…That I have used.
This post marks a slightly changed posting schedule, where posts occasionally will be posted more than twice a month; though still always on Thursdays.
Web hosting is a key aspect of any global business today. Hosting in the right location can be just as important as choosing offshore jurisdiction for incorporation or banking.
Today, I will go through some webhosts across the globe that I have used and found to be worth mentioning. This article is aimed at entrepreneurs and SMEs looking to place their gambling, ecommerce, websites, customer information, or other data in offshore locations. Hobbyists may also find the article interesting. The article is not going to be a list of hosts suitable to host copyrighted material, spam, or other possibly illegal content.
The hosts are in alphabetic order. Bold indicates locations and services I have experience with.
Update June 2014: I have disabled comments on this post following several comments from SEO optimization bots (spam bots) and unhappy customers who try to use the comment field here to berate hosts. It is very important to make an informed decision when you pick a web host and this is not a list of recommended hosts. However, there are other forums better suited for discussing specific hosts, such as Webhosting Talk.
Continent8
Locations: London, Paris, Dublin, Montreal, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Malta, Singapore, Belgium.
Services provided: Co-location, DDoS protection, server management.
Having worked with many gambling operators, Continent8 is a bit of a gold standard in the business — and rightfully so.
Curaçao Webhosting
Location: Curaçao.
Services provided: VPS, co-location, dedicated servers.
More or less a monopoly holder in Curaçao, Curaçao Webhosting provides superb hosting services for internet gambling and ecommerce websites. They are directly related to E-Commerce Park.
EDIS
Locations: Austria, Chile, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, Isle of Man, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA.
Services provided: VPS (KVM, vServer, OpenVZ), dedicated servers, web hosting, streaming, SMS.
Excellent for smaller VPS, used either for web hosting, mail hosting, or as a VPN/proxy. EDIS offers the cheapest hosting available in several locations, for example being the by far cheapest option in Isle of Man.
New Media Express
Location: Singapore
Services provided: Web hosting, dedicated servers, VPS, email, co-location.
An excellent hosting provider in Singapore. Prices are on the higher end, but it is money well spent.
Nine.ch
Location: Switzerland.
Services provided: Dedicated servers, VPS, co-location, managed solutions.
Great support and network. You can find lower-priced hosts in Switzerland, but not without sacrificing quality.
Offshore Racks
Locations: Panama, Netherlands.
Services provided: VPS (OpenVZ and KVM), co-location, web hosting.
One of the best-connected providers in Panama. It appears to be a one-man operation and even though this one man runs a tight ship, I would not host anything mission critical here. Excellent for VPN/proxy, DNS redundancy, and non-critical web front-ends.
server.lu (root SA)
Location: Luxembourg.
Services: Dedicated server, VPS, co-location, web hosting (under site.lu).
A very well-connected in Europe, with good multi-lingual support and fair pricing.
Shinjiru
Location(s): Malaysia, Singapore, Luxembourg, Russia, Netherlands.
Services provided: Dedicated servers, VPS, web hosting, email.
Shinjiru has been around for a long time and has always had a very open approach to what is hosted within their network. A few years ago, they made significant improvements to their customer support. Prices are fair. Their network is of high quality.
TurkNet
Location: Turkey.
Services provided: VPS, web hosting, IP transit, co-location, ISP.
After evaluating several Turkish hosts, we ultimately settled for TurkNet. It is a well-connected provider with good support (in English).
Honourable mentions
[ws_table id=”25″]See also “Staying Anonymous Online – How to Keep Your Privacy Protected on the Internet“.
On a completely unrelated note, I am giving Twitter a shot. If you feel like following or chatting, it’s @StreberSt. New blog posts are tweeted automatically.
Are offshore servers in Holland preferred for working towards internationalizing yourself. I am have a choice between Holland and Lithuania. Thought Lithuania seemed kind of sketchy. Thoughts?
Of the two, I’d pick the Netherlands but not really for any other reason than higher network quality. In terms of internationalization, it depends on what you’re doing but likely won’t make a big difference in the end. If you plan on doing something really underhanded, the host may matter more than the country. If your host is willing to look the other way you’ll get away with whatever you do until law enforcement shows up.
Thanks Streber. That makes sense. Looks like Holland is the way to go. Network quality is my aim — but definitely good to know about the host provider. IF they can’t protect their clients, who can?
Cyberbunker is quite good (since you mentioned Icatel) and why not Bahnhof which believes also in free of speech like PRQ
I have no experience with Cyberbunker, but they have an excellent (or bad, depending on how you look at it) reputation for what they do.
Agreed on Bahnhof. They are very good. I anticipate that they will make it to next year’s list.
My server location is in Amsterdam but my webhost is located in the US. Do I have the privileges of an offshore host or does it comply to US rules because the webhost office is in the US?
You (probably) don’t have the privileges of offshore hosting, since the host itself is still subject to US law.