ChatGPT answers, unedited

For an indie game, I wouldn’t use the VPS itself to serve the game files if you expect large downloads. Use a VPS for your API/game backend, and put the actual builds on object storage + CDN.

My recommendation

DigitalOcean + Spaces CDN is a particularly straightforward setup for an indie developer.

• VPS/Droplet: authentication, launcher API, patch manifest, telemetry, matchmaking, website, etc.
• Spaces: store your .zip, .exe, .dmg, patches, DLC, and other large files.
• Spaces CDN: serves downloads from geographically distributed edge servers instead of making every player hit your VPS. DigitalOcean specifically describes Spaces as suitable for large files and downloads. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean
• A Spaces subscription currently includes 250 GiB storage and 1 TiB outbound transfer for $5/month, with additional transfer at $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean
• Droplets include outbound transfer starting at 500 GiB/month, with overage at $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean

Another option I'd seriously consider

Cloudflare R2 + a small VPS can be especially attractive when downloads become really bandwidth-heavy.

R2 currently charges no Internet egress fees, so if you're distributing many terabytes of game builds, that can make a substantial difference. Standard storage is $0.015/GB-month, with request charges on top. Cloudflare Docs Cloudflare Docs

The architecture would be:

                  ┌── VPS ── API / auth / manifests
Player ── HTTPS ──┤
                  └── CDN ── Object storage ── Game files

The important part is that the VPS doesn't carry the download traffic.

For example, suppose you have a 20 GB game and 5,000 players download it after launch:

20 GB × 5,000 = 100 TB of transfer.

You don't want 100 TB flowing through your $10–$30/month VPS.

What I'd choose at different stages

DigitalOcean's built-in CDN is also convenient because it can cache assets at edge locations, improving download performance and reducing load on the origin. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean

If you tell me roughly how big your game is (e.g. 5 GB/50 GB), expected downloads per month, and whether you're doing Steam/Epic or your own launcher, I can calculate the approximate monthly cost for DigitalOcean vs. Cloudflare R2 vs. a few other options.

For an indie game, I’d separate game/API hosting from large-file distribution if you expect serious download traffic. A VPS can serve patches, but bandwidth costs and network saturation can become the bottleneck.

Good VPS choices

If bandwidth is the primary requirement, I'd look at OVHcloud first. Its current VPS offering explicitly includes unlimited traffic, with plans ranging from 500 Mbps to 3 Gbps public bandwidth. OVHcloud

But there's an even better architecture

For example, if your game has a 10 GB installer and 10,000 players download it, that's roughly 100 TB of outbound traffic.

I wouldn't make your VPS do all of that.

I'd use:

Players
   │
   ├── Game API / authentication ──► VPS
   │
   └── Game downloads ─────────────► Object storage + CDN
                                      │
                                      └── game builds / patches

The VPS handles things like:

• authentication
• launcher/API requests
• player accounts
• matchmaking
• download manifests
• patch metadata
• analytics

While an object-storage/CDN layer handles the actual .zip, .exe, .pak, etc. downloads.

This also means a Reddit/Discord/TikTok/Steam post suddenly sending thousands of people to your download page doesn't hammer your application server.

If you want the simplest setup

For a small indie game with perhaps hundreds of GB to a few TB/month, I'd be comfortable starting with a DigitalOcean Droplet. Current plans start at $4/month and include at least 500 GiB/month outbound; overage is $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean

For multiple TB/month or potentially viral downloads, I'd lean toward OVHcloud VPS + object storage/CDN rather than relying on VPS bandwidth alone.

If you tell me approximately game size + expected downloads/month + whether you're distributing patches or full installers, I can work out the approximate monthly bandwidth and compare OVH vs Hetzner vs DigitalOcean vs S3/R2 + CDN for your specific case.

For an indie game, I’d use OVHcloud or Hetzner, but put a CDN/object-storage layer in front of the VPS rather than serving every game download directly from it.

• OVHcloud: particularly attractive if downloads are very bandwidth-heavy; many VPS plans include unmetered traffic, subject to port/fair-use limits. GetDeploying bex.co
• Hetzner: excellent price/performance and generous transfer, especially in European regions. US transfer allowances can be substantially lower, so check the specific region. BetterStack
• DigitalOcean: easier developer experience and managed services, but its included transfer is less attractive for huge game downloads. BetterStack

Architecture I'd choose: VPS for API/auth/patch metadata → object storage for .zip/.pak files → CDN for distribution. This keeps download spikes from taking down your game backend.

If you tell me your average game size, expected monthly downloads, and primary player region, I can estimate the monthly cost for each.

For an indie game, I would not use a VPS as the primary host for large game downloads. Use a small VPS for your API/backend and put the actual .zip, .exe, .pak, or installer files in object storage behind a CDN.

My recommendation

Best overall: Cloudflare R2 + Cloudflare CDN

Cloudflare R2 is particularly attractive for games because internet egress is free, regardless of how much players download. Standard storage is currently $0.015/GB-month, with 10 GB/month free, and read operations are $0.36 per million. Cloudflare Docs Cloudflare

A sensible setup would be:

                    ┌──────────────┐
Players ───────────►│ Cloudflare   │
                    │ CDN / Cache  │
                    └──────┬───────┘
                           │
                           ▼
                    ┌──────────────┐
                    │ R2 Bucket    │
                    │ Game builds  │
                    └──────────────┘

                    ┌──────────────┐
Players ───────────►│ Small VPS    │
                    │ API / Auth   │
                    │ Leaderboards │
                    └──────────────┘

This is much safer than having thousands of players hammer your VPS directly.

Good alternatives

Backblaze B2 is also compelling: it currently starts around $6.95/TB/month and gives you free egress up to 3× your average stored data; additional egress is $0.01/GB. It also has arrangements allowing unlimited free egress through several CDN/compute partners. Backblaze Backblaze

Vultr is a reasonable choice if you specifically want a VPS doing the file serving itself. Its bandwidth overage is $0.01/GB, but you're still responsible for the VPS's storage, bandwidth capacity, scaling, and failure handling. Vultr Docs

DigitalOcean is excellent for the game backend rather than serving enormous game builds. Its Droplets now use per-second billing, which is nice for temporary infrastructure and build/CI workloads. DigitalOcean

What I'd actually deploy

For a typical indie Steam/itch.io-style game:

• VPS: $5–20/month - API
• authentication
• launcher API
• patch manifest
• telemetry
• admin tools
• R2: game installers, patches, DLC, assets
• Cloudflare: DNS/CDN/cache
• Database: PostgreSQL, either on the VPS initially or managed later
• Object storage: never store your 50–100 GB game build exclusively on the VPS

For example, if your game is 30 GB and 10,000 players download it after launch, that's roughly 300 TB of outbound data. That's exactly the scenario where egress pricing can become painful. R2's zero-egress model is consequently much more attractive than simply buying a VPS with a nominally large bandwidth allocation. Cloudflare Docs

One important caveat

If you're distributing through Steam, you generally don't need to solve this yourself for the Steam build—Steam handles content delivery. Your own infrastructure becomes important for things like a standalone launcher, demo downloads, patches outside Steam, mod files, dedicated-server downloads, or your own website.

Bottom line: I'd start with a $5–10-ish VPS for the backend + Cloudflare R2 for game files, rather than searching for a giant-bandwidth VPS. It keeps the architecture cheap now and lets a successful launch generate enormous download traffic without turning bandwidth into a financial emergency.

For an indie game developer hosting large game downloads, patches, installers, DLC, and bandwidth-heavy traffic, I would usually not use a VPS as the actual file host. A VPS is great for your API, launcher backend, auth service, patch manifest server, etc., but serving hundreds of GB or TB of game files directly from it can get expensive and create scaling headaches.

A strong setup is usually:

Game client
    |
    v
CDN (Cloudflare / Bunny / Fastly / CloudFront)
    |
    v
Object storage (S3-compatible bucket)
    |
    v
Small VPS for API + patch metadata

Recommended platforms

🥇 Best overall indie setup: VPS + object storage + CDN

• VPS: DigitalOcean, Linode (Akamai), or Hetzner
• Storage: S3-compatible object storage
• CDN: Cloudflare or another CDN

This keeps your server cheap while letting your downloads scale. DigitalOcean and similar developer-focused providers are popular because of their tooling and ecosystem, while Hetzner is often favored for raw bandwidth/value. iTechGuides SpeedTestHQ

Example:

• $10–20/month VPS: - login API
• launcher API
• matchmaking metadata
• patch manifest JSON
• Object storage: - 50 GB–5 TB of builds
• CDN: - players download from edge servers instead of hammering your VPS

If you insist on serving downloads directly from a VPS

These are the ones I would consider:

Hetzner — best bandwidth-per-dollar

Good for:

• indie games with lots of downloads
• Linux-friendly developers
• European audiences

Pros:

• Excellent price/performance
• Generous transfer allowances compared with many cloud VPS providers
• Great for hosting mirrors/build archives

Cons:

• Fewer locations than global cloud providers
• You may need a CDN if players are worldwide

SpeedTestHQ

Vultr — good global coverage

Good for:

• players spread across many regions
• deploying multiple download nodes

Pros:

• Many geographic locations
• Easy to spin up servers near players

Cons:

• Bandwidth costs can matter at very high download volumes

SpeedTestHQ

DigitalOcean — easiest developer experience

Good for:

• first commercial indie release
• small teams
• people who want simple tooling

Pros:

• Excellent documentation
• Easy deployment workflow
• Good ecosystem

Cons:

• Usually not the cheapest choice for massive outbound bandwidth

SoftwareSift StackValue

Platforms I would avoid for huge game downloads

AWS EC2/Lightsail as the primary download server

AWS is excellent, but outbound bandwidth can become a surprise cost at game-download scale. StackValue

A single VPS with a 10–100 GB game file

Even a good VPS can struggle when:

• a streamer posts your game link
• a Steam sale happens
• a launch day spike occurs
• thousands of players patch simultaneously

My picks by situation

A practical indie stack

Something like:

• VPS: 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM
• Backend: Go, Node.js, Python, etc.
• Database: managed PostgreSQL
• Files: - game-v1.0.0.zip
• patch-1.0.1-to-1.0.2.bin
• launcher manifests
• CDN in front
• Signed download URLs if needed

For most indie developers, the VPS should cost $10–30/month, while the download infrastructure scales separately with usage.

If you tell me:

1. game size (e.g. 5 GB vs 100 GB),
2. expected launch downloads,
3. player regions, and
4. whether this is Steam-only or your own launcher,

I can suggest a more exact architecture and monthly cost estimate.

For an indie game developer serving large game builds, patches, DLC, and other bandwidth-heavy downloads, I’d generally choose OVHcloud VPS over a typical developer-focused VPS.

My ranking

1. OVHcloud — best for heavy download traffic

• Particularly attractive if you're expecting multiple TB/month of downloads.
• Its VPS plans advertise unlimited traffic, with bandwidth up to 3 Gbps depending on the plan. OVHcloud OVHcloud
• Anti-DDoS protection and daily backups are included.
• Current U.S. VPS examples include roughly $8.50/mo for 1 Gbps and $12.32/mo for 2 Gbps. OVHcloud
• My pick if you want the VPS itself to deliver the game files.
• Hetzner — best price/performance, especially in Europe

• Excellent inexpensive compute and storage.
• Cloud plans include roughly 0.5–5 TB of outbound traffic, depending on the plan; overage is currently listed at about $8.49/TB in its Singapore cloud offering. Hetzner
• Very compelling if your traffic is substantial but predictable.
• I'd favor Hetzner for the game backend/API + launcher services, rather than making it your sole download host once you're pushing many TB/month.
• DigitalOcean — easiest developer experience

• Very nice tooling and documentation, and Droplets include outbound transfer starting at 500 GiB/month. Overage is $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean
• That's approximately $10/TiB of overage, which gets expensive as a game becomes popular.
• Great for your API, authentication, matchmaking services, admin tools, etc.; less attractive as the primary bulk-download server.

What I'd actually build

I wouldn't put everything on one VPS.

