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Port 25 VPS · All 16 Plans

VPS with Port 25 open. No form, no queue, no waiting.

The large clouds block outbound Port 25 by default and either make you apply for it or refuse outright. Here it works the moment your server deploys, on every plan, at no extra cost. This page shows exactly what that is worth — and what it still does not do for you.

  • Outbound and inbound
  • Dedicated IPv4
  • Custom rDNS on request
  • 56 countries
Compare the Policies Check Port 25 Is Open
Wait before you can send

0 days

From $4.95/mo · open on every plan

  • No approval form to submit
  • No ID or KYC check
  • No higher tier required
  • Inbound SMTP unfiltered too
  • Not a substitute for SPF/DKIM/rDNS
Close-up of network switch ports with cables plugged in, lit by blue LED indicators

Port 25 VPS Hosting, in One Paragraph

Port 25 is the TCP port mail servers use to hand messages directly to each other. If you want to run your own mail server and deliver mail yourself rather than paying a relay per message, you need outbound Port 25 open. Most large providers block it by default because spammers abused it, and getting it unblocked ranges from a written application to simply not being possible. On VPS For Life it is open on all 16 plans from the moment the server deploys, at no extra cost — on the condition that what you send is opt-in.

  • Open by default: every plan, from $4.95/mo, no ticket and no approval wait.
  • Guaranteed in the specification on Cloud VPS and VDS — see below if sending is business-critical.
  • No identity check: no ID, KYC or phone verification to get it, at any order value.
  • Both directions: outbound for sending, inbound unfiltered so you can receive.
  • No extra charge: not an add-on and not restricted to larger plans.
  • Conditional: abusive sending can have it closed on the affected server.
  • Not sufficient on its own: rDNS, SPF, DKIM, DMARC and list quality decide delivery.
  • Not needed if you relay through SES, SendGrid or similar on ports 587/465.

Related: What is Port 25? · SMTP VPS · rDNS VPS · Email marketing VPS · Which software to run · Which hosts allow Port 25

Port 25 at VPS For Life vs Contabo, Hetzner, AWS and Others

Taken from each provider's own documentation rather than characterised by us, and checked on 10 October 2026. Follow the links and read the originals — or see all 16 providers in the full sourced table.

  1. VPS For Life Outbound port 25 is open on every plan from the moment the server is deployed. No ticket, no approval step, no waiting period, no minimum account age and no identity check. Custom rDNS/PTR on request, on IPv4 and IPv6. Open by default
  2. Contabo Contabo documents no outbound port 25 block — its firewall documentation says outbound traffic is unrestricted — and its support KB sets a sending limit of about 25 emails per minute, warning that regularly sending above it may get the server throttled.
    Source: Contabo support KB →     Open, with a rate limit
  3. Hostinger Hostinger's VPS help article says it does not block port 25, and that sending is capped at 5 emails per minute to prevent abuse. If port 25 will not connect, it points you at your own VPS firewall rules first.
    Source: Hostinger help →     Open, 5 emails a minute
  4. Vultr Vultr blocks outbound port 25 by default. Their documentation says the block may be removed by opening a support ticket.
    Source: Vultr docs →     Blocked, lifted on request
  5. AWS EC2 By default EC2 allows outbound port 25 only to private IPv4 addresses; traffic to public IPv4 and IPv6 addresses is blocked. AWS documents a request to have the restriction removed.
    Source: AWS EC2 docs →     Blocked to the internet, lifted on request
  6. Hetzner Cloud Hetzner blocks ports 25 and 465 by default on all cloud servers. Their docs say you may submit a limit request once you have been a customer for a month and paid your first invoice, and that decisions are made case by case. Port 587 is not blocked.
    Source: Hetzner Cloud FAQ →     Blocked, then case-by-case
  7. DigitalOcean Ports 25, 465 and 587 are blocked on Droplets. DigitalOcean's documentation describes no process for unblocking them and instead recommends against running your own mail server, pointing users to third-party email services.
    Source: DigitalOcean docs →     Blocked, no published route
  8. Google Cloud (Compute Engine) Connections to destination port 25 are blocked when the destination is outside your VPC network. Google notes some projects do not carry the restriction, but documents no self-service way to have it removed, and recommends ports 465 or 587 through a third-party relay instead.
    Source: Google Cloud docs →     Blocked, no self-service route
Open everywhere, guaranteed on two ranges. Port 25 is open by default on all 16 plans. On Cloud VPS and VDS it is written into the plan specification; on NVMe VPS and Classic VPS it is open as a matter of how the network is run rather than as a published guarantee. In practice it works the same on all of them — but if losing the ability to send would stop your business, buy the guarantee rather than the default.
To be fair to them: blocking Port 25 by default is a reasonable decision for a platform running millions of disposable instances. We can leave it open because we are smaller, we know who our customers are, and we enforce an Acceptable Use Policy rather than a blanket block. That is a trade — it works only as long as the people sending from this network send responsibly.

