When shopping for hosting, there is a lot ofon the web and hard to find reliable recommendations. For VPS, most people agree that Linode is the best choice. For dedicated, there does not seem to be any consensus. Is there a smart way to select a dedicated host? Maybe at least some list of top providers?
## 2 Answers
Check out the Dedicated Server forum on WebHosting Talk

You could also refer to Gartner reports

You also didn't say whether hosting on particular soil (or other "unusual" requirements are important). But you'll see all those kinds of questions asked over and over again in the WebHosting Talk forums

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1Please edit your answer and provide some content. It's generally frowned upon to have answers that only link to some external source EEAASep 21, 2011 at 19:44
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@ErikA What is the alternative to answering such a question? These kind of questions get normally closed, because they spawn endless discussions. So the answer is: Ask others about their experience. So that forum is a good answer for that question NilsSep 21, 2011 at 19:50
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Shopping questions and questions seeking product recommendations typically get closed. This question is close to that, but is a bit more general, and as such, I don't believe it's off-topic. @jasondbecker could very easily summarize recommendations on things to consider when selecting a host, and then offer the provided link for more in-depth discussion and research EEAASep 21, 2011 at 19:58
I have a feeling that when you say "For VPS, most people agree that Linode is the best choice" you mean the cheapest, best is really subjective

For a dedicated server host you've got most of the same considerations as you do with a VPS

Cost - If its not in the budget then nothing else really matters. General hardware performance - Does it do what you want as fast you want it done? SLA - Is going to be available when you need it? Support - You know you're going to want/need it so it should be available when you need it. Geography - Sometimes its nice to have the datacenter in the same country.