There could be various reasons to use Windows servers instead of UNIX. Ex:
Application compatibilityLegacy applicationA windows-based application like .NET, ASP.NETJump serverJust need to perform application or site testing.
What’s your requirement? The following are some of the best platforms to get Windows servers worldwide to host Windows-based applications.
Kamatera
Kamatera offers Windows as a desktop and server both. You can choose between different OS versions and options to host in 13 data centers. Kamatera servers are powered by Intel Platinum 8270 processors and some of the following benefits.
Unlimited 40Gbit per second network speedSSD storage for better I/O throughputsScalable and one server can go up to 64 vCPU and 256 GB RAM
You can manage servers through a beautiful dashboard or API.
Google Cloud Platform
Deploy the .NET application, SQL server, or anything on GCP. You can choose to host Windows 2012, 2016, and 2019. Pricing is based on size and resources like storage, a network you add, and you pay for what you use—no more annual or monthly lock-in. Google Cloud database centers are available in 19 regions globally, so you can always find an option to host applications near the users. Some of the benefits of having Windows servers in GCP are:
Low latency networkSecure network, leverage inbuilt firewall to configure who can connectScale up or down based on the needs
Google Cloud is an enterprise-ready cloud solution.
Scala Hosting
The cloud VPS by Scala Hosting comes with a fast SSD space, greater functionality, and dedicated control. They keep three copies of your data over three different servers so that when a hardware failure occurs, your hosting server cloud can be migrated automatically to a healthy and secure node. It is 100% automated, and you can easily manage your hosting server from the client area anytime. Stop, start, restart, upgrade, downgrade, password reset, access your console, and monitor the resource usage with no hassles. After you order your cloud server, it would be available within a minute. The cloud servers run over a dual CPU-E5 Intel Xeon with a minimum of 256 GB RAM, redundant uplinks, and dual power supply. Scala Hosting leverages 10 Gbps networks having multiple uplinks and premium upstream to deliver a high uptime. You can choose the SSD cloud server’s location to get deployed; they have data centers in Europe and the US at present. All their cloud hosting plans include scalable resources, 3 snapshots, high availability, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. The pricing starts at $10/month for 1 CPU core, 50 GB SSD, and 2 GB RAM.
Serverspace
Get Windows 2019 server in New Jersey, Amsterdam, Moscow, and Almaty. Serverspace works on an innovative hyper-converged vStack platform based on superior Open Source technologies. Lightweight BSD hypervisor and OS FreeBSD with simplified codebase help build new generation virtual machines. Features
Easiest sign-up – the only thing that you need is an emailWindows & Linux OSCustom configurations. You can choose the number of processor cores, the size of RAM, disk storage, bandwidth for each cloud server and change it anytimeBased on the latest 2nd Gen Intel Scalable CPUs with 3.1 GHz frequencyFast-speed SSD’s with awesome IOPS rateСreate & Spin-up in less than a minuteChannel width up to 200 Mbps. Unlimited traffic24/7/365 human tech support, quick replies.Pay as you go; change the configuration anytime.
Cloudzy
Perhaps the most affordable Windows VPS hosting solutions around — Cloudzy offers Virtual Private Servers on high-performance infrastructure with NVMe SSD storage tech and 1 Gbps network connections. Their Windows VPS plans start at $7.95/Month and include a free Windows of your choice, so you can get Windows Server 2019 or Windows 10 at no extra charge. Deploy powerful .NET and SQL stacks or host unique web apps on your Windows VPS or use it as a remote desktop and connect with RDP instead. No matter what you want to use it for, Cloudzy’s powerful hosting solutions are more than capable of meeting the demands. Despite their extremely low prices, they provide magnificent VPS hosting services on top-tier infrastructure supercharged by the latest SSD hardware and NVMe protocols, and smart virtualization tech. Cloudzy provides smart DDoS protection and firewall services for all their plans — free of charge. More than high-bandwidth and ultrafast connection speeds, your VPS can benefit from minimal latency with 15+ server locations all over North America, Europe, and East Asia.
TMD Hosting
The fully-managed Windows private servers by TMD Hosting is something you can count on due to their impeccable speed, security, and reliability. They use Solid State Drives for blazing-fast performance in their infrastructure, which outperforms traditional hard drives, plus delivers 20x faster speed to access information. For better security, they update their web-based firewalls (WAF) daily to ensure your site is safe from digital threats. Each of the VPS components, including computing, storage, and networking, is redundant to deliver 99.999% uptime and high availability. TMD Hosting provisions your VPS in a private and isolated network, which improves the connectivity and boosts your page loading speed through a dedicated and secure stream of all your data. If you plan to host your emails, they also protect your mailbox from spam and unwanted messages using SpamExperts. It is an industry-leading tool for anti-spamming that they allow in all of their servers for your protection in real-time. TMD VPS resides over a resilient and fully-redundant private cloud of OpenStack, operated by certified and trained engineers. They offer daily backups for free, so you don’t lose your data if anything goes wrong. TMD Hosting cloud VPS’s cost starts at $79.95/month for 80 GB SSD storage, 3 TB bandwidth, 4 GB DDR4 RAM, 2 CPUs, and premium support Plesk control panel, 30-day money-back guarantee, amongst other features.
