RackNerd is a US-based cloud infrastructure and hosting provider founded in 2019 and headquartered in California. The company offers VPS hosting, dedicated servers, Bare Metal Cloud, private cloud solutions, and colocation services. Thanks to its highly competitive pricing, more than 20 global datacenter locations, and stable network performance, RackNerd has built a strong reputation in the VPS market, particularly among developers, website owners, and international businesses. In recent years, RackNerd has also been recognized on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, demonstrating its rapid growth and market recognition within the global cloud infrastructure industry.
RackNerd Official Website:
RackNerd – Introducing Infrastructure Stability
Current promotional VPS locations available from RackNerd include Los Angeles DC03, Chicago, and Seattle.
RackNerd Promotional VPS Plans
| Plan | CPU | RAM | SSD Storage | Monthly Traffic / Port | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 1 Core | 1GB | 20GB SSD | 3TB / 1Gbps | $21.99/year Link |
| Standard | 2 Cores | 2GB | 35GB SSD | 5TB / 1Gbps | $35.99/year Link |
| Advanced | 3 Cores | 4GB | 60GB SSD | 7TB / 1Gbps | $59.99/year Link |
| High Performance | 6 Cores | 6GB | 100GB SSD | 12TB / 1Gbps | $89.99/year Link |
| Flagship | 7 Cores | 8GB | 150GB SSD | 20TB / 1Gbps | $119.99/year Link |
Official Test IPs
- Los Angeles DC03: 107.174.51.158
- Chicago: 198.23.228.15
- Seattle: 192.3.253.2
Test Configuration
This review is based on RackNerd’s Los Angeles DC03 Starter VPS plan.
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| CPU | 1 vCPU |
| Memory | 1GB RAM |
| Storage | 20GB SSD RAID10 |
| Bandwidth | 1Gbps |
| Monthly Traffic | 3000GB |
| Virtualization | KVM |
| IPv4 | 1 Dedicated IPv4 |
| Price | $21.99/year Link |
| Test IP | 23.95.252.183 |
This is a typical budget-friendly US KVM VPS suitable for website hosting, lightweight proxy services, testing environments, overseas applications, and other low-resource workloads.
IP Information and Quality Analysis
Basic Information
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| IP Address | 23.95.252.183 |
| ASN | AS36352 |
| ASN Owner | HostPapa / ColoCrossing |
| Location | Los Angeles, California, USA |
| IP Type | Datacenter Native IP |
| Registry | ARIN |
According to multiple databases, this IP belongs to the HostPapa/ColoCrossing network and is physically located in Los Angeles.
IP Reputation Check
| Platform | Result |
|---|---|
| ping0.cc | 24% Risk Score, Clean |
| ipip.la | Fraud Score 40/100 |
| pingip.cn | 5% Risk, Very Low |
| AbuseIPDB | Low Risk |
| Scamalytics | 40, Moderate Risk |
Overall, this is a relatively clean native datacenter IP and not part of a heavily abused high-risk IP range.
Streaming and AI Service Unlock Status
| Service | Status |
|---|---|
| TikTok | Unlocked |
| Netflix | US Region Available |
| Disney+ | Blocked |
| YouTube Premium | US Region |
| Amazon Prime Video | US Region |
| ChatGPT | Available |
| Blocked |
The IP works well as a standard US-based native IP. ChatGPT and Netflix are accessible, while Disney+ is not available.
IP Quality Report:
https://Report.Check.Place/ip/2CB1U9V4U.svg
Email Ports and Blacklist Status
- Port 25 is open by default
- Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and other major email services work normally
- Only 2 blacklist listings detected out of 439 checks
For a low-cost annual VPS, the IP quality is above average.
