Whether you’re a tech enthusiast looking for a reliable home for your self-hosted apps or an organization that needs a solid cloud infrastructure for business operations, picking the right cloud provider is the key decision that holds everything together.
As the person behind Linuxiac, a leading online publication covering everything Linux and open source, choosing the right home for the website is one of the most important decisions I make. It’s both a privilege and a responsibility I take very seriously.
The reason is simple: readers deserve the best possible experience. And that goes beyond quality content—it’s about reliability, security, and speed. I want the website to be accessible around the clock and to load quickly, regardless of your location. To make that happen, one thing is essential: a dependable, proven cloud provider.
Over the years, I’ve switched VPS providers several times. Each time, something was missing—sometimes the connectivity wasn’t where I wanted it to be, sometimes the support didn’t live up to expectations, or the performance just wasn’t there. That changed when I discovered UpCloud, which finally checked every box on my list. But before getting into the details of why, let’s take a quick look at who they are.
Meet UpCloud
UpCloud is a European-based cloud infrastructure provider that offers users virtual servers, storage, and networking tools to build, host, and scale applications and websites by utilizing its own high-performance MaxIOPS storage system and software-defined networking.
It delivers fast, reliable, and consistent performance across its global data centers, with a focus on transparency and predictability. Pricing is simple, with no hidden egress costs, and a strong service-level commitment (99.999% SLA).
Because of all this, UpCloud is often chosen by developers, small to medium-sized businesses, and digital operations that need cloud performance and uptime without getting tangled in complex billing or unexpected hardware surprises.
Why I Chose UpCloud
When I choose a cloud provider, there’s a lot that goes into the decision—it’s never just one or two things. So, here’s why UpCloud ticks all my boxes.
Global PoPs Network
Let me take you behind the scenes for a moment. Linuxiac isn’t just a website running on a single server—it’s a clustered service geographically distributed across multiple regions worldwide. That’s why one of my key requirements has always been choosing a cloud provider with a strong global presence, offering Points of Presence (PoPs) and data centers in all key regions across the globe.
The goal is simple: readers in Europe should enjoy the same fast performance and seamless experience as those in North America or Australia. To make that happen, the servers need to be physically close to them—and that’s exactly what UpCloud has taken into account.
The company operates 13 data centers strategically located around the globe: eight in Europe, three in the United States, one in Australia, and one in Asia. In other words, no matter where you choose to host your project, there’s an UpCloud data center nearby.
Built for Speed: UpCloud’s World-Class Connectivity
Regardless of how close a data center is, it won’t make much difference if the cloud provider lacks robust peering with major internet exchanges or sufficient bandwidth to ensure fast data transfers. And here, UpCloud shines again.
They include 1,000 Mbps (1 Gbps) Internet / public network connectivity with their Cloud Server plans. And this isn’t just a number meant to look good on paper—in my benchmark tests, UpCloud delivered around 928 Mbps download and 975 Mbps upload, which is genuinely impressive.
And to make things even greater, they do not charge for outbound traffic (e.g., egress) under normal usage — i.e., “zero-cost egress” under their Fair Transfer Policy. However, if your traffic is heavy, you can be throttled to 100 Mbps if you exceed your plan’s bandwidth allotment.
And if the numbers above don’t already speak for themselves, take a look at Linuxiac’s TTFB (Time to First Byte) results—a crucial indicator of how fast a website responds and how well it’s connected to the rest of the world.
As you can see, it’s under 20 milliseconds, and in most locations, even below 10 milliseconds. You know what that means? I’d call that lightning fast. Honestly, I couldn’t ask for anything more than what UpCloud already delivers for Linuxiac.
Plenty of Linux Server OS Options to Choose From
Now we come to a topic that’s particularly close to Linuxiac’s core focus—Linux itself. In the context of UpCloud, that means exploring the Linux server distributions available for deployment on its VPS platform.
All the well-established names are there, complete with their latest versions, whether you prefer the DEB or RPM ecosystem. UpCloud provides Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and 24.04 LTS, Debian 12 (Bookworm) and 13 (Trixie), AlmaLinux 8, 9, and 10, Rocky Linux 8, 9, and 10, as well as CentOS Stream 10.
Additionally, users can mount an installation CD-ROM to deploy a wide range of other distributions, including Fedora, Arch Linux, Alpine Linux, CloudLinux, CoreOS, Gentoo, NixOS, etc. Shall I keep going?
For those who prefer something outside the Linux ecosystem, FreeBSD and OpenBSD are also available—both renowned, battle-tested operating systems trusted by professionals for decades. Plus, Windows Server 2025 is also in place.
And if, for some reason—which honestly baffles me—none of these options fit your taste, UpCloud still has you covered. Thanks to its Custom Images feature, you can upload your own installation ISO and set up exactly what you want on your VPS.
Protected by Design
The last aspect I would like to address is security, specifically the firewall configurations. Let’s be honest—deploying a Linux VPS doesn’t automatically mean everyone’s comfortable managing tools like iptables, nftables, ufw, or firewalld. This is where UpCloud stands out, providing a clean and intuitive web interface that makes configuring firewall rules remarkably easy.
Protocols, ports, IP addresses, ranges—you name it, it’s all there. Even better, the firewall operates in front of your VPS’s virtual network adapter, filtering unwanted traffic before it ever reaches the server.
Now, don’t get me wrong—I actually enjoy tinkering with firewalls from the command line and consider it something of an art form. But it’s also true that it can often take considerable time to fine-tune rules to perfection. In that regard, UpCloud’s web-based firewall configurator offers a significant advantage by saving both time and effort—and honestly, that’s a win from any angle.
Beyond its firewall capabilities, UpCloud offers two types of private networking options designed for flexibility and security. SDN private networks operate within individual data centers and are ideal for production workloads that require isolated, high-performance internal traffic.
Meanwhile, the Utility Network connects all your cloud servers globally under the same account, providing secure, easy-to-use private links between instances across regions, so traffic between them never traverses the public Internet.
Additionally, their VPN Gateway service allows for site-to-site IPsec encrypted tunnels (utilizing AES, IKEv2, etc.) to securely connect your UpCloud private networks with other clouds, on-premises networks, or corporate infrastructure.
Conclusion
Of course, UpCloud offers a wide range of cloud services beyond virtual servers, designed for those building more complex infrastructures. These include Managed Databases, Object Storage, intelligent traffic distribution using Load Balancers, container orchestration through Managed Kubernetes, and so on—all tightly integrated into a single, easy-to-use platform. But back to VPSes.
Linuxiac’s new home at UpCloud has proven to be everything I hoped for—and more. The platform delivers exceptional performance, reliability, and ease of management. Around the clock, 24/7, 365 days a year, everything runs at lightning speed, and managing it through the provided UI is an absolute pleasure.
For DevOps professionals, UpCloud also offers a Terraform/OpenTofu provider, enabling infrastructure deployment and management through familiar automation workflows.
What truly impressed me, though, is the team behind the technology. From my very first interaction, their professionalism, expertise, and responsiveness stood out. But beyond that, their attitude toward customers is exceptional—friendly, approachable, and always focused on finding the best solution.
In short, UpCloud is a cloud provider that delivers both excellence and trust. For anyone seeking a dependable, high-performance platform, it’s a choice that’s hard to overlook. One thing’s for sure: you’ll be impressed—and your servers will thank you for it.
