Netherlands: the default
An EU server in the most common offshore location, tied with Romania for the lowest prices in our check.
Quick answer
Which country is best for offshore hosting?
No single country is best for offshore hosting: pick by law, not by flag. The Netherlands is the most common choice (26 of 36 hosts checked by OffshoreKVM on 29 October 2026). Iceland and Switzerland sit outside the EU. Romania is the low-cost EU option. OffshoreKVM sells all four from $3.08 per 30 days, run from Panama, paid in crypto with no KYC.
Which countries do offshore VPS hosts use most?
The Netherlands is the most common offshore VPS location: 26 of the 36 active hosts in OffshoreKVM's check of 29 October 2026 offer it.
| Country | Hosts offering it | Of which accept Monero | Of which ask no ID | EU / EEA status | Sold by OffshoreKVM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 26 | 18 | 18 | EU | Yes, Amsterdam |
| United States | 17 | 12 | 12 | Neither | No |
| Germany | 13 | 8 | 9 | EU | No |
| Switzerland | 12 | 8 | 8 | Neither (EFTA) | Yes, Zurich |
| United Kingdom | 11 | 6 | 6 | Neither | No |
| Sweden | 9 | 7 | 7 | EU | No |
| Romania | 9 | 7 | 7 | EU | Yes, Bucharest |
| Canada | 9 | 7 | 8 | Neither | No |
| France | 9 | 6 | 6 | EU | No |
| Singapore | 9 | 6 | 7 | Neither | No |
| Bulgaria | 8 | 4 | 5 | EU | No |
| Iceland | 7 | 6 | 5 | EEA, not EU | Yes, Reykjavik |
| Finland | 6 | 4 | 4 | EU | No |
| Moldova | 4 | 4 | 3 | Neither | No |
| Panama | 1 | 1 | 1 | Neither | No (company only) |
Prices checked on
The US count includes resellers of mainstream clouds and hosts with very large catalogues. Among hosts with 12 countries or fewer, the order is the Netherlands (20), the United States (11), Switzerland (9), Bulgaria (8), then Romania and Germany (7 each).
How do you choose a country for offshore hosting?
Two laws apply to every offshore VPS: the law of the country where the server sits, and the law of the country where the hosting company is registered. The datacenter answers to the first. Complaints and court orders aimed at the host go through the second.
Check five things, in this order:
- Server country. Its courts can act on the datacenter. EU membership brings the GDPR; so does the EEA.
- Company country. It decides which notices the host must answer. SporeStack, a US-based operator, says the DMCA applies even on its Amsterdam servers.
- The host's own rules. Two hosts in one city can treat a complaint differently.
- Choice and price. More hosts in a country means more competition.
- Payment and ID. These depend on the host, not the country.
Whether renting abroad is allowed for you is covered in is offshore hosting legal.
How do the Netherlands, Iceland, Switzerland and Romania compare?
The four countries OffshoreKVM sells, side by side. Prices elsewhere are the cheapest plan with at least 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB disk and an IPv4, billed monthly, at a host that asks no ID at signup.
| Netherlands | Iceland | Switzerland | Romania | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City at OffshoreKVM | Amsterdam | Reykjavik | Zurich | Bucharest |
| EU / EEA | EU since 1958 | EEA and EFTA, not EU | EFTA only, neither EU nor EEA | EU since 2007 |
| Data protection | GDPR | GDPR, via the EEA, since 20 July 2018 | Revised Federal Act on Data Protection, since 1 September 2023 | GDPR |
| Hosts offering it (of 36) | 26 | 7 | 12 | 9 |
| Cheapest comparable plan elsewhere | $4.12 (Kyun) | $8.50 (AliasVPS) | $6.00 (Bit.Hosting) | $4.12 (Kyun) |
| Worth knowing | AMS-IX lists 912 connected networks | IMMI media-freedom resolution, 2010 | Recognised by the EU as adequate for data protection | Data-retention laws struck down in 2009 and 2014 |
| OffshoreKVM KVM 1 | $3.08 | $3.08 | $3.08 | $3.08 |
Prices checked on
Which of our four countries fits your need?
Iceland: outside the EU
EEA rules and the GDPR, but no EU membership. Few hosts, and the highest prices elsewhere.
Switzerland: outside EU and EEA
Its own data protection act, recognised as adequate by the EU.
Romania: low-cost EU
EU law, low prices, and a court that twice struck down data retention.
Is Iceland or Switzerland better for privacy than the EU?
Iceland and Switzerland are the two European offshore locations outside the EU, but only Switzerland is also outside EEA rules. Iceland applies the GDPR through the EEA. Switzerland has its own act, and the European Commission recognises its protection as adequate.
Iceland's parliament unanimously approved the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative on 16 June 2010, a resolution aimed at protecting freedom of expression and information. It is a resolution, not a statute. Details are in is Iceland good for an offshore VPS and is Switzerland good for an offshore VPS.