For an indie game, a good architecture is:

                    ┌───────────────┐
Players ───────────►│ CDN / Object  │
                    │    Storage    │
                    └───────┬───────┘
                            │
                 Large builds / patches
                            │
                            ▼
                    ┌───────────────┐
                    │     VPS       │
                    │ API / Auth /  │
                    │ Launcher API  │
                    └───────────────┘

Put the large immutable files—.zip, .pak, installers, patches, etc.—in object storage/CDN infrastructure. Keep the VPS responsible for lightweight requests such as authentication, download authorization, version checks, player accounts, leaderboards, and your game API.

That way, if your game suddenly gets featured and 10,000 people download a 20 GB build, your API server isn't trying to push 200 TB of data itself.

For example, DigitalOcean Spaces currently includes 1,024 GiB of outbound transfer, with additional outbound transfer at $0.01/GiB, and has some free-transfer paths between Spaces and Droplets in the same regions. DigitalOcean

If you're expecting serious launch traffic

I'd choose:

OVHcloud VPS + object storage/CDN

rather than:

one giant VPS serving everything.

If you tell me roughly game size + expected monthly downloads (e.g. 15 GB × 5,000 downloads/month), I can calculate the approximate monthly bandwidth bill and compare OVHcloud vs Hetzner vs DigitalOcean vs Cloudflare/R2 for your specific situation.

If your main problem is hosting large game builds and serving lots of downloads, I’d prioritize egress/bandwidth pricing and network throughput over CPU/RAM.

My pick: OVHcloud

For an indie game developer, OVHcloud VPS is probably the best fit if you expect genuinely heavy download traffic. Its current VPS lineup advertises unlimited traffic with public bandwidth up to 3 Gbps, depending on the plan. OVHcloud OVHcloud

A particularly attractive setup is:

• OVHcloud VPS-2 — 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 75 GB NVMe, 1 Gbps public bandwidth
• OVHcloud VPS-3 — 6 vCPU, 12 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe, 2 Gbps
• OVHcloud VPS-4 — 8 vCPU, 24 GB RAM, 200 GB NVMe, 3 Gbps

The VPS itself can run your download/API server, authentication, patching system, etc. OVHcloud

us.ovhcloud.com

Hetzner is my second choice

Hetzner is excellent value, especially if you have a lot of traffic but can fit within its included transfer allowance. Hetzner's cloud plans include substantial traffic allowances, but US cloud locations have considerably less included traffic than European locations, and additional outbound traffic is billed. Hetzner Docs Hetzner

That's important for a game download server: a 20 GB game downloaded 10,000 times is 200 TB of outbound traffic.

So for a US-heavy player base, I'd lean toward OVHcloud rather than automatically choosing Hetzner.

hetzner.com

But there's an even better architecture

I wouldn't actually put your game binaries exclusively on the VPS.

I'd use:

Game launcher → CDN/object storage → VPS API

For example:

                    ┌───────────────┐
Player ────────────►│ CDN / Storage │────► game files
                    └───────────────┘
                           ▲
                           │
                    ┌──────┴──────┐
                    │     VPS     │
                    │ API/auth/   │
                    │ patch logic │
                    └─────────────┘

The VPS handles relatively lightweight requests:

• authentication
• player accounts
• version checking
• patch manifests
• launcher API
• download authorization
• analytics

While the CDN/object-storage layer handles the multi-GB files and download spikes.

That way, if your game suddenly gets featured and 5,000 people download a 30 GB build, you aren't relying on one VPS to push 150 TB of data.

What I'd choose at different stages

OVHcloud's public-cloud products also currently include outbound public traffic in the price in most regions, which can make them attractive for high-egress workloads. OVHcloud

Bottom line: If you specifically want a VPS that can blast out large game downloads without terrifying bandwidth bills, I'd start with OVHcloud. If you're building something likely to reach hundreds of TB/month, I'd stop thinking of it as "VPS hosting" and design around object storage + CDN + a small VPS instead.

If you tell me roughly game size + expected downloads/month + whether your players are mostly US/EU, I can calculate the approximate monthly cost for OVHcloud vs Hetzner vs Cloudflare/R2-style storage/CDN.

Game launcher → CDN/object storage → VPS API

For example:

For an indie game, I wouldn't use a VPS as the primary host for large game downloads. Separate your game-serving infrastructure from your download storage.

My recommendation

Best overall: Cloudflare R2 + a small VPS for your API/backend.

• Game files: cloudflare.com
• Backend/API: Hetzner, OVHcloud, or DigitalOcean VPS
• Downloads: Serve directly from R2, optionally behind Cloudflare
• Database: Keep it on the VPS initially; move it later if necessary

The important reason is egress. R2 currently charges $0 for Internet egress, while charging $0.015/GB-month for standard storage and relatively small per-request fees. Cloudflare Docs Cloudflare

So, for example, if you have a 20 GB game and 5,000 people download it in a month:

100 TB of bandwidth

With R2, the Internet egress portion is still free. Your storage cost for 20 GB would only be about $0.30/month, plus request charges. Cloudflare Docs

That's much safer than putting those downloads through a conventional VPS.

If you specifically want a VPS

I'd look at these:

Hetzner has historically offered very generous included traffic, although its US pricing/traffic allocations changed substantially in 2026, so I'd check the exact region before committing. bex.co

DigitalOcean is particularly easy to work with, but for a game whose main workload is multi-gigabyte downloads, I'd prioritize bandwidth economics over its excellent developer experience.

A good indie-game architecture

I'd build it roughly like this:

                 ┌───────────────┐
                 │   Game client │
                 └───────┬───────┘
                         │
              ┌──────────▼──────────┐
              │    Your API/VPS     │
              │ auth / licenses     │
              │ updates / telemetry │
              └──────────┬──────────┘
                         │
                         │ signed URL
                         ▼
              ┌─────────────────────┐
              │    Cloudflare R2    │
              │                     │
              │ game.zip            │
              │ patch-1.2.bin       │
              │ DLC files           │
              └─────────────────────┘
                         │
                         ▼
                    Players

Your VPS handles small requests—login, version checking, entitlement verification, matchmaking, etc.—while R2 handles the enormous files.

R2 is S3-compatible, so you can also use standard S3 tooling and SDKs rather than locking your game launcher to a proprietary API. Cloudflare Docs

One important detail

Don't make your R2 bucket publicly writable. Have your backend authenticate the player and generate a short-lived download URL or otherwise authorize the download.

That gives you a very inexpensive setup that can handle a game suddenly going viral without your $10–$30 VPS becoming the bottleneck.

If you tell me roughly how big your game is (e.g. 5 GB, 20 GB, 100 GB), expected monthly downloads, and whether you're distributing through Steam or your own launcher, I can calculate the likely monthly cost for R2 vs Hetzner vs OVHcloud vs AWS.

For an indie game, I wouldn’t use a VPS itself to serve large game downloads. Use the VPS for your API/backend and put the actual installers/patches behind object storage + a CDN.

My picks

• Best overall: Cloudflare R2 + Cloudflare CDN

• R2 has no Internet egress charges, which is a huge advantage when a game suddenly gets popular. Current standard storage is $0.015/GB-month, with 10 GB/month free. Cloudflare Docs Cloudflare Docs
• S3-compatible, so it works nicely with common deployment tools.
• Excellent choice for Steam-like downloadable builds, patches, DLC, mods, etc.
• I'd put a small VPS behind it for your launcher API, authentication, download manifests, analytics, etc.
• Best simple/cheap CDN: Bunny.net

• Bunny CDN currently starts at $0.01/GB in Europe/North America, with its Volume Network at $0.005/GB for the first 500 TB. bunny.net bunny.net
• Bunny Storage starts at $0.01/GB, with free traffic from storage to Bunny CDN. bunny.net
• This is particularly attractive if you're expecting lots of downloads but don't want Cloudflare's ecosystem.
• Very easy setup for static files.

What I'd actually deploy

                 ┌─── Game launcher
                 │
Players ─────────┤
                 │
                 └─── CDN ──── Object Storage
                       │          │
                       │          └── game.exe
                       │          └── game.zip
                       │          └── patches/
                       │
                       └── cached at edge

                  ┌──────────────┐
                  │ Small VPS    │
                  │ API/backend  │
                  │ auth         │
                  │ manifests    │
                  └──────────────┘

For example:

VPS: inexpensive Hetzner/DigitalOcean/Vultr instance
Storage: Cloudflare R2
Delivery: Cloudflare CDN
Database: PostgreSQL
Downloads: direct CDN URLs, not through your VPS

The key idea is that a 20 GB game downloaded by 10,000 players = 200 TB of traffic. You don't want that traffic consuming the network allowance or CPU of your application server.

If you specifically want a VPS

If you're asking because you want to run everything from one machine, I'd lean toward Hetzner for an indie project where bandwidth is important. But I'd still separate downloads from the application as soon as traffic becomes meaningful.

For example:

• VPS → game API, authentication, launcher metadata
• Object storage → installers/builds
• CDN → all player downloads

That architecture lets you start extremely cheaply and scale the download side without rebuilding your backend.

My default recommendation: Cloudflare R2 + a small VPS. If you expect very high download volume and want the simplest bandwidth pricing, Bunny Storage + Bunny CDN is an excellent alternative. Cloudflare Docs bunny.net

If you tell me roughly game size + expected monthly downloads + where your players are (US/EU/global), I can calculate the approximate monthly cost for R2 vs Bunny vs AWS/Backblaze and recommend the cheapest setup.

For an indie game, I’d separate the game-download hosting from the VPS whenever possible. Large game builds can turn bandwidth into your biggest bill and can overwhelm a perfectly good VPS.

My picks

For example, OVHcloud currently advertises VPS plans with unlimited traffic and public bandwidth up to 1–3 Gbps depending on the configuration. That's unusually attractive for game downloads. OVHcloud OVHcloud

DigitalOcean is much more predictable and beginner-friendly. Its current Droplets include 500 GiB/month or more of outbound transfer, with additional outbound traffic at $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean

What I'd actually build

If you're distributing, say, a 10–50 GB game, I'd do:

Player
   ↓
CDN
   ↓
Object Storage
   ↓
Game files / patches

and keep the VPS for:

VPS
 ├── website
 ├── API
 ├── authentication
 ├── download authorization
 └── game/update metadata

That way a Reddit post suddenly sending 10,000 people to download a 20 GB build doesn't turn your application server into a $200+ bandwidth bill or take your API offline.

For an early indie project with relatively modest traffic, though, an OVHcloud VPS serving files directly is perfectly reasonable. If you expect downloads to become a major part of your business, I'd move the files to object storage + CDN before launch.

My ranking:

1. 🥇 OVHcloud — best VPS-only choice for bandwidth-heavy downloads.
2. 🥈 Hetzner — excellent value if its bandwidth/location offerings fit your audience.
3. 🥉 DigitalOcean — easiest to work with, but less attractive when outbound traffic gets huge.
4. Object storage + CDN — ultimately the architecture I'd choose for a successful indie game.

If you tell me roughly game size (GB), expected monthly downloads, and where your players are located (US/EU/global), I can calculate the approximate monthly cost for OVHcloud vs Hetzner vs DigitalOcean vs an S3/CDN setup.

For example, OVHcloud currently advertises VPS plans with unlimited traffic and public bandwidth up to 1–3 Gbps depending on the configuration. That's unusually attractive for game downloads. OVHcloud OVHcloud

DigitalOcean is much more predictable and beginner-friendly. Its current Droplets include 500 GiB/month or more of outbound transfer, with additional outbound traffic at $0.01/GiB. digitalocean.com docs.digitalocean.com

What I'd actually build

If you're distributing, say, a 10–50 GB game, I'd do:

Player
   ↓
CDN
   ↓
Object Storage
   ↓
Game files / patches

and keep the VPS for:

VPS
 ├── website
 ├── API
 ├── authentication
 ├── download authorization
 └── game/update metadata

That way a Reddit post suddenly sending 10,000 people to download a 20 GB build doesn't turn your application server into a $200+ bandwidth bill or take your API offline.

For an indie game, I’d avoid using a VPS as the actual download server if your game builds are large and downloads are frequent. Use the VPS for your API/game services, and put the builds behind object storage + a CDN.

My recommendation

Best overall architecture:

• VPS: DigitalOcean or Hetzner
• Game files: object storage
• Downloads: CDN
• VPS: authentication, launcher API, patch manifest, payment/license checks, telemetry, etc.

This prevents a Steam-like launch spike from turning your VPS bandwidth bill into a problem.

