low cost VPS server: what does an uptime guarantee actually cover?

Evidence reviewed

This page compares public US-facing VPS product and terms pages for OVHcloud and IONOS, plus netcup's English server documentation and general terms. The figures describe what those pages publish; no provider account, support ticket, outage, or VPS was tested.

OVHcloud US VPS SLA [A] · IONOS US VPS product page [B] · IONOS Inc. terms [C] · netcup server overview [D] · netcup general terms [E]

What each page actually specifies

The rows preserve each source's own time window and wording. Their percentages are not a ranking or a like-for-like result.

Calculation: why the period changes the reading

A percentage alone does not tell you whether a provider measures each month or across a year. For a scale example only, if a 30-day month were fully counted under a 99.9% monthly target, the arithmetic allowance below the target would be 30 × 24 × 60 × 0.001 = 43.2 minutes. This is a unit conversion of the stated percentage, not an observed outage or a claim that every month has 30 days. [A]

Do not apply that example to IONOS: the reviewed page does not state the measurement window. Do not compare netcup's annual average directly with a monthly commitment either. The same percentage can answer different questions when the window, counted service, and excluded events differ.

Read an availability claim as four fields: percentage + measurement window + outage definition + remedy procedure.

Decision: what to verify before choosing

If a brief network interruption would interrupt sales, log the exact VPS service and region covered by the terms, then compare the outage definition and exclusions with your own monitoring needs. A guarantee that starts its clock when a support case is opened may require prompt reporting; a clause framed around browser access to hosted pages may not answer whether SSH, an API, or another VPS service is covered.

For an application that can tolerate short interruptions, the public percentage may be a useful screening field, but it still does not predict the availability you will experience. Keep the measurement period and remedy beside the figure instead of copying the percentage into a provider ranking.

Service credits are a contract remedy described by the source pages. They do not restore an interrupted workload or establish the cost of lost business. Keep an independent recovery plan for those risks.

Buyer checklist

1. Save the product page and the terms linked from the exact storefront you plan to order from; note the country or contracting entity.
2. Find whether availability is measured per month, as an annual average, or over another window. If the page does not say, record “not stated.”
3. Write down the source's definition of unavailability. Check whether it means external connectivity, server readiness, website access, or a broader service.
4. List exclusions such as scheduled maintenance, customer configuration, third-party network faults, and force majeure only when the selected terms state them.
5. Check who validates the incident, how to submit a claim, the deadline, and whether the remedy is cash, invoice credit, or future-service credit.
6. Ask support to confirm any unclear VPS-specific clause in writing before purchase. Keep that answer with the order confirmation.

Questions buyers ask

Does 99.99% uptime mean a VPS can only be down for a fixed number of minutes?

Only after you know the measurement window and what the contract counts as downtime. The reviewed IONOS sales page publishes 99.99%, while the linked terms describe a credit for hosted web pages without stating that window in the reviewed clause. Confirm the exact VPS contract terms before converting the percentage into minutes. [B] [C]

Is netcup's 99.6% directly worse than a monthly 99.9% figure?

The figures use different stated periods: netcup describes an annual average, while the OVHcloud US VPS SLA defines monthly availability. They cannot be ranked from the percentages alone. [A] [D] [E]

What should I keep if an outage happens?

Keep timestamps, the affected service and region, your own monitoring records, and the support case number. Follow the selected contract's reporting method and deadline; the OVHcloud US VPS SLA specifically says its own monitoring records are used to validate unavailability. [A]

Method and limits

This is a document comparison, not a service reliability test. Facts in the comparison table come from linked official pages. The minute example is a calculation using the stated OVHcloud percentage and an explicitly assumed 30-day month. Recommendations in the decision and checklist sections are editorial guidance, not provider commitments.

The IONOS material has a scope gap: its product page is for US VPS, while the reviewed IONOS Inc. terms describe hosted web pages in their uptime clause. The public sources reviewed do not settle whether that clause covers every VPS service or define its measurement window. That is an open question, not a conclusion that IONOS has no VPS commitment.

Checked October 11, 2026. The reviewed netcup pages did not display a publication or update date in the text inspected; the OVHcloud US VPS SLA states an effective date of August 7, 2025. Recheck the pages and your order-specific terms before relying on them.

Sources and number trail

• [A] OVHcloud US VPS Service Level Agreement — effective August 7, 2025; 99.9% monthly commitment; unavailability, case-opening start, credit bands, claim deadline, validation record, and exclusions. 60-day request window and 45-day post-confirmation issuance detail appear on this page.
• [B] IONOS VPS USA product page — lists 99.99% availability. This is product-page disclosure, not by itself the detailed calculation or remedy terms.
• [C] IONOS Inc. General Terms and Conditions, section 4.6 — hosted-web-page uptime wording, proportional future-service credit, and listed exclusions. This source's exact applicability to the ordered VPS must be confirmed.
• [D] netcup Servers overview — states minimum annual availability of 99.6% for VPS; the page shows last update September 22, 2026.
• [E] netcup General Terms and Conditions, Service Scope — 99.6% minimum average annual availability unless otherwise agreed, definition and exclusions, optional service level, and written credit request within 30 days after the calendar month ends.

All numeric claims above map to A–E or are identified as an arithmetic illustration. No price or currency amount is asserted.

Download the dated comparison

This CSV keeps the published availability figure beside its own time period, scope, and unresolved buyer check.

Next check

Before ordering, save the service-specific terms with the quote and resolve each “not stated” item against the contract for your region. Related: Where does your SSH public key go? Related: low cost VPS server: what happens when a payment fails?