OVH VPS Review: How Do Their Virtual Servers Compare Against Competitors?

OVH's VPS plans are flexible and affordable—at least on paper. But how do they perform in the real world? We put them through a thorough review to find out.

We put OVH's VPS offerings to the test, covering everything from setup and performance to support. In this review, you'll find out where OVH performs best, where it disappoints, and if these VPS plans are right for you.

Signing up with OVH is quick and easy. After entering your personal information, you'll receive a confirmation email, and your account is ready to go. You can also set up two-factor authentication right away if you prefer.

The dashboard is your central management hub. It's where you manage your products, keep track of invoices and contracts, and contact support through the ticket system.

The dashboard is divided into three sections: the main area (center), the sidebar (left), and the header (top).

The main area displays your key account information:

The sidebar can be shown or hidden. It contains your products and services:

In the header area of the dashboard, you'll find some general options and settings:

Some links in the sidebar aren't immediately clear because tooltips or other brief descriptions are missing.

Terms like "Sunrise" or "HYCU" are also somewhat cryptic and cause confusion. Beginners in particular may not know what these menu items do or whether they're even relevant.

Ordering a VPS at OVH is refreshingly simple. You select a plan, choose a location, pick an operating system, and add extras like backups or snapshots if needed. The ordering process is structured, and any additional costs are displayed transparently.

OVH operates data centers in multiple countries and continents.

For the operating system, you can choose from the Linux distributions Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, CloudLinux, and FreeBSD. Windows Server comes with a significant surcharge.

Once the order is complete, the server appears in the dashboard almost immediately. Your login credentials arrive by email, you can get started right away.

You access server management through the two-part sidebar in the OVH dashboard. Just click on the displayed server name to switch to the detailed view.

In this view, you'll find all the important information about your server: vCores, RAM, storage space, IP addresses, network status, and additional features accessible through three-dot menus.

In the "Boot" section under the "Your VPS" tab, you can restart the server. If you check the box for rescue mode, the server will boot into an emergency environment. This is useful when the main system is unresponsive or needs repairs. In this environment, you have access to essential tools for troubleshooting and data recovery.

The KVM console is helpful when you need direct access to your server, regardless of network status. It simulates your server's screen and keyboard in the browser. This lets you log in even when SSH isn't available and make changes that would otherwise only be possible locally.

For a fresh installation, you can choose from Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, CloudLinux, and FreeBSD. OVH clearly warns that this will delete all data and make the server unavailable during installation.

IP management is well organized. You can immediately see which public addresses belong to which server and edit reverse DNS entries directly. Additional IPv4 addresses cost extra, but IPv6 addresses are free.

OVH creates an automatic backup every day by default, at a time of your choosing. You either restore the entire server or mount the backup as an additional drive.

Premium backups offer more flexibility. They provide restore points from the last seven days. You activate them as a paid subscription in the dashboard.

Extra hard drives (50–500 GB) are available. The price depends on the storage size, billing is monthly. OVH doesn't automatically mount the new drive to your system. You're responsible for configuring and mounting it yourself.

Scaling other server elements at OVH is straightforward but not as flexible as the company likes to claim. If you're in need of more power, you can switch to a higher server tier with just a few clicks. For example, you can move from VPS-4 to VPS-5 or VPS-6.

Simply select a larger plan and restart the server. The new configuration takes effect immediately, and billing changes from the moment you upgrade.

What's missing is fine-grained customization. You can't increase or decrease CPU and RAM individually.

Downgrades aren't officially supported either. To switch to a lower tier, you need to order a new server, manually migrate your data, and then cancel the old plan. OVH will help you if needed, but a downgrade takes much more effort than an upgrade.

Here's how OVH's server features compare to other hosting providers:

To realistically evaluate and compare VPS performance in our review, we look at five areas that make the most significant difference in practice:

We compare each provider under the same conditions and rank the results based on objective measurements. The goal is to give you a realistic assessment of how each provider stacks up in the market and what use cases it is best suited for.

We explain our benchmark methodology in more detail here:

In the single-core CPU test, the OVH VPS scores 1,105 points, which is slightly below average. For many everyday tasks, such as smaller websites or development environments, this level of performance is still sufficient.

The multi-core test tells a much better story. With 7,159 points, OVH lands in 5th place, above the median. For workloads with many parallel processes, such as container systems, build servers, or more complex web applications, this is a solid foundation.

RAM performance is a clear weak spot for OVH. The measured value is 47,490 MiB per second, which only earns 8th place in our comparison. If you're using memory-intensive applications like in-memory databases, large data analytics, or virtual machines, this weakness can negatively impact performance.