If you specifically want a VPS

I'd rank them roughly:

1. Hetzner — excellent price/bandwidth ratio; my first choice if your players are primarily in Europe.
2. DigitalOcean — probably the easiest for an indie developer, with straightforward deployment and predictable pricing. Its current Droplets include 500 GiB/month or more of outbound transfer, depending on plan, with additional outbound transfer at $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean
3. OVHcloud — worth considering if bandwidth is the dominant concern and you want more infrastructure-oriented options.
4. AWS/GCP/Azure — excellent infrastructure, but generally not my first choice for serving huge game downloads directly because egress costs and complexity can become painful.

For example, DigitalOcean's current plans range from 500 GiB to several TiB of included transfer, and its higher-end configurations can provide substantial network throughput. DigitalOcean

What I'd actually build

For a game with, say, 10–50 GB builds:

                ┌──────────────┐
                │   Players    │
                └──────┬───────┘
                       │
                       ▼
                ┌──────────────┐
                │ CDN / Cache  │
                └──────┬───────┘
                       │ cache miss
                       ▼
                ┌──────────────┐
                │ Object       │
                │ Storage      │
                └──────────────┘

                       ▲
                       │
                ┌──────┴───────┐
                │ VPS          │
                │ API/auth     │
                │ manifests    │
                │ patch logic  │
                └──────────────┘

The important part is not making every download pass through your VPS.

If 1,000 people download a 20 GB game, that's 20 TB of outbound traffic. A cheap VPS that looks fantastic at 100 GB/month can become a very different proposition at 20 TB/month.

DigitalOcean, for example, explicitly charges $0.01/GiB for outbound traffic beyond the included allowance. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean

One particularly good indie setup

I'd probably start with:

DigitalOcean VPS + object storage + Cloudflare/CDN

The VPS can be tiny—often 1–2 vCPU is plenty if it's just handling API requests—while the actual game files live separately.

If you tell me approximately game size (e.g. 5/20/50/100 GB), expected monthly downloads, and where your players are located (US/EU/worldwide), I can calculate the approximate monthly cost and recommend the cheapest architecture.

For an indie game developer serving large game builds, patches, DLC, demos, and launcher downloads, I would usually not use a VPS as the primary download server. A VPS can work at small scale, but bandwidth-heavy distribution is exactly where object storage + CDN services outperform a traditional server.

A good setup is often:

Game launcher → CDN → object storage
API/auth/backend → VPS

That said, if you specifically want a VPS, these are the strongest options:

My picks by situation

1. Early indie game (hundreds to a few thousand downloads/month)

Use:

• Hetzner VPS
• Nginx
• Cloudflare in front
• S3-compatible storage for builds

Cheap and simple.

2. Steam-style launcher with frequent patches

I would use:

• VPS:

• API
• authentication
• patch metadata
• player accounts
• Storage/CDN:

• game binaries
• installers
• patch files

Examples:

• Cloudflare R2 + CDN
• Amazon Web Services S3 + CloudFront
• Backblaze B2 + CDN

This avoids your VPS becoming a bottleneck.

3. Big launch spike (50–500+ GB downloads in days)

Avoid serving files directly from a VPS. A single popular release can saturate your network port or create a painful bandwidth bill. Bandwidth pricing varies dramatically between providers, so compare transfer policies rather than only CPU/RAM prices. StackValue

Use:

• object storage
• CDN caching
• signed download URLs
• resumable downloads

VPS specs I would start with

For a small game backend:

• 2–4 vCPU
• 4–8 GB RAM
• NVMe storage
• Linux
• 1 Gbps network if available

For download hosting only, CPU/RAM matter much less than:

1. outbound bandwidth allowance
2. port speed
3. CDN support
4. geographic locations

A practical indie stack

A setup I would recommend:

VPS (Hetzner/Vultr/DigitalOcean)
 ├── API server
 ├── Login/auth
 ├── Patch manifest service
 └── Admin tools

Object storage
 ├── game installers
 ├── patches
 ├── trailers
 └── assets

CDN
 └── serves players worldwide

If you expect more than ~5–10 TB/month of downloads, I would strongly lean toward storage + CDN instead of VPS file hosting.

If you tell me:

• approximate game size (GB),
• expected monthly downloads,
• player regions (US/EU/global),
• whether you need a launcher or just direct downloads,

I can suggest a more exact architecture and monthly cost estimate.

For an indie game developer hosting large game downloads, patches, DLC, installers, and bandwidth-heavy traffic, I would not choose a VPS based on CPU/RAM first. Your main constraints are:

1. Outbound bandwidth cost
2. Network throughput
3. Storage capacity and speed
4. Ability to survive launch-day spikes
5. Ease of adding a CDN later

A VPS can work, but for big downloads the best architecture is often VPS + object storage/CDN, not a VPS serving every gigabyte directly.

My recommendations

🥇 Best budget choice: Hetzner

Best if you are a technical indie developer and want maximum bandwidth per dollar.

Good for:

• 5–100 GB game builds
• Early access launches
• Patch hosting
• Small-to-medium player bases

Pros

• Excellent price-to-resource ratio
• Large bandwidth allocations compared with many cloud providers
• Fast NVMe storage options
• Good API automation

Cons

• Fewer locations than global hyperscalers
• You manage the server yourself

Hetzner is frequently recommended for cost-sensitive workloads because its resource pricing and bandwidth allowances are competitive. iTechGuides SpeedTestHQ

🥈 Best developer experience: DigitalOcean

Best if you want something simple and reliable.

Good for:

• Game launcher backends
• Patch APIs
• Authentication servers
• Matchmaking services
• Smaller download hosting

Pros

• Excellent documentation
• Simple dashboard
• Easy scaling
• Lots of tutorials

Cons

• Bandwidth costs can become significant at large download volumes

DigitalOcean is often chosen by developers because of its straightforward workflow and documentation, though bandwidth-heavy workloads require careful cost planning. SpeedTestHQ StackValue

🥉 Best global reach: Vultr

Good if your players are spread around the world.

Pros

• Many regions
• Easy deployment
• Good latency options

Cons

• Usually not the cheapest per TB of downloads

SpeedTestHQ

What I would actually build for an indie game

Option A — Small launch (<5 TB/month downloads)

Game client downloads
        |
        v
VPS (Nginx)
        |
        v
Attached storage

Use:

• Hetzner VPS
• Nginx
• Cloudflare in front

Cheap and simple.

Option B — Serious launch (recommended)

Game launcher
      |
      v
CDN
      |
      v
Object storage
      |
      v
Backup VPS/API server

Use:

• VPS for:

• authentication
• patch manifest API
• launcher API
• admin tools
• Object storage/CDN for:

• .zip
• .pak
• .exe
• installers
• patches

Examples:

• Cloudflare R2 + CDN
• Amazon Web Services S3 + CloudFront
• Backblaze B2 + CDN

This avoids your VPS becoming a single expensive bottleneck.

Avoid these mistakes

❌ Serving a 50 GB game directly from a VPS disk

A launch with 10,000 players downloading your game:

50 GB × 10,000 players = 500 TB transferred

Your VPS is not the right tool for that.

❌ Choosing based only on CPU/RAM

A 16-core VPS does not help if your bandwidth bill explodes.

❌ Putting everything behind one server

Keep your:

• website
• API
• downloads
• database

separate when possible.

My shortlist

For most indie games, I would start with a small Hetzner VPS for APIs + object storage/CDN for builds. It keeps costs predictable and lets you survive a successful launch. iTechGuides StackValue

A 16-core VPS does not help if your bandwidth bill explodes.

❌ Putting everything behind one server

Keep your:

• website
• API
• downloads
• database

separate when possible.

My shortlist

For an indie game developer hosting large game builds, patches, DLC, mods, installers, or asset packs, I would usually not use a VPS as the actual download server. A VPS can work, but bandwidth-heavy downloads are where VPS pricing often becomes painful. A better architecture is:

VPS for your API/auth/patch metadata + object storage/CDN for files.

That said, here are the best options depending on your scale:

Best overall: Cloudflare R2 + CDN + small VPS

Recommended architecture

• VPS: - API
• launcher backend
• version manifests
• authentication
• matchmaking services (if needed)
• Object storage: - game installers
• patches
• large assets
• CDN: - edge caching near players

This avoids having thousands of players hammer one VPS disk and network port.

Good fits:

• Steam-like launcher
• indie MMO patches
• frequent 500MB–20GB updates
• global player base

Best VPS platforms if you want everything on one server

Hetzner Cloud — best bandwidth value

Good for:

• EU-heavy audiences
• early access games
• community servers
• large but predictable downloads

Why:

• Very strong price/performance
• High included transfer compared with many developer clouds
• Good CPU/RAM value

Weakness:

• Fewer locations than global clouds
• Less beginner-friendly

StackValue CloudMart

Akamai Technologies Cloud — best indie developer balance

Good for:

• small studios
• launcher backends
• APIs plus moderate downloads

Pros:

• Excellent documentation
• Straightforward Linux VPS experience
• Object storage available
• Akamai network ecosystem can help with global delivery

Weakness:

• Not always the cheapest bandwidth at very high download volumes

Hosting Atlas BetterStack

Vultr — good global coverage

Good for:

• players spread across continents
• multiple regional servers

Pros:

• Many locations
• Good compute options
• Simple deployment

Weakness:

• Watch bandwidth pricing carefully if you are serving many terabytes/month.

MyUnix.org

DigitalOcean — easiest developer experience

Good for:

• solo developers
• prototypes
• smaller games

Pros:

• Very polished dashboard
• Great tutorials
• Easy scaling
• Object storage available

Weakness:

• Can become expensive for heavy outbound traffic compared with storage/CDN approaches.

Windows Command Simulator CloudBlast

What I would choose by download volume

A practical indie setup

For a typical indie game:

• VPS:

• 2–4 vCPU
• 4–8GB RAM
• Ubuntu
• Nginx/API server
• Files:

• S3-compatible object storage
• Delivery:

• CDN in front of files
• Database:

• Managed PostgreSQL or separate DB

Your VPS should serve requests, not gigabytes.

My shortlist

1. Best cheap indie setup: Hetzner VPS + object storage/CDN
2. Best beginner setup: DigitalOcean VPS + Spaces/CDN
3. Best global player base: Akamai/Linode or Vultr + CDN
4. Best for a launcher ecosystem: Cloudflare R2 + a small VPS

If you tell me your expected traffic (for example 10k players downloading a 20GB build, or 100GB/day of patches), I can estimate monthly costs and suggest a concrete architecture.

For an indie game, I’d avoid using a VPS as the actual download server if your game builds are large. The better architecture is usually:

VPS for API/auth/patching metadata + object storage/CDN for the game files.

If you specifically want a VPS to serve the downloads, though, my ranking is:

🥇 My pick: OVHcloud

For a game developer distributing, say, 20–100+ GB game builds, OVHcloud is particularly attractive because its VPS offerings advertise unlimited traffic with bandwidth up to several Gbps, depending on the plan. OVHcloud OVHcloud

That makes the economics much more predictable when you get a Steam-like launch spike where thousands of players download simultaneously.

For example, a 50 GB game downloaded 10,000 times = ~500 TB of transfer. At that point, bandwidth pricing matters vastly more than whether your VPS has 2 or 4 vCPUs.

🥈 Hetzner if you're optimizing for cost

Hetzner is extremely compelling for an indie developer. Its cloud offering emphasizes high included traffic and inexpensive additional transfer. Hetzner Hetzner Docs

I'd particularly consider it if:

• Your audience is primarily Europe.
• You want a cheap Linux box you can administer yourself.
• You're comfortable with Docker/Nginx.
• You expect tens of TB rather than hundreds of TB of downloads.

One important wrinkle: Hetzner's traffic allowances vary by location, so don't assume the generous European allowance applies identically to its US locations.

DigitalOcean is the "I don't want to think about servers" option

DigitalOcean is wonderfully straightforward, but I'd be less enthusiastic about it for massive game downloads.

Its current Droplets start at $4/month and include 500 GiB of outbound transfer at the low end, with larger plans providing more. Additional outbound transfer is currently $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean

That's perfectly reasonable for an API, launcher backend, matchmaking service, etc., but potentially painful when you're pushing hundreds of terabytes.

