Every plan on cheapserv.com is priced by one rule: find the cheapest credible provider offering comparable hardware, and charge 20% less. Not "up to 20% less", not "less on selected plans", and not for the first month only. This post explains how the rule is applied, what it does not cover, and how you can check it.
The rule, precisely
For each plan we sell, from the $3.29 VPS-1 to the $9,300 8× H100 node, we keep a reference price: the lowest monthly price we can find for the same class of hardware from a provider we consider credible. Our price is that reference multiplied by 0.8, rounded to a sensible figure. When the reference moves, ours moves with it. When we cannot find a credible reference for a configuration, we do not sell it.
The comparison is made on the whole plan, not on a headline number:
- Same class of CPU: a shared-core VPS is compared with shared-core plans, a Ryzen 9 dedicated server with Ryzen 9 servers, a full RTX 4090 with a full RTX 4090, never with a fractional one.
- Same or better memory, storage and traffic: we do not match a plan with 8 GB by offering 4 GB at a lower price.
- Monthly billing: hourly and yearly prices are converted to a monthly figure before comparison. We only bill monthly, so that is the number that matters.
- All-in: setup fees, IPv4 surcharges and mandatory add-ons are added to the competitor's price first.
What "credible" means
The cheapest price on the internet is rarely the cheapest credible price. We exclude providers that oversell memory, that run "unlimited" traffic with an undisclosed cap, that have no published network or status information, or that have been unable to deliver the plan they advertise. A price from a reseller with no infrastructure of its own is not a reference either. In practice, the reference for most plans comes from a well-known European or North American provider with its own hardware and a public track record.
This is a judgement call, and we make it conservatively. If we are unsure whether a competitor really delivers what its page says, we leave its price out of the comparison rather than use it as an excuse to raise ours.
How often the audit runs
We re-check every reference price regularly, and always before a new batch of hardware goes on sale. Most changes are small, and prices on our site move a few cents when they do. Larger moves happen when a whole hardware generation gets cheaper, as with the shift to Ryzen 9000 and RTX 5090 platforms, and we pass them on to existing customers as well: renewals are billed at the current published price, which has never been higher than the price at the time of the order.
Same price in all six locations
Most providers price Singapore or Los Angeles above Frankfurt because their costs differ. Ours do too, but we buy space and power wholesale in all six facilities and spread the cost across the fleet. A server in Singapore costs exactly what it costs in Frankfurt, and the 20% rule is applied to the reference price of the cheapest location, not the most expensive one.
What we do not cut to get there
A 20% discount is easy to fake by quietly removing something. These are the things that stay in every plan regardless of the price:
| Included | Detail |
|---|---|
| Memory and NVMe | Never oversold, on any plan |
| DDoS protection | Always-on filtering up to 3 Tbps at no extra cost |
| Addresses | Dedicated IPv4 and a /64 IPv6 block |
| Availability | 99.99% SLA, credited to your balance when we miss it |
| Traffic overages | None; VPS ports are throttled beyond the allowance, never billed |
| Delivery | Under 60 seconds for every in-stock product, dedicated included |
The savings come from elsewhere: no card processing and no fraud losses, since we are paid in crypto only; no sales team; hardware that we own outright rather than lease; and automation that provisions a dedicated server without a technician touching it.
Why so many plans are sold out
Pricing 20% below the market has an obvious consequence: demand exceeds supply, and we refuse to fix that by overselling. Stock on every product page is a live count of physical machines. When they are gone, the plan shows Sold out, and it comes back when the next batch is racked, usually within days. We would rather show an honest red badge than take an order we cannot deliver in 60 seconds.
Verify it before you pay
A price is only good if the product behind it is. Two tools let you test our network before creating an account: the looking glass measures TCP latency from our edge to any public host, and the speed test provides files and iperf3 endpoints in every location. After you order, the status page shows 90 days of uptime per component, and the SLA says what happens when a number on it is not green.
Tell us. If a comparable plan from a provider that meets the criteria above is cheaper than ours, we re-run the audit for that configuration and adjust the price for everyone, existing customers included.