RentServers
By the RentServers team at Wells Software Consulting LLC · Updated
How colocation is priced
Colocation is quoted per facility, so there's no reliable public price index. Quotes are usually built from:
- Power: the biggest line item for dense hardware, priced per committed kW. A single 8-GPU server can draw 10 kW or more, which many facilities can't support per rack.
- Space: by U, by quarter, half or full rack, or by private cage.
- Connectivity: blended IP transit, or cross-connects to carriers and clouds, usually with a monthly fee per cross-connect.
- Remote hands: on-site staff for swaps and reboots, included or billed per hour.
- Setup: installation and one-time cabling fees.
Colocation checklist
- Power density per rack, and whether liquid cooling is available for GPU servers.
- Redundancy: A+B power feeds, UPS and generator runtime.
- Carrier options and cross-connect pricing.
- Access rules, shipping and receiving, and remote-hands response times.
- Certifications you need (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA) — ask for the reports.
- Contract term, price escalators and power true-up terms.
Colocation or rent?
Renting avoids upfront hardware spend and leaves hardware failures to the provider. Colocating owned hardware usually costs less over three or more years, but you carry the capital cost, depreciation and spares. For GPUs, compare a 3-year reservation quote against hardware price plus colocation before deciding.