The list: free VPS conditions per broker
All 14 brokers below are ones we have reviewed in full. The “free VPS” column is taken from each review’s fact box; conditions change, so treat the numbers as the state at the review’s last update and confirm them with the broker before funding.
| Broker | Free VPS | Condition | Account type for EAs | Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RoboForex | yes | from 300 USD equity + 3 lots/month, otherwise 5 USD/month | ECN / Prime, 0.0 pips | RoboForex review |
| Vantage Markets | yes | from 1,000 USD deposit + volume evidence | RAW ECN (3.00 USD/side), PRO ECN (1.50 USD) | Vantage review |
| BlackBull Markets | yes | from 2,000 USD deposit & 20 lots/month, otherwise 30 USD/month | Prime / Prime+ from 0.0 pips | BlackBull review |
| IC Trading | yes | from ~5,000 USD monthly volume | Raw Spread, 3.50 USD/side (MT) | IC Trading review |
| IC Markets | yes | tied to a minimum trading volume | Raw Spread, 3.50 USD/side (MT) | IC Markets review |
| XM Group | yes | from 5,000 USD balance + 5 round trips/month | Zero account, 3.50 USD/side | XM review |
| Fusion Markets | yes | from ~20 lots/month in FX/metals, otherwise paid plans via partner | Zero, 2.25 USD/side | Fusion Markets review |
| Pepperstone | yes | for active traders, volume criteria | Razor, from 3.50 USD/side | Pepperstone review |
| Axi | yes | for qualifying traders, volume criteria | Pro, 3.50 USD/side | Axi review |
| VT Markets | yes | on request / activity threshold | RAW ECN, 6 USD round-turn | VT Markets review |
| Ultima Markets | yes | subject to conditions | ECN ~5 USD/lot, Pro ECN 3 USD | Ultima Markets review |
| FP Trading | available | volume/deposit-dependent | Raw, 3.00 USD/side | FP Trading review |
| Tickmill | via partner | volume-based, no permanent in-house free VPS | Raw, 3.00 USD/side | Tickmill review |
| Eightcap | no | third-party partner only | Raw, 3.50 USD/side | Eightcap review |
How to read the conditions
Balance thresholds (Vantage, BlackBull, XM) are the easiest to meet and to keep: fund the account once and the VPS stays. The catch is that the money has to sit at that broker.
Volume thresholds (IC Trading, IC Markets, Fusion, Pepperstone, Axi) reward active EAs. A scalper doing 20 lots a month qualifies without effort; a swing EA with three trades a week will not, and the VPS becomes a paid add-on.
Fallback fees (RoboForex 5 USD, BlackBull 30 USD) are the honest version: you know exactly what happens when you miss the bar. Where a broker only says “subject to conditions”, ask support for the written rule before you rely on it.
Free broker VPS or your own — the decision
Take the broker’s free VPS if all three are true: you trade at that one broker, you run one or two EAs, and you comfortably clear the threshold every month. It is hosted next to the trading server, so latency is as good as it gets for that broker.
Rent your own VPS if any of these apply: you run EAs at more than one broker, you want to choose the data centre yourself, your portfolio needs more than 2 GB of RAM, or you would rather not have your hosting depend on last month’s lot count. Independent providers in Equinix NY4 and LD4 start around 10 to 30 USD per month — the current picks are in our forex VPS comparison, and the ECN brokers list shows which brokers host where.
Setting up an EA on a broker VPS
- Request the VPS in the client area once you meet the condition; most brokers provision it within a day.
- Connect via RDP, install the broker’s MT4 or MT5 build and log in with the investor password on a second terminal only for monitoring — the trading terminal needs the master login. Why that split matters is in investor password: safe use.
- Copy your EA and set files, attach the EA, enable AutoTrading, and check the journal for “EA initialized”.
- Close the RDP session — do not log off — so the terminal keeps running.
- Track the account from outside the VPS with a portfolio tracker, so a frozen terminal does not go unnoticed for a week. Our free EA portfolio tracker does that for any number of accounts.