Hostwinds US VPS Review · Are free unlimited IP swaps worth it · 250 IPs per box · from $4.99/mo

Hostwinds has run since 2010 across shared hosting, VPS, dedicated and cloud. On specs alone it doesn't stand out — $4.99 for 1 core / 1 GB / 35 GB is pricier than InterServer's $3 entry. People choose it for one reason: its IP policy.

The provider states IP changes are free, unlimited and without extra fees, and a single box can carry up to 250 IPs. Who genuinely needs that:

Do the math: most hosts charge per IP change (commonly $2-$5) or rent extra IPs monthly. Swapping 4-5 times a month costs tens to hundreds of dollars a year elsewhere — here it's zero. Conversely, if you never change IPs this selling point is worth nothing to you, and you should compare specs and routing instead. Procedures and any limits follow the provider's TOS; bulk IP requests normally require a justification.

Entry tiers (aggregated from public pages; price at checkout):

Managed service and Windows licensing are billed separately.

Three clearly positioned sites:

1 Gbps ports on native US IPs with a good stability record, but no CN2 GIA / AS9929 / CMIN2 China routing. We did not benchmark it and quote no latency figures; there's no public Looking Glass either, so test with a monthly term first.

Editorial scores from published specs and policy — not measured benchmarks.

In one line: you're not buying specs, you're buying the free-unlimited-IP-swap policy plus 250 IPs per box — excellent if you need it, pointless if you don't.