The SSD performance is better. In our tests with small 4k operations, OVH achieved 100,700 IOPS, which is 4th place in our comparison.

If you work with many small files or frequent database queries, you'll benefit from the fast access times. CMS-based websites or mail servers also run smoothly on this foundation.

Network connectivity is one of the host's biggest weaknesses. With 1,950 Mbit/s, OVH ranks near the bottom of our review field.

If you transfer large amounts of data, create external backups, or use services with high bandwidth demands, this connection can quickly become a bottleneck. It's still adequate for simple applications, but not ideal for modern cloud-based work environments.

To compare prices fairly across different providers, we evaluate them based on typical VPS configurations. We look at five key cost factors:

We rate each of these categories using a fixed scoring system. The lower the costs or the more flexible the billing model, the higher the score.

We only consider regular list prices, including VAT or sales tax. Limited-time discounts are not considered, which creates an objective comparison that shows how OVH stacks up against other hosts.

This is how OVH's costs compare to others:

OVH offers six VPS plans, ranging from VPS-1 to VPS-6. On the overview page, you'll see the key technical specs like vCores, RAM, and storage. Prices are per month and include VAT.

Available resources increase with each plan tier:

You have several options when it comes to contract length. You stay flexible with a month-to-month plan or commit to 6 or 12 months upfront. Longer commitments come with a discount, but you'll be locked in for that period.

Here's an overview of OVH's VPS plans:

OVH's VPS plans cover a wide performance spectrum. Depending on your needs, you can choose from options suited to smaller projects all the way up to complex, resource-intensive environments:

When it comes to customer support, OVH separates its free standard plan from several paid service tiers. At first glance, the available channels seem comprehensive. But a closer look reveals significant differences in usability, availability, and depth of assistance.

Free support is available Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 6 PM. OVH states a maximum response time of eight hours. You can reach them via ticket, phone, or live chat.

Outside business hours, support only responds to system-wide outages. For day-to-day operations, this means the standard tier covers the basics but offers limited reliability.

OVH's Help Center is extremely detailed. Hundreds of articles cover nearly every use case, from basic topics to highly specific configurations. The articles are usually well-organized and include step-by-step instructions along with helpful internal links.

That said, the tone is clearly aimed at technically experienced users. If you're just getting started or unfamiliar with technical terms, you might feel overwhelmed. Some articles also show signs of machine translation, which OVH transparently labels.

OVH offers three direct support channels: phone, ticket system, and chat.

The ticket system is the main way to communicate with support. In our review, however, it proved slow and unreliable: A simple question went unanswered for about 26 hours, and the response was only somewhat helpful. You can't set your own priority level, and the repeated references to FAQ articles aren't very useful.

The support hotline is available, but it's barely visible on the website. During our review (Friday morning, standard support plan), a clunky voice menu dragged out the call. After 17 minutes on hold, a knowledgeable representative answered and resolved the issue surprisingly fast.

If standard support isn't enough, OVH offers three additional tiers: Premium, Business, and Enterprise. These differ mainly in response times, communication channels, and personalized assistance. Professional help comes at an extra cost.

All support levels include access to the Help Center and OVH community. True 24/7 support with fast response times is only available starting with the Business tier. The Enterprise tier is designed for larger organizations that need a dedicated contact person and priority handling.

OVH operates a large community platform. However, most posts come from other users, as OVH itself rarely participates. As a result, the quality of answers varies widely.

On review sites, feedback about OVH support is mixed but often critical. While some users report friendly staff and quick help, mostly through the ticket system, negative experiences outweigh the positive ones.

Many customers with standard support complain about long wait times, poor phone support availability, and automated responses. According to user reports, goodwill gestures are rare. When serious issues like server outages occur, frustrated customers say support responses are vague or nonexistent.

OVH offers affordable VPS hosting with quick setup and solid basic features. If you're on a tight budget and need a simple setup for smaller projects or basic tasks, it can be an attractive option.

The low prices come with trade-offs. Performance is average at best, especially when it comes to RAM and network connectivity, where OVH clearly lags behind competitors. VPS management is also more complex than it needs to be. Support follows a "pay-to-play" model. Standard support covers the bare minimum only.

OVH is best suited for technically experienced users who can live with these limitations and are willing to troubleshoot on their own. For business-critical applications or customers without technical expertise, OVH without paid support is not the best choice.

What do OVH customers think of the provider? We analyzed reviews from various rating platforms and summarized the most common feedback.

If OVH isn't the right provider for you, one of these alternatives might be a better fit:

Here are some more alternatives to OVH: