# Refer a friend and earn credit

> Share your link. When someone you refer pays for their first server, you both get account credit. How it works and what counts.

Source: https://vpsnine.com/help/referral-program · Updated: 2026-10-21

Every VPSNine account has a referral link. Share it, and when someone signs up through it and pays for their first server, you get **$10** of account credit and they get **$5**. Credit pays your next invoices first.

## Find your link

Open **Account → Referrals** in the panel, or go straight to [my.vpsnine.com/account/referrals](https://my.vpsnine.com/account/referrals). Your link looks like `https://vpsnine.com/?ref=abcd2345`. **copy** puts it on your clipboard.

[Screenshot: The Refer a friend page: the link with a copy button, 14 link visits, 3 sign-ups, 2 paid and $10.00 earned, a table of three referred sign-ups marked signed up, paid with credit on its way, and credited, and the referral credit received] Each row is one sign-up through your link. We show how far they got, never who they are.

The same page shows how many people opened your link, how many signed up, how many have paid, and how much credit you've earned. It doesn't show who they are: only that someone signed up and how far they got.

## How someone counts as yours

- Opening your link sets a cookie that lasts **30 days**. If they sign up in that time, they're yours.
- The first referral link wins. Opening someone else's link later doesn't change it.
- They need to sign up in the same browser, with cookies allowed.

## When the credit arrives

1. They sign up through your link. Their row on your page says **signed up**.
2. Their first invoice is paid with Bitcoin or PayPal. It changes to **paid, credit on its way**.
3. **14 days** after that payment, once the [money-back window](https://vpsnine.com/help/money-back-guarantee) has passed, we add the credit to both accounts and email you both. It changes to **credited**.

### Check it worked

The referral page lists each credit under **Referral credit**, and your [credit history](https://vpsnine.com/help/credit-history) shows it as a **Referral** line. It pays your next invoices first, like any [account credit](https://vpsnine.com/help/account-credit-and-invoices).

## What doesn't count

- An invoice paid only with account credit. Their first invoice paid with real money is the one that counts.
- An order that is refunded, for example under the money-back guarantee.
- Referring yourself or another account of yours. We compare the email addresses, the networks the accounts sign in from and PayPal payer details, and don't credit a referral that looks like the same person.
- Referrals while the program is paused. Credit you already earned stays.

You can earn up to **$100** of referral credit a month. Anything over that waits and is added the next month.

## The small print

Credit pays VPSNine invoices only; it isn't paid out and can't be transferred. We may void a referral that breaks these rules, and take back credit from it that hasn't been spent. The full terms are in the [Terms of Service](https://vpsnine.com/terms#referrals).

## Next steps

- [How account credit works](https://vpsnine.com/help/account-credit-and-invoices)
- [Read your credit history](https://vpsnine.com/help/credit-history)
- Your link opens the home page; from there your friend can compare the [plans](https://vpsnine.com/plans).