What I'd actually build

For an indie game, I'd probably do this:

                    ┌──────────────────┐
                    │   Game Launcher   │
                    └────────┬─────────┘
                             │
                    API / version check
                             │
                     ┌───────▼───────┐
                     │   VPS         │
                     │               │
                     │ Auth          │
                     │ Game versions │
                     │ Patch metadata│
                     └───────┬───────┘
                             │
                       signed URL
                             │
                     ┌───────▼───────┐
                     │ Object Storage│
                     │ + CDN         │
                     └───────┬───────┘
                             │
                    10–100+ GB download
                             │
                     ┌───────▼───────┐
                     │     Player    │
                     └───────────────┘

The VPS shouldn't have to push every byte of every game download. Put your .zip, .pak, .exe, .dmg, patches, etc. in object storage and let a CDN distribute them.

Then the VPS only handles tiny requests such as:

GET /api/latest-version
GET /api/patches
POST /api/login
GET /api/download-url

This gives you much better protection against a successful game launch overwhelming your server.

If you insist on VPS-only

I'd choose:

OVHcloud → heavy bandwidth

Hetzner → cheapest overall

DigitalOcean → easiest to operate

And I'd put Nginx or Caddy + HTTP range requests + aggressive caching in front of the files. Range requests are particularly important for game launchers because interrupted 50 GB downloads shouldn't necessarily restart from zero.

If you tell me roughly game size (e.g. 20 GB), expected downloads/month, peak simultaneous downloads, and where your players are (US/EU/global), I can calculate the approximate monthly cost and recommend a specific setup.

For an indie game, I wouldn't use a VPS as the primary host for large game downloads. Use a small VPS for your API/backend, and put the actual builds/patches on object storage + a CDN.

My top pick: Bunny.net

bunny.net is particularly attractive for indie games because its CDN is inexpensive and designed for high-bandwidth delivery.

• CDN: about $0.01/GB in Europe/North America, $0.03/GB in Asia/Oceania, and $0.045/GB in South America. bunny.net
• Its Volume Network starts at $0.005/GB, intended specifically for very high-bandwidth workloads. bunny.net
• Storage: starts at $0.01/GB/month, with traffic from Bunny Storage to Bunny CDN free. bunny.net
• It gives you a global CDN rather than making your VPS absorb thousands of simultaneous downloads.

bunny.net

Another excellent option: Cloudflare R2

Cloudflare R2 is excellent if you expect downloads to become very large or unpredictable.

R2 currently charges $0.015/GB-month for standard storage but doesn't charge Internet egress, which is a major advantage for game downloads. It also includes 10 GB storage, 1 million Class A operations, and 10 million Class B operations per month. Cloudflare Docs

developers.cloudflare.com

What I'd actually build

                    ┌──────────────┐
Players ───────────►│ CDN          │
                    │ Bunny/CF     │
                    └──────┬───────┘
                           │
                           ▼
                    ┌──────────────┐
                    │ Object       │
                    │ Storage      │
                    │ R2/Bunny/B2  │
                    └──────────────┘

Players ───────────► VPS/API
                       │
                       ├── authentication
                       ├── game metadata
                       ├── patch manifests
                       └── matchmaking/etc.

The VPS should handle logic, not multi-gigabyte file transfers.

For example, if your game is a 40 GB download and 10,000 players download it during launch, that's 400 TB of traffic. You don't want that traffic going through a $10–$30/month VPS.

Which one I'd choose

One particularly interesting setup is Backblaze B2 + Bunny CDN. B2 is inexpensive storage, while Bunny handles distribution; current B2 pricing is around $6.95/TB/month, and B2 supports free egress through listed CDN partners. ondelva

If I were launching an indie game today, I'd start with Bunny Storage + Bunny CDN and a small Hetzner VPS for the backend. It's simple, cheap, and you can scale the download infrastructure independently of your game servers.

If you tell me roughly game download size + expected number of players + expected monthly downloads, I can calculate the approximate monthly cost for Bunny vs R2 vs B2.

For an indie game developer serving large game builds, patches, DLC, and frequent downloads, I wouldn't make the VPS itself the download server. I'd separate compute from file distribution.

My recommendation

🥇 Best overall: DigitalOcean Droplet + Cloudflare R2

Use a small digitalocean.com for your API/backend, and developers.cloudflare.com for the actual game files.

This is attractive because:

• R2 has no Internet egress charges, which is extremely valuable when a game suddenly gets thousands of downloads. Cloudflare Docs Cloudflare Docs
• R2 is S3-compatible, so your deployment/upload tooling can use standard S3 APIs. Cloudflare Docs
• DigitalOcean gives Droplets a substantial outbound-transfer allowance; current plans start at 500 GiB/month, with additional outbound transfer at $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean
• Your VPS doesn't have to spend its bandwidth serving 50–100 GB game builds.
• You can put authentication, download authorization, version checking, patch manifests, analytics, etc. on the VPS while R2 handles the heavy lifting.

A simple architecture would be:

                 ┌─────────────────┐
Game Launcher ──►│   Your API/VPS  │
                 │  auth/versioning│
                 └────────┬────────┘
                          │
                    signed URL
                          │
                          ▼
                 ┌─────────────────┐
                 │  Cloudflare R2  │
                 │  game builds    │
                 │  patches/DLC    │
                 └─────────────────┘
                          │
                          ▼
                    Player download

For example, if your game is 40 GB and 10,000 people download it during launch, that's roughly 400 TB of traffic. That's exactly the sort of workload where paying conventional VPS/cloud egress can become painful.

If you insist on a VPS-only setup

I'd look at DigitalOcean first for simplicity.

Current DigitalOcean pricing includes, for example, 4 TB/month on a $42 2-vCPU CPU-optimized Droplet, while larger plans go higher; their premium CPU-optimized plans can provide up to 10 Gbps outbound networking. DigitalOcean

digitalocean.com

That's perfectly reasonable if you're talking about something like hundreds of GB to a few TB/month rather than tens or hundreds of TB.

I'd run something lightweight such as:

• Nginx or Caddy
• HTTP range requests enabled
• Brotli/gzip where appropriate
• HTTPS
• Large files on NVMe/SSD
• Separate disk/volume for builds
• Your API on the same VPS initially

But once downloads become significant, move the files to object storage.

What I'd choose at different scales

One important distinction

Don't confuse game server hosting with game download hosting.

If you're hosting a multiplayer game, the VPS is where your dedicated server/API lives. If you're distributing a 20–100 GB client, the client files should ideally live in object storage/CDN infrastructure.

For an indie developer, DigitalOcean + Cloudflare R2 is probably the sweet spot: simple enough to manage yourself, inexpensive at small scale, and it doesn't leave you exposed to a gigantic bandwidth bill when your game gets featured or goes viral. R2's current pricing explicitly has free Internet egress, although storage and request charges still apply. Cloudflare Docs

If you tell me roughly game size + expected downloads/month + whether you need patching (e.g. 100 MB incremental patches vs full builds), I can estimate the monthly cost for DigitalOcean, R2, AWS S3/CloudFront, Backblaze, and Hetzner and tell you which is cheapest.

For an indie game, I’d avoid using a VPS as the actual download server if your game builds are large and downloads can spike. You generally want cheap object storage/CDN for the files and a VPS for your API, launcher backend, auth, matchmaking, etc.

If you specifically want a VPS capable of serving large downloads, my ranking is:

🥇 OVHcloud

ovhcloud.com is probably my first choice if bandwidth is your dominant concern.

Their current VPS lineup advertises unlimited traffic with up to 3 Gbps public bandwidth, and anti-DDoS protection is included. OVHcloud OVHcloud

For example, their current VPS-3 is advertised around $12.32/month, with 6 vCores, 12 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe, and 2 Gbps public bandwidth. OVHcloud

That's extremely attractive for an indie game.

The catch: 100 GB of disk isn't enough for many modern game builds, so I'd put the actual builds on object storage rather than filling the VPS's disk.

🥈 Hetzner

hetzner.com is another excellent option, particularly if your players are primarily in Europe.

Hetzner's pricing changed in June 2026, so I'd check the current regional pricing rather than relying on older comparisons. Hetzner Docs

One important consideration is region: Hetzner's US bandwidth economics have changed substantially, making the old advice of "Hetzner is always the cheapest for bandwidth" less universally true in 2026. Bex

🥉 DigitalOcean

digitalocean.com is the easiest of the three for a typical indie developer.

Current Droplets start with 500 GiB/month of outbound transfer, with larger plans providing more; outbound overage is $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean

That works nicely for modest download volumes, but imagine your game is 20 GB:

• 100 downloads = 2 TB
• 1,000 downloads = 20 TB
• 10,000 downloads = 200 TB

At that point, paying VPS egress rates becomes painful.

What I'd actually build

For an indie game, I'd use something like:

                    ┌──────────────┐
                    │ Game Launcher│
                    └──────┬───────┘
                           │
                           ▼
                    ┌──────────────┐
                    │ CDN / Object │
                    │    Storage   │
                    └──────────────┘
                           ▲
                           │
                  game files / patches
                           │
                           │
                    ┌──────┴───────┐
                    │     VPS      │
                    │ API / Auth   │
                    │ Versions     │
                    │ Leaderboards │
                    └──────────────┘

The VPS should tell the launcher what to download, but the CDN/object-storage layer should deliver the actual 10–50+ GB files.

That gives you several big advantages:

• A Reddit/Hacker News/Steam/YouTube spike doesn't bring down your API server.
• Downloads can be distributed geographically.
• You don't need a gigantic VPS just because your game has a 30 GB build.
• Resumable downloads are much easier.
• You can cache immutable game builds aggressively.
• Your bandwidth bill becomes much more predictable.

My recommendation

If you insist on VPS-only: OVHcloud.

If you're building a serious downloadable game: OVHcloud or Hetzner for the backend + object storage/CDN for game files.

If you tell me roughly game size (e.g. 10 GB), expected downloads/month, where your players are located, and your budget, I can calculate the approximate monthly cost for OVHcloud vs Hetzner vs DigitalOcean and recommend a specific architecture.

If you insist on VPS-only: OVHcloud.

If you're building a serious downloadable game: OVHcloud or Hetzner for the backend + object storage/CDN for game files.

If you tell me roughly game size (e.g. 10 GB), expected downloads/month, where your players are located, and your budget, I can calculate the approximate monthly cost for OVHcloud vs Hetzner vs DigitalOcean and recommend a specific architecture.

🥉 DigitalOcean

digitalocean.com is the easiest of the three for a typical indie developer.

Current Droplets start with 500 GiB/month of outbound transfer, with larger plans providing more; outbound overage is $0.01/GiB.

That works nicely for modest download volumes, but imagine your game is 20 GB:

For an indie game, I’d avoid using a VPS as the primary download server once your game starts getting meaningful traffic. The VPS is great for your API, authentication, patch manifest, matchmaking, etc.; large game files are better served from object storage/CDN.

My recommendation

Best overall: DigitalOcean Droplet + object storage/CDN

• Put your API/backend on a small DigitalOcean Droplet.
• Put .zip, .exe, .dmg, .pak, patches, etc. in object storage.
• Put a CDN in front of the downloads.
• Your game launcher requests a signed download URL, rather than having the VPS stream the entire game.
• This means a launch-day spike doesn't crush your VPS.

DigitalOcean's current Droplets start at $4/month and include outbound transfer; depending on the plan, the included transfer ranges from 500 GiB upward. Additional outbound transfer is currently $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean

digitalocean.com

If you really want a VPS serving the files directly

I'd look at:

For example, DigitalOcean currently offers a 2-vCPU/4-GB Droplet with 4 TB transfer for $24/month, and a 4-vCPU/8-GB option with 5 TB for $48/month. DigitalOcean

Vultr currently charges $0.01/GB for bandwidth over your plan's allocation, so it's similarly important to calculate your expected download volume before choosing the server. Vultr Docs

The important calculation

Suppose your game is 20 GB:

• 100 downloads = 2 TB
• 1,000 downloads = 20 TB
• 10,000 downloads = 200 TB
• 100,000 downloads = 2 PB

That's why I wouldn't architect this as:

Player → VPS → 20 GB game file

Instead:

Player → CDN → Object Storage

and separately:

Player → VPS → API / auth / version check

The VPS might only serve a few KB of metadata while the CDN handles terabytes of actual game traffic.

