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It’s because they get a lot of fraud. The alternative would be to raise their prices to compensate for theft and the cost of dealing with abuse.

VPS providers like Vultr and Digital Ocean are a little more expensive but a little easier in some cases. They’re still way cheaper than big cloud.

Good experience here w/ Vultr.com (tho v lightly used). It was Derek Sivers' recommendation. https://sive.rs/ti

Not in my experience (I have a EU address and payment card).

The sign up was smooth and easy.

I have an American address and card. I suppose I have to provide extensive documentation then?

Not sure. Maybe only if the account is flagged somehow? I just registered - there's a simple form that takes a card in the end. And that was just it. I could order a server.

They require extensive proof of identity. I don't mind, I have a EU business so I registered through that... but there's a barrier there for sure.