South African virtual private server price shootout

South Africans looking to host a website or app have several virtual private server (VPS) products available to them from various prominent hosting providers.

VPSes are hosting environments where customers share hardware, but in a way that is isolated from one another.

Each customer is allocated a specified amount of CPU, RAM, storage, and bandwidth, almost as if they have their own dedicated server.

However, they can be significantly more affordable than dedicated server products.

MyBroadband compared VPS offerings from Absolute Hosting, Afrihost, Axxess, Cybersmart, Domains.co.za, and 1-Grid regarding specs and pricing.

It should be noted that Absolute Hosting recently upgraded the network speeds for some of its VPSs to 500Mbps. We only included VPS packages that received the upgrade.

In comparison, hosting providers like Axxess and Cybersmart’s VPSs feature 100Mbps network speeds as standard. 1-Grid, Domains.co.za, and Afrihost don’t specify network speeds for their VPS products.

Absolute Hosting’s packages were the cheapest in both the entry-level and higher-specced categories.

Its most affordable entry-level VPS with two vCPU cores, 1GB of RAM, 50GB of SSD storage and 1TB of monthly bandwidth costs R73.43.

The next-most affordable option is Cybersmart’s Linux 1 VPS, which features two vCPUs, 1GB of RAM, 20GB of HDD storage, and unlimited bandwidth for R179 per month.

Afrihost’s Bronze and Axxess’ Standard Plus products are the most expensive entry-level options.

The Afrihost plan features one vCPU, 2GB of RAM, 100GB of HDD storage, and unlimited monthly traffic for R310 per month.

Axxess is currently running a promotion on its VPS products that will see customers pay a discounted rate for their first four months.

Its Standard Plus plan includes two vCPUs, 2GB of RAM, 75GB of SSD storage, and unlimited bandwidth for R349 per month.

However, customers who sign up during the promotion period will only pay R175 for their signup month and the three following months.

Absolute Hosting was also the most affordable for higher-specced VPSes, with its AMD Epyc Rome 7552 server with four vCPUs, 4GB of RAM, 100GB of SSD storage, and 2TB of monthly traffic priced at R145.24 per month.

The next-most affordable also comes from Absolute Hosting. The same VPS with four vCPUs, 6GB of RAM, 150GB of SSD storage, and 3TB of monthly traffic costs R211.82 per month.

Pricing for products in the category ranges from R145.24 to R929 per month, with Domains.co.za’s Epyc VPS 4 being the most expensive.

It features four vCPUs, 8GB of RAM, 250GB of SSD storage, and 3TB of monthly bandwidth.

The table below compares specs and pricing for virtual private server products available from prominent South African providers. We included entry-level and higher-specced options.