Oddbean

Pro/Con of Anonymous VPS Hosts The best way to take control of your privacy and security is by hosting things yourself. This could be your own website, email, NextCloud, Notstr relay, front-end service, or even your own proxy VPN. This list will compare the pros and cons of VPS hosts only if they allow anonymous sign-ups for crypto. Servers.guru Pro: Very cheap. Very seamless setup, easy for beginners not used to SSH keys. The backups here are reasonably priced and good. They accept Monero. Con: While you can block their website’s Google JavaScript, you can’t evade that Cloudflare can definitely see your passwords and therefore all data. They’re just a re-seller of Hetzner, which is a huge company with questionable privacy history. Also servers guru itself is a US firm. Note: You need to show them your DNS records to unblock email ports, which is okay because the IPs are usually not on spamhaus blacklists. Kyun.host Pro: Very private, no Big Tech integration. Accepts Monero & in Romania. Tor onion address. Con: Don’t use this for outgoing email. All these IPs will get on spamhaus email list, and even if you write spamhaus, they’ll put you back on it. Shinjiru.com Pro: Company’s reputation for allowing free speech is good. Malaysia is a decent jurisdiction for privacy. Shinjiru also lists other countries and the prices are good. IPs are usually not on spamhaus blacklists. Con: Overpriced backups. Layer 1 Bitcoin fees only, and a 5% processing fee makes them not as cheap as they initially appear. If you do shared hosting, you’re getting your site Cloudflare’d against your will. For the dedicated racks, they charge $50 to setup Debian, but Ubuntu is free. OrangeWebsite.com Pro: Iceland. Excellent reputation on both free speech and privacy. Fast customer service response times and the support is knowledgeable. They accept Monero. IPs are usually not on email spamhaus blacklist. Con: High prices. The server hosting is real high, but the domain names are reasonable compared to other anonymous providers. FlokiNet.is Pro: Iceland and Seychelles based. Previous Wikileaks host. Good prices and great country selection (Romania, Finland, ect). They accept Monero. Con: Horribly slow customer service response times, you might wait up to a week to get a reply if you have an issue. Also, they list covid-19 misinformation as a term of service for suspension. Finally, their DNS uses cPanel which is closed source and going to dragnet surveillance your browser fingerprint. But the other info you enter into the DNS is public. Impreza.host Pro: Great country selection, including Iceland, Switzerland, and controversial Russia*. They appear to have a privacy-friendly attitude. Tor onion address. And pre-made Tor packages, but you can host Tor yourself without paying them extra if you want to learn how. They accept Monero. IPs are usually not on email spamhaus blacklist. Con: Support staff is retarded. They will respond quick but with bad information, so you really need to know what you’re doing. You likely will lose money due to them being so inept and time passing by. This is a bad first time host for beginners. And they have expensive pricing on some countries. They also promote left wing propaganda within the web app itself. * = we do not advise breaking sanctions, please consult legal counsel for your specific situation. Njal.la Pro: Sweden. XMPP support available. Tor onion address. Con: Outgoing email banned. More expensive VPS than the other providers on this list, but the domains are okay. Note: They strictly ban illegal content. IncogNet.io Pro: Privacy friendly stance. Good prices. Tor onion address. Con: Slow to respond customer service, especially on new dedicated racks. They’re a US company. Keep in mind that all US servers are going to be cheaper because of the infrastructure in place. And that domain name registration is always going to be more expensive if anonymous, as you’re not paying the WhoIs privacy. Conclusion Almost all these providers can improve your privacy, security, and self-sovereignty. Worthless propagandists such as Vultr and Linode want to force you to submit to the tyranny of KYC. You got other ones not covered? Give your opinion in the comments!