How we compared them
"Offshore" and "anonymous" are the most abused words in hosting marketing. A host in Iceland that asks for your email, phone and card is offshore in name only; a crypto checkout that runs through a KYC payment processor is anonymous in name only. So instead of ranking providers on speed tests or reputation alone, we scored each one on five properties that decide what you can actually be linked to:
- Signup identity — does the host require an email, a phone number or documents, or can you buy with nothing but a payment?
- Payment privacy — is Monero (XMR) accepted, or only Bitcoin and cards?
- Jurisdictions — how many legal systems can you spread servers across? One country means one raid, one court order or one registrar hold can take everything down.
- DMCA posture — does the host act on US takedown notices, or do those notices have no legal force where the server sits?
- Hardware — are bare-metal dedicated servers available, or only shared virtual machines?
Every attribute comes from the providers' own public documentation at the time of writing. Disclosure: we run AnonPort, one of the twelve providers below. We applied the same criteria to ourselves and we say plainly where we lose — notably on track record. Each provider links to a full head-to-head page with the complete feature table.
The comparison at a glance
| Provider | Based in | Jurisdictions | Email at signup | Monero | DMCA-ignored | Bare metal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AnonPort | 7 countries | 7 | No (token only) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| FlokiNET | Iceland | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1984 Hosting | Iceland | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Njalla | Sweden | 1 | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Incognet | Netherlands, Luxembourg | 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Privex | Belize, Sweden, Finland | 3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OrangeWebsite | Iceland | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NiceVPS | Dominica | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AbeloHost | Netherlands | 1 | Yes | Not stated | Yes | Yes |
| Shinjiru | Malaysia | 5 | Yes, often a phone too | No | Yes | Yes |
| PRQ | Sweden | 1 | Identification required | No (Bitcoin only) | Yes | Yes |
| SporeStack | EU, USA (resold capacity) | 2 | No (token only) | Yes | No | No |
Two patterns stand out. First, almost every "anonymous" host still asks for an email: only AnonPort and SporeStack let you buy with a token and nothing else. Second, half of the twelve operate from a single country, which concentrates legal risk; only AnonPort (7 jurisdictions), Shinjiru (5) and FlokiNET (4) spread across four or more.
The 12 providers, one by one
1. AnonPort — best for no-identity signup across many jurisdictions
This is our own service, so judge this entry against the table. AnonPort sells KVM VPS, bare-metal dedicated servers, Windows RDP and GPU servers in seven jurisdictions — Iceland, Switzerland, Panama, Moldova, Romania, the Netherlands and Russia — with no email, name or phone at any step: the account is a 16-character token issued at payment. Eight cryptocurrencies are accepted, Monero included, and DMCA notices are not acted on in any location. VPS plans start at $7.50/month and dedicated servers at $48.50/month.
Where it loses: AnonPort launched in 2025, which gives it the shortest track record on this list by far. Providers such as 1984 Hosting, FlokiNET or Shinjiru have a decade or more of operating history; if a long public reputation matters more to you than zero-identity signup, one of them may be the better pick.
2. FlokiNET — best for activists and journalists
FlokiNET is a veteran activist-oriented host founded in 2012, with servers in four jurisdictions, its own IP space as a RIPE NCC member, .onion mirrors and a PGP contact. It ignores DMCA notices, accepts Monero and offers bare-metal servers, with dedicated plans from around €89/month. The trade-offs: you still sign up with an email, and its four countries do not include Panama, Russia or Moldova. FlokiNET compared with AnonPort in detail.
3. 1984 Hosting — best for an Iceland-only, renewable-powered VPS
1984 Hosting has operated in Iceland since 2006 and has an excellent reputation in the press-freedom community; its datacenters run on 100% renewable energy. It is DMCA-ignored and accepts Monero, but it is single-jurisdiction, requires an email at signup and has no bare-metal servers in its catalogue. Full 1984 Hosting comparison.
4. Njalla — best for a privacy domain and hosting bundle
Njalla, founded in 2017 in Sweden, is best known for privacy-focused domain registration and still carries strong brand recognition in the privacy community. It accepts Monero natively. As a host it is limited: one location (Sweden), LXD containers rather than full KVM virtualization, no dedicated servers, and no advertised DMCA-ignored policy. Full Njalla comparison.