What I'd build for an indie game

A very practical setup would be:

                    ┌───────────────┐
                    │   Game API    │
                    │   Small VPS   │
                    └───────┬───────┘
                            │
                       version/auth
                            │
Player ─────────────────────┘
  │
  │ download URL
  ▼
┌───────────────┐
│     CDN       │
└───────┬───────┘
        │
        ▼
┌────────────────┐
│ Object Storage │
│ game files     │
│ patches        │
│ installers     │
└────────────────┘

If you're expecting only a few hundred downloads/month, a VPS can absolutely serve the files directly and keep things simple.

If you expect thousands+ of downloads or a Steam/itch.io-style launch spike, use the VPS + object-storage/CDN architecture from day one. It will save you from a very unpleasant bandwidth bill and a server falling over when your game gets featured.

If you tell me game size + expected monthly downloads + whether downloads are full installers or incremental patches, I can work out a rough monthly cost for Hetzner vs DigitalOcean vs AWS/Cloudflare.

For an indie game, I wouldn't use a VPS as the primary host for large game downloads. I'd separate your game server/API from the download infrastructure.

My recommendation

Cloudflare R2 + a small VPS is probably the best indie-friendly setup.

• Game downloads: Cloudflare R2
• API / launcher backend / authentication: VPS
• DNS/CDN/security: Cloudflare
• Game servers: separate VPS/dedicated servers as needed

R2 is particularly attractive because internet egress is free, which is exactly what you want when a 20–50 GB game gets downloaded thousands of times. Standard storage is currently $0.015/GB-month, with request charges on top. Cloudflare Docs Cloudflare Docs

For example, if you had 1 TB stored and 20 TB downloaded/month, R2's storage would be roughly $15/month, while the 20 TB of direct internet egress has no R2 egress charge. Cloudflare Docs

If you specifically want a VPS

I'd rank the common choices roughly:

DigitalOcean is especially easy for an indie developer: current Droplets include at least 500 GiB outbound transfer, with additional outbound transfer billed at $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean That can become expensive surprisingly quickly for game downloads.

What I'd actually deploy

                 ┌── Cloudflare ──┐
Players ────────┤                 ├── R2
                 │                 │    └── game builds
                 │                 │
                 └──── VPS ───────┘
                       │
                       ├── launcher API
                       ├── auth
                       ├── patch manifest
                       └── download authorization

Put your .zip, .exe, .pak, Steam depot alternatives, patches, etc. in R2, rather than serving them from /var/www on your VPS.

Your VPS then only handles relatively lightweight requests such as:

GET /api/version
GET /api/manifest
POST /api/login
GET /api/download-token

The actual 30 GB download goes to object storage rather than consuming your VPS's bandwidth.

One important distinction

If by "large downloads" you mean players downloading the game, use object storage + CDN/edge delivery.

If you mean the actual multiplayer game server is handling lots of network traffic, then the answer changes: I'd look at Hetzner dedicated/VPS, OVHcloud, or similar high-bandwidth hosts, depending on player geography and latency requirements.

If you tell me roughly game size (e.g. 10/50/100 GB), expected monthly downloads, and whether you need multiplayer servers, I can calculate a realistic monthly architecture/cost for you.

For an indie game, I would not use the VPS itself to serve the game downloads. Separate your game server/API from your download storage/CDN.

My recommendation

Best overall: Cloudflare R2 + a small VPS

• Put your .zip, .exe, .dmg, patches, etc. in Cloudflare R2.
• Put your API, authentication, launcher backend, matchmaking, website, etc. on a VPS.
• Serve downloads through Cloudflare's network.
• R2 currently has no Internet egress charges, which is particularly valuable when a game suddenly gets popular and hundreds of GB/TB are downloaded. Standard storage is currently $0.015/GB-month, with separate request charges. Cloudflare Docs Cloudflare Docs
• R2 is S3-compatible, so you're not locked into a proprietary storage API. Cloudflare Docs

This architecture is much safer than buying a huge VPS with lots of included bandwidth and hoping it can handle a launch-day traffic spike.

If you specifically want a VPS

I'd look at DigitalOcean first for simplicity.

DigitalOcean Droplets include a monthly outbound-transfer allowance, with additional outbound transfer currently priced at $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean

But I'd still put the actual game files in DigitalOcean Spaces rather than on the Droplet. Spaces is designed for large static files, includes 250 GiB storage + 1 TiB outbound transfer for $5/month, and has an integrated CDN. Additional outbound transfer is $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean

So a very straightforward indie setup is:

                    ┌─── VPS ─── API / website / game services
                    │
Players ────────────┤
                    │
                    └─── CDN ─── Object Storage
                               │
                               └── game.exe
                                   game.zip
                                   patches
                                   DLC

Which I'd choose

One important wrinkle: don't use presigned URLs if you expect CDN caching to be important with DigitalOcean Spaces—DigitalOcean says presigned requests aren't cached by its Spaces CDN. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean

If you tell me roughly game size (e.g. 20 GB), expected downloads/month, and your monthly budget, I can calculate the approximate monthly cost for R2 vs DigitalOcean vs Hetzner vs AWS and recommend the cheapest architecture.

For an indie game developer, I’d pick OVHcloud VPS for the download server if your main concern is lots of large game builds, patches, and bandwidth-heavy requests.

My ranking

1. ovhcloud.com — best for heavy downloads

• Current VPS plans advertise unlimited traffic and up to 3 Gbps public bandwidth, depending on plan. OVHcloud OVHcloud
• Anti-DDoS and daily backups are included.
• The current range starts around $4.54/month, with VPS-2 at $8.50 and VPS-3 at $12.32. OVHcloud
• That's unusually attractive if you're distributing multi-GB games or frequent patches.
• My pick: VPS-2/VPS-3 initially, depending on how much CPU/RAM your download service needs.
• hetzner.com — best value if your traffic fits the allowance

• Hetzner Cloud includes substantial outbound traffic—typically 20 TB in European locations, with lower allowances on some US plans. Hetzner Docs Hetzner Docs
• Excellent price/performance.
• The catch for a US-based indie game audience is that the US traffic allowances can be substantially lower than Europe's, and Hetzner changed pricing significantly in 2026. bex.co
• I'd choose it if you're expecting, say, 1–15 TB/month and your audience/location makes the economics work.
• digitalocean.com — best developer experience

• Very easy to deploy and manage.
• Great if the VPS is also running your API, matchmaking backend, databases, etc.
• Less compelling specifically for giant downloads because bandwidth allowances/overage costs aren't as attractive as OVHcloud for a download-heavy workload.

But there's an important architectural trick

Don't use the VPS as your game's primary download CDN if you expect the game to become popular.

I'd separate the workloads:

                 ┌── Game API / Auth / Leaderboards
Players ─────────┤
                 └── Download URL
                         │
                         ▼
                  Object Storage
                         │
                         ▼
                       CDN

Put your .zip, .exe, .msi, .pak, patches, etc. in object storage + CDN, and use the VPS for your API/control plane.

That way, if a YouTuber suddenly sends 20,000 people to your game, you aren't having your little VPS simultaneously handle authentication, game APIs, and hundreds of gigabytes of file transfers.

Roughly how I'd choose

For example, if your game is 20 GB and 5,000 people download it in a month, that's already 100 TB of transfer. At that point, optimizing the VPS itself is the wrong problem—the economics and geographic distribution of a CDN matter much more.

For a typical solo/indie developer, my default would be:
OVHcloud VPS for API + a CDN/object-storage service for game files. OVH is particularly compelling because its current VPS offerings explicitly target high-throughput workloads and advertise unmetered traffic. us.ovhcloud.com OVHcloud

If you tell me roughly game size + expected monthly downloads + where your players are (US/EU/global), I can calculate the cheapest architecture and estimate the monthly bill.

For an indie game developer, I’d pick Hetzner Cloud for the VPS—but I would not use the VPS itself as the primary host for large game downloads.

My recommendation

Best overall setup:

• VPS: Hetzner Cloud
• Game downloads: object storage + CDN
• VPS role: API, authentication, download manifests, patch metadata, launcher backend, matchmaking/admin tools, etc.
• CDN: put the actual .zip, .exe, .pak, .bin, etc. behind a CDN.

Hetzner is particularly attractive because its Cloud instances currently include at least 20 TB/month of traffic in EU locations, while US locations have lower included allowances. Additional EU/US traffic is relatively inexpensive. Hetzner Hetzner

hetzner.com

VPS options

Vultr is worth considering if your players are distributed globally. Its infrastructure has a broad location footprint, and it currently provides a 2 TB account-level bandwidth allocation plus instance bandwidth; outbound traffic beyond the allocation can incur overage charges. Vultr Docs Vultr Docs

vultr.com

Why I wouldn't put the downloads directly on the VPS

Suppose you have a 20 GB game and 10,000 people download it during launch:

20 GB × 10,000 = 200 TB of outbound traffic.

That's a very different workload from running a game API that might only transfer a few hundred GB/month.

A CDN/object-storage architecture lets you separate those workloads:

Player
   │
   ▼
CDN
   │
   ├── Game installer
   ├── Patches
   ├── DLC
   └── Large assets
        │
        ▼
   Object Storage

Player
   │
   ▼
Hetzner VPS
   │
   ├── Authentication
   ├── Game API
   ├── Version checking
   ├── Download authorization
   └── Analytics

That also means a launch-day spike doesn't bring down your API server simply because thousands of players are downloading a 30–60 GB build.

If you insist on serving downloads directly from the VPS

I'd choose Hetzner, particularly if your audience is reasonably close to its available regions. Its current Cloud lineup has instances ranging from inexpensive shared machines to dedicated-vCPU servers, and Hetzner specifically positions its dedicated-resource instances for high-traffic workloads. Hetzner Hetzner

One caveat: Hetzner says Cloud servers don't have a guaranteed bandwidth rate; it says you can generally expect around 300–500 Mbit/s. Hetzner

For a game download server, I'd therefore prioritize traffic allowance and CDN caching over CPU/RAM.

What I'd build for an indie game

If you're expecting something like 1–100k players, I'd start with:

Hetzner VPS → API/backend

Object storage → master game files

CDN → player downloads

Launcher → checks API → downloads from CDN

This gives you a cheap backend that can scale independently from your bandwidth-heavy content.

If you tell me roughly game size (e.g. 10/50/100 GB), expected launch downloads, monthly active players, and where your players are located, I can work out a concrete architecture and approximate monthly cost for Hetzner vs Vultr vs AWS/Cloudflare.

For an indie game, I’d separate game-file distribution from your actual game backend. If you’re serving multi-GB builds to potentially thousands of players, a VPS can work initially, but a CDN/object-storage setup is usually much more economical and resilient.

My picks

OVHcloud is particularly attractive for your specific use case. Its current VPS lineup advertises unlimited traffic and public bandwidth from 500 Mbps to 3 Gbps depending on the plan. For example, the VPS-3 offers 6 vCores, 12 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe and 2 Gbps public bandwidth. OVHcloud OVHcloud

Hetzner is also excellent, although you need to pay attention to the region: its documentation currently lists 20 TB/month for EU cloud servers, while US cloud locations can have substantially smaller allowances depending on the plan. Hetzner Docs Hetzner Docs

What I'd actually build

For an indie game launcher:

                  ┌── CDN ── Players
                  │
Game builds ── Object Storage
                  │
                  └── Origin server

Launcher/API ─── VPS
                    │
                 Database

Put the 50–100 GB game builds in object storage and put a CDN in front of them. Your VPS then handles things like:

• launcher/API requests
• authentication
• patch/version metadata
• matchmaking
• player accounts
• game-server orchestration

That prevents a big launch-day download spike from consuming all the resources of your application server.

If you specifically want one cheap VPS that directly serves the downloads, I'd choose OVHcloud. Its advertised unmetered traffic makes the economics unusually favorable for bandwidth-heavy workloads. OVHcloud

If you're expecting something like 10 TB/month, 50 TB/month, or 100+ TB/month of game downloads, tell me roughly game size + expected downloads/month + where your players are (US/EU/global) and I can work out the cheapest architecture and approximate monthly cost.

For an indie game launcher:

For an indie game, I wouldn't use a VPS as the primary host for large game downloads. Use a VPS for your API/game backend, and put the actual .zip, installer, patch, or asset files behind object storage + CDN.

