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Besides latency, does VPS location really matter?
ServerBachelor
Member
I got a VPS in Sweden from @alexhost a few weeks ago, and while I'm pleased with the performance of the server, I happened to come by their blog post from when they first released this location:
https://alexhost.com/vps/sweden-vps-hosting-the-benefits-to-hosting-in-sweden/
And it got me wondering: how much do many of these supposed "benefits" matter?
For example, Alexhost touts Sweden's political neutrality as a selling point. Great. But they're a Moldovan company; if Moldova gets invaded and new regulations about, for example, what a website can or can't say are passed, what does it matter that the VPS serving my website is in Sweden? Wouldn't Moldovan law still supersede?
Another example they mention is GDPR. Since Sweden is in the EU, GDPR applies. But Moldova isn't an EU member (at least, not yet). As a Moldovan company, Alexhost SRL is under no obligation to abide by the GDPR, just because my VPS is located in Sweden.
So on and so forth.
This isn't a callout of Alexhost, by the way. I quite like the company and I have no complaints about their services or support. Rather, this question goes for any company incorporated in one jurisdiction and offering services a different jurisdiction, marketing those services on the basis of that other country's laws.
Comments
You can order VPS from a Chinese service provider in the US, EU OR Africa, and even need KYC (such as submitting your Chinese Mainland ID card)
The particularity of VPS lies in the fact that if the supplier and the services they provide are not in the same location, you may need to comply with the laws of two places (or even three places, including your region) at the same time
Makes sense, and I've seen other providers acknowledge this (a la @MannDude who's pretty clear that his US locations are better for free speech, and his NL location may be more restrictive in terms of speech, but better for privacy...somehow? Still not sure how that works, unless it's something GDPR related again).
But to the point of the initial post, at the end of the day, what does it really matter? So Sweden is politically stable and somewhat neutral. Presumably, that still doesn't mean that my VPS in Sweden with @alexhost won't still be sent a legal notice if I say something on it that's legal in Sweden, but illegal in Moldova. My assumption is that I'd need to find a Sweden-based provider for that purpose.
Company policies and company country laws matter too not just VPS location.
You should take the company ur buying from into consideration too.
Regulates
Thanks
Also nice pfp ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
It's just marketing.
edit: Well not "just", but if you're considering locations because of legal or privacy matters then you'd best pay attention to the host's business location as well. Perhaps even the owner's actual physical location.
As assumed (sadly)
no. just need $7 dealz as YABS does not care about anything except scoring.
anything non enterprise should not need to care unless its for iffy use cases.
In the case of my Hong Kong VPS, I tried running AI workflows and access to OpenAI and Google’s Gemini (among others) API are restricted, had to use a proxy to get over it. Also, some countries are more censored than others, while others have stricter data policies. I.e, EU
Interesting
This takes me back to my Thailand journey
I was there for a month btw @barbaros @beanman109 @allthemtings @Smigit and more
Anyway the esim that I bought was from a Hong Kong ISP, had to activate a VPN everytime I needed to ask Claude about the qualities of the ladyboy
It was a hassle no doubt but I got through it and I grew from it
Yes, it does. For example we are an UK company registered in London but our servers are located in Turkey. So we are and have to obey both country laws.
Also someone can get a more affordable subscription with a vps from a country whose currency is more advantageous due to regional pricing.
For me location of server is very important. Matter of trust, ip location, and other things.
Thanks for sharing
Makes sense.
This is also a good point. I chose @alexhost Sweden because unlimited bandwidth + 1 Gbps + disk/RAM combo were pretty good for the price point. Similar disk/RAM usually came with 3 TB of BW or less, and unlimited BW usually came with lower specs.
Good to note.
The location of a server is crucial. For instance, if a server is hosted in Russia, it may be blocked by multiple countries.
And presumably you can’t host anything Kremlin-critical on it.
Unfortunately GDPR applies everywhere, so unless you plan on never doing business in the EU again, you can't just ignore it.
Actually, that’s good (for me).
I've wondered about this as well. BuyVM, in particular, claims they go by "law of the land," so it depends on where your server is located. It's owned by a Canadian company, though. I don't think they've hosted anything hot enough to attract legal attention yet and therefore put that policy to the test.
It never made sense to me and always came off as a marketing tactic, which I suppose others have agreed it to be. Not like I’m cancelling any existing services; just not buying new ones based on “law of the land” type claims.