What an Open Port 25 Does Not Do

It would be easy to sell this as a deliverability feature. It is not one. Port 25 is the door — these five things decide whether your mail is let in.

  1. Reverse DNS still has to be set An open port does not give your IP a PTR record. Receiving servers check that your reverse DNS matches your sending hostname, and a generic provider hostname is a mark against you. We set the PTR on request. rDNS on your dedicated IP → Yours
  2. SPF, DKIM and DMARC are yours to publish These are DNS records on your sending domain, not server settings. Nothing about an open port publishes them, and mail without them is treated with suspicion by every major inbox provider. Yours
  3. A new IP has no reputation yet A fresh address is not trusted or distrusted — it is unknown, which in practice means throttled. Volume has to be built gradually. Sending a large campaign on day one is the fastest way to damage an address you will then be stuck with. Yours
  4. Your list quality decides the outcome Complaint rates and bounces drive reputation far more than any server specification. A purchased list will fail regardless of how the server is configured — and it will breach our Acceptable Use Policy. Acceptable Use Policy → Yours
  5. You still install and run the mail server Every plan is unmanaged. Postfix, Exim, Haraka, Postal — whichever you choose, installing, securing and maintaining it is your job, not ours. What unmanaged means here → Yours

From Order to First Delivered Email

Port 25 is step one, and it is done for you. These are the other four, in the order that keeps a new address out of spam folders.

  1. Deploy the server Pick any plan and country. Port 25 is open on the server from the first boot, inbound and outbound, with a dedicated IPv4 address. Choose a plan → Step 1
  2. Ask for the PTR record Open a ticket with your IP and the hostname you will send as (for example mail.yourdomain.com). Make the hostname's A record point back at the same IP, so forward and reverse DNS match. How rDNS works here → Step 2
  3. Publish SPF, DKIM and DMARC DNS records on your sending domain, not server settings. Your mail software generates the DKIM key; SPF and DMARC are plain TXT records. Check your records → Step 3
  4. Install the mail server Postfix, Exim, Haraka, Postal, Mailcow — whichever you prefer. Every plan is unmanaged with full root, so installing and securing it is your side. Which software to run → Step 4
  5. Warm the IP up Start with small daily volumes to engaged recipients and grow over weeks. Check the address against blocklists before and during. 30-day warm-up schedule → Step 5

How to Check Port 25 Is Open on Your VPS

Three commands, run on the server, tell you everything the network side can tell you. They work the same here as on any other provider, so you can also use them to test a server somewhere else before you move.

  • Outbound: nc -vz -w 5 gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com 25 — “succeeded” or “open” means you can deliver directly. A timeout means the port is blocked somewhere between you and the internet.
  • Inbound: ss -tlpn | grep ':25 ' shows whether your mail server is listening; then, from another machine, nc -vz -w 5 YOUR_IP 25 confirms the outside world can reach it.
  • Reverse DNS: dig -x YOUR_IP +short should return your mail hostname, and that hostname should resolve back to the same IP.
  • Reputation: before your first campaign, check the address against the major blocklists.

Tools: PTR / rDNS lookup · IP blacklist checker · SPF, DKIM and DMARC checker

Every Range Has It

Port 25 is not a feature of the expensive plans. The entry plan of each range is below, generated from the same data as the pricing page.

NVMe VPS

4 plans · from $9.95/mo

Enterprise NVMe VPS Hosting

Entry plan

Starter NVMe VPS

1 Core · 2 GB RAM
20 GB NVMe · 10 Gbps Port

$9.95/mo

+ $1.00 one-time setup

Compare NVMe VPS

Cloud VPS

4 plans · from $13.95/mo

Scalable Cloud VPS Solutions

Entry plan

Starter Cloud VPS

1 Core · 2 GB RAM
30 GB NVMe (triple-replicated) · 10 Gbps Port

$13.95/mo

Compare Cloud VPS

Classic VPS

4 plans · from $4.95/mo

Affordable Classic VPS Hosting

Entry plan

Starter Classic VPS

1 Core · 1 GB RAM
15 GB SAS · 1 Gbps Port

$4.95/mo

+ $3.00 one-time setup

Compare Classic VPS

VDS

4 plans · from $24.95/mo

Dedicated Resources, Maximum Performance

Entry plan

Starter VDS (Xeon E3)

2 Cores · 2 GB Dedicated RAM
50 GB NVMe · 10 Gbps Port

$24.95/mo

Compare VDS

All 16 plans include open Port 25, a dedicated IPv4 address and full root access. No plan includes backups. See all 16 plans · which software should you run?

Port 25 Questions

Deploy, and start sending the same minute.

From $4.95 a month with Port 25 already open, a dedicated IPv4 address and root access from the first second — plus a 7-day money-back guarantee.

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