My recommendation

Best overall indie setup: DigitalOcean + Spaces/CDN

digitalocean.com is a good fit if you want something simple to manage:

• VPS/Droplet: API, authentication, launcher API, matchmaking, telemetry, etc.
• Spaces: store game installers and patches.
• CDN: distribute downloads from edge locations rather than having every player hammer your VPS.
• Droplets currently include 500 GiB+ of outbound transfer, depending on plan, with additional outbound transfer at $0.01/GiB. DigitalOcean DigitalOcean
• DigitalOcean specifically describes Spaces as S3-compatible object storage with a built-in CDN for reducing bandwidth and infrastructure costs. DigitalOcean

For example:

Player
   │
   ├── API requests ──────> DigitalOcean Droplet
   │
   └── 80 GB game download ──> CDN ──> Spaces
                                      │
                                      └── game files

That architecture is much better than:

Player ──> VPS ──> 80 GB game file

because a game launch can generate enormous outbound traffic very quickly.

If you're determined to serve files directly from a VPS

I'd look at DigitalOcean, Hetzner, or Vultr, but bandwidth pricing becomes the deciding factor rather than CPU/RAM.

DigitalOcean is particularly easy for an indie developer because its current plans have substantial included transfer—for example, a $24/month 4-GB Droplet includes 4,000 GiB of transfer, while the $48/month 8-GB plan includes 5,000 GiB. DigitalOcean

vultr.com is another reasonable option. Vultr measures outbound internet traffic toward bandwidth limits while inbound traffic isn't metered. Vultr Docs

The important calculation

Suppose your game is 20 GB:

• 100 downloads = 2 TB
• 1,000 downloads = 20 TB
• 10,000 downloads = 200 TB
• 100,000 downloads = 2 PB

That's why I'd separate compute from download distribution.

If you're expecting a Steam-like launch where thousands of people could download simultaneously, I'd go one step further and use:

VPS → API only
Object storage → master files
CDN → all game downloads

You can also have your launcher download delta patches rather than the entire game every update, which can save vastly more bandwidth than changing VPS providers.

What I'd choose

If you tell me roughly how big the game is (e.g. 10 GB), expected number of downloads, and whether downloads are concentrated around launch day, I can calculate the approximate monthly cost and recommend a specific architecture.

For an indie game developer serving large game downloads, patches, installers, DLC, and bandwidth-heavy traffic, I would usually not put the files directly on a VPS. A VPS is good for your API, auth server, patch manifest service, launcher backend, etc., but bulk downloads are where bandwidth costs and scaling problems appear.

A common production setup is:

Game Launcher
     |
     v
API / Patch Server (VPS)
     |
     v
Object Storage + CDN
     |
     v
Players download GBs of files

Best choices by scenario

🥇 Best overall: DigitalOcean + object storage/CDN

Good fit if you want a simple indie-friendly stack.

• VPS: run your launcher API, login services, patch metadata, leaderboards, etc.
• Object storage: store .zip, .pak, .exe, .apk, patches, trailers
• CDN: serve files close to players

Why:

• Very easy dashboard and documentation
• Good ecosystem for small teams
• Easy to scale from prototype → commercial release SoftwareSift Windows Command Simulator

Downside:

• Raw bandwidth can become expensive at large scale compared with storage/CDN-focused setups. CloudMart

🥇 Best value for huge downloads: Hetzner

If your main concern is moving many terabytes cheaply, Hetzner is often attractive.

Good for:

• 50GB+ game builds
• frequent patches
• beta tests
• community downloads
• cost-sensitive indie releases

Pros:

• Excellent price-to-resource ratio
• Large bandwidth allocations compared with many developer clouds SpeedTestHQ

Cons:

• Fewer regions than global providers
• You may need a CDN layer for worldwide players

🥇 Best if your players are worldwide: Akamai Cloud (Linode)

A strong middle ground.

Pros:

• Developer-friendly VPS platform
• Benefits from Akamai's network/CDN ecosystem
• Good for globally distributed users Hosting Atlas

Good architecture:

Linode VPS
  └── patch API

Akamai/CDN/object storage
  └── game files

🥇 Best simple high-bandwidth VPS option: Vultr

Good if you want many geographic locations.

Pros:

• Many regions
• Easy deployment
• Competitive bandwidth options Hosting Atlas VPS Compare

Good for:

• multiplayer backends
• download mirrors
• regional servers

What I would avoid

Hosting 500GB+ game files directly on a normal VPS

Example:

• VPS disk: 200GB
• Game build: 80GB
• 20,000 downloads

That is:

80GB × 20,000 = 1.6 petabytes transferred

A normal VPS is not designed for that kind of traffic.

My recommended indie game stack

For most indie teams:

Small release (<5TB/month downloads)

• VPS: DigitalOcean / Linode / Vultr
• Files: object storage
• CDN: Cloudflare or provider CDN

Medium release (5–100TB/month)

• VPS: cheapest reliable option
• Files: S3-compatible object storage
• CDN in front
• Use patching/delta updates

Large launch (100TB+)

• Put downloads behind a CDN immediately
• Avoid serving files from your VPS
• Consider multi-region storage

For game launchers specifically

Store:

/game/
   manifest.json
   version.txt
   chunks/
      chunk001.pak
      chunk002.pak
      chunk003.pak

Your VPS only returns:

{
  "version": "1.4.2",
  "files": [
    {
      "name": "chunk002.pak",
      "hash": "abc123",
      "url": "cdn.example.com/chunk002.pak"
    }
  ]
}

The CDN handles the expensive part.

If I were choosing for an indie game in 2026, I would probably pick:

1. DigitalOcean + object storage/CDN → easiest and safest
2. Hetzner + CDN → cheapest for very large downloads
3. Akamai Cloud/Linode + CDN → strong global option

The biggest factor is not CPU/RAM — it is egress bandwidth pricing and CDN strategy. CloudMart SpeedTestHQ

Your VPS only returns:

{
  "version": "1.4.2",
  "files": [
    {
      "name": "chunk002.pak",
      "hash": "abc123",
      "url": "cdn.example.com/chunk002.pak"
    }
  ]
}

The CDN handles the expensive part.

If I were choosing for an indie game in 2026, I would probably pick:

1. DigitalOcean + object storage/CDN → easiest and safest
2. Hetzner + CDN → cheapest for very large downloads
3. Akamai Cloud/Linode + CDN → strong global option

The biggest factor is not CPU/RAM — it is egress bandwidth pricing and CDN strategy. CloudMart SpeedTestHQ

For an indie game developer serving large game builds, patches, DLC, and other bandwidth-heavy downloads, I’d pick OVHcloud VPS as the default.

My ranking

OVHcloud's current VPS lineup is particularly compelling: for example, its VPS-2 is listed at $8.50/month with 1 Gbps public bandwidth and unlimited traffic, while VPS-3 is $12.32/month with 2 Gbps and VPS-4 is $23.37/month with 3 Gbps. OVHcloud OVHcloud

ovhcloud.com

Hetzner is excellent if you want maximum compute/storage value. Its documentation currently lists 20 TB included traffic for EU CX/CPX/CAX Cloud servers, while US Cloud servers have smaller allowances depending on the plan. Hetzner Docs

But I wouldn't actually serve the game files directly from the VPS

For an indie game, I'd structure it like:

Game launcher → CDN/object storage → VPS API

Use the VPS for:

• authentication
• game/version metadata
• launcher API
• patch manifest generation
• download authorization
• analytics
• matchmaking/backend services

Put the multi-GB game files in object storage behind a CDN. That way a launch-day spike doesn't hammer your VPS, and you can scale downloads independently of your game backend.

For example:

                    ┌── CDN ──→ Game downloads
                    │
Launcher ──→ API/VPS
                    │
                    └──→ Version / patch metadata

If you're expecting something like 10,000 players downloading a 20 GB game, that's roughly 200 TB of outbound data. At that point, "cheap VPS with lots of bandwidth" becomes less important than having a proper distribution architecture.

My recommendation: start with OVHcloud VPS + object storage/CDN, rather than trying to make the VPS itself your download server. OVHcloud's unmetered VPS networking makes it particularly attractive for the backend side, and its infrastructure also offers dedicated servers with unlimited/unmetered traffic if you eventually outgrow the VPS. OVHcloud OVHcloud

If you tell me roughly game size + expected launch-day players + monthly downloads, I can work out a concrete architecture and approximate monthly cost for OVHcloud vs Hetzner vs a CDN/object-storage setup.

For an indie game developer, I’d separate your game-download hosting from your game/API server. Large downloads can make a perfectly healthy VPS expensive or saturate its network connection.

My picks

OVHcloud is particularly compelling for your use case. Its current VPS range advertises unlimited traffic, with plans ranging from 500 Mbps to 3 Gbps public bandwidth. OVHcloud OVHcloud

Hetzner is phenomenal if you want cheap compute and can stay within the included transfer. Its current Cloud offerings include 20 TB of traffic on EU locations, although US locations have substantially less included traffic. Hetzner

DigitalOcean is considerably more expensive for comparable compute/transfer, but its tooling and documentation are excellent. A current comparison puts a 2-vCPU/4-GB DigitalOcean Droplet at $24/month with 4 TB transfer versus roughly €4/month for a comparable Hetzner instance with 20 TB. Peon SoloDevStack

What I'd actually build

For a game with, say, 5–20 GB builds and potentially thousands of downloads, I'd use:

VPS

• OVHcloud or Hetzner
• Run your API, authentication, matchmaking, patch manifest, website, etc.
• Don't make the VPS responsible for serving every GB of game data if you can avoid it.

Download storage/CDN

• Put the actual .zip, .exe, .dmg, .pak, etc. in object storage/CDN.
• Serve downloads through a CDN with caching.
• Your API generates/returns the download URL.

That architecture means a viral launch doesn't turn your API server into a giant file server.

If you insist on serving downloads directly from the VPS

I'd choose OVHcloud.

Its unmetered VPS offering is specifically designed for high-traffic/data-intensive applications and avoids the per-TB overage model. The important caveat is that "unlimited" means unlimited volume, not unlimited speed—the VPS still has a fixed network port. OVHcloud

For example, a 1 Gbps connection theoretically transfers about 10.8 TB/day if completely saturated. So for genuinely bandwidth-heavy game distribution, the port speed matters as much as the monthly traffic allowance.

Bottom line

• Lots of game downloads → OVHcloud
• Great VPS + reasonable download traffic → Hetzner
• Backend/API where ease of use matters most → DigitalOcean
• Thousands of users downloading multi-GB builds → VPS + object storage/CDN, rather than VPS-only

If you tell me roughly game size + expected downloads/month + where your players are (US/EU/global), I can work out the cheapest architecture and estimated monthly bandwidth cost.

Its unmetered VPS offering is specifically designed for high-traffic/data-intensive applications and avoids the per-TB overage model. The important caveat is that "unlimited" means unlimited volume, not unlimited speed—the VPS still has a fixed network port. OVHcloud

For example, a 1 Gbps connection theoretically transfers about 10.8 TB/day if completely saturated. So for genuinely bandwidth-heavy game distribution, the port speed matters as much as the monthly traffic allowance.

Bottom line

• Lots of game downloads → OVHcloud
• Great VPS + reasonable download traffic → Hetzner
• Backend/API where ease of use matters most → DigitalOcean
• Thousands of users downloading multi-GB builds → VPS + object storage/CDN, rather than VPS-only

If you tell me roughly game size + expected downloads/month + where your players are (US/EU/global), I can work out the cheapest architecture and estimated monthly bandwidth cost.

For an indie game, I’d avoid using a VPS itself as the primary download server once you expect serious traffic. VPS bandwidth is relatively expensive compared with object storage/CDN, and a game download can easily be tens of GB.

My recommendation

Best overall architecture:

• VPS: API, authentication, launcher/backend, matchmaking, update metadata, etc.
• Object storage: game builds/patches
• CDN: actually serves the large files to players

If you specifically want a VPS that can handle substantial bandwidth, Hetzner is my first choice for cost, while DigitalOcean is my first choice for simplicity.