Network Latency Test
Mainland China Latency
| Carrier | Average Latency |
|---|---|
| China Telecom | 184ms |
| China Unicom | 196ms |
| China Mobile | 238ms |
| Overall Average | 206ms |
Latency by Region
| Region | Average Latency |
|---|---|
| East China | 196ms |
| South China | 213ms |
| North China | 179ms |
| Southwest China | 214ms |
| Northeast China | 203ms |
| Hong Kong / Macau / Taiwan | 145ms |
- China Telecom performs best, with some nodes around 160ms.
- China Unicom remains stable with latency near 200ms.
- China Mobile latency is noticeably higher, with some regions exceeding 250ms.
- Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan enjoy relatively low latency.
For a traditional Cogent-based Los Angeles datacenter, these results are within expectations.
Global Latency
| Region | Average Latency |
|---|---|
| North America | 14ms |
| Europe | 135ms |
| Oceania | 153ms |
| South America | 163ms |
| Asia | 187ms |
| Africa | 236ms |
The lowest latency within Los Angeles was just 1ms, indicating a healthy local network environment.
ping.pe Packet Loss Test
Most global nodes showed 0% packet loss during testing.
| Location | Average Latency | Packet Loss |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 1ms | 0% |
| Tokyo | 99ms | 0%–1% |
| Hong Kong | 148–164ms | 0%–1% |
| Singapore | 183ms | 0% |
| London | 128–142ms | 0% |
| Frankfurt | Around 150ms | 0% |
Mainland China nodes:
- Shanghai Alibaba Cloud: approximately 148ms–166ms
- Guangzhou Tencent Cloud: approximately 161ms–167ms
- Jiangsu Telecom: approximately 160ms
- Some China Mobile nodes exceeded 200ms
Overall network stability is acceptable, although China Mobile shows more fluctuations.
China Telecom, Unicom, and Mobile Routing Analysis
China Telecom Outbound Route
Zhejiang Telecom → Shanghai 163 Backbone → San Jose → Cogent → Los Angeles ColoCrossing
China Telecom 163 Backbone ↓ San Jose ↓ Cogent AS174 ↓ Los Angeles ColoCrossing
- Uses traditional China Telecom 163 international routing
- Connects to Cogent AS174 in the US
- Enters the US through San Jose before reaching Los Angeles
- No CN2 or 9929 optimization
Latency averages around 150ms.
China Unicom Outbound Route
Hunan Unicom → AS4837 → Los Angeles → Cogent → ColoCrossing
China Unicom 4837 ↓ Los Angeles ↓ Cogent AS174 ↓ RackNerd Datacenter
- Uses China Unicom AS4837 international routing
- Direct path into Los Angeles
- Latency ranges between 175ms and 180ms
China Mobile Outbound Route
CMI → San Jose → Cogent → Los Angeles
CMI ↓ San Jose ↓ Cogent AS174 ↓ Los Angeles
- Uses China Mobile International (CMI)
- Connects through Cogent after entering the US
- Higher fluctuations compared to Telecom and Unicom
- Some nodes exceed 250ms latency
Return Routing Analysis
The return routes primarily utilize Arelion, Cogent, and Level3/Lumen networks.
Return Route Report:
https://Report.Check.Place/net/2MA4KFOPR.svg
Beijing Return Routes
Beijing Telecom
Arelion → China Telecom 163
- Originates from Los Angeles
- Arelion handles the international segment
- Returns via China Telecom 163
- Latency approximately 160ms–170ms
Beijing Unicom
Cogent → China Unicom 4837
- Some detours observed
- Frankfurt transit appears in the route
- Latency fluctuations are relatively high
Beijing Mobile
Arelion → CMI
- Returns via China Mobile International
- Latency around 188ms
- Reasonably stable
Shanghai Return Routes
Shanghai Telecom
Cogent → China Telecom 163
- Latency approximately 165ms–180ms
Shanghai Unicom
Arelion → China Unicom 4837
- Enters China through Beijing before routing south
- Latency approximately 180ms–210ms
Shanghai Mobile
Level3 → CMI
- Uses Lumen/Level3 internationally
- Connects to CMI through Seattle
- Latency around 198ms
Guangdong Return Routes
Guangdong Telecom
Cogent → China Telecom 163
Latency approximately 160ms–167ms.
