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VPS in Almaty: Kazakhstan's southern hub and what to check in a plan
Almaty is not just Kazakhstan's largest city but the main network point for the whole south of Central Asia. This is where the backbones of Kazakh telecom operators meet, where local hosts run commercial data centres, and where the nodes sit that carry traffic on to Bishkek and Tashkent. An overview of the country, the difference between Almaty and Astana and the local market are covered on the VPS in Kazakhstan page; this page is about the city itself as a location and how to avoid picking the wrong location for a plan.
Who a server in Almaty serves
The city's main advantage is how close it is to its neighbours. Bishkek is about 250 km away, and latency from an Almaty data centre to Kyrgyz operators is usually in the single-digit milliseconds. Routes to Tashkent and other cities in Uzbekistan are also shorter than from Moscow or Europe. That is why Almaty is chosen by projects whose audience is spread across several countries in the region:
- online shops and delivery services operating in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan;
- CRM, accounting systems and 1C for companies with offices in Almaty, Bishkek and Tashkent;
- game servers and voice services for players in Central Asia, where every 20–30 ms is noticeable;
- a corporate network hub that staff in regional offices connect to.
If your audience is mostly in Uzbekistan, compare plans with the VPS in Uzbekistan selection: a local server in Tashkent sometimes gives lower latency, but the choice there is even narrower.
Ping from Moscow, St Petersburg and Europe
From Moscow to Almaty is usually 50–80 ms, and from St Petersburg 5–10 ms more. That is acceptable for a website, an API or a remote desktop, but for a project with an audience in European Russia a server in Moscow will be faster. From Almaty to Frankfurt and Amsterdam it is most often 90–120 ms, because a large share of Kazakhstan's external traffic goes through Russian networks. An Almaty location is not a good fit for European users. Check the route before paying: hosts with their own data centre offer a test IP or a looking glass, and the difference between network providers here can be significant.
Is the plan really in Almaty?
This is the key question for a city selection. The city in the table comes from the host's list of locations, and for international providers Almaty is one of dozens. That leads to a few traps:
- A plan not tied to a city. With a large host, the same plan is available in twenty countries, and you have to pick Almaty manually when ordering. If the order form doesn't offer that location, the server will end up in another country.
- The name points elsewhere. If the plan name mentions a different city, look for this host's Almaty location among its other plans or ask support.
- A Kazakh host, but not Almaty. Local providers also keep servers in Astana and Karaganda. For users in the south of the country this adds latency.
Checking the actual location is easy: after the server starts, look up which autonomous system the IP address belongs to and where it geolocates, and run a traceroute from Bishkek or Almaty. If something doesn't match, most hosts will move the server or refund you in the first few days.
Local rules for the server owner
Sites in the .kz zone have a specific requirement: the rules of the Kazakh internet segment require such sites to be hosted on equipment physically located in Kazakhstan. A server in Almaty meets this requirement, while a foreign one does not, even if the domain is already registered. Kazakhstan's personal data law requires databases with citizens' data to be stored inside the country, so for an online shop with Kazakh customers it is more convenient to keep the database here rather than in Moscow or Europe.
Another practical point is seismic activity. Almaty is in a seismically active zone, and local data centres are built with that in mind, but for important data it is sensible to keep a backup in another city: Astana, Moscow or Europe. A copy at the same location protects you from an administrator's mistake, but not from problems with the data centre itself.
Paying from Russia
Kazakh hosts invoice in tenge and are geared primarily towards local cards. Few accept Russian Mir cards and SBP fast payments; some providers take cryptocurrency or foreign cards, and international hosts with an Almaty location more often work in dollars. Plans that accept Russian cards are collected in the VPS in Kazakhstan payable with Mir selection. Companies should check in advance whether the host will invoice a Russian legal entity and what closing documents it provides.