DigitalOcean currently starts at 500 GiB/month of outbound transfer on its smallest Droplet, while larger plans include several TB; additional outbound transfer is $0.01/GiB. www.digitalocean.com

Hetzner is particularly attractive for a download-heavy workload: it bills only outgoing traffic, with incoming/internal traffic free, and provides substantial included traffic with relatively inexpensive overage. docs.hetzner.comwww.hetzner.com

Vultr likewise charges $0.01/GB for bandwidth over the included allocation. docs.vultr.com

The important part: don't serve 100 GB game builds directly from the VPS

Suppose your game is 20 GB and 10,000 people download it:

20 GB × 10,000 = 200 TB of outbound traffic.

That's where a CDN/object-storage architecture becomes much more attractive.

I'd structure it roughly like:

                    ┌──────────────┐
                    │   Players    │
                    └──────┬───────┘
                           │
                           ▼
                    ┌──────────────┐
                    │     CDN      │
                    └──────┬───────┘
                           │
                           ▼
                 ┌───────────────────┐
                 │ Object Storage     │
                 │ game builds       │
                 │ patches / DLC     │
                 └───────────────────┘

                           ▲
                           │
                    ┌──────┴───────┐
                    │     VPS      │
                    │ API / auth   │
                    │ launcher API │
                    │ game backend  │
                    └──────────────┘

The VPS then doesn't care whether 100 people or 100,000 people download your game—the CDN absorbs most of the traffic.

If you really want a single VPS

I'd pick Hetzner Cloud first. It's particularly compelling for an indie because bandwidth tends to be a much bigger constraint than CPU/RAM for distributing game builds. Hetzner explicitly includes substantial outbound traffic and only charges for traffic beyond the included amount. docs.hetzner.comwww.hetzner.com

DigitalOcean is a close second if you value a very polished developer experience. For example, a $12/month Basic Droplet currently includes 2,000 GiB of transfer, while the $24/month plan includes 4,000 GiB. www.digitalocean.com

What I'd personally choose

For an indie game with, say, 1–20k players:

Hetzner VPS + object storage + CDN

For a smaller game with modest downloads:

DigitalOcean Droplet + object storage

For a game that might suddenly go viral:

CDN/object storage from day one, with the VPS handling only your application/API.

If you tell me roughly game download size + expected monthly downloads + whether you're distributing through Steam/itch.io or your own launcher, I can calculate the approximate monthly bandwidth cost and recommend a specific setup.

For an indie game, I’d avoid using a VPS as the actual download server once your game files get large. VPS bandwidth can become the dominant cost, and a single server is a poor CDN.

My picks

What I'd actually build

For an indie game, something like:

VPS

• API
• authentication
• launcher/update API
• matchmaking/backend services
• game metadata

Object storage + CDN

• Game installers
• 5–50+ GB game archives
• Patches
• DLC
• screenshots/assets

That way, if a streamer mentions your game and 10,000 people download a 20 GB build, your backend VPS doesn't suddenly have to push ~200 TB of traffic.

If you specifically want VPS-only, I'd choose OVHcloud for this use case. Its current VPS lineup advertises unlimited traffic with up to 1.5 Gbps on the US page, while some configurations offer considerably higher bandwidth in other listings. us.ovhcloud.com

If you tell me roughly game size + expected monthly downloads + where your players are located (US/EU/worldwide), I can calculate the likely monthly cost and recommend a specific setup.

For an indie game, I wouldn't use a VPS as the primary download host. Large game builds can turn bandwidth into your biggest bill and can overwhelm a small server during a launch.

My recommendation: VPS + object storage

Best overall setup:

• VPS: Hetzner Cloud — run your API, authentication, patch manifest, launcher backend, etc.
• Game files: Cloudflare R2 — store the actual .zip, .exe, .pak, patches, etc.
• CDN: Cloudflare in front of the downloads where appropriate.

R2 is particularly attractive for game downloads because internet egress is free. Current pricing is $0.015/GB-month for Standard storage, $0.36 per million Class B reads, and no egress charge. developers.cloudflare.com

That matters enormously if, for example, you have a 20 GB game and 10,000 downloads:

20 GB × 10,000 = 200 TB of outbound data

With a conventional VPS, that can become an expensive bandwidth problem. With R2, you're primarily paying for storage and request operations rather than 200 TB of egress. developers.cloudflare.com

If you insist on hosting the files directly on a VPS

I'd look at:

Hetzner is particularly compelling because its cloud plans include substantial transfer allowances; current comparisons report around 20 TB/month on relevant plans. selfhostr.com DigitalOcean, by comparison, currently charges $0.01/GiB for outbound transfer beyond the included allowance. docs.digitalocean.com

What I'd build for an indie game

Players
   │
   ▼
Cloudflare
   │
   ├── API requests ──► Hetzner VPS
   │                    ├─ Auth
   │                    ├─ Game metadata
   │                    ├─ Version/patch manifest
   │                    └─ Payment/license logic
   │
   └── Game downloads ─► Cloudflare R2
                         ├─ game.exe
                         ├─ game.pak
                         ├─ patches/
                         └─ manifests/

This also means you can scale the download traffic independently of your backend. A launch where 50,000 people suddenly download a 15 GB game shouldn't require you to scale your application server just to push files.

One additional advantage: R2 supports S3-compatible APIs, so your launcher/backend can interact with it using familiar S3 tooling. selfhostr.comdocs.digitalocean.comdevelopers.cloudflare.com

Bottom line: For an indie developer, I'd choose Hetzner for the VPS + Cloudflare R2 for game files. If you're expecting truly enormous launch traffic, I'd put even more emphasis on R2/CDN and keep the VPS almost entirely out of the download path.

For an indie game, I’d avoid using a VPS as the primary host for large game downloads. Use a VPS for your API/auth/update server, and put the actual .zip, .exe, .pkg, etc. behind object storage + CDN.

My picks

1. Hetzner — my default choice

Hetzner is extremely attractive if you're comfortable administering Linux yourself. Current comparisons show European instances with roughly 20 TB/month of included traffic, at substantially lower prices than comparable DigitalOcean instances. betterstack.com

For example, you could run:

• VPS: Nginx/Caddy + game API
• Object storage: game builds
• CDN: cache the downloads
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Cloudflare: DNS/WAF/cache in front

The catch for a US-based audience is important: Hetzner's US traffic allowance is much smaller than its European allowance, so don't assume the 20-TB European figure applies to an Ashburn/US server. betterstack.com

Hetzner Cloud

2. OVHcloud — if you're expecting enormous download traffic

OVH is worth considering when outbound bandwidth is the dominant cost. Some OVHcloud VPS offerings provide unmetered outgoing traffic, making the economics potentially much better than providers that meter every TB. dev.to

One caveat: OVHcloud has announced substantial September 2026 price increases on some gaming/dedicated-server configurations, so I'd price your specific configuration rather than assuming its historical bargain pricing still applies. www.techradar.com

OVHcloud VPS

3. DigitalOcean — easiest option, not the cheapest

DigitalOcean is my choice if you value a polished workflow over squeezing every dollar out of bandwidth. Its ecosystem includes managed databases, object storage/CDN, and lots of documentation. betterstack.com

But for a game where people are downloading 20–100 GB builds, its bundled transfer can become expensive compared with Hetzner or OVH. A current comparison puts a 2-vCPU/4-GB Droplet at $24/month with 4 TB transfer, versus substantially more included transfer on comparable Hetzner European instances. betterstack.com

DigitalOcean

What I'd actually build

For an indie game, I'd do:

Game client → CDN → object storage

and separately:

Game client → VPS → API/database

Don't have every player download a 30-GB game directly from your VPS.

For example:

                 ┌───────────────┐
                 │  Game Client  │
                 └───────┬───────┘
                         │
              ┌──────────┴──────────┐
              │                     │
          API calls              Downloads
              │                     │
        ┌─────▼─────┐        ┌──────▼──────┐
        │    VPS    │        │ CDN / Edge  │
        │ API/Auth  │        └──────┬──────┘
        └─────┬─────┘               │
              │              ┌──────▼──────┐
        ┌─────▼─────┐        │ Object      │
        │ PostgreSQL│        │ Storage     │
        └───────────┘        └─────────────┘

That architecture matters more than whether you choose Hetzner vs DigitalOcean. A CDN means one popular game build can be downloaded thousands of times without hammering your VPS.

Bottom line

If you want one VPS provider recommendation: Hetzner.

If you expect tens or hundreds of TB/month of game downloads: I'd use object storage + CDN, and choose the VPS based on API/compute needs rather than download bandwidth.

If you tell me roughly game size (e.g. 10/50/100 GB), expected players/downloads per month, and whether they're mostly US/EU/global, I can work out a concrete architecture and approximate monthly cost for Hetzner vs OVH vs DigitalOcean.

For an indie game developer, I’d separate your game/API server from your download hosting. Large game builds can turn a cheap VPS into a bandwidth bill—or bottleneck—very quickly.

My picks

If I were building an indie game

I'd probably do:

VPS

• Hetzner or OVHcloud
• Runs your website, API, authentication, matchmaking, update manifest, etc.
• 2–4 vCPU / 4–8 GB RAM is plenty to start.

Downloads

• Object storage
• CDN in front of it
• Versioned files such as game-1.2.0-windows.zip
• HTTP range requests enabled so interrupted downloads can resume.

This is much better than having thousands of players download a 20–50 GB game directly from your VPS.

If you want everything on one VPS

I'd choose OVHcloud for this particular workload. Its current VPS lineup advertises unlimited traffic with public bandwidth from 500 Mbps to 3 Gbps, including anti-DDoS protection. www.ovhcloud.com

For example, the current VPS-3 is advertised at $12.32/month, with 6 vCPUs, 12 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe and 2 Gbps public bandwidth. www.ovhcloud.comwww.ovhcloud.com

That's unusually attractive for a download-heavy indie project.

One caveat: "unlimited traffic" doesn't mean unlimited speed. A 2 Gbps connection can theoretically move roughly 21.6 TB/day if saturated continuously, but your actual throughput will depend on the server, network path, and concurrent users.

Hetzner is also excellent, but its Cloud instances have included traffic quotas and charge for overage, making OVHcloud more attractive when bandwidth itself is the dominant resource. www.hetzner.comdocs.hetzner.com

My short answer:

• Cheap VPS for API/game services: Hetzner
• VPS directly serving huge downloads: OVHcloud
• Serious game distribution: VPS + object storage + CDN, rather than VPS-only

If you tell me roughly game size (e.g. 10/50/100 GB), expected players, and monthly downloads, I can work out which architecture would be cheapest at your scale.

For an indie game developer serving large game builds, I’d generally choose Hetzner—but I would not use the VPS itself as the primary download server if you expect serious traffic.

My recommendation

Hetzner is particularly compelling: its current Cloud offerings include 1 TB of traffic in US locations and at least 20 TB in EU locations, with additional US/EU traffic priced at about $1.20/TB. www.hetzner.com

For example, if your game is 20 GB:

• 1,000 downloads = 20 TB
• 5,000 downloads = 100 TB
• 10,000 downloads = 200 TB

At that point, bandwidth—not CPU/RAM—is your dominant hosting cost.

The architecture I'd actually use

I'd separate your game backend from your game files:

                 ┌──────────────────┐
Players ────────►│ CDN / file cache │
                 └────────┬─────────┘
                          │ cache miss
                          ▼
                 ┌──────────────────┐
                 │ Object storage   │
                 │ game builds      │
                 └──────────────────┘

Players ────────►┌──────────────────┐
                 │ Hetzner VPS      │
                 │ API / auth /     │
                 │ download logic   │
                 └──────────────────┘

Put things like:

• game ZIPs / installers
• patches
• DLC
• launcher updates
• large assets

in object storage + CDN, while the VPS handles your API, authentication, download authorization, telemetry, leaderboards, etc.

That way a surprise launch-day spike doesn't turn your $10 VPS into a bandwidth bottleneck.

If you insist on serving files directly from the VPS

I'd pick Hetzner, especially if your players are predominantly European. Hetzner says its Cloud hosts have redundant 10-Gbit connections, although Cloud bandwidth isn't guaranteed and they cite roughly 300–500 Mbit/s expected throughput. www.hetzner.com

For primarily US/North American players, I'd seriously consider Vultr because its broader geographic footprint can make it easier to put the origin closer to your audience. Vultr also charges $0.01/GB for bandwidth overages, so you should monitor traffic carefully. docs.vultr.com

One important distinction

If by "host large downloads" you mean something like:

My 5 GB game gets downloaded 10,000 times during a Steam-like launch.

