Bare Metal Vs. VM: What’s the Best Server for Your Needs?

Bare metal vs Virtual Machines (VMs) has been a major discussion in the business landscape. Over the past few years, cloud technology has taken the spotlight away from traditional hosting solutions. 

Companies either invest in cloud VMs or stick to Bare Metal servers. Both technologies have proven themselves strong choices for various use cases. As a business owner or sysadmin, you likely have debated which you want to use. Your first instinct is probably to use both in a hybrid setup. But even then, it becomes difficult to know where to use Bare Metal and where to use VMs. 

To overcome this challenge, our experts at RedSwitches present this in-depth feature comparison. Want to compare performance and scalability options? Then this is the perfect guide for you. The goal is to help you learn everything there is about the Bare Metal vs VMs debate and make the right choice when it counts!

Key Takeaways

• Bare Metal offers dedicated resources, enhanced security, and peak performance.
• VMs provide scalability, lower costs, and faster provisioning.
• Mission-critical applications run better on Bare Metal.
• Cloud-based businesses benefit from the flexibility of VMs.
• RedSwitches delivers high-performance Bare Metal servers with excellent support.
• Hybrid solutions help balance costs and computing needs effectively.

What is a Bare Metal Server?

A Bare Metal server is a physical machine exclusively dedicated to one user. It delivers top-tier performance, security, and reliability. Since it does not use virtualization software, Bare Metal runs applications very efficiently. You also get full control over hardware and resources. 

Chris Kanaracus, research director at IDC, perfectly explains the relevance and impact of Bare Metal in 2025:

 “Bare metal instances play a critical role in supporting key workloads and their growing availability on DCIaaS, which is itself seeing explosive growth, is a welcome development for customers.”

Bare Metal Servers are ideal for industries requiring high computing power. Prominent use cases are in finance, healthcare, and gaming. Bare metal servers are also distinct from dedicated servers. Learn the difference with our deep dive into these hosting services!

What are Virtual Machines?

A Virtual Machine (VM) is a virtual computer that runs on a physical computer. A single physical server can be divided into multiple VMs. The cloud ecosystem uses virtualization technology to divide a server’s resources into several isolated environments. These environments are then leased or sold to tenants as cloud instances. 

We have all used the cloud at some point in our lives. Whether it be to store photos or to set up an instance of an application, the cloud is everywhere. In many cases, when we use the cloud, we actually access VMs for data processing and storage. 

As you can imagine, many business operations rely on VMs for basic operations. According to Spiceworks, 92% of organizations worldwide use server virtualization. Businesses evaluate cost-efficiency for different workloads to determine whether VMs or Bare Metal is the right solution. VMs are chosen to gain access to affordable, robust IT infrastructure without major investment. They are also highly scalable, which is ideal for growing business operations and client-facing apps.

Bare Metal Vs. Virtual Machine: Key Differences

The main difference between Bare Metal and VMs is resource allocation. Bare Metal dedicates all resources to one user. VMs share server resources among multiple users. Each option has advantages based on your workload, budget, and flexibility requirements. 

Understanding the following differences helps in selecting the right server type for business needs. 

Core Technology

Bare Metal runs directly without virtualization. The full power of the CPU, RAM, GPU and storage is yours to use. With these dedicated resources, you have much more room for your most demanding workloads. You can store more data, run more complex calculations, and maintain top security. This makes it ideal for high-performance computing, AI training, and large-scale data processing projects. 

VMs are created using a hypervisor software. Hypervisors are resource allocation and management platforms that divide the resources of a physical server into Virtual Machines (VMs). Each VM lets you configure the environment to meet specific requirements. This way, you can use one machine for multiple tasks. The idea is to maximize efficient resource use and run several workloads in parallel.

Performance

Performance is highly dependent on the resources of the server machine. This puts VMs at a major disadvantage. VMs have to deal with virtualization overhead (defined as the amount of resources used to keep the VM running).

For example, a server may use 10% of its resources to instanciate a VM. This gives the VM 90% of the total system resources to use. As you can guess, the more VMs on a single machine, the smaller the available resource pool becomes. 

Researchers at National Tsing Hua University offer valuable performance insights here. Their comprehensive Bare Metal vs VM benchmark found that: 

• When network and I/O are not involved, Bare Metal performs around 10% better in single compute instances.
• When running a network-related workload, VM performance falls by 35%. A 50% increased elapse time was also observed. 
• In shared instances, the elapse time increased by 35% compared to Bare Metal. 

