Favorite VPS providers?

[ekevu123]

I am happy with Vultr. Their user interface is super intuitive, yet you get full functionality for your server. Also, I like it that you only pay for what you really need. HostEurope, for example, has a notice period for shutting down your server, so if you want to stop using it, you still have to pay for a few weeks.
Vultr also has flexible plans, so that you can choose the resources you really need.

Cons: they are not the cheapest, they didn't want to allow me initially separate accounts for company vs. private, and their customer support, albeit helpful, is not the friendliest.

Hetzner, specifically, when I wanted to sign up a few years ago, asked me for a printed piece of paper with my signature to open my account, and they didn't accept a digital signature. Not sure if they still do that. But that's why I didn't sign up, I think hosting is something were you should simply create an account and that's it.

[jayonrails]

@timconsidine said in Favorite VPS providers?:

SSDNODES is cheap if the VPS will only be used for testing or low traffic (not recommended for main production use).

This one is new to me and I would like to try it, but it seems like it wouldn't be EU GDPR-compliant. Their support team doesn't even want to ask someone who might be able to help on that.

[jdaviescoates]

@jayonrails said in Favorite VPS providers?:

This one is new to me and I would like to try it

Search on this and other forums first. Lots of people reporting issues with them. Generally too good to be true pricing is just that. Personally I wouldn't ever consider using them.

I think my favourite is Hetzner, although I quite like Netcup too.

Both are 100% powered by renewables (personally I only consider using providers that are, because that's the very least you can do given the multiple climate and ecological emergencies we're in the middle of).

Hetzner is great value and has a much better user experience. It's really easy to spin up a new VPS to test things for a few hours and only pay for those few hours.

Netcup have even better prices, but I think they use older tech and their English isn't as good. And despite also having hourly pricing, in practice they kinda don't really as they tend to require 6 months up front and then refund the difference if you cancel before then. Not really the same.

Both sometimes (I think Netcup a bit more often) have issues with IP reputation health: but I think this generally applies to all good value providers.

I also use Scaleway for my Object Storage needs and they are great too.

A few more 100% renewable powers providers can be found here https://ud.coop/ecovps

[LoudLemur]

@timconsidine said in Favorite VPS providers?:

@frei Hetzner is my preferred VPS provider.
Netcup is fine.
SSDNODES is cheap if the VPS will only be used for testing or low traffic (not recommended for main production use).

Also tried Linode, Exoscale, Digital Ocean, AWS : they're OK but I don't fit their pricing model.

Thanks!

[lukas]

@LoudLemur SSDNODES Performance is good? Overprovisioned ?

[LoudLemur]

@lukas @timconsidine would be best on this.

[timconsidine]

@lukas definitely overprovisioned
and definitely they don't expect you to make heavy use
if you complain about performance, they say don't use it so much

I definitely would NOT recommend them for a primary VPS or a VPS under load.

But for a testing machine, or one under small load, they do have a place in the market.
Who wants to pay a DO or AWS or Linode price for a VPS running simple scripts or light loads?

It is very easy to criticise SSDNODES and largely they deserve that, but in their defence it's about understanding that their price point is reflective of performance.
Don't buy a tricycle expecting a Ferrari.

[humptydumpty]

@timconsidine sounds like they’re good to run a cloudron mail server on. How is their uptime?

[marcusquinn]

Hetzner, Contabo, Proxmox for home and dedicated servers.

[humptydumpty]

@marcusquinn said in Favorite VPS providers?:

Contabo

I've had over 3 hours of downtime in the past 2 weeks alone (St. Louis DC).

[timconsidine]

@humptydumpty said in Favorite VPS providers?:

sounds like they’re good to run a cloudron mail server on. How is their uptime?

I haven't had any issues with uptime,

[warg]

@lukas Nope, there's no monitoring on their side for all hardware topics as far as I know. I remember from other cases that the support had to be contacted by customer and in some cases they requested proofs that something is wrong with the hardware before they check or replace it. Same with network issues on their side: You can't say "It's broken" when it is on their side and then they check it, agree and fix it. You have to send them monitoring logs. That's what I dislike about them. Beside of that, replacing faulty hardware is of course free of charge.

My recommendations so far:

• Contabo
• netcup (although their new extra fee for server location choice is bad)
• Hetzner

Contabo is top notch. Never had any issue with their hardware (1 HW replacement in several years) and their support replies within minutes in case of technical issues on their side. Just perfect for a great price. Netcup is fine as well and good support in case of emergencies as well.

[roofboard]

recently switched to contabo lately and they have been awesome. They have servers in many countries which is cool.

[sentinel65]

+1 for Contabo. UI/UX is archaic but it does the job and it does it well.

I guess if you want the fancy interfaces (DO and Vultr), you have to pay the fancy prices! LOL

[jdaviescoates]

@sentinel65 said in Favorite VPS providers?:

+1 for Contabo. UI/UX is archaic but it does the job and it does it well.

I've only tried them for the Object Storage but quickly regretted that as they don't even support virtual host style URLs, only path style, see:

https://docs.contabo.com/docs/products/Object-Storage/technical-description/

(and this post)

[LoudLemur]

I am looking around for VPS providers that can offer a generous amount of RAM for a reasonable price.

Linode seems to have become a bit more expensive with new Akamai management.

Contabo don't support easy Cloudron installment at the moment.

Vultr are good but is there anything better?

[jdaviescoates]

@LoudLemur said in Favorite VPS providers?:

Vultr are good but is there anything better?

Netcup are quite generous with RAM relative to most

But depending on how much you're looking to spend it might be better to opt for a dedicated server from Hetzner which start at €44.39 with 64GB RAM (I'm planning on moving various of my VPSs onto one of those as soon as I can find the time to get around to it, and after checking the health of the IP of the new server, once I've got it).

[LoudLemur]

@jdaviescoates said in Favorite VPS providers?:

@LoudLemur said in Favorite VPS providers?:

Vultr are good but is there anything better?

Netcup are quite generous with RAM relative to most

But depending on how much you're looking to spend it might be better to opt for a dedicated server from Hetzner which start at €44.39 with 64GB RAM (I'm planning on moving various of my VPSs onto one of those as soon as I can find the time to get around to it, and after checking the health of the IP of the new server, once I've got it).

Absolutely wow! 64GB RAM?! That is quite an amazing looking deal. How good are Hetzner with helping people setup their Cloudron? I wasn't familiar with netcup. Here is Vultr at the moment for their Memory optimized servers:

[jdaviescoates]

@LoudLemur said in Favorite VPS providers?:

How good are Hetzner with helping people setup their Cloudron?

I don't know, but it's just copy/ pasting 3 lines of code so I'm not sure how much help most people here really need?

Re Netcup see also my earlier post:

https://forum.cloudron.io/post/64255

[marcusquinn]

@LoudLemur Hetzner's super easy. Their control panel does everything, so never had a reason to contact them. Tried Netcup once, seem to remember the control panel being clunky and having to contact them for various things. Contabo always been reliable for me, too. I don't think you can go wrong with any, but I heard here that Netcup has lockin-periods, so watchout for that.