Aeza vs FirstVDS: Europe vs Russia
Sometimes you don’t need the cheapest VPS on the planet — just a good server at a reasonable price. On this field, we have Aeza (registered in the Netherlands, data centers in Europe) and FirstVDS (a Russian hosting provider with a 15-year track record). Let’s compare honestly.
Plans: What Each Offers
Aeza — Starter VPS “Start” (€2.90/month):
- 1 vCPU (AMD EPYC)
- 1 GB DDR5 RAM
- 15 GB NVMe
- 10 TB traffic (1 Gbps)
- Location: Netherlands
FirstVDS — VPS “Standard-1” (~€3.30/month in ruble equivalent):
- 1 vCPU (Intel Xeon Gold)
- 1 GB RAM
- 25 GB NVMe
- ∞ traffic (speed-limited — 100 Mbps)
- Locations: Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, and others
FirstVDS looks more generous on disk and traffic, but caps bandwidth at 100 Mbps. Aeza gives you a genuine gigabit — and you can feel it.
Performance and Hardware
Aeza deploys AMD EPYC with DDR5 — fresh hardware, high IPC. Benchmarks (Geekbench, YABS) show above-average results. The disk subsystem is NVMe, with read/write speeds consistently above 1 GB/s.
FirstVDS uses Intel Xeon Gold — nothing to be ashamed of, but older architecture. NVMe disks are fast, no dips. Overall, neither provider suffers from overselling — performance is stable.
Network and Locations
Here’s the key difference:
Aeza operates in the Netherlands (Amsterdam). Excellent uplink, direct peering with AMS-IX. For a European audience — ping 5–30 ms. For Russia — 40 to 60 ms to Moscow, worse further east. The main plus: no issues with international traffic, a clean European IP with no blocks.
FirstVDS runs data centers in Russia: Moscow (DataPro, IXcellerate, Rostelecom), Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Minsk. For a Russian audience — minimal ping (5–20 ms across the Central Federal District). But international traffic comes with delays, and Western services may act up due to a Russian IP.
Interesting note: FirstVDS has “International” plans with locations in the Netherlands and Germany — but with different pricing and not all configurations are available.
Control Panel
Aeza uses a custom panel. Clean, fast, no visual clutter. VNC console, OS reinstall, snapshots — everything’s there. An API exists but is limited.
FirstVDS offers ISPmanager Lite for free on almost all plans. This is a full hosting panel: site management, FTP, email, databases, one-click LetsEncrypt. For those uncomfortable with the terminal — a huge plus. Plus a custom panel for managing the server itself (reinstall, monitoring).
Support
Aeza: support via Telegram and tickets. Fast responses, in Russian, competent. Sometimes they solve issues even at night.
FirstVDS: 24/7 ticket system plus phone support during business hours. Response within 10–20 minutes. Technical support is solid — the team knows their hardware.
When to Choose What
- Aeza — if you need a European IP, gigabit bandwidth, fresh hardware, and Russian-language support. Great for VPNs, European projects, bypassing blocks.
- FirstVDS — if your audience is in Russia/CIS, you need fast ping within Russia, and a free ISPmanager to boot. Ideal for the Russian segment: forums, online stores, corporate portals.
Price verdict: Aeza is slightly cheaper and offers more network speed. FirstVDS compensates for the modest bandwidth with a free panel and Russian locations.