AWS
Take advantage of the AWS ecosystem. Leading cloud platform, AWS offers EC2 for Windows servers. AWS is scalable and offers varieties of server types to host from small to intensive resources. Microsoft applications like SQL Server, Sharepoint, Exchange, etc. Another significant advantage is locations; with many data centers, you can host your applications near your targetted users for a better user experience.
Vultr
One of the cheapest options to get the Windows server is by Vultr. You can get it started in less than $30 per month with Windows 2012 R2 or 2016. Vultr servers are built on Intel core CPU and got multiple locations worldwide. There is no long-term contract. With the inbuilt rich control panel, you can perform administrative tasks such as reboot, re-install, and change OS properties.
Liquid Web
Liquid Web offers both managed and self-managed Windows hosting. One of the reliable cloud hosting providers offers the following under managed VPS.
Inbuilt backupDedicated IP addressDDoS attack protectionOne-click scale up or down100% network and power uptime SLAControl panels such as cPanel, Plesk, and Interworx
And professional support to fix all the issues. You have an option to host your Windows server in Arizona, Michigan, and Amsterdam.
Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba is not just in retail; it’s everywhere, including the cloud platform. One of the distinct advantages of the Alibaba cloud is the China data center. They offer an SSD backed cloud server in 12 regions, including the following China locations.
Hong KongHangzhouShanghaiQingdaoBeijingZhangjiakouShenzhen
You can get the smaller size of Windows VM in as little as $10 per month.
Azure
Get Microsoft Windows on the Azure cloud platform. If you don’t know Azure, then it’s from Microsoft and the second-largest cloud platform. Azure will make much more sense if your application stack is around Microsoft technologies. You can get Windows running on Azure from as low as $15 per month. And not just the server, but you also have an option to host the desktop version. One of the significant advantages in the region. The Azure data center is everywhere, so this gives you the flexibility to host your application near to the users or third-party services. With the help of a pricing calculator, you can estimate the total cost.
UpCloud
UpCloud is a European cloud service provider that provides on an hourly billed infrastructure-as-a-service. You can choose to host your Windows VM in their following 10 datacenters.
AmsterdamChicagoFrankfurtHelsinkiLondonSan JoseSingaporePolandNew YorkMadrid
Throughout the entire infrastructure, it uses the N+1 philosophy. This proves beneficial in setting the 100% uptime record because it eliminates single points of failure. The following are some of its features.
Great performance at a very low price.Easy to integrate any app with UpCloud’s infrastructure. So, one can put more focus on coding and not on infrastructure management issues.Offers numerous open-source API clients.No extra struggle of licensing would be there while migrating the existing work to UpCloud, because it uses the current on-premise Windows server license.Quick and reliable backup service is available via scheduled snapshots. So, backups can be taken and restored within no time!
Hostwinds
Hostwinds offers fully managed Windows VPS hosting that provides fast, secure, and powerful Windows servers. Choose from various CPU (1CPU-12CPU), RAM (1GB-96GB), storage (30GB-750GB), and bandwidth (1TB-9TB) and order your server quickly. You will get features like 1Gbps ports, solid-state drives (SSDs), snapshots, 99.9999% uptime, free website transfer, custom ISO’s, multiple data center locations for better speed, an enterprise firewall, and a lot more. In addition, Hostwinds ensures that there will be no point of failure, so you will get the network stability you need. In other words, you can say it is readily available whenever you need it. You get exciting offers such as nightly backups in order to protect your information and keep your backup folders as long as you want and access them whenever you need them. Hostwinds also uses Windows shadow copy to make sure a consistent snapshot will be created while backing up the files. It offers a monitoring service for every VPS hosting plan. Enhance server resources quickly by upgrading to the new tier of the Windows VPS plan. Windows runs well on Intel; that’s why Hostwinds use the most powerful and latest hardware with Intel CPUs so that you will experience the smoothest Windows VPS performance. Without wasting time, get your Windows VPS today at just $12.74/month and receive dedicated resources.
Conclusion
I hope the above helps you to choose the Windows hosting provider based on your needs. Most of them offer no-contract or money-back, so give it a try to see what works best for you. Alternatively, if you require to host ASP.NET applications and the budget is tight, check out these Windows hosting providers. Need more than Windows? Check out these cloud hosting platform which offers comprehensive products.