Frequently Asked Questions

What payment methods are supported?

We support a variety of cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), HIVE, HBD, EOS, Dogecoin (DOGE), and Bitcoin (Bitcoin Core - BTC). Unlike most services that accept crypto - we process crypto with our own in-house made payment gateway and billing system, to maximise your privacy during payment :)

We're also able to accept US, UK, EU, and AU domestic bank transfers, as well as international SWIFT transfers - but only for transactions over a certain amount, and we charge a fee for most bank transfers - please see our page on paying with Bank Transfer

We DO NOT accept Credit/Debit Card, PayPal, Gift Cards, or most other fiat payment methods - this is out of our control due to payment processors not trusting offshore companies due to offshore countries protecting privacy/security too much, upsetting finance services' strict Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations.

Can I pay in advance, or top up my account balance?

To pay in advance, we recommend using our self-service automated Account Top-Up service, simply enter the email you registered with, and the amount you'd like to top up, and you'll be able to pay using the same methods you can for a normal order.

Your account credit NEVER expires, and it's held in USD, so you don't have to worry about cryptocurrency exchange rates

Alternatively - if you'd only like to pay for a single server in advance, you'll need to contact us, we can either let you pay for multiple months of a server in one invoice as a one-off, or we can change your billing frequency to quarterly/annually/bi-annually so that you always pay for 3/6/12/24 months each time you get a renewal invoice.

Can I withdraw my account balance back to crypto or bank transfer?

We generally don't allow this - as to prevent people trying to use us as a bank to convert their crypto and hold the exchange rate.

It's only allowed in rare cases, such as if you accidentally topped up too much and noticed it within a few days (e.g. if you made a typo and topped up $1000 instead of $100).

It may also be allowed if you have a custom referral agreement with us - discussed beforehand, where we agreed that some/all of your referral rewards could be paid out in cash.

Where is Privex located?

We are a registered company (Privex Inc.) in Belize. Belize has high standards of privacy, with strong legal safeguards allowing us to protect your information.

We offer servers in a variety of countries, but we don't currently offer servers in Belize or other offshore locations.

I live in X / I'm a resident of X, can I still use Privex? Do I need to get a server in my country?

Individuals and companies from all over the world can use Privex! The only exception to this is Belize, we're not allowed to offer services to Belize individuals or domestic Belize corporations/orgs - but we CAN offer services to Belize IBCs (offshore Belize corps).

You don't need to order a server in your country of residence, or where your customers are located. If you plan to run a latency sensitive app/service such as game servers, it would be recommended to order a server as close to you / your users geographically as possible - for best performance.

For common websites/services, it makes little difference which region you pick in terms of performance, so you should use regions which have the specific servers that meet your needs, or regions which have appropriate laws/rules for your service if you're running something that may be illegal / disallowed in some areas.

What regions are available?

Currently we offer servers in the USA, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, and Finland.

We're always expanding when we can, so there will be more regions in the future :)

Do you support Colocation? (bring your own server / network equipment and we host it in our DC)

Yes we do! It's currently only available by quotation in our Sweden and Netherlands regions.

We can offer colocation from as little as 1U, to as much as 12-24U, or even a full 40U-48U rack!

We can act as your transit provider (ISP), assist you with networking, help you source hardware / build a server, and provide a small block of IPv4 addresses + large block of IPv6 for use on your colocated devices.

If you've never colocated a server before, don't worry! We can help you every step of the way, to make sure your colocation experience is as smooth as possible :)

For a basic price reference, prices start at $40/U/mo for Sweden, and $100/U/mo for The Netherlands - prices will vary depending on the power usage of your server, and the kind of networking you'd like.

Please contact us for more information about colo, price quotations, and to get started with colocating your server(s) with us :)

Is there a panel?

Yes! You can access the panel here

If there's anything you can't do from the panel yourself, please contact us and we can do it from our end.

Can I upgrade... / How do I upgrade... / Upgrading Pricing / Additional IPs

My server's hardware - VPS / Dedicated Server

Yes you can! Both dedicated and virtual servers can be upgraded for an adjustment in your monthly fee, and/or a one-time setup fee.

You can find information and pricing about upgrades HERE.

Additional IP addresses / Subnets - IPv4 and IPv6

Click here for information about buying additional IPv4 / IPv6 addresses/subnets

Click here for information about Bringing Your Own IP Addresses (BYOIP) via BGP

My network (Unmetered bandwidth, faster speed, 10G, etc.) - Bring your own IP - BGP

Please see this page for information and pricing about unmetered network pricing

Can I bring my own IPv4/IPv6 subnets that I own/rent on RIPE/ARIN/AFRINIC and use them on Privex's network?

