VPS/VDS in Nuremberg

Nuremberg is not a network capital like Frankfurt; it is the city where several large German hosting companies grew up. Their own data centres and offices are here, so plans in this location are mostly sold by the operators of the sites themselves rather than by resellers renting a rack from a third party. That shapes the place: stable plans without constant promotions, clear terms, German-language support and a German contract.

Network: a stone's throw from Frankfurt

Nuremberg is in Bavaria, a couple of hundred kilometres from Frankfurt. Local data centres connect to the Frankfurt exchange points over their own links, so the path to most European networks is only a few milliseconds longer than from Frankfurt itself. In return, the city is closer to Central Europe:

• Prague and Munich are about 5–10 ms away, Vienna about 10 ms;
• Frankfurt is 3–5 ms away, Amsterdam and Zurich about 10–15 ms;
• London and Paris are usually 15–25 ms away, the US east coast about 90–100 ms.

Routes out of Nuremberg usually run through Frankfurt, and they can differ between hosts in the same city. So compare a traceroute to a specific provider's test IP rather than the city name: with the same location a difference of ten milliseconds is common, especially in the evening when transit links are busy.

For a website or API with an audience in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, users won't notice any difference from Frankfurt. If you need maximum connectivity to clouds and carriers across Europe, look at VPS in Frankfurt.

How Nuremberg differs from the rest of Germany

A general overview of the country (GDPR, abuse policies, checks on new customers) is on the VPS in Germany page. The local specifics are different. There are more plans with large disks and big monthly traffic allowances measured in terabytes, and prices are usually lower than in Frankfurt. You will also find IPv6-only plans: they are cheaper, but a website on such a server won't open for visitors without IPv6, and some external APIs and repositories won't respond straight away. If you are not ready to set up IPv4 access through a proxy or CDN, take a plan with a dedicated IPv4; what to keep in mind when working with the newer protocol is covered on the VPS with IPv6 page.

Another feature is customer verification. Hosts that own their sites in Nuremberg often ask new customers for an ID document, proof of address or prepayment, especially those from outside the EU. A sign-up can be refused without explanation. Give real details that match the payer's details.

What people choose Nuremberg for

• Servers that run for years: a company website, mail, a database, a Git server. Predictable plans and rare migrations are valued here.
• Backups and storage for a European project: see the VPS for backups selection.
• Backends and CI runners that need cores and NVMe rather than the shortest path to the clouds. Builds and tests don't care about a few extra milliseconds, but the price per core shows.
• Websites for a German-speaking audience, when a German contract and GDPR-compliant data processing inside the country matter.

What to check when a plan says "Nuremberg"

The city in the catalogue comes from the host's list of sites. Large German providers have several buildings around Nuremberg, and some also have sites in other parts of the country, so before ordering ask about:

• The data centre code or name, if you need two servers in different buildings for redundancy.
• Where the server ends up if you choose "Germany": some hosts distribute new machines between Nuremberg and other sites themselves, and the city is only shown after the order.
• Whether the server can be moved to another site of the same host without reinstalling and changing the IP. Usually it can't, and it's worth knowing in advance.
• Traffic rules: what happens once the quota runs out, a speed cap or a charge for every extra terabyte.
• Term and cancellation. German hosts sometimes have plans with a minimum contract term and a notice period of several weeks. If you only need the server for a month or two, look for monthly billing with no fixed term.

Payment works as elsewhere in Germany: cards, PayPal and SEPA direct debit are the most common, companies can get an invoice with their EU VAT number (reverse charge for businesses in other EU countries), and some hosts accept cryptocurrency as a payment method.