These results put Bare Metal as the top player in terms of raw performance. If you need a platform for heavy workloads, prioritize low latency with Bare Metal servers.

In exchange for lost performance, VMs bring unmatched flexibility. You can scale resources dynamically in virtual machines. Doing the same with Bare Metal is expensive, time-consuming, and may involve downtime. The flexibility of VMs is vital for certain business uses. Software development, for example, benefits greatly from VMs. If you prefer convenience, optimize workloads for efficiency in VMs.

Pricing

Bare metal servers are more expensive than VMs. 

VMs can be bought for as little as $0.0042/hour from AWS. Just because VMs are cheaper, however, does not mean they are cost-effective. Flexera reports that organizations waste around 35% of cloud spending. Cloud is cheaper to access but can be more expensive longterm. 

Bare metal servers require you to buy the hardware components and spend on assembly. It takes much longer to set up, and the cost of components is a serious entry barrier today. A large up-front investment is needed to build in-house Bare Metal servers. However, there are cost-friendly Bare Metal solutions you can try.

Bare metal hosting is an affordable alternative that competes with VM pricing. In this scenario, you can lease or buy a server from a provider. The provider takes care of set-up and hardware costs. You just pay to run your operations on their dedicated machine. This way, you can get all the power of Bare Metal at a fraction of the cost. 

RedSwitches’ Bare Metal services are the best example of Bare Metal affordability. RS Bare Metal offerings start around the $100/month price point. As you scale, you can simply pay to upgrade your server to fit your needs. You can also purchase more servers and scale horizontally. 

Either way, both VMs and Bare Metal have highly affordable offerings. VMs generally offer better price-to-performance for small businesses. For large companies with highly complex workloads, the extra cost of Bare Metal offers better long-term returns. 

Resource Availability

Bare Metal never faces resource availability issues. The server is under your exclusive control, and you can track and manage resources at any time without issue. This feature makes Bare Metal incredibly consistent regardless of the workload. There will hardly ever be a time when your workload faces a resource shortage. This leads to a highly reliable setup that maximizes server uptime and stable performance. 

VMs suffer from resource availability issues. Virtualization promises isolated instances with steady resources allocated to each VM. However, the shared nature of cloud VMs leaves a high risk of resource tugs-of-war. Despite this risk, VMs are much easier to scale by adding resources as required. While consistent availability may be an issue, you can easily buy new VMs for more processing power. VMs are perfect for businesses that require this type of rapid scalability. 

Check out our Bare Metal vs cloud comparison for more insights on the underlying technologies!

Customization

Bare Metal allows full hardware customization. You can configure storage, CPU, and memory to meet your needs. Additionally, custom networking configurations are easier to implement on Bare Metal. You can also upgrade hardware or software to enhance performance. Bare Metal is perfect for processes that require custom-built infrastructure. It is a top choice for high-performance computing scenarios like AI and LLM operations. 

In comparison, VMs offer limited customization because all major customization features are in the physical server’s settings. These settings are accessible only by the VM cloud provider. This greatly reduces your options when setting up VMs. Instead of offering customizability, VM providers offer custom VM configurations. The good thing is that you can find what you need in specialized pre-made VM services. Gaming server VMs, for example, are optimized for gaming performance. 

Containerization

Containers work on both platforms but perform differently. Bare metal gives direct access to hardware, reducing delays and lag in container operations. VMs enable quick scaling but face resource-sharing challenges. The key factor is virtualization overhead, which affects container performance on VMs.

According to Ericsson, running Kubernetes containers on Bare Metal significantly cuts costs. It can lower the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by up to 18% compared to VMs.

Platform 9 provides solid data insights from the performance perspective. They found that Kubernetes on Bare Metal has three times less latency than cloud VMs. Performance tests also show similar results. Standalone Docker containers run 25-30% faster on Bare Metal than VMs.

These benchmarks highlight the power of Bare Metal for containerized workloads. If you need raw containerization performance, then Bare Metal is the way to go. If you prefer the convenience and flexibility of VMs, choose VMs instead.