If you own or rent IPv4 / IPv6 subnets (min /24 of v4, min /48 of v6), and are able to control their route / route6 objects in the WHOIS database, you can bring them to Privex (only our autonomous regions), even if you don't have an ASN :)

If you have an ASN, you can advertise them yourselves via a BGP session to our core router. If you don't, we can advertise them under our ASN and route them to your servers with us.

Click here for more information about Bringing Your Own IP Addresses (BYOIP)

Autonomous Regions

Which region's are "Autonomous Regions"?

At the time of writing (June 2022), we have 2 fully Autonomous Regions:

  • Sweden (SE)
  • Netherlands (NL)

What is an autonomous region?

An Autonomous Region is a region where Privex has full autonomy over our content policies, which means that it's entirely up to Privex how to handle an abuse report regarding a server in an Autonomous Region.

This allows us to host content/services in those regions that most server hosts don't allow, such as Tor Exit Node's, sexually explicit content, (legal) drug related websites, and more!

What are the benefits compared to a standard region?

In Standard Regions - abuse reports generally first go through the datacenter / hosting provider we use for that region, and then the provider will forward it to us - telling us that the customer is required to take down the problematic content/service, and if we or the customer does not comply with the takedown within 12-72 hrs, then the provider will forcefully suspend or terminate the server containing the problematic content/service.

Where-as in Autonomous Regions, abuse reports go directly to Privex, so unless the report is from law enforcement / a court in a jurisdiction where we must comply (either Belize, or the court/police of the region where the server is hosted), it's entirely up to Privex whether to comply (suspend/terminate the customer), or refuse to comply (leave the server untouched).

Some other features our Autonomous Regions (usually) have:

  • Servers use Privex's IPv4 + IPv6 address space, rather than a provider's IP space]
    • Allows us to control where abuse emails are sent to
    • Allows us to be flexible on IP pricing and allocation
    • Allows us to decide whether or not IPs being in blacklist DBs is a problem and what to do about them
    • In some cases, allows us to transfer IPs between VPS's / Dedicated Servers within the same region
  • We usually own the hardware which we offer to customers, instead of renting it from a provider
    • Allows us to be more flexible with hardware configurations
    • On some server models, we allow customers to bring their own hardware (Drives / RAM / PCI cards) to upgrade rented servers without changing the monthly cost
    • Allows us to be more flexible with billing/pricing, as each dedicated server doesn't cost us a separate monthly fee
  • We usually have full or at least partial control over the network by operating our own network equipment
    • Allows us to be flexible on how to attach IPs to servers (LAN (Layer 2) vs. Routed (Layer 3))
    • Customers can bring their own IP space for us to announce, or for the customer to announce via BGP - and attach to virtual or dedicated servers
    • Customers may be able to colocate servers (bring your own server hardware)

Can I host a Tor relay or exit node?

Short answer: YES

You can run a RELAY (non-exit) in all of our regions, AS LONG AS you have the appropriate unmetered bandwidth plan.

You can run an EXIT node in our Autonomous Regions only, IF you have permission from us. Please see our Tor Exit Policy page for more details on how to run a relay or exit properly at Privex.

Can you host adult pornography or other sexually explicit material on Privex servers?

If you're hosting (legal 18+) pornography for the PUBLIC (whether for free, or behind a paid subscription/paywall system), it can be hosted in our autonomous regions - which are currently Sweden (SE) and Netherlands (NL).

It MIGHT be possible in our US region too, but our US provider's policy on adult content is unclear.

Hosting explicit sexual content publicly is 100% banned in our Germany (DE) / Finland (FI) regions, you will be suspended/terminated without a refund if you're caught hosting explicit sexual content.

We very strongly recommend sticking to Privex's autonomous regions for hosting any risque content. (pornography, drugs, open proxies, or a service with user-generated content which has a high risk of users posting risque content)

If the content is NOT PUBLIC (i.e. only YOU / your friends can access the content, and there's no indication that your server is hosting pornography if someone were to browse your server's IP / domain), then it would be generally okay in all regions.

If you have any more questions related to this, please contact us!

Otherwise, if you're ready to order - simply go to our order form and order a server in the region appropriate for you, and make sure to enter "legal pornography website" or something similar in "Purpose of Use" so that we're aware that you host pornography in the future, which helps us to protect your server in the event of abuse reports regarding your server.