The price of a VPS is not read on a single line
The question "how much does a VPS cost" has a short answer — the entry tier starts at 99 DH/month, quoted tax exclusive (VAT excluded) — and a useful one, which takes three numbers rather than one.
The first is the amount displayed on the product page. The second is the amount actually debited from your account, which matches the first only if the invoice is denominated in your currency. The third is the renewal rate, rarely highlighted with the same insistence as the introductory rate — and yet it is the one you will pay eleven months out of twelve. A comparison that does not put these three numbers side by side compares nothing.
Billed in dirhams, not converted
There is a difference in kind between displaying a price in dirhams and billing in dirhams. In the first case, the amount you read is a display conversion: the charge is taken in the seller's currency, your bank applies its own rate and, depending on your card, a foreign exchange fee. The debited amount is known only after the fact, and it moves from one month to the next without the price of the server changing by a single centime.
With us, the dirham is not a conversion: it is the base currency of billing. The amount shown on the order is the amount on the invoice, and the amount on the invoice is the amount debited. This distinction can be checked with any provider in a minute: look at the "currency" line on your last receipt, not the price on the product page.
VAT and a compliant invoice: the point comparisons forget
A professional or a company in Morocco is not merely buying a server: they are booking an expense. What decides its accounting treatment is not the price, it is the invoice.
Our invoices carry VAT at the rate of 20%, itemised separately from the pre-tax amount, along with the issuer's identifiers: Tax Identifier (IF), Common Enterprise Identifier (ICE) and Commercial Register number (RC). This is the set of statements your accountant expects from an invoice issued in Morocco. Its absence is precisely what complicates the handling of a foreign invoice: that document carries no Moroccan VAT, and its treatment depends on your tax regime. Amounts on the site are displayed tax exclusive (VAT excluded) — the basis is written next to the price, not left to guesswork.
This paragraph describes what the document contains, not your tax position: the exact conditions for deduction should be confirmed with your accountant.
What the price alone does not tell you about a VPS
- Root access — without it you are renting hosting, not a server: no kernel, no packages, no system service under your control. Our VPS plans all include it.
- Dedicated IPv4 — a shared address ties you to your neighbours' reputation (blocklists, delivery blocks). A dedicated IPv4 is included on every plan.
- Allocated or borrowed resources — two offers at the same rate are not worth the same if one allocates its vCPUs to the plan and the other draws them from a shared pool. Ask the question explicitly, before ordering.
- Snapshots and backups — check that they exist, where they are stored, how many you may keep and what they cost. On our VPS plans, snapshots and backups are triggered and restored from the client area, within a stated quota.
- Renewal rate — the gap between the introductory price and the renewal price has become the market's leading source of unpleasant surprises. Ask for the second in writing before paying the first.
- Actual location of the machines — it drives latency and must be asked for explicitly. Ours are in Europe: that is covered below, without evasion.
Comparing two VPS quotes from Morocco
| What you are comparing | Provider billing in a foreign currency | Billing in dirhams (ServOrbit) |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice currency | EUR or USD — the dirham amount depends on the day's rate and your bank's fees | MAD: the amount quoted is the amount invoiced, and the amount debited |
| VAT | No Moroccan VAT on the document; treatment depends on your tax regime | VAT at the rate of 20%, itemised separately from the pre-tax amount |
| Issuer's identifiers | Identifiers from the country of issue, to be reprocessed by your accounting | Moroccan IF, ICE and RC stated on the invoice |
| Payment methods | Usually an international card or an online wallet | Bank card — CMI, PayPal and Bank transfer |
| Location of the machines | To be asked case by case — often Europe or North America | Data centres in Europe. No infrastructure in Morocco |
| What still has to be checked on both sides | Root access, dedicated IPv4, guaranteed resources, renewal rate | Full root access, dedicated IPv4 included, resources allocated to the plan |
Ordering and paying for a VPS from Morocco
Choose the configuration
Three formats cover most needs: 99 DH/month for a first application server, 299 DH/month for a production workload, 499 DH/month for larger environments. Amounts are displayed tax exclusive (VAT excluded), and the renewal rate appears on the same page as the order price.
Pay for the order
The accepted payment methods are the following: Bank card — CMI, PayPal and Bank transfer. Payment applies to the dirham amount of the order — there is no conversion step between what you approve and what is charged.
Retrieve the invoice
The invoice is placed in your client area as soon as payment clears, in PDF form: pre-tax amount, VAT at the rate of 20%, total payable, and the issuer's IF, ICE and RC identifiers. It can be passed to your accounting as is.
Open root access
The server is delivered with its credentials and its dedicated IPv4. First connection:
ssh root@YOUR_IPFollow up with a system update, the creation of an unprivileged user and the installation of an SSH key before exposing any service.
Latency is measured, not promised
One thing must be said plainly: our data centres are in Europe. There is no ServOrbit machine in Morocco, and nothing in this article will suggest otherwise.
What that implies for latency is measurable, and you do not have to take our word for it. The path between a Moroccan connection and a European machine can be quantified from your own workstation, in seconds:
ping -c 20 your-domain.com
curl -o /dev/null -s -w 'ttfb=%{time_starttransfer}\n' https://your-domain.comRead those figures for what they are. A network round trip does not disappear with distance, but it rarely dominates perceived load time on its own: the number of round trips, the TLS handshake, DNS resolution and upstream caching often matter more than a location. A CDN placed in front of the server delivers static files from a point of presence close to the visitor, wherever the machine runs — it is the lever that moves the numbers above the most, ahead of any geographic choice. Measure at several times of day, from the connections your real users have, and keep the readings: it is the one argument nobody can dispute.
A good habit before ordering
Ask for the renewal rate, not just the introductory rate, and get it in writing. Then check three things on the first invoice: the currency charged, the VAT rate applied and the presence of the issuer's identifiers. A quote that does not state the currency it will be charged in is not a comparable quote.
