Buying a VPS with Bitcoin: from wallet to server
How paying for a VPS with Bitcoin works, step by step, the mistakes that cause underpayments, what Bitcoin does and doesn't hide, and how refunds come back.
Buying a VPS with Bitcoin works like any online checkout, except the last step happens in your wallet: you order, the host shows you an amount and an address, you send the coins, and the server is built once the payment is seen and confirmed. The few things that go wrong are almost always on the wallet side, and they're easy to avoid once you know them.
This post walks through it the way it works at VPSNine, with the general advice that applies anywhere.
Why pay with Bitcoin at all
People have different reasons. Some just hold Bitcoin and would rather spend it than sell it first. Some don't want to hand card details to yet another website. Some live where international card payments are unreliable or blocked.
For us, it's also the payment method we can run entirely ourselves. Card payments need an approved payment company in the middle. Bitcoin needs a payment server, and we run our own: BTCPay Server, open source, with no third party holding the money or the customer list. Card and PayPal are coming later; at launch, it's Bitcoin only.
Step by step
1. Order, and get an invoice in dollars
Our prices and invoices are in US dollars, like most hosts that take Bitcoin. You choose a plan, a distribution and your SSH key, and the order creates an invoice in the panel.
Dollar pricing means the Bitcoin amount is only worked out when you pay. You never pay more because the price of Bitcoin dropped since you ordered, or less because it rose.
2. Open the checkout
On the invoice, choose pay with Bitcoin. BTCPay's checkout opens with three things: the exact amount in BTC, an address, and a QR code with both in it. There's also a countdown. The exchange rate is fixed for that long.
3. Pay from your wallet
Scan the QR code with a phone wallet, or copy the address and amount into a desktop one. Scanning is better: the QR code carries the exact amount, so there's nothing to mistype.
4. Wait for the confirmation
The checkout notices your payment within seconds of it being broadcast. The invoice counts as paid once the payment confirms on the blockchain, and then we start building your server. What happens after you order has the rest.
Three ways to underpay, and how not to
Paying from an exchange. Many exchanges take their withdrawal fee out of the amount you send. You type the invoice amount, the exchange sends a little less, and the invoice is short. If you pay straight from an exchange, check whether its fee is added on top or taken out, and add it if it's taken out. A wallet you control avoids the question.
Typing the amount by hand. One wrong digit and the payment is short, or long. Scan the QR code or copy and paste.
Letting the timer run out. The checkout's exchange rate holds only until the countdown ends. If it runs out, go back to the invoice and choose pay with Bitcoin again for a fresh one. Don't send to the old one.
If any of these happens, nothing is lost. A short payment becomes account credit and goes towards the invoice, so you only pay what's left. A full payment that arrives late still pays the invoice while it's open, or becomes credit if it can't. An overpayment becomes credit for next month. Payment methods lists exactly what happens in each case.
Network fees
Every Bitcoin transaction pays a fee to the network, and you choose how much in your wallet. A higher fee confirms faster.
Don't pick the very lowest your wallet offers. A payment that sits unconfirmed for days holds up your server, and a payment server will only wait so long for one. The wallet's normal or medium setting is right for paying an invoice.
What Bitcoin does and doesn't keep private
Paying with Bitcoin means we never see a card number or a bank account, and no payment company sees what you bought.
It doesn't make you anonymous. Every Bitcoin transaction is public on the blockchain forever, and anyone who knows one of your addresses can follow the coins. You still have an account with us, with an email address, and our privacy policy covers what we keep. And the Acceptable Use Policy applies whatever you paid with.
Refunds come back in Bitcoin, at the dollar value
Your first order has a 14-day money-back guarantee. You get the dollar amount you paid back, either as account credit or in Bitcoin.
If you choose Bitcoin, we don't ask for an address up front. We send you a claim link, you enter an address there, and the Bitcoin amount is worked out at that moment from the dollar value. It's the same rule as paying: dollars are the unit, Bitcoin is how they travel.
Renewals
Servers renew monthly or yearly. The renewal invoice arrives 7 days before the paid period ends, and you pay it the same way. Credit on your account pays it first. What happens if a renewal isn't paid has the dates if you forget.
What VPSNine's Bitcoin VPS looks like
A KVM server on NVMe storage, with one IPv4 and one IPv6 address, any of six Linux distributions in ten versions, and an optional one-click app, all paid for in Bitcoin through our own BTCPay Server. No payment company in the middle, prices in dollars, refunds at the dollar value.
The Bitcoin VPS page has the summary, and the plans page has the sizes. Orders and prices open at launch.