Payment and billing
Payment Methods at KernelHost
Ten ways to pay for your server, from a PayPal account to a credit card to cryptocurrency. The price you see is the price you pay: we cover every transaction fee ourselves, so there are no surcharges and no setup fee.
10
payment options to choose from
0 €
in fees and surcharges
0
months minimum term
30+
cryptocurrencies accepted
PrePaid: you only pay for what you actually use
Every server at KernelHost runs on credit. You pay for a period upfront, and after that you decide again. There is nothing to cancel and no deadline you could miss. That is exactly why the payment method here is a free choice rather than a commitment.
No minimum term
No notice period
No contract, no subscription
No automatic renewal
No setup fee
No hidden costs
These payment methods are available to you
Every payment runs through certified PCI-DSS payment services. Card and bank details never reach our servers in plaintext. Whichever method you pick, the price stays the same.
PayPal
The most widely used online payment method in Europe, with additional buyer protection. Payment is confirmed instantly, so your server is usually provisioned within seconds. PayPal direct debit and PayPal balance are supported as well.
Activated instantly
Credit and debit card
Visa, MasterCard and American Express, as a classic plastic card just as much as a virtual or prepaid card. Authorisation runs through 3-D Secure 2 (Visa Secure, Mastercard Identity Check). Your card details go encrypted to the certified payment processor and are never stored on our side.
Activated instantly
Apple Pay
On iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch you pay in a single step with Face ID or Touch ID. Apple Pay uses tokenisation: your real card number is never sent to us, we only receive a one-time transaction token.
Activated instantly
Google Pay
Pay contactlessly straight from the browser or from an app. As with Apple Pay, tokenisation protects your real card number. Works on any Android device with a stored card and through Google Chrome on the desktop.
Activated instantly
SEPA
SEPA Direct Debit
For everyone with a European bank account from the 36 SEPA member countries. You grant a mandate once and pay by direct debit from then on. Depending on your bank, clearing takes 1-3 business days, so for instant provisioning PayPal or card is the better fit.
1-3 business days to clear
Sofort (Klarna)
Pay straight from your bank account without registering with Klarna first. The bank confirms the payment in real time, which makes your server ready almost immediately. Works with all major banks in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Poland and many more countries.
Activated instantly
paysafecard
Pay with no bank account and no credit card. You buy a prepaid voucher at more than 600,000 retail outlets worldwide, at a petrol station, a kiosk or a supermarket, and redeem the 16-digit PIN with us. Ideal for younger customers, privacy-minded buyers and one-off purchases.
No bank account needed
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin (BTC) and more than 30 further cryptocurrencies, among them Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Monero (XMR), USDT, USDC and Dogecoin. Conversion happens at the market rate at the moment of payment, and you see the exact amount before confirming. No bank and no SWIFT fees.
Worldwide, without a bank
WeChat Pay
The most widely used mobile payment method in China, with more than 1.3 billion active users. Scan a QR code and you are done. Usable outside China too, as long as your WeChat account is linked to a payment source.
Scan a QR code
Alipay
Alipay
The second large Chinese mobile wallet with more than a billion users, widespread across Asia, Australia and parts of Europe. Fast, secure and built for international payments.
Usable worldwide
Top up credit and stay flexible
Instead of paying for each order separately, you can load credit onto your customer account and settle invoices from that balance. It pays off if you order regularly, run several servers or want to plan your spending upfront.
Top up creditTopping up itself works with every payment method listed above. Remaining credit does not expire.
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Choose an amount
Enter the amount you want in the customer panel and pay for it with your preferred payment method.
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Pay for orders from the balance
New orders and renewals are settled straight from your credit, without you entering payment details again.
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What is left stays yours
Whatever remains stays on your account and can be used for any later order.
Security and privacy
Payment details are the most sensitive part of an order. That is why we do not process them ourselves at all, but hand them over to certified payment services.
PCI-DSS Level 1
Processing runs through payment services certified to the highest security standard of the card industry. We store tokenised references only, never the card number itself.
TLS 1.3 end to end
Every connection to our website and to the customer panel is encrypted end to end. Card and bank details never reach our servers in plaintext.
Strong customer authentication
Card payments are authorised through 3-D Secure 2, meaning Visa Secure or Mastercard Identity Check. Wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay additionally replace the card number with a one-time token.
European data protection law
KernelHost GmbH is headquartered in Vienna (Austria), and the servers sit in the Frankfurt am Main datacenter (Germany). Your payment data is processed exclusively for the transaction itself, fully in line with the GDPR.
Frequently asked questions about paying
The points that come up most often before an order.
Are there any extra fees when I pay?
No. The price shown is the price you pay. We cover every transaction fee ourselves, no matter which payment method you choose. There is no setup fee and there are no hidden costs.
How quickly is my server available after payment?
With PayPal, credit or debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna Sofort, paysafecard, WeChat Pay and Alipay the payment is confirmed immediately and the server is usually provisioned within seconds. A SEPA direct debit needs 1-3 business days depending on your bank, and a crypto payment takes as long as the respective network needs to confirm the transaction.
Is there a minimum term or a contract?
No. All products run on a PrePaid basis. You pay for a period upfront and then decide freely whether to continue. There is no contract, no minimum term and no notice period.
Will you charge me automatically?
No. By default nothing renews on its own, and a server that is not renewed simply expires at the end of the paid period. Only if you explicitly grant a SEPA mandate for recurring payments will the renewal be collected, and you can revoke that mandate at any time.
Can I pay without a bank account or a credit card?
Yes. With paysafecard you pay using a prepaid voucher bought in a shop, with no bank account at all, and Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies work without a bank as well. A customer account is always part of the order, with your name, e-mail address and postal address, because a proper invoice goes out with every payment. Anonymous orders are therefore not possible.
Can I switch payment method later?
Yes. The payment method is chosen per invoice, not per customer account. You can pay for every order differently from the previous one and change the selection in the customer panel at any time.
What happens to my remaining credit?
Remaining credit stays on your customer account and does not expire. It is applied automatically to your next order or renewal.
Which currency is billed and do I get an invoice?
Billing is in euro. An invoice is available for download in the customer panel for every payment, including payments made from your credit balance.
More detail on the individual payment methods is available on the blog: Payment methods at KernelHost in detail
Ready for your server?
Pick a payment method, order, get going. No contract, no minimum term and no setup fee.
