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IONOS admits to capping "NVMe VPS" to 200MB/s (HDD speeds) via software limits
Just a heads up for the community so you don't waste your money and time like I did.
I've been using an IONOS "VPS Linux XL" for the past year. On their sales page, this is marketed heavily as "100% NVMe Storage" with "High Performance".
Naturally, for an NVMe drive, you'd expect decent I/O. Instead, I was consistently hitting a wall at ~200 MB/s sequential write. That is barely SATA SSD speed, bordering on mechanical HDD speeds.
After months of back-and-forth tickets where they blamed my config, I finally escalated it to their "Executive Solutions Team". They replied with an email that essentially admitted the quiet part out loud.
Here is the admission from their Level 3 Support:
"Achieving a consistent 200 MB/s verifies that the underlying storage is fast enough to hit the configured throughput cap for this VPS tier. You are hitting a software-defined Quality of Service (QoS) limit... The system is performing exactly as designed for a Mass Market VPS."
The TL;DR:
They admit the drives are NVMe physically.
BUT they intentionally throttle them to 200 MB/s via QoS to cram more users on the node (they call it "Mass Market design").
They do not disclose this hard cap on their sales page.
They offered me a discount on a Dedicated Server to make me go away. I refused and demanded a refund for deceptive advertising. They have since stopped replying.
If you need actual IOPS/Throughput, stay away. You are paying for NVMe marketing but getting throttled HDD performance.
Proof (Email Screenshot): https://imgur.com/a/FrwhBM6
Discussion on WHT: bit.ly/4aYhd8l
Comments
But you have been using it for the past year? why didnt you move out months ago?
Well, Never got capped, always had high speeds.
Probably heavy I/O load and they throttled you.
Thanks. Good to know. There are plenty of respective providers on LEB/LET.
yeah they do that, its somewhat known here (in DE) because people "benched" them.
But you are correct, its nowhere stated that they do that and thats hella scummy. *i did check all the contract docs quickly, which you only get post sale, its not stated there either
*Edit
Cause it fits timely, i checked the plan upgrades today and noticed that an upgrade of one of my servers to the higher tier was listed as 4€/m, while the regular price on the page is 2,5€/m. I did ask support if thats indeed correct and they confirmed it. Hella funny.
That customer support reply was 100% written by an LLM.
"Why ... confirms", "The reality ..." "Understanding the..."
Thanks for verifying the contracts! That is exactly my point. If they stated 'Capped at 200MB/s' in the contract, I wouldn't complain. But selling it as 'High Performance NVMe' without disclosing the cap is the definition of deceptive trade practice.
Because I trusted the 'NVMe' label. I thought the bottleneck was my own code or database optimization. I wasted months debugging my software, never suspecting that a giant company like IONOS would throttle NVMe drives to HDD speeds. Once support admitted it, I stopped using it.
Incorrect. Look at the screenshot in the OP. Their Executive Support explicitly stated: 'The system is performing exactly as designed for a Mass Market VPS.' It is not a temporary penalty for heavy load; it is a permanent QoS limit hardcoded into the plan.
Bro, you calling bullshit on my YABS I ran? cmon
Not at all, I am not questioning your benchmark results. If you are getting uncapped speeds, that’s great for you.
My point is specifically about what Executive Support told me in writing regarding my case. They explicitly said: 'Achieving a consistent 200 MB/s verifies that the underlying storage is fast enough to hit the configured throughput cap for this VPS tier.'
So, even if some users get lucky with unthrottled nodes, their official stance is that a 200MB/s cap is 'exactly as designed'. I am sharing this so others don't gamble on getting a 'good' node vs a 'throttled' one.
It's unfortunate but really it helps preserve quality for all of the customers. Bigger companies probably do this more since it means they don't have to put nearly as many resources towards monitoring for stability, since they have a massive footprint to monitor. Without limits or monitoring one person can abuse I/O on a system and cause iowait issues; then people will complain that there is stability problems. The upside is most smaller companies can handle this vastly quicker than a big company can or will just impose a soft limit on the single offending server instead of placing default limits on everyone.
If they don't remove the limits at request I'd bee ally surprised.. but IONOS is a cheap host. They are the ones with $1 VPS after all. Other companies that historically limit IO like Contabo always seem to remove it if you ask.
I completely agree with you regarding the 'Noisy Neighbor' effect. In a shared environment, stability creates a need for QoS limits to prevent one user from hogging all the I/O.
My issue is not with the existence of a limit, but with the transparency and the severity of it.
If they honestly listed: 'NVMe Storage (Capped at 200 MB/s for stability)', I would have respected that and simply bought a Dedicated Server instead. But selling it as 'Unleashed Performance' and then throttling it via hidden config is what I find unacceptable.
