Best VPS for Video Streaming

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Streaming video from a VPS is mostly a bandwidth game — but if you transcode, CPU and RAM matter too. Here’s how to choose.

Two very different workloads

• Direct streaming (Plex/Jellyfin, no transcode) — bandwidth-bound, modest RAM.
• Live transcoding (ffmpeg) — CPU-bound; one 1080p stream can max a core.

The pick: Hostinger KVM 2

Hostinger’s KVM 2 (8 GB RAM, ~$8.99/mo intro) handles a Jellyfin server with a couple of simultaneous streams and light transcoding, on NVMe storage. For direct-play only, KVM 1 (4 GB, ~$6.49/mo) is enough.

Keep it smooth

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 23 output.mp4

• Pre-transcode popular titles so you direct-play at runtime.
• Check the bandwidth allowance — streaming eats transfer quickly.
• Use a CDN or reverse-proxy cache for public streams.

Bottom line: direct streaming is cheap; live transcoding is the expensive part. Match CPU cores to your peak concurrent streams.