Read on each broker's and each VPS company's own page. Offers change and differ by country and entity: confirm with your broker. ProEA is an affiliate of both VPS companies named here, FXSVPS and ForexVPS: either may pay us a share if you buy through our partner link. Every price and limit on this page is read from the company's own pages on the date given, and the arithmetic treats them the same.
Broker free VPS requirements, side by side
Each row is one page's own figure. The same broker can have three routes, with three different thresholds.
| Broker | Route | Volume | Money in the account | A short month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IC Markets | IC Markets' own IC VPS | 15 lots a month | Not stated | See its page |
| IC Markets | Through ForexVPS | 5 lots a month | $200 balance | Invoiced or switched off |
| IC Markets | Through FXSVPS | 5.9 lots a month | The broker's own minimum | You pay what credit doesn't cover |
| IC Trading | IC Trading's own IC VPS | 15 lots a month | Not stated | See its page |
| IC Trading | Through ForexVPS | 5 lots a month | $200 balance | Invoiced or switched off |
| Pepperstone | Pepperstone's own VPS (Core plan) | About 10 lots in 60 days (USD 1,000,000 of notional volume) | Not stated | See its page |
| Pepperstone | Through ForexVPS (Pepperstone-sponsored, Basic plan) | 15 lots a month | $200 deposit | Not charged; can be revoked |
| FBS | FBS's own VPS | 3 lots a month | $450 deposit | $33 fee |
| FBS | Through FXSVPS | 5 lots a month | The broker's own minimum | You pay what credit doesn't cover |
| Axi | Axi's credit towards a ForexVPS Basic VPS | More than 20 lots a month | Not stated | No credit (the credit is capped at $36) |
| RoboForex | RoboForex's own VPS | 3 lots a month | More than $300 equity | $5 fee |
| Switch Markets | Switch Markets' own offer (a ForexVPS server) | No volume asked | $50 deposit | No volume asked |
| Switch Markets | Through ForexVPS | 1 lot a month | $50 balance | Invoiced or switched off |
| BlackBull Markets | BlackBull's own offer (a ForexVPS server) | 20 lots a month | $2,000 deposit | $25 fee |
| FP Markets | Through ForexVPS | 5 lots a month | $200 balance | Invoiced or switched off |
| Exness | Through FXSVPS | 12.9 lots a month | The broker's own minimum | You pay what credit doesn't cover |
| XM | Through FXSVPS | 2.5 lots a month | The broker's own minimum | You pay what credit doesn't cover |
| HFM | Through FXSVPS | 2 lots a month | The broker's own minimum | You pay what credit doesn't cover |
| Tickmill | Its own page | A discount with a VPS company, not a free VPS | ||
| OANDA (US) | OANDA's Elite Trader programme | Not in lots | Not stated | See its page |
How to read the three kinds of route
A broker's own offer is run from your client area and judged on your own account. Both VPS companies' routes need the broker account opened or moved under them, and the checker never calls those a plain yes. ForexVPS's route is paid for by the broker's commission to ForexVPS as introducing broker: “Your account must reside under our unique introducing broker URL / ID”, and “If you fall short of the monthly volume required, we will charge you the difference” (ForexVPS, Free VPS terms). FXSVPS's route is a credit: “You pay for this first month as a normal customer would”, you link a broker account (“New, or one you already have moved across”), then volume reduces later invoices, and “We earn a rebate from every broker listed here” (FXSVPS, Free Forex VPS). Moving an account under an introducing broker can change who your account manager is and what rebates you already get: ask your broker first.
Is a free VPS worth its volume requirement?
Only if you would trade those lots anyway. Lots added to keep a server free cost spread and commission, which can come to more than the server.
The arithmetic the checker does
It subtracts your monthly lots from the page's figure and, if you type what a lot costs you to trade, multiplies the gap by it. Set that against the page's own fee for a short month where it names one (FBS $33, BlackBull $25, RoboForex $5) and against paying for a VPS outright: the forex VPS cost calculator prices that for your number of terminals. Lots are standard lots as each page counts them; none of the pages we read says whether a lot is counted once or on both the open and the close, so ask if you are near the line.
Where the pages contradict each other
Five we found on 10 November 2026. The checker shows both sides rather than choosing.
The five
Switch Markets says “No minimum volume required”; ForexVPS's terms say 1 lot a month for Switch Markets. Axi says it credits “up to $36” of a ForexVPS fee; ForexVPS's Axi page says “up to $34.99”. Pepperstone's plan page counts USD 1,000,000 of notional volume over 60 days and its eligibility wording differs by entity, while a separate invitation-only offer asks for 15 standard FX lots and a USD 1,000 balance. FBS's site asks for “$450 or €450” in one transaction; the $33 fee for a short month is only in its help centre. ForexVPS's own two pages differ too: its terms' example, a Switch Markets account, charges $32 for a month with no volume, while its calculator starts from a $40 plan.
Brokers we couldn't read
FP Markets, Exness, XM, HFM and Vantage: their VPS pages refused an automated read on 10 November 2026, so the checker prints no figure of theirs.
Their pages, to read yourself
FP Markets, Exness, XM, HFM and Vantage. Figures for these brokers on other sites disagree with each other, so we quote none of them; where a VPS company's page states its own figure for the broker, the checker shows that, labelled as the VPS company's. Once you know which server you'd get, the broker server location finder shows which city your MT5 server answers from.