A cold site is hosted by a third party, and services may be paid annually or monthly via a service charge. Another option is a hot site, which provides all equipment, furniture and other business necessities, whereas a cold site only allocates a specified amount of space. The business paying for the site furnishes all supplies and equipment and uses its business time to install these items. The business using a cold site must also provide any needed hardware and software.

The allowance for a cold site should be detailed in an established disaster recovery plan. The business should educate employees about the plan, as well as how a cold site operates. It can take a few days to prepare a cold site since computer systems must be installed. In most cases, a cold site provides business services such as telephone, power and network access.