What about the United States, Germany, the UK and Sweden?
The United States is the second most common location, and it is the home of the DMCA. Under Section 512, a provider that receives a compliant notice must act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the material to keep its safe harbor.
- Germany (13 hosts), Sweden (9), France (9), Bulgaria (8), Finland (6): EU members, so the GDPR applies. Njalla, registered in Costa Rica, runs its servers in Sweden.
- United Kingdom (11): not an EU member; the European Commission renewed its data protection adequacy decision in December 2025.
- Moldova (4): outside the EU, next to Romania. See is Romania good for an offshore VPS.
- Asia: Hong Kong is offered by 3 hosts (Servury, MonoVM, KoDDoS) and Malaysia by 3 (VPSDEN, Shinjiru, Ultahost). OffshoreKVM sells no Asian location.
Is Panama a good location for an offshore VPS?
Panama is a company jurisdiction more than a server location: only 1 of the 36 hosts in our check, VPSDEN, offers servers there. Several privacy hosts register the company in one small jurisdiction and put the servers in Europe:
- SwissLayer: incorporated in Panama, servers in Zurich.
- AliasVPS: registered in Saint Kitts and Nevis; honours only Nevis court orders.
- NiceVPS: servers in the Netherlands; suspends only on a Dominica court order.
- OffshoreKVM: OffshoreKVM is run by DomaineGoat LLC, a company registered in Panama, and answers only to Panamanian law. The datacenter that houses each VPS is in its own country and follows that country’s law.
DMCA ignored: we do not act on DMCA notices or other foreign copyright notices. We answer only to Panamanian law and to orders of Panamanian courts. No logs: we keep no connection logs, no traffic logs and no IP addresses of visitors or customers, on the website, the dashboard or the VPS. Panama has its own personal data protection law, Law 81 of 2019, in force since 29 March 2021. Our prices for all four countries are on how much does an offshore VPS cost at OffshoreKVM.
Deploy an offshore VPS in the country you chose
Same plans, same price and same policy in all four locations. No KYC, paid in crypto. A person creates your VPS after your payment is confirmed, so it is not instant; your dashboard shows the status, then the IP address once the VPS is running.
Offshore hosting countries: frequently asked questions
Which country has the most offshore VPS hosts?
The Netherlands: 26 of 36 active hosts offered it on 29 October 2026, and 18 of them name Amsterdam. The United States came second with 17.
What is the most private hosting country in the world?
No country makes a server private on its own. The host's rules, its company jurisdiction and what you run matter as much. In Europe, Iceland and Switzerland are the two offshore locations outside the EU.
What is the best jurisdiction for a VPS in Europe?
For an EU server under the GDPR, the Netherlands or Romania, the two cheapest in our check at $4.12. For a server outside the EU, Iceland (EEA) or Switzerland (neither EU nor EEA). OffshoreKVM sells all four at $3.08 for KVM 1.
Does the server's country or the company's country matter more?
Both. The datacenter follows the law of the server's country. Notices and orders aimed at the host follow the company's country: OffshoreKVM answers only to Panamanian law and Panamanian court orders.
Which offshore VPS providers have servers in Hong Kong or Malaysia?
In our 29 October 2026 check, Servury, MonoVM and KoDDoS offered Hong Kong; VPSDEN, Shinjiru and Ultahost offered Malaysia. OffshoreKVM sells only European locations.
Sources (17)
- EU countries — European Union (read 2026-10-29)
- EEA & Relations with the EU — European Free Trade Association (read 2026-10-29)
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force in the EEA — European Free Trade Association (read 2026-10-29)
- Legal framework of EU data protection — European Commission (read 2026-10-29)
- Data protection adequacy for non-EU countries — European Commission (read 2026-10-29)
- Entry into force of the revised Data Protection Act on September 1, 2023 — Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) (read 2026-10-29)
- Beyond WikiLeaks: The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative and the Creation of Free Havens — International Journal of Communication (read 2026-10-29)
- Romania: The aftermath of the second CCR data retention ruling — EDRi (read 2026-10-29)
- AMS-IX Amsterdam in numbers — AMS-IX (read 2026-10-29)
- Section 512 of Title 17: notice-and-takedown — U.S. Copyright Office (read 2026-10-29)
- Ley 81 - Protección de datos personales — RSM Panama (read 2026-10-29)
- Homepage (DMCA on Amsterdam servers) sporestack.com — SporeStack (read 2026-10-29)
- Terms of service swisslayer.com/terms-of-service — SwissLayer (read 2026-10-29)
- Terms aliasvps.com/terms — AliasVPS (read 2026-10-29)
- Terms of service nicevps.net/index/tos — NiceVPS (read 2026-10-29)
- About njal.la/about — Njalla (read 2026-10-29)
- VPS plans and locations vpsden.com/vps — VPSDEN (read 2026-10-29)