Reference · Checked 5 September 2026
Which VPS providers actually allow port 25?
Every row below comes from the provider's own documentation and links to it. Only 2 of the 8 providers here leave outbound port 25 open without you having to ask. The rest range from "open a ticket" to "we do not publish a way to do this at all".
- Every claim sourced
- Dated, not undated
- Competitors listed as open where they are
Open without asking
2 of 8
Providers on this page where you can send on port 25 without a ticket, an approval step or a waiting period.
- Sourced from provider docs
- Last checked 5 September 2026
- Corrections welcome
The short answer
Most large hosting providers block outbound port 25 by default. Of the 8 checked here, 2 leave it open without you asking — VPS For Life and Contabo. Hetzner and Linode block it and will consider lifting the block case by case once your account has some history. Vultr and AWS lift it on request through a ticket or a form. DigitalOcean and Google Cloud block it and publish no route to having it removed.
- Why it is blocked: port 25 is the port spam leaves on, so providers block it to keep their IP ranges out of blocklists
- Why it still matters: port 25 is how mail servers talk to each other. Ports 587 and 465 are for your client authenticating to a server — they are not a substitute for delivering mail yourself
- What a block really means: you can still send through a third-party relay. What you cannot do is run your own mail server and deliver directly
- The other half of the job: an open port is not deliverability. You also need a dedicated IP, rDNS matching your hostname, and SPF, DKIM and DMARC
Related: What port 25 is · SMTP VPS · rDNS and PTR · Check your SPF/DKIM/DMARC
Port 25 policy, provider by provider
Sorted by how easily you can actually send: open first, unavailable last. The source column links to the page the claim is taken from, so you can check it rather than trust us — and so you can see for yourself when a policy has moved on.
| Provider | Outbound port 25 | What it takes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| VPS For Life us | Open by default | Outbound port 25 is open on every plan from the moment the server is deployed. No ticket, no approval step, no waiting period and no minimum account age. Custom rDNS/PTR on request, on IPv4 and IPv6. | Our Port 25 page |
| Contabo | Open, with a rate limit | Port 25 is open, and Contabo publishes SMTP setup guides. Their support documentation states a sending limit of about 25 emails per minute, and warns that sustained sending above it may be throttled. | Contabo support KB |
| Hetzner Cloud | Blocked, then case-by-case | 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. | Hetzner Cloud FAQ |
| Vultr | Blocked, lifted on request | Vultr blocks outbound port 25 by default. Their documentation says the block may be removed by opening a support ticket. | Vultr docs |
| Linode (Akamai Cloud) | Blocked, then case-by-case | Ports 25, 465 and 587 are restricted on accounts created since November 2019. The block is lifted by support ticket after you set valid forward and reverse DNS and confirm your sending practices; approval is case by case and an account with several months of positive billing history is more likely to be granted it. | Akamai Cloud docs |
| AWS EC2 | Throttled, lifted by form | Outbound port 25 is throttled by default. It is lifted through the "Request to remove email sending limitations" form, which must be submitted with root account credentials, describing your use case and how you will prevent unwanted mail. A separate request is needed for each AWS Region. | AWS re:Post |
| DigitalOcean | Blocked, no published route | 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. | DigitalOcean docs |
| Google Cloud (Compute Engine) | Blocked, no self-service route | 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. | Google Cloud docs |
We are on this table and we come out well, so treat it the way you should treat any comparison published by one of the things being compared: check the source column. Every competing row links to that provider's own documentation rather than to our summary of it. Contabo is listed as open because it is open, not because we had to find someone to agree with us.
What this table does not tell you
Three limits worth stating before anyone quotes this page.
- Providers we left off Some obvious names are missing — OVHcloud among them — because we could not find a current policy statement in their own documentation on the day this was checked. Forum posts and other people's listicles say plenty; none of it is a source we are willing to put in the table. An empty row is more useful than a confident wrong one. Not guessed
- Policies move, and this page is dated for that reason Every row was checked on 5 September 2026. Linode's restriction arrived in 2019; Hetzner's conditions have changed more than once. If you are reading this months later, click the source before relying on it — and tell us if something has moved, so we can fix the row. Check the date
- An open port is not permission to spam Every provider here, ourselves included, will act on abuse reports. Open port 25 means you can run a mail server and deliver directly; it does not mean unmonitored bulk sending to lists you did not build. Ours is open because legitimate senders need it, and our abuse process is published so you can see what happens if it is misused. Both true
Port 25 questions
Of the 8 providers checked here on 5 September 2026, two leave outbound port 25 open without a request: VPS For Life and Contabo. Contabo documents a sending limit of about 25 emails per minute. VPS For Life opens port 25 on every plan from deployment with no ticket, approval step or minimum account age.
No. DigitalOcean blocks ports 25, 465 and 587 on Droplets and its documentation describes no process for having them unblocked, recommending a third-party email service instead. Checked 5 September 2026.
Possibly, but not immediately. Hetzner blocks ports 25 and 465 on cloud servers and accepts a limit request once you have been a customer for a month and paid your first invoice, deciding case by case. Linode restricts ports 25, 465 and 587 on accounts created since November 2019 and lifts the block by ticket after you configure forward and reverse DNS and confirm your sending practices, also case by case.
Because it is the port spam leaves on. A provider whose IP ranges get onto blocklists has a problem affecting every customer in that range, and blocking outbound port 25 by default is the cheapest way to prevent it. The cost is borne by legitimate senders, who then have to prove themselves before they can use a standard internet protocol — see what port 25 actually does.
Only if you are sending through someone else's mail server. Port 587 is the submission port, where your client authenticates to a mail server. Port 25 is how mail servers deliver to each other. If you are running your own mail server and delivering directly to recipients, you need outbound 25 and nothing else will do — see running your own versus using a relay.
No, and any provider implying otherwise is overselling. An open port means you can connect. Delivery also needs a dedicated IP with a clean history, reverse DNS matching your sending hostname, and correct SPF, DKIM and DMARC records — you can check yours here.
Each provider's policy was read from that provider's own published documentation on 5 September 2026, and the source column links to the exact page. Providers whose policy we could not confirm from their own documentation were left off rather than filled in from forum posts or other comparison articles. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Port 25 open from the first minute
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