Buying a Cheap VPS Without Getting Ripped Off: Six Checks
Beginners rarely overspend on price; they overspend on the wrong box. Each of these six has cost somebody real money.
4 min read · updated 2026-10-25
The six traps
1. Only looking at daytime speed tests. Vendor speed charts are shot during the best hours. Only the 20:00–23:00 window counts.
2. Treating “CN2” as if it meant GIA. Both GT and GIA are called CN2, and the price differs by a factor of two. Ask for a return-path trace and look for the 59.43 hop.
3. Paying annually at a brand-new vendor. Under two years old, no matter how cheap, pay monthly. The pattern is always the same: opening promotion plus an annual price set absurdly low.
4. Not checking whether the IP is blocked. Check it the day it arrives and ask for a swap immediately if it is blocked — do not let the refund window close.
5. Not reading the traffic terms. “Unlimited traffic” usually comes with a fair-use clause. Whether overage means throttling or suspension — find out first.
6. Buying at full price after missing Black Friday. Black Friday (late November) has the deepest discounts, and many vendors only release stock on those days. If you are not in a hurry, wait — it can save you half.
Two more that rarely get mentioned
IPv4 costs extra. Many cheap plans exclude IPv4 by default and charge a few dollars a year for it. Read the list before ordering, not after.
Annual is a trap; quarterly is the sweet spot. The annual discount is bigger, but if the vendor folds or the route changes you are locked in for a year. Quarterly (three months) is available at many vendors, costs a little more per month, and the flexibility is worth that difference.
The one-paragraph version
Before you pay, ask yourself three questions: which carrier is my broadband? What does the return path of this box use? How much does it drop between 20:00 and 23:00? If you can answer all three, buy it. If one of them is a blank, ask for a test IP before you hand over money.