Deployment Speed

VMs can be deployed within minutes. They are ideal for scenarios where you need fast provisioning. Bare Metal requires more setup time but delivers long-term stability and performance. However, many automated deployment tools for Bare Metal have reduced provisioning times significantly. 

Businesses needing instant scalability benefit more from VMs, while those prioritizing stable infrastructure choose Bare Metal. Similarly, organizations requiring rapid disaster recovery rely on VM-based solutions for their fast spin-up times.

Cybersecurity

Bare Metal servers offer robust security due to dedicated resources and perfectly isolated environments. Virtual Machines introduce security risks because of hypervisor vulnerabilities and multi-tenant threats. 

Companies in industries with strict regulatory compliance prefer Bare Metal to minimize risk. You also get the option to add advanced encryption and dedicated firewalls enhance the security of Bare Metal servers. Organizations running confidential workloads benefit from Bare Metal setups’ lack of shared infrastructure vulnerabilities.

Scalability

Scalability plays a crucial role in selecting between Bare Metal and VMs. Businesses with highly dynamic workloads benefit from the flexibility of VMs. They allow you to scale resources dynamically in virtual machines without significant delays. This makes VMs ideal for unpredictable spikes in traffic or rapid growth.

On the other hand, Bare Metal servers provide consistent performance and stability. In exchange, they require manual effort to scale. This process is more time-intensive compared to VMs. However, Bare Metal is the best if you need dedicated infrastructure for long-term scalability.

How to Decide Between Bare Metal and VM

Choosing between Bare Metal and VMS comes down to what you need. Here are some tips on learning your requirements and finding suitable solutions!

• Assess if your workload needs consistent performance or flexibility.
• Consider how much control and customization you require.
• Evaluate long-term costs vs. short-term affordability.
• Think about scalability needs and future growth.
• Weigh security and compliance requirements for your industry.
• Factor in deployment speed and provisioning time.
• Determine if you need full hardware access or high-level access to resources.
• Compare maintenance responsibilities and management ease.
• Consider latency and performance impact for critical applications.
• Explore hybrid options for a balance of performance and scalability.

Why RedSwitches is the Best Bare Metal Server

RedSwitches offers high-performance, fully dedicated servers with no virtualization overhead. Enjoy unbeatable speed, security, and control for demanding workloads. Scale effortlessly with flexible configurations and global data center coverage. Get 24/7 expert support and competitive pricing with no hidden fees. Choose RedSwitches Bare Metal servers for reliability, performance, and peace of mind. Upgrade your hosting today! 

Final Verdict: Which Server Should You Choose?

Ready to finalize your choice? Here’s a final breakdown of Bare Metal vs VMs, highlighting which to choose for specific application scenarios. 

Choose Bare Metal If:

•  You need consistent high performance (e.g., high-frequency trading, gaming servers, big data processing).
• You require in-depth control over the hardware and OS.
• You run workloads with consistent, predictable resource needs.
•  You prioritize low-latency applications that can’t tolerate virtualization overhead.
• You handle compliance-sensitive data and require dedicated hardware.

Choose Virtual Machines If:

• You need flexibility and scalability (especially for dynamic workloads and multi-tenant apps).
• You want to deploy multiple environments on the same physical hardware.
• You prioritize cost-effectiveness and wish to share resources efficiently.
• You require rapid provisioning and automation (e.g., CI/CD, DevOps environments).
• You need disaster recovery and failover capabilities.

A hybrid approach is becoming popular, allowing businesses to balance performance and cost efficiency. Here, you can use Bare Metal for critical workloads and VMs for scalable environments. This perfect combination may be exactly what you need in this unpredictable landscape. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Bare Metal Be Used Alongside Virtual Machines?

Yes, hybrid setups combine Bare Metal for performance and VMs for flexibility. This approach optimizes workloads based on demand, security, and scalability. You can set up a hybrid infrastructure and differentiate based on workload and use case needs.

Does Bare Metal Offer Better Control Than VM?

Yes, Bare Metal provides full access to hardware and resources. Users can manage resources with precision in Bare Metal servers. You can optimize performance without hypervisor restrictions. This makes it ideal for enterprise-level customization.

How Do Licensing Costs Differ Between Bare Metal And VM?

Bare Metal has fixed licensing costs for operating systems and software. VMs often require additional licensing per virtual instance, increasing costs over time. Licensing for VMs depends on cloud providers’ pricing structures and your activity.