In light of recent events, some people asked me for VPS advice.

uh

i don’t know what I did to deserve this reputation; it’s been years since i’ve rented from a new provider. i will say:

go wild for your fun projects, but if it’s important:

please oh please check the ToS, SLA, customer support, staff hours, data processing agreement (if it exists), and user reviews (paying special attention to how different providers cancel service) before you pick that too-cheap-to-be-true VPS provider to host your most important projects. If they’re a small provider, see who else uses them (you probably don’t want to share a box with someone too shady).

if you’re hosting a large community or your livelihood, talk to staff before you commit to an upstart provider. ask about any of the above you couldn’t find on your own.

Oh, and use a custom ISO if you’re not familiar with your provider’s customizations to OOTB images. Providers nowadays preconfigure their images a lot with questionable regard for security.

With that preface out of the way: Server Hunter is a great resource for finding new low-cost providers. Remember that below a certain price (like $3/mo), you probably get what you pay for. I won’t pay less than that for anything important with a fixed IPv4.