. For network security, Bare Metal servers support the following alternatives:
  • Configure network security manually using iptables or nftables (recommended). Example to allow SSH, HTTP, and HTTPS traffic:
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -P INPUT DROP
  • Gcore DDoS Protection adds an additional network security layer by redirecting traffic to the Threat Mitigation System (TMS), which filters and detects threats in always-on mode.
For tailored DDoS Protection plans, contact support.