Originally published in Chinese on Bandwagonset Cloud Observation (a Chinese-language cloud hosting blog). Translated with light edits for clarity.
Introduction
Every year, mid-October, my inbox starts getting noisy right on schedule. Promo teaser emails from cloud providers arrive one after another, and group chats fill up with screenshots of “locked-in Black Friday prices”.
Black Friday lands on November 27, 2026, so we’re just over a month out. Based on past years, the providers’ promo season is about to begin. Time really flies — I only just put together "a promo calendar for overseas cloud servers", and the Black Friday window is already close. So let’s talk Black Friday in detail: which providers have run friendly Black Friday deals in past years, and what to sort out before grabbing a deal.
How Cloud Providers Run Black Friday
Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday of November), followed by Cyber Monday on Monday. Together they form the biggest sale season of the year overseas. For cloud providers, this window matters as much as 618 and Double 11 do for Chinese e-commerce.
The usual rhythm looks like this:
Mid-to-late October: warm-up. Teasers, announcements, and targeted emails to existing customers.
Early November: coupons go live, promo pages roll out.
Black Friday week: peak intensity. Hot plans sell out in minutes.
Cyber Monday: restock round. Some providers add one more wave.
Funny thing about the VPS scene: the hot Black Friday plans are often harder to grab than e-commerce doorbusters. Plans selling out within minutes of launch is a yearly tradition (･_･;)
The Smells I’m Picking Up This Year
Pure personal observation — take it with a grain of salt:
Smell one: regular cloud servers get competitive, GPUs probably won’t. AI compute has been tight for two years. Rental prices for hot cards like the H100 stay firm, so don’t expect jaw-dropping GPU discounts this Black Friday. Traditional cloud servers and VPS plans, on the other hand, have always been the main Black Friday battlefield. Expect providers to compete on specs and bandwidth again.
Smell two: big bandwidth and unmetered traffic will be the headline feature. Video sites, download services, and proxy apps keep growing, and traffic cost is everyone’s biggest headache. I’ve noticed more providers pushing “unmetered” as a standard selling point this year. These plans will likely get the spotlight during Black Friday — worth camping if you’re planning to build sites.
Smell three: renewal policies will diverge. Some providers keep promo prices first-year-only, then double on renewal. Others push “same price on renewal” to build reputation. I expect “renews at the same price” to become a bigger marketing slogan this year — and it is exactly the number worth watching more than the first invoice.
Which Providers Ran Good Black Fridays in Past Years
So many sellers run Black Friday deals — who should you camp? My criteria never change: consistent Black Friday presence for multiple years (proves promos are a habit, not a stunt), transparent renewal policies, and friendliness to mainland China users (tri-network optimized routes, Alipay support).
If you like these criteria, put these vendors on your watch list. All of them show up every year with solid reputations:
BandwagonHost: a veteran with a long track record serving Chinese users. The CN2 GIA route is their signature — nobody in this scene doesn’t know it. Their Black Friday play is stable: site-wide coupon codes at roughly 10–11% off in recent years, not picky about plans, entry plans included.
DMIT: premium CN2 GIA / 9929 routes, playing the “pricey but solid” card. They rarely discount, which makes Black Friday the window to watch. Last year they ran buy-one-get-one on CN2 GIA plans and up to 30% off the Lite series — big moves for a premium-route provider.
RackNerd: the name in cheap annual plans. Year-round promos hover just above $10/year, and Black Friday gets more aggressive. Many datacenter locations, Alipay supported. Great for hoarding cheap boxes to tinker with.
HostDare: known for US CN2 GIA and Japan Softbank routes. Last year they released three coupon codes with the deepest at 65% off, and their mainland-friendly routing has been consistent.
VMRack: focused on tri-network premium routes (CN2 GIA/9929/CMIN2) at friendly prices. Last year: a 15% off coupon, annual billing = pay for 10 months use 12, and 4-core/4GB plans at about $7.65/month with the code. Tri-network optimized 1-core/2GB at just $3/month — genuinely competitive for tri-network premium routes. Alipay supported, so payment is frictionless for mainland users.
One reminder: the details above describe past years’ patterns. This year’s actual discounts and plans follow each provider’s official announcements.
Things to Sort Out Before You Grab a Deal
The joy of Black Friday is landing a good price. The tragedy is discovering next year’s renewal bill has multiplied. Three things to settle in advance:
Check what the promo price actually applies to. First year only? First billing cycle? Or long-term? What’s the renewal price? The small print marked “Renewal price” is the money you will actually pay every year going forward.
Watch out for auto-renewal. Some promos require a card on file with auto-billing. Miss the cancellation and you get charged at list price. Several friends have complained to me about exactly this (´･ω･`)
Plan your exit. Your data is yours. Even if you want to switch providers next year, the migration has to be smooth. Build the habit of regular database and site backups — never lock yourself into any single provider.
Advice for Everyone
First-time site builders: Black Friday is a great moment to buy your first VPS. But don’t shop on price alone — prefer “same price on renewal” plans or clearly labeled long-term pricing. 1 core and 2GB of RAM is enough for a blog.
Veterans: instead of camping new-customer deals, dig through your inbox for loyalty emails. Many providers give existing users renewal discounts that beat new-customer promos. Also check your renewal dates — if you can align an expiry with Black Friday, plan ahead.
Compute hoarders: temper your GPU expectations this year. If you have a confirmed need (say, a long-running training job), watch long-term pricing on full-machine plans. Don’t chase low prices for their own sake — missing out shouldn’t blow up your mood.
Conclusion
One month to Black Friday, and the provider teasers are already surfacing. This year’s storylines: regular cloud servers keep getting competitive, unmetered traffic becomes the headline, and renewal policies split into camps. Before you grab a deal, settle the three checks — promo scope, auto-renewal, and backups — and you can farm the season without stepping on a rake.
I’ll keep watching over the next month and report anything worth jumping on.
Thanks for reading to the end!