VPS Hosting for Australian SaaS Founders: What Breaks at Scale (And How to Avoid It)

[SharmSuraj]

Hey everyone,

As someone who's worked with a few Aussie SaaS projects, scaling hosting is painful when you outgrow shared plans. Latency from US/EU servers kills user experience (150-300ms pings → bad SEO + bounces), plus data laws (Privacy Act/CDR) push for local servers.
Common breaks at scale (1k–10k+ users):

• Slow DB/API from resource sharing
• Traffic spikes causing downtime
• Compliance headaches with overseas data
• Costs exploding unpredictably

VPS fixes most of this: dedicated resources, root access for custom setups (Docker, caching), easy scaling, and AU data centers for low latency (<50ms to major cities).
Two solid options with Australian presence I've seen recommended/worked well:

• DedicatedCore — Good AU DCs (Sydney), NVMe/SSD, unlimited bandwidth, one-click upgrades. Handles data-heavy SaaS nicely with strong support.
• DomainRacer — Budget-friendly, AU IPs, LiteSpeed for speed gains, free migrations + backups. Great for bootstrapped founders.

Both offer 99.9%+ uptime and simple vertical scaling.
Quick tips to avoid breaks:

1. Prioritize Sydney/Melbourne DCs
2. Monitor early (New Relic or similar)
3. Optimize DB + use load balancing
4. Test backups/failover