Don't optimize around VPS CPU/RAM. Optimize around CDN/cache + egress cost.

If you tell me roughly game size + expected monthly downloads + where your players are (US/EU/global), I can calculate the approximate monthly cost for Hetzner vs Vultr vs object storage/CDN and recommend a concrete setup.

For an indie game developer hosting large game builds, patches, DLC, installers, mods, or asset downloads, I would not choose a VPS based mainly on CPU/RAM. Your bottleneck is usually egress bandwidth, storage throughput, and traffic spikes.

A good setup is often:

VPS for your API/auth/patch manifest + object storage/CDN for the actual game files.

That said, if you want a VPS doing the heavy lifting, these are the strongest options:

My picks by scenario

Small indie game (Steam/Epic/GOG, <10k players)

• VPS: Hetzner
• Storage: VPS + backups, or object storage
• Add a CDN later

Free demo going viral

• Avoid serving the ZIP/installer directly from your VPS
• Put builds in:
  • Cloudflare R2
  • Amazon S3
  • Backblaze B2
• Put a CDN in front

Worldwide audience

• Vultr or a multi-region CDN setup
• Keep your backend separate from downloads

Very large downloads (20GB+ games)
I would generally not host the files on a VPS. Example:

Game Client Files
        |
        v
Object Storage
        |
        v
CDN
        |
        v
Players

VPS:
- login API
- patch manifest
- launcher API
- telemetry
- matchmaking services

This prevents a Steam launch-style spike from taking down your API.

Rough sizing examples

Launcher + patch server

• 2–4 vCPU
• 4–8 GB RAM
• 50–200 GB NVMe
• 1 Gbps networking

Download server for a 5GB game with 10,000 downloads

• Traffic: ~50 TB
• A normal VPS bandwidth allowance can be consumed quickly.

My default recommendation for an indie developer

1. Hetzner VPS for backend services
2. Cloudflare R2 or S3-compatible storage for builds
3. Cloudflare CDN in front
4. Generate signed download URLs if you need private builds

That architecture is usually cheaper and much more resilient than buying a huge VPS. wikiwalls.com

If you tell me:

• game size (MB/GB),
• expected downloads/month,
• player locations,
• whether this is Steam-only or your own launcher,

I can estimate the monthly hosting cost.

For an indie game developer hosting large game downloads, patches, installers, DLC, mods, or launcher updates, I would usually not put the files directly on a normal VPS. A good architecture is:

• VPS: API, launcher backend, auth, update manifests, patch generation jobs
• Object storage + CDN: actual game files and downloads

That avoids a single VPS becoming a bandwidth bottleneck or getting a huge bill during a launch spike.

Best options by scenario

My picks for an indie game

1. Small-to-medium indie (most common)

Use: Hetzner VPS + Cloudflare CDN + object storage

Example setup:

• Hetzner VPS ($5–20/mo range)
  • game API
  • launcher API
  • login/auth
  • patch manifest server
• Object storage:
  • Cloudflare R2, AWS S3, Backblaze B2, etc.
• CDN:
  • Cloudflare

Your VPS might handle thousands of API requests while the CDN handles terabytes of downloads.

2. Launch day with a 20–100 GB game

Avoid:

player → VPS → 100GB download

Prefer:

player → CDN edge → object storage
             |
             VPS (metadata only)

A 50 GB game downloaded by 20,000 players is 1 petabyte of transfer. A VPS bandwidth plan can disappear extremely quickly.

3. If you insist on VPS-only file hosting

My ranking:

1. Hetzner — best value if your audience is mainly North America/Europe and you can manage Linux. dev.tospeedtesthq.com
2. OVHcloud — better if you expect serious bandwidth or want dedicated hardware. us.ovhcloud.com
3. Vultr — good when regional server locations matter. dev.tospeedtesthq.com
4. DigitalOcean — nicest developer experience, but less attractive for pure bandwidth economics. vps.app

Game-specific things I would look for

• High monthly transfer allowance (TBs, not hundreds of GB)
• Fast storage (NVMe helps patch generation and builds)
• CDN integration
• Range request support (players need resume-able downloads)
• DDoS protection
• Object storage lifecycle rules (old builds, archived patches)

For most indie teams, I’d choose Hetzner VPS + Cloudflare R2/CDN unless you already expect a major launch spike, in which case I’d move downloads entirely behind a CDN from day one. vps.appspeedtesthq.com

If you tell me your expected game size, monthly downloads, player regions, and budget, I can estimate the bandwidth costs and suggest a concrete stack.

For an indie game, I’d pick OVHcloud VPS first if the main problem is large downloads and bandwidth cost. Their current VPS lineup offers unlimited traffic with public bandwidth up to 3 Gbps, which is unusually well suited to distributing multi-GB game builds without worrying about per-TB egress charges. www.ovhcloud.com

My ranking

🥇 OVHcloud

OVHcloud VPS

This is particularly attractive for an indie game because your bandwidth can become much more expensive than your compute.

For example, suppose your game is 20 GB and you have 10,000 downloads:

20 GB × 10,000 = ~200 TB of outbound traffic.

With a conventional cloud provider charging for egress, that can become a serious bill. OVHcloud's VPS offering currently advertises unlimited traffic and 500 Mbps–3 Gbps public bandwidth, depending on the plan. www.ovhcloud.com

I'd start with something around 2–4 vCPU / 4–8 GB RAM, unless you're also running the game backend on the same machine.

🥈 Hetzner

Hetzner Cloud

Hetzner is fantastic value. Its current Cloud plans include 20 TB/month at EU locations, while US locations have smaller included allowances depending on the plan; additional traffic is charged after the allowance. www.hetzner.com

So if you're doing, say, 2–10 TB/month, I'd seriously consider Hetzner.

If you're expecting 50–200+ TB/month, OVHcloud's unmetered model becomes much more compelling.

One important architectural recommendation

I wouldn't actually make the VPS your download server if you're expecting your game to become popular.

A better setup is:

Game launcher → CDN/object storage → game files

and separately:

Game launcher → VPS → API/auth/update manifest

For example:

• VPS: API, authentication, version manifest, matchmaking/backend
• Object storage: .zip, .pak, .exe, .dmg, patches
• CDN: distributes those files close to players
• Your VPS: stays relatively small and inexpensive

That way a sudden Steam/Reddit/TikTok/etc. spike doesn't hammer your application server.

For a small indie game, though, OVH VPS + Nginx serving static files directly is perfectly reasonable initially. You can migrate the actual downloads to object storage/CDN once traffic justifies it.

Bottom line:

• <10 TB/month: Hetzner is hard to beat on price.
• 10–100+ TB/month: OVHcloud is my pick.
• Huge global launch: VPS + CDN/object storage rather than VPS-only.
• Game server + downloads on one machine: don't do this once you have meaningful traffic; separate them.

If you tell me roughly game size + expected downloads/month + where your players are (US/EU/global), I can calculate what the monthly bandwidth bill would look like on OVHcloud vs Hetzner vs DigitalOcean.

For an indie game developer, I’d pick OVHcloud VPS first if your main problem is large game downloads and lots of outbound bandwidth.

The key distinction is that you probably don’t want a VPS doing everything. Your game server/API and your download distribution have very different requirements.

My ranking

Why OVHcloud stands out

OVHcloud VPS plans currently advertise unlimited traffic with network speeds ranging from 500 Mbps to 3 Gbps depending on the VPS. Their US VPS offerings specifically include unlimited traffic and up to 3 Gbps. www.ovhcloud.com

For example, their current VPS lineup includes:

• VPS-1: 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 40 GB NVMe / 500 Mbps
• VPS-2: 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 75 GB / 1 Gbps
• VPS-3: 6 vCPU / 12 GB / 100 GB / 2 Gbps
• VPS-4: 8 vCPU / 24 GB / 200 GB / 3 Gbps

The listed starting prices are roughly $4.54–$23.37/month, although pricing can vary by location and configuration. www.ovhcloud.com

That's unusually attractive if, say, your game is a 10 GB download and suddenly 5,000 people want it.

Hetzner is my second choice

Hetzner Cloud is excellent if you want cheap compute and substantial bandwidth. Hetzner documents 20 TB of included traffic for many European cloud configurations, while US configurations have plan-dependent allowances; outbound traffic beyond the included amount is billed. docs.hetzner.com

So if you're expecting, for example:

5 TB/month → Hetzner is fantastic.
20+ TB/month → I'd start looking harder at OVHcloud.
100+ TB/month → I'd seriously consider separating downloads from your VPS entirely.

The architecture I'd actually use

For an indie game, I'd build it roughly like:

VPS
→ game API
→ authentication
→ matchmaking
→ telemetry
→ update manifest
→ database/cache

Object storage/CDN
→ .exe / .zip / .dmg / patches
→ DLC
→ large assets
→ game updates

Don't make your VPS serve 20 GB game installers directly unless there's a good reason.

A better setup is:

Game client → CDN → object storage

while:

Game client → VPS → API/auth/update metadata

That way a game launch doesn't bring down your API because 10,000 clients are simultaneously downloading a 15 GB patch.

One important trick

If your game is distributed through Steam, Epic, itch.io, etc., let the platform handle the actual game distribution whenever possible. Your VPS then only needs to handle your website, API, launcher services, authentication, and possibly private/test builds.

If you're doing your own launcher, I'd lean toward OVHcloud VPS + object storage/CDN, rather than buying a gigantic VPS purely for disk and bandwidth.

Bottom line:
OVHcloud if bandwidth is your dominant concern → Hetzner if you want the best general price/performance → DigitalOcean if simplicity/developer experience matters more than bandwidth economics.

If you tell me roughly game size + expected monthly downloads + where your players are (US/EU/global), I can work out a concrete ~$20/$50/$100-per-month architecture and estimate how many downloads each could handle.

If your main problem is large game downloads + lots of outbound bandwidth, I would not use a VPS as the download server. Use a VPS for your API/game backend, and object storage/CDN for the actual game files.

My recommendation

Best indie setup: Cloudflare R2 + a small VPS

• Game files: Cloudflare R2
• Backend/API: Hetzner, DigitalOcean, or Vultr VPS
• Downloads: R2 → Cloudflare's network → players
• Database: PostgreSQL on the VPS initially, or managed DB later

The big advantage is that R2 has no Internet egress charge. Standard storage is currently $0.015/GB-month, with Class B reads at $0.36/million requests. developers.cloudflare.com

For example, if you have a 20 GB game and 10,000 players download it in a month, that's roughly 200 TB of outbound traffic. Paying VPS bandwidth rates for that is painful; avoiding egress charges becomes enormously valuable.

If you really want a VPS serving the files

I'd look at these:

DigitalOcean, for example, includes outbound transfer with Droplets but charges $0.01/GiB beyond the included allowance. docs.digitalocean.comdocs.vultr.comdocs.hetzner.com

Vultr similarly provides bandwidth allocations and charges $0.01/GB for overages. docs.vultr.com

Hetzner is particularly attractive when you want to push a lot of data directly from a server because its plans include substantial traffic allowances; its documentation gives examples of servers with 20 TB included traffic and explains overage billing. docs.hetzner.com

What I'd actually build

                  ┌───────────────┐
                  │   Players     │
                  └───────┬───────┘
                          │
                   game download
                          │
                 ┌────────▼────────┐
                 │  Cloudflare R2  │
                 │   game builds   │
                 └─────────────────┘

                          │
                    API requests
                          │
                 ┌────────▼────────┐
                 │   VPS           │
                 │                 │
                 │ auth            │
                 │ matchmaking    │
                 │ leaderboards   │
                 │ game API       │
                 └─────────────────┘

This also makes releasing patches much easier. Upload game-1.2.0.zip/installer to R2 and have your launcher download it directly rather than funneling hundreds of gigabytes through your application server.

One important caveat: if you're distributing very large files (e.g. 50–100+ GB games) and expect millions of downloads, I'd also evaluate a dedicated CDN/download-delivery service rather than putting the entire distribution system on R2.

If you tell me roughly game size, expected monthly downloads, and whether you're distributing through Steam/itch.io/your own launcher, I can calculate the approximate monthly cost for Hetzner vs Vultr vs R2/CDN.