Yeah, I absolutely agree. It could be hidden in the terms somewhere but frankly most companies probably won't care since they know most people will never notice. It's bad marketing to make limits clearly visible sometimes lol..
You hit the nail on the head. That is exactly the problem.
They rely on the fact that 'most people will never notice'. But when a customer does notice and provides proof, hiding behind 'Mass Market design' isn't a valid excuse.
I would rather deal with a provider that has 'bad marketing' (honest specs) than a provider with 'good marketing' that throttles me behind my back. Trust is harder to build than a sales page.
Just to provide more context on how I caught this:
It wasn't just a "feeling" that the server was slow. I ran standard fio tests (sequential and random R/W) to debug my application. Every single test hit a hard brick wall at exactly ~200 MB/s.
I sent these benchmark logs to their support asking: "Why is my High Performance NVMe running at HDD speeds?"
It took them days to respond, but after reviewing the data, they finally admitted the truth: "Yes, we are throttling it via software QoS limits."
So, they only admitted the cap because I presented undeniable benchmark data.
@Tufan just ask for refund for the remaining time on your account, state that specs weren't as advertised. I doubt they will question it, then move your data somewhere else.
This is your first thread and post, and magically you have a link to a Turkish hosting provider in your signature.
Perhaps you are using this thread to promote your own company?
Maybe the WHMCS verify is playing up but the Turkish providers link seems to fail to verify too
not surprised
Since you are accusing me of advertising, let’s look at the facts:
If my goal was just self-promotion, why would I go through the trouble of sharing specific admission emails from their Executive Support? Why am I trying to warn the community with technical proof?
Did I write anywhere in my review: "Hey, don't use IONOS, come buy from me"? No. I exposed a deceptive practice.
Or... do YOU work for IONOS?
If you do work for them, maybe you can answer this: We exchanged about 20 emails regarding this issue, so why has your Back Office been silent for 6 days now?
Let's stick to the topic: The throttling admission. Not my signature.
Calm your Turkish titties for a second. And don't tell me what to do. And fuck IONOS (and I don't work for them).
You never answered my question by the way.
Do you really think that wasn't discussed? Or that they didn't try to offer me a deal (like a discount on a Dedicated Server) to make this go away?
Let me be clear: My goal here is NOT a simple refund for the remaining months. That is small change.
My goal is to expose a deceptive marketing practice.
They are selling 'High Performance NVMe' but delivering throttled HDD speeds. If I just took a refund and walked away silently, they would continue scamming other developers. I am here to make sure everyone knows what 'NVMe' actually means at IONOS.
When you are done with 'exposing' IONOS, continue with the greater good of 'ending world hunger'
You cant change them, it works for years like that. They dont want customers using the drives 24/7 on full load.
I have not removed my signature, nor will I. I stand behind my business and my claims.
My website is live, active, and fully operational. If your automated verification tools are 'failing', it is likely because they are being blocked by our WAF/Cloudflare security rules designed to stop bots—not real users. Feel free to visit manually.
But let's be real: You are grasping at straws.
Even if my website were offline (which it isn't), how does that change the fact that IONOS admitted in writing to throttling NVMe drives to 200MB/s?
Does a signature verification error somehow invalidate the screenshot in the OP? No.
Stop trying to derail the thread with ad hominem attacks and address the actual issue: Deceptive Marketing by a market leader.
You might be right; a giant corporation probably won't change its internal policies because of one thread.
But that's not the only goal.
If I can't change them, at least I can warn others so they don't waste their money and time like I did. If this thread saves even one developer from falling into this 'High Performance' trap, then it was worth posting.
You need to have a provider tag to promote your website. Period.
No one is twisting the truth about IONOS, it was said that people know this. And you shouting into the void won't change naything.
@Tufan
You need a Host Rep tag in order to promote your company in your signature: https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/153228/rules-for-selling-on-lowendtalk-updated-04th-sep-2018/p1#hrt
I've removed your signature
Understood, thank you for the clarification. I wasn't aware that the tag was a strict prerequisite for the signature itself.
I have actually just submitted the support ticket to request the Provider / Host Rep tag a few minutes ago to comply with the rules.
Once my tag is approved, I will restore it appropriately. Thanks for keeping the forum organized.
That not how the WHMCS check tool works.
WHMCS will verify your licence when you install and then do periodic calls to the licence server to check your licence is still valid.
You may want to check it
https://www.whmcs.com/members/verifydomain.php/verifydomain.php
I checked both your main and sub domain for the verifcation
Are you a WHMCS sales rep? Or are you just blind to the topic at hand?
Is the subject of this thread the IONOS Deceptive Marketing scandal, or are you trying to audit my software stack?
If you are trying to sell WHMCS licenses, this is definitely the wrong place.
If you have nothing valuable to add regarding the NVMe throttling issue, stop hijacking the thread with off-topic noise.