5. Incognet — best for DMCA-ignored hosting in the Netherlands and Luxembourg
Incognet, founded in 2021, offers genuinely DMCA-ignored hosting in two countries, accepts Monero, and sells KVM VPS and bare-metal servers with custom ISO upload and unmetered bandwidth. It is young, covers only two jurisdictions and requires an email. Full Incognet comparison.
6. Privex — best for a crypto-native team with Belize coverage
Privex is run by a crypto-native team and spreads servers across Belize, Sweden and Finland, three jurisdictions with strong privacy credentials. It accepts Monero, ignores DMCA notices and offers dedicated servers from around €90/month. It still collects an email at signup, offers no SLA credits and has limited bandwidth tiers. Full Privex comparison.
7. OrangeWebsite — best for Icelandic hosting for Web3 projects
OrangeWebsite has been hosting in Iceland for more than fifteen years and has built a clientele around blockchain projects. DDoS protection is included, DMCA notices are ignored, Monero is accepted and dedicated servers are available. It is Iceland-only, requires an email and sits at the premium end of the market, at around €29.90/month to start. Full OrangeWebsite comparison.
8. NiceVPS — best for a Caribbean jurisdiction
NiceVPS is based in Dominica, a Caribbean jurisdiction with no mutual legal assistance treaty with the United States. It accepts Bitcoin, Monero and other coins, supports custom ISO upload and Tor access, and bundles an offshore SMTP relay. It runs a single jurisdiction at a smaller scale, and signup uses a standard email. Full NiceVPS comparison.
9. AbeloHost — best for managed hosting in the Netherlands
AbeloHost has run Netherlands offshore hosting for fourteen years and bundles full management, backups and cPanel into every plan, with a 99.99% uptime SLA. It is single-jurisdiction, uses a standard email signup, does not state Monero support, and its entry dedicated server still runs a 2013-era Xeon E3-1220 v3. Full AbeloHost comparison.
10. Shinjiru — best for track record and DDoS protection
Shinjiru has operated from Malaysia since 1998 and covers five jurisdictions, with solid DDoS protection, DMCA-ignored hosting and SLA credits. Its weak point is signup friction: an email and often a phone number are required, Monero is not accepted, and pricing is enterprise-level. Full Shinjiru comparison.
11. PRQ — best for free-speech heritage
PRQ is the Swedish host that historically served The Pirate Bay and WikiLeaks, owns its own backbone and keeps a firm stance against takedowns of content that is legal in Sweden. It is a single jurisdiction that has been raided before, it requires identification at signup, and on the crypto side it accepts only Bitcoin, alongside cards. Pricing is quoted on request. Full PRQ comparison.
12. SporeStack — best for API-only, account-free VPS
SporeStack is one of the few hosts with a genuinely no-email, token-based architecture, driven entirely by an API, with Monero accepted and Tor and I2P access supported. It resells upstream cloud capacity rather than running its own datacenters, offers VPS only, and enforces takedowns on valid US legal requests, so it is not DMCA-ignored. Full SporeStack comparison.
How to choose for your threat model
- Your identity must never touch the account (sources, leak drops, sensitive research): choose a token-only host — AnonPort or SporeStack — and pay in Monero.
- Your content attracts copyright complaints (file sharing, media, mirrors): choose a DMCA-ignored host and spread across at least two jurisdictions — see our guide to the best countries for DMCA-ignored hosting.
- You need raw performance or your own hardware (databases, blockchain nodes, GPU workloads): rule out container-only and VPS-only hosts and look at bare-metal catalogues.
- Track record matters most (long-running public projects): the veterans — Shinjiru (since 1998), PRQ (2004), 1984 Hosting (2006) and OrangeWebsite (2009) — have the longest operating history.
- Budget is tight: entry VPS prices range from a few dollars to around €30 a month; compare entry specifications, not just the headline price.
Red flags when a host says "anonymous"
- An email field at signup. An email address is an identifier that can be subpoenaed, breached or cross-referenced.
- A crypto button that redirects to a payment processor. Gateways such as BitPay identify the merchant and can identify the customer; the privacy outcome is close to a card payment.
- Servers inside US jurisdiction. US-based infrastructure is subject to DMCA takedowns whatever the marketing says.
- A single country. One jurisdiction means one point of legal failure.
- Resold capacity. A host that resells another provider's cloud inherits that provider's abuse policy.
Whichever host you pick, the server is only one layer. Harden it in the first hour with our hardening checklist, pay from a privacy-clean source, and read our guide on choosing an offshore jurisdiction before you commit.