Website owners pursue offshore web hosting most commonly because they’re seeking freedom from government intrusion.
What are the benefits and limitations of offshore dedicated server hosting? What factors do you need to consider to choose a host? How can you find a quality offshore web host?
I’ll share top cautions about offshore hosting. And you’ll get my personal recommendations on top offshore hosts.
Offshore web hosting is the practice of hosting a website on servers located outside one’s native country. Usually, this is done to gain specific benefits.
Technically, anytime you host a website on foreign servers you are engaging in offshore hosting. However, the term implies doing so deliberately to achieve some specific goal, usually related to privacy, security, free speech, or freedom.
Saving Money by Globalization
People have been offshoring and outsourcing forever. A major feature of the contemporary economy is the reality of globalization.
If it is cheaper to make t-shirts in one country than in another, you can be sure there are a huge number of people moving their t-shirt making operations there. It’s just a fact of life.
Government Interest in Business Activities
Another fact of life is government interest in pretty much every activity of human life. Business and communication are at the top of their list.
Through regulations, taxes, censorship, and criminalization, governments of all countries make it difficult (or, at least, less profitable) to engage in certain types of businesses or say certain types of things.
Advantages of Anonymity and Offshore Hosting
More and more businesses are embracing globalization, in order to ease their daily practices – understandably. Moving a business abroad, or at least hosting abroad is a big decision.
Let’s take a look at the overall advantages and disadvantages of anonymous and offshore hosting:
Visibility Control Payment
Advantages
Global exposure (in most cases)
Independence of cyber laws
More exposure equals more growth
Double back-ups available
Generally affordable pricing
Various anonymous payment methods like Bitcoin
Disadvantages
No rights on domain name or server space, although full control
Offshore hosts often charge a fortune
Anonymous hosting with Fiat payments can get you in trouble and give an illusion of safety
Businesses move to manufacture from one country to another in order to reduce production costs. Web hosting is a little different, though. Businesses and individuals often move their servers from one country to another in order to take reduce legal risk.
