Published: 8 October 2026
Most dedicated servers start on a 1 Gbps port, and sooner or later the question is when to pay for more. Each step up costs a different amount per gigabit, so the answer is not always "the next tier". Two of the upgrades are excellent value. One of them, on our Xeon servers, is usually beaten by the step above it. Here is what each step costs, what it moves, and when it pays.
What each port moves
| Port | Per second | Monthly ceiling | Time to send 1 TB | 1080p streams at 5 Mbps, line rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Gbps | 125 MB | 324 TB | 2 h 13 min | 200 |
| 2 Gbps | 250 MB | 648 TB | 1 h 6 min | 400 |
| 5 Gbps | 625 MB | 1,620 TB | 26 min 40 s | 1,000 |
| 10 Gbps | 1.25 GB | 3,240 TB | 13 min 20 s | 2,000 |
| 20 Gbps | 2.5 GB | 6,480 TB | 6 min 40 s | 4,000 |
Monthly ceilings assume the port runs flat out for 30 days, and stream counts use the full line rate; plan on about 80% of it in practice. Unmetered means nobody counts, so whatever you actually use costs the same.
What each upgrade costs on the Xeon servers
On our dual Xeon E5 servers the port is an option added to the server price. Prices are monthly and exclude VAT:
| Server | 1 Gbps | 2 Gbps | 5 Gbps | 10 Gbps | 20 Gbps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dual E5 2630 v3, 16 cores | €209 | €259 | €519 | €659 | €1,159 |
| Dual E5 2690 v4, 28 cores | €229 | €279 | €539 | €679 | €1,179 |
| Dual E5 2699 v4, 44 cores | €299 | €349 | €609 | €749 | €1,249 |
The port options cost €50 for 1 Gbps, €100 for 2 Gbps, €360 for 5 Gbps, €500 for 10 Gbps and €1,000 for 20 Gbps. Measured from the 1 Gbps price, the upgrades cost €50, €310, €450 and €950.
What each upgrade costs on the EPYC servers
| Server | 1 Gbps | 2 Gbps | 5 Gbps | 10 Gbps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single EPYC 9254, 24 cores | €449 | €529 | €769 | €1,169 |
| Dual EPYC 9254, 48 cores | €679 | €759 | €999 | €1,399 |
| Dual EPYC 9554, 128 cores | €959 | €1,039 | €1,279 | €1,679 |
On EPYC the port costs a flat €80 per Gbps up to 10 Gbps. There is no 20 Gbps option on EPYC; the next step is 25 Gbps, covered in our post on 25 to 200 Gbps servers.
1 to 2 Gbps: the cheapest port upgrade we sell
On the Xeon servers, 2 Gbps dedicated servers cost €50 more than 1 Gbps and double everything: twice the throughput, half the time to restore a backup, twice the viewers. Take it when your busiest hour pushes past 800 Mbps, when large restores have to finish quickly, or when your audience is growing and you would rather not move servers in three months. Our post on the €209 entry server covers the 1 or 2 Gbps decision in more detail.
2 to 5 Gbps: check the 10 Gbps price first
On the Xeon servers the 5 Gbps option costs €360 and the 10 Gbps option €500: €140 more for double the bandwidth. Per gigabit, 5 Gbps costs €72 and 10 Gbps €50. Unless you are certain you will never need more than 5 Gbps and the €140 matters, 10 Gbps is the better buy on Xeon. Our post on 10 Gbps price per terabyte works through what that port moves.
On EPYC every gigabit costs the same €80, so 5 Gbps dedicated servers are a fair middle step there, at €400 for the port.
10 to 20 Gbps: the cheapest way past 10 Gbps
A dual E5 2630 v3 with 20 Gbps costs €1,159 a month. The cheapest 25 Gbps server is the Xeon Gold 6148 at €1,799, and two separate 10 Gbps servers cost €1,318. If you need more than 10 Gbps from one machine, 20 Gbps on Xeon is the lowest price for it.
The question is whether the server can feed the port. At 20 Gbps it must send 2.5 GB every second. That works when the most requested content fits in RAM, as with popular video segments, game patches or software releases, and the 2699 v4 has 256 GB for exactly this. A single SATA SSD reads about 500 MB per second, roughly 4 Gbps, so if most requests hit the drives, spread the data over several drives or plan for less. Two 10 Gbps servers in different countries are the alternative when you also want redundancy.
Picking your next port
- Look at your traffic graph and note the busiest hour, not the average.
- Choose a port at least 25% above that peak, so the port is never the bottleneck.
- On Xeon, if the answer is 5 Gbps, compare it with 10 Gbps before you order.
- If you outgrow your port later, open a ticket and we will quote the move to the next tier.
All tiers are on the dedicated servers page, in ten European countries and the United States at the same price.