Best VPS Providers for Hosting Discord Bots (2025 Comparison)
A VPS is the most reliable, cost‑effective way to run a Discord bot 24/7. Below is an accurate, developer‑oriented comparison of popular VPS providers in 2025, with clear picks by budget, region, and risk profile. Check the linked pricing pages before purchase - plans change often.
Table of Contents
TL;DR Quick Picks
Top VPS Providers
Hetzner Cloud
Excellent price/performance, EU‑first footprint
Pros
- Very competitive pricing for shared CPU
- Consistently strong CPU (modern EPYC/Intel) and NVMe storage
- Simple, predictable billing
Cons
- EU‑centric regions (some US presence; choose closest region)
- No specialized game‑focused anti‑DDoS layer
Best for: Budget‑minded bots with most users in EU or near new US regions
OVHcloud VPS
Network‑level anti‑DDoS included by default
Pros
- Included network‑level anti‑DDoS on their backbone
- Decent global footprint (EU/NA)
- Transparent pricing
Cons
- Panel UX is dated vs developer‑centric clouds
- Disk performance varies by tier
Best for: Bots sensitive to DDoS or communities prone to attacks
Vultr
Many regions and flexible hourly billing
Pros
- Broad region coverage for low latency
- Hourly billing and quick scaling
- High Performance tiers with NVMe
Cons
- Entry plans may be shared‑CPU constrained
- Bandwidth allowances vary by region/tier
Best for: Global bots needing a nearby region and simple scaling
DigitalOcean Droplets
Developer‑friendly UX and docs
Pros
- Great documentation and tutorials
- One‑click images and clean API
- Managed add‑ons (DB, storage) if you expand
Cons
- Entry pricing can be higher than EU budget clouds
- Bandwidth egress counting can surprise at scale
Best for: Teams that value DX and predictable workflows
Akamai/Linode
Straightforward pricing and solid performance
Pros
- Reliable shared‑CPU instances
- Clear, simple pricing
- Good Linux distro support
Cons
- Entry tiers may be pricier than EU budget options
- Fewer fringe regions than hyperscalers
Best for: Stable long‑running bots with steady usage
Contabo
Ultra‑low cost, high resource caps
Pros
- Very low cost per vCPU/RAM
- Ample storage on many plans
Cons
- Performance consistency varies (busy neighbors)
- Setup fees/longer terms on some plans; network limits vary
Best for: Budget experiments, non‑latency‑critical bots, or secondary workers
- Anti‑DDoS capabilities differ. OVHcloud includes network‑level mitigation; others offer varying protections or paid add‑ons.
- Entry tiers are shared CPU. If you run heavy jobs (AI/TTS/scraping), separate them or choose larger instances.
- Always confirm bandwidth, IPv4/IPv6, and storage details on provider pricing pages.
Evaluation Criteria (What Matters for Discord Bots)
Regions & Latency
Pick regions closest to most guilds. Lower RTT means faster slash command responses and steadier gateway heartbeats. US regions usually offer lower latency for Discord bots.
DDoS & Network
Discord bots are less targeted than game servers, but raids and API abuse happen. Prefer providers with proven network posture; rate‑limit and backoff in code.
CPU/RAM & Storage
1–2 GB RAM suffices for most bots, but it can scale fast as you grow. 4-8GB is a good starting point if you need peace of mind. Use NVMe storage for logs/caches. Split heavy jobs from your gateway process to avoid hiccups.
Baseline VPS Setup for Discord Bots
Essentials
- Use Node 18/20 LTS or modern Python; keep packages updated.
- Run with pm2 or systemd; auto‑restart on crash and reboot.
- Enable a basic firewall (ufw) and fail2ban; SSH keys over passwords.
- Implement jittered backoff on gateway reconnects; alert on repeated IDENTIFY failures.
Scale & Reliability
- For 2,500+ guilds, plan sharding; monitor memory per shard.
- Separate compute‑heavy jobs (AI, image, scraping) from the gateway process.
- Prefer regional proximity for voice/music features.
List and Grow Your Bot
Once your bot is running 24/7, list it on Rank.top and enable vote revenue sharing to turn usage into income.
Disclaimer: Provider pricing/features change frequently. Always confirm details on the official pages linked below.