VMHeaven vs PrivateAlps: no-KYC VPS hosting compared (2026)

In short: neither VMHeaven nor PrivateAlps asks for an ID document, and both take Monero. PrivateAlps is a Swiss host that treats its whole VPS range as DMCA-ignored and allows Tor exit relays. VMHeaven costs less to start, at €4.99 against €12.90 a month, and runs four KVM lines in Amsterdam and Frankfurt with a separate policy for each line.

The short answer

• Pick PrivateAlps if Swiss jurisdiction matters to you, if you want one relaxed copyright policy across its VPS and dedicated servers, or if you plan to run a Tor exit relay.
• Pick VMHeaven if price per gigabyte of memory matters, if you want Windows Server on the cheapest plan, or if you want a cheaper security-testing line whose policy names zmap and masscan sweeps as allowed.
• On KYC and refunds the two are close. Neither checks identity, and neither normally pays money back once a server is running.

VMHeaven vs PrivateAlps at a glance

The PrivateAlps column sums up the pages cited in the sections below, all checked on 5 October 2026. Our column comes from our own price list and terms.

Looking for a PrivateAlps alternative?

VMHeaven is a German business (contracts under German law) with KVM VPS servers in Amsterdam and Frankfurt, from €4.99 a month for 2 vCores, 4 GB and 20 GB, with no ID check and Monero, card or PayPal at checkout. PrivateAlps, per its own pages as of 5 Oct 2026, is Swiss, starts at €12.90 a month for 2 vCPU and 1 GB, and applies its DMCA-ignored policy to its VPS, dedicated servers and VPN, where VMHeaven applies it to DMCA Ignored KVM only.

Identity checks (KYC)

PrivateAlps is direct about this. Per its terms of service, checked 5 Oct 2026, it does not require identity documents to open an account or use a service, does not run a KYC programme and does not plan to introduce one. Its FAQ says the same, and adds that it has never required KYC since it was founded.

We do not check identity either: no ID card, passport, selfie, video call or phone number. Sign-up asks for an e-mail address, a name, a password and a postal address with a country. We issue the invoice to that address, and the country sets the VAT rate. None of it is verified. That is a little more than an e-mail address, so if you compare sign-up forms field by field, keep that difference in mind.

Paying with Monero and other coins

Per its FAQ, checked 5 Oct 2026, PrivateAlps accepts Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Monero and PerfectMoney among more than 50 cryptocurrencies. The payments run through its own gateway, and it operates its own Bitcoin and Monero nodes. Its llms.txt also lists Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Revolut Pay, SEPA Instant and bank transfer.

We take Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, Litecoin, Monero and more through Cryptomus, a third-party payment processor, plus card and PayPal, all at the same price. The invoice is in euro, and you pick the coin and network on the payment page. If you would rather no payment processor sat between you and the host, PrivateAlps’ self-hosted gateway is the cleaner setup. What changes in practice when you pay in XMR is covered on our Monero VPS page.

DMCA notices and abuse policy

Per its llms.txt, checked 5 Oct 2026, PrivateAlps offers DMCA-ignored hosting on its VPS, dedicated servers and VPN. Its shared web hosting is the one product that is not DMCA-ignored. Its network policies place the company under Swiss law and forbid spam, CSAM, drug and weapon sales, terrorism and hate speech, anything that gets its IP space onto Spamhaus, launching DDoS attacks, and phishing. Its terms add that Tor exit relays are fine as long as you stay within your monthly bandwidth.

Both hosts also sell a line for security work. PrivateAlps offers Kali Linux and Parrot Security VPS, pre-configured pentest workstations from €14 a month, per its llms.txt. Its Kali Linux VPS page, checked 5 Oct 2026, says the service suits authorised penetration tests, lab work and red-team simulations, and that it does not monitor scans or tool usage.

We split this by product line. On DMCA Ignored KVM, US DMCA notices are not acted on and not passed to you as an ultimatum. On every other line, a DMCA notice is handled like any other abuse report under our Acceptable Use Policy. Everything else the AUP forbids is acted on everywhere, including on the DMCA line. Pentesting KVM explicitly allows scraping and zmap or masscan scanning. Penetration tests are limited to systems you own or have written permission to assess. A Tor exit relay is not allowed on Standard or Hi-CPU KVM, and on the DMCA line only after support has agreed to it. Our Tor relay guide explains why. The longer explanation of what “DMCA ignored” can and cannot mean is in DMCA-ignored hosting explained.

Locations, hardware and price

Per its Linux VPS page, checked 5 Oct 2026, PrivateAlps’ smallest plan, V1.CH, costs €12.90 a month for 2 vCPU on Xeon E5-2680 v4, 1 GB of DDR4, 30 GB of SSD and a 100 Mbit/s port with 2 TB of traffic, on KVM. Full-disk encryption is available. Its Windows RDP page starts at €25 a month with 2 GB of memory. A blog post from March 2026 announced Germany as a second location next to Switzerland, and its llms.txt names Zurich and Frankfurt as the active sites.

Our entry plan, Standard KVM 1, is €4.99 a month in Amsterdam for 2 vCores on Intel, 4 GB of DDR4 ECC memory and 20 GB of storage. The Hi-CPU plan at the same price has 1 vCore on AMD EPYC 7443 and 2 GB of ECC memory. In Frankfurt, DMCA Ignored KVM and Pentesting KVM start at €8.99; Standard and Hi-CPU, from €6.99 there, are sold out in Frankfurt at the moment. Windows Server 2022 or 2019 can be picked on every plan. It comes on a time-limited evaluation licence, you can activate your own key, and the first boot takes a few minutes longer than Linux.

Refunds

The two policies are close. Per its terms, checked 5 Oct 2026, all PrivateAlps payments are final by default: top-ups are not refundable once credited, and service payments are not refundable once the service is provisioned, renewed or upgraded. If a service fails because of a verified problem on PrivateAlps’ side, it credits the account, or in limited cases refunds the original payment method.

Our terms say the right of withdrawal lapses once a server is provisioned, and any goodwill refund is paid as credit on your VMHeaven account, never as cash. If you want money back in your wallet, neither host promises it. Start with one month.

Where PrivateAlps is the better choice

• You want the company and the contract under Swiss law.
• You want the same relaxed copyright policy on VPS and dedicated servers. At VMHeaven, DMCA Ignored is a VPS line only.
• You plan to run a Tor exit relay without negotiating it first.
• You need hardware we do not sell: GPU servers or 40 to 200 Gbit/s uplinks, both listed in its llms.txt.
• You want full-disk encryption offered by the host, or a self-hosted crypto gateway.

Where VMHeaven is the better choice

• Price and memory per euro: 4 GB for €4.99 against 1 GB for €12.90 at the entry level.
• Windows on the cheapest plan, if an evaluation licence or your own key works for you. Our Windows RDP page has the details.
• A cheaper line for security work: Pentesting KVM starts at €6.99 against €14 for PrivateAlps’ Kali and Parrot workstations, and its policy names zmap and masscan sweeps and scraping as allowed, from an isolated network segment.
• PayPal at checkout, and an Amsterdam location.

If neither list settles it, the deciding question is usually jurisdiction. That decision is yours to make, not something either host can settle in a feature table. For how all of this compares across more hosts, see no-KYC VPS providers compared.

Frequently asked