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VPS in São Paulo: how South America's main data-centre hub works
São Paulo is the largest metropolitan area in the Southern Hemisphere and Brazil's economic centre. Banks, retail, media and the headquarters of tech companies are concentrated here, so commercial data centres, the regional sites of global clouds and the main node of the national exchange system IX.br arrived in the city before anywhere else. If a plan says Brazil without further detail, it almost certainly means São Paulo or its suburbs.
Where the servers actually are
There are few data halls in the city proper: land is expensive and the power grid is overloaded. Most sites are located in the west and north-west of the metro area, in Barueri, Tamboré and Santana de Parnaíba, where large campuses have grown, and along the highway to Campinas, in Jundiaí, Vinhedo and Hortolândia. They are tens of kilometres apart, and latency within this zone is 1–3 ms, so users see no difference. What matters is that "São Paulo" at one host and "Campinas" at another are essentially the same network point, while "Rio de Janeiro" or "Fortaleza" are separate nodes with their own routes. Fortaleza is interesting when you need both Brazil and Portugal: cables to Europe land there, but the south of the country is noticeably further away.
Who a São Paulo server serves
From São Paulo, websites load quickly across the whole south-east and south of Brazil: Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte are about 8–15 ms away, Curitiba and Porto Alegre 10–25 ms. The north-east and the Amazon are further: Recife and Manaus add up to 40–60 ms, which is noticeable in games. Neighbours in the region:
- Buenos Aires and Montevideo: usually 30–45 ms over a direct route;
- Santiago: 50–70 ms, with traffic going through Argentina and across the Andes;
- Miami: 100–120 ms;
- Lisbon and Madrid: usually 150–190 ms, the rest of Western Europe 180 ms and more.
Hence the choice: São Paulo is picked when your users are in Brazil or in the Southern Cone countries of South America. If your audience is broader, such as Mexico, Colombia and Central America, compare Miami and the other locations on the VPS in Latin America page. An overview of the country, its laws and cables is on the VPS in Brazil page.
Typical uses
- Game servers. Brazilian players are one of the largest and most ping-sensitive audiences; a server in Miami adds an extra 100 ms for them. Hardware requirements are on the VPS for a game server page.
- Portuguese-language online stores and SaaS, as well as mobile app backends: a large share of Brazilian traffic comes from phones, and every extra request across the ocean is noticeable.
- Integrations with local services: Pix instant payments, banking and logistics APIs located in the same metro area.
- A Brazilian IP for checking ads, prices and search results.
- A caching node in front of the main server. A São Paulo VPS serves static files and API responses, while the database and heavy logic stay at the main site in Europe or the US. This is cheaper than moving the whole project to Brazil.
What to check before ordering
First, the location: for international providers Brazil is often one of many countries, and the order form defaults to a US or European site. Second, connectivity to local carriers: the Brazilian market has many small last-mile providers, and a host well connected to IX.br answers them faster than a site with a single transit carrier. Ask for a looking glass and check the traceroute to the major mobile networks. Third, outbound traffic: in São Paulo clouds it is more expensive than in Europe and the US, and for file or video delivery it can cost more than the server itself. Finally, DDoS protection: for game and public services in the region it is a must.
If you process data of Brazilians, the LGPD applies. A São Paulo server makes it easier to answer the question of where data is stored, but the law does not require keeping it in the country: transfers abroad are allowed if the conditions of the regulator ANPD are met, including standard contractual clauses. If you also serve EU users, GDPR applies in parallel, so check transfer terms in both directions.
Payment
The main payment methods for São Paulo plans are cards, PayPal and invoices for companies; some hosts also accept cryptocurrency as a payment method. Local Pix is available only to holders of Brazilian bank accounts, and local hosts may ask for a CPF or CNPJ tax number. International providers usually bill in US dollars, so card payments may include a conversion fee. The "Payment" column in the table shows the methods for each plan.