Guangdong Unicom
Arelion → China Unicom 4837
Latency approximately 175ms–180ms.
Guangdong Mobile
Level3 → Frankfurt → CMI
- Significant detour through Germany
- Latency exceeds 270ms
- Poor experience for Guangdong Mobile users
Hardware Performance Testing
CPU Performance
Intel Xeon E5-2699 v4 @ 2.20GHz
| Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|
| Sysbench Single-Core | 656.60 |
| Geekbench 5 Single-Core | 406 |
| Geekbench 5 Multi-Core | 439 |
This represents typical performance from an older Xeon E5 platform and is suitable for:
- Website hosting
- Lightweight Docker workloads
- Small databases
- Proxy services
- WordPress websites
It is not suitable for CPU-intensive workloads.
Memory Performance
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Read | 11273 MB/s |
| Write | 9167 MB/s |
| Latency | 376ns |
Memory performance is solid with no obvious signs of overselling.
- No KSM memory deduplication
- No balloon memory reclamation
This indicates healthy resource management on the host node.
Disk Performance
| Test | Speed |
|---|---|
| 4K Random Read | 15.7MB/s |
| 4K Random Write | 23.1MB/s |
| Sequential Read | 780MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 1305MB/s |
This is typical SSD RAID10 performance. While not NVMe-level, it is more than adequate at this price point.
Hardware Report:
https://Report.Check.Place/hardware/39KZKZD5I.svg
Speed Test Results
Mainland China Speed Test
| Location | Upload | Download |
|---|---|---|
| Suzhou Telecom | 571Mbps | 484Mbps |
| Hangzhou Telecom | 260Mbps | 521Mbps |
| Shanghai Unicom | 609Mbps | 434Mbps |
| Beijing Unicom | 400Mbps | 467Mbps |
China Mobile tests failed, indicating average compatibility with Mobile networks.
International Speed Test
| Location | Download Speed |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 866Mbps |
| Tokyo | 429Mbps |
| Hong Kong | 352Mbps |
| Singapore | 287Mbps |
| London | 438Mbps |
International bandwidth performance is solid, especially within North America.
Network Report:
https://Report.Check.Place/net/3Q95C6I8O.svg
Network Summary
Advantages
- Extremely affordable annual pricing
- KVM virtualization
- Excellent local Los Angeles latency
- Usable for China Telecom and Unicom users
- Decent IP quality
- ChatGPT and Netflix accessible
- Generous international bandwidth
- No obvious signs of overselling
Disadvantages
- No optimized routes for Chinese networks
- Heavy reliance on Cogent within the US
- Poor China Mobile performance
- Noticeable detours for Guangdong Mobile users
- Disney+ unavailable
- Older Xeon E5 platform with limited CPU performance
Who Is This VPS Suitable For?
- Overseas website hosting
- WordPress blogs
- Lightweight Docker applications
- Linux learning and testing
- Lightweight proxy nodes
- ChatGPT-related projects
- North American business applications
If you require excellent connectivity to mainland China, especially as a China Mobile user, it is recommended to consider CN2 GIA, China Telecom 9929, CMIN2, or other optimized route solutions.
Conclusion
RackNerd’s Los Angeles DC03 VPS at just $21.99 per year is essentially a budget-friendly US VPS with standard international routing.
Its key strengths are straightforward:
- Very affordable pricing
- Stable international network
- Good support for China Telecom and Unicom users
- Reasonable IP quality
- Suitable for lightweight workloads
Although it does not use premium optimized routes, the overall value remains excellent considering the annual cost of only $21.99. For users with limited budgets who primarily target international audiences or need a lightweight hosting environment, this remains a strong entry-level US VPS option worth considering.
