When we first found VPSBG, it seemed to have a lot of green lights when inspected as an anonymous offshore hosting company. Although, later a couple red flags were encountered as well, those pros and cons are what we weigh throughout this VPSBG review.
We understand you’re here to find a company which would help you host your content offshore. In regards to the same, we answer the following questions throughout this VPSBG review to help you decide better:
- Is VPSBG Anonymous and Private?
- Is VPSBG Offshore?
- What Content Isn’t Allowed on VPSBG?
- What Payment Modes does VPSBG Accept?
- Does VPSBG Offer Refunds?
- What are the Services and Plans offered?
- How can VPSBG Support be Contacted?
VPSBG Overview
A pit-stop, to help you understand the company better:
- Primary URL: https://www.vpsbg.eu/
- Servers location: Bulgaria
- Payment methods: BTC+LTC+ Fiats.
- Cheapest Plan: EUR 5.00/month.
- Servers: Shared, VPS, VDS.
- DMCA Policy: Liberal
- Live Chat: No.
- Content not allowed: Listed in the AUP section.
Let’s start answering the questions top to bottom then?
Is VPSBG Anonymous and Private?
The company does flash “Privacy Protection and Offshore Location” on its homepage as one of its features.
But it doesn’t seem to be practically correct. Atleast not in the sense as we’ve seen in our Evoluso Review, or Anonymous Hosting review.
For starters, its Terms and Conditions page states that all information provided during registration must be true. As in, a user’s First name, Address, Mobile number and other details must be true.
Furthermore, the company also collects a number of data about its users automatically. Which includes but isn’t limited to:
- The IP Address
- Browser
- Number of page visits.
- Time spent on the pages etc.
In addition to this, the Privacy Policy also states that lest situation presents itself, the company will also divulge information to the Bulgarian court and Law Enforcement Agencies.
All of this go on to prove that the “Privacy” being offered at the homepage is more like a metaphor, or in other words privacy from “Third-parties”. The company may not share your information with third-parties without your consent, but it still demands it which is a major red flag personally for me.
The clause for “Retention of Data” also doesn’t specify a time-frame after which the personal data is deleted.
Long story short, if you aren’t comfortable with sharing your personal data with the company, VPSBG probably isn’t the company for you.
Is VPSBG Offshore?
That part from its homepage statement seems to be true. The company is based out of Bulgaria, and offers servers from the same.
Bulgaria is a very liberal country in terms of digital laws and allowed content as you’ll soon see in the AUP section of this VPSBG review.
The lack of multiple server-locations surely may hurt some with more specific audience-source, but as far as offshore locations go it fits the bill.
What Content isn’t Allowed on VPSBG? (AUP)
Why do we seek offshore Hosting solutions in the first place? The legal liberty we get with the content uploaded on the servers, isn’t that right?
While there are some companies, such as the one explored in our HostKey Review, which comply to “Global Laws”, VPSBG is fortunately a lot more liberal.
Which means, it only requires the user’s content to be legal according to Bulgarian laws. Hence it’s perfect for content which is locally illegal but legal in Bulgaria.
But there still is a broader list of restrictions, content which is directly banned on the platform and not allowed in any way:
- Anything illegal under Bulgarian Laws.
- SPAM
- Copyrighted software/content.
- Commonly unaccepted or “unethical” data/information/software.
While the list isn’t very “specific”; there are a couple allowances which we believe anyone seeking an offshore hosting solution generally wishes for.
For starters, VPSBG is pretty liberal with its DMCA Policy. Being based in Sofia, Bulgaria it doesn’t have to comply to the normal DMCA laws . Even though Bulgarian Copyright laws still apply, they do clearly mention “DMCA is not relevant in Bulgaria”.
Hence, no direct action is taken upon the arrival of a DMCA or Copyright-violation report. Rather the company contacts the administrator/customer and asks them to act accordingly.
Secondly, it also allows TOR networks which is a rarity even for the best offshore hosting companies out there.
Furthermore, Mailing Lists which too aren’t a very widely accepted content on other similar platforms are happily accepted on VPSBG as long as its authentic, and has been voluntarily signed up for by the users.
In a nutshell, the AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) isn’t very constricted and allows for quite a bit of breathing room.
What Payment Modes does VPSBG Accept?
We prioritize companies accepting Cryptocurrency payments, and VPSBG is one of them. Infact it accepts two primary Cryptocurrencies:
- Bitcoin
- Litecoin.
It encourages Crypto payments and has a permanently-enabled coupon code- “CRYPTO” which would offer users a 10% discount on their purchases.
If you’d like to pay using fiat currencies (and give up any chance at anonymity in the process), the company accepts:
- PayPal
- Debit Cards
- Credit Cards.
Bank transfers too are accepted, even though do not have an automated interface, but can be accepted and arranged if and when the company is contacted manually.
Does VPSBG offer Refunds?
Yes, the company does offer refunds if a service is cancelled within the first 14 days of its initiation. Moreover, if VPSBG is found to be at fault, they claim to offer refunds for the disruption period as well.
Other refunds in special cases are possible. Note that the refund is only issued using the same mode which was used to make the payment.
What are the Services and Pricing Plans Offered?
The company offers three primary types of servers:
- Shared
- VPS
- And VDS.
Shared plans have four packages, starting with LITE which costs EUR $5.00/month, going all the way upto the Enterprise Package priced at EUR 40.00/month.
VPS Plans have three plans, each priced at EUR 10.00/month, EUR 20.00/month, and EUR 40.00/month respectively.
Finally, VDS plans start at EUR 50.00/month, followed by a EUR 100.00/month and a EUR 200.00/month plan.
The pricing is dependent upon the exact server specs and resources obviously. Note that the VPS and VDS servers are “Linux-only”. They do not currently offer Windows servers.
What are the Additional Features Provided by VPSBG?
VPSBG offers a number of additional services which we believe deserve a mention in this VPSBG Review.
For starters, they provide “free website migration” if you’re purchasing a Shared server, and your old hosting plan has a cPanel based hosting.
Then they also offer 14-day Backups for Shared servers, and cPanel too is included. While not major motivations, these are still add-ons quite a few companies out there are missing.
How can VPSBG Support be Contacted?
We mentioned in our Innova Hosting Review that the company offers live-chat to its customers, didn’t we? Unfortunately, VPSBG doesn’t like to talk as much.
In other words, the only way to get in touch with the Support team is via Tickets. So if you’re a non-registered user, you’re forced to make use of the contact-form available on the website, and wait hours for the reply.
No special (or faster) modes of communication are offered to registered/paying customers either.
Final Verdict on VPSBG Review
We hope you do have a pretty good idea of the company by now, don’t you? Let’s bid adieu too this VPSBG review then?
My final verdict is it’s an okay company if it’s purely “features and services” you’re looking for, and are okay with divulging personal information. The AUP and server locations sure are acceptable, the pricing too not bizarre.
So the only two points of disappointment for me were its no-anonymity policy, and slower support. Apart from that, the company comes out with flying colours.
Also if you’ve been through our other reviews, you may have noticed that we didn’t include “tests” (Speed / SRT / live-traffic test) in this VPSBG review. That’s purely because the company routes its traffic via CDN Networks hence the results would be tainted and not accurate.
But that’s about it. Do let us know your thoughts on this VPSBG review, and what you think about the company and its services as well.