Offshore hosting – what it is, and why you might want it?

There are so many reasons to hire offshore hosting- to avoid censorship or to remain anonymous. However, not all hosts offer such kind of freedom and privacy to their users. If you wish to know in detail about offshore hosting then read till the end.

An offshore hosting provider featuring the commitment to privacy, accept cryptocurrencies, offer liberal use policies are the best! One can choose a location like Bulgaria and the Netherlands for offshore hosting as it offers the best privacy laws.

One can also choose VPS or virtual private server hosting as it gives great technical options to protect users’ privacy.

What is offshore hosting?

Offshore hosting is the hosting that is done in countries outside of the user’s own country. The reason why some choose to get their website hosted in other countries is to gain benefits like posting the copyrighted content and privacy. One can safely post things on your website without getting your site being taken down by DMCA.

Reasons to choose Offshore Hosting of a website

There are lots of reasons to go for offshore hosting as given below:

• Freedom of press
• Freedom of speech
• Taxes as well as legal residency
• Avoid local regulation
• Anonymous service

Let’s understand these points in detail

1. Freedom of the press

One example of this is “Wikileaks”. Wikileaks is known to publish classified government documents for the general public. If this site will host its content in the United States, the government of the US shut down. But the hosting server of this website is in Sweden where there is freedom of speech. Therefore, the Swedish government does not take down Wikileaks!

2. Freedom of speech

Hosting content which has controversies of any sort can be hard to post in countries with laws, cultural norms, and regulations.  The punishments that you will get can be from staying in jail to pay fines and many more. Also in dictatorial countries, your content will be removed from the internet easily! Still, if you want to provide your content and have the freedom of speech then you have to search for the country or the location where freedom of speech is protected and your contents won’t be taken down!

3. Taxes and the legal presidency

Some people make use of offshore hosting in order to get a legal business presence as well as tax advantages and other benefits. If you are looking for the tax advantages through Offshore hosting then some of the best locations are- the Isle of Man, Bermuda, Switzerland, Monaco, Netherlands, and the Cayman Islands.

4. Avoid local regulation

It is illegal to sell pharmaceutical products or services directly to users without a prescription in a country like the US. Also in Asian countries gambling is strictly prohibited. Also, pornography-related regulations of various countries are strict. In such countries if you upload the content like described above then content will be taken down by the law and penalties will be imposed on you! Therefore to host your content in such cases you will require the help of offshore hosting services.

5. Anonymous service

There are many offshore hosting providers that offer anonymous services. That means your identity or information will be anonymous if you make use of their services. Also, the payment is kept anonymous through the use of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Such hosting providers contact the customers through the email accounts anonymously.

Issues with Offshore Hosting

Hiring an Offshore hosting provider not completely protects you from the regulations. For example, if you want to open a gambling site living in a country where gambling is illegal. Then if you hold the casino site through the server of the Isle of Man where it’s legal to gamble. Then also you will be engaging in the activities of your site and upload content that means you are breaking local laws.

Here are 5 things to consider when selecting offshore hosting services

1. Search About location restrictions

It is important to understand that just because you are hosting abroad does not necessarily mean you are protected from the law. Many locations like Singapore have their laws and regulations and there your content won’t survive if they don’t meet the law. Also, in Russia, you will not be able to upload any content related to politics. Thus, finding a proper location for offshore hosting is necessary.

2. Research

Make thorough research whenever choosing a hosting company. Not all are the same and not all are legitimate. Fraud is everywhere and sometimes you may land on a company site which is fraud. They will take your money telling you that they offer DMCA ignored hosting and have the payment they will run away with money! So don’t fall into traps, read reviews, contact old customers, know their views and then choose a particular offshore hosting provider!

3. Industry Check

Internal loss of country will prevent you from uploading the content for carrying out the business as you planned.

4. Privacy Check

While most of the hosting provider claims that they keep their user’s privacy anonymous however still make sure to choose completely anonymous offshore services and not just make a promise.

5. Payment

When you make the payment to the offshore house provided through fiat currencies it can track easily. Choose the offshore hosting provider that offers you an anonymous payment mode.

Types of Offshore Hosting

VPS hosting– it offers you a part of a server. Also, virtualization software and the web host give you the resources for your website. It makes sure that your resources are not used by the other users on the same server as allocated to you. Also, it protects you from the actions of others and gives full security.

Dedicated hosting– in dedicated hosting you are given a server account where you can make full use of the server. Every resource and the features are located just for your side and no other site can use the resources of your server. You can make changes in the configuration of your server as it’s under your control, and you get a dedicated IP address.

Which type of offshore hosting is best?

It is very important that you choose the proper type of web hosting service for your website. Choosing a website hosting service will depend on your web application or website that you run and its requirement. There are various factors that you have to consider when choosing a type of offshore hosting like the traffic on your website, bandwidth requirement, and storage. if you have just started your website then the Offshore shared hosting will be good for you. However, if your website requires advanced options and has more requirements then go for the dedicated or VPS Offshore hosting.

Offshore hosting features that you must look for

1. SSD storage

A solid-state drive or SSD is faster than the local hard disk drives. But SSDs are quite expensive and many hosting providers offer SSD drives in spite of the high cost. This is because SSD storage offers better performance than local disk drives.

2. Auto-Installed Software

If you make use of apps like Joomla, WordPress, or any messaging board software then it will be good for you to find the Offshore hosting provider that either install such apps on your environment or provide a one-click installation service.

3. Databases

Many hosting providers have default options like MySQL while other support PostgreSQL or MongoDB. Look for how many databases are provided by the offshore hosting provider to their customers.

4. KVM

For the Linux user who wants KVM (kernel-based virtual machines, search for an offshore hosting provider that offers it.

5. Unlimited Bandwidth

Ask your offshore hosting provider that does it offers unlimited bandwidth. If you ask then what are the restrictions set by the provider. So many hosts will give you unlimited bandwidth until you go overboard. Consider the bandwidth requirements as per your company’s needs.

6. Data Security

It is important to consider data security when searching for an offshore hosting provider. Make sure that the company you are hiring is able to hand the task of securing the data and have proper tools for security.

7. Free Domain

If you don’t have a domain then look for the hosting company that offers you a free domain.

8. Add on the domain

If there is a need for more than one domain then you should find a hosting provider that offers as well as supports multiple domain names.

Therefore this was all about offshore hosting and the reasons to hire offshore hosting providers! If you find it beneficial then you can also hire a service provider. You will no longer have your videos or images taken down or your website was taken down because of copyright issues. Your opponent or other parties will no longer hinder your business and you can thus, grow and meet your goals! There are lots of other benefits of such hosting services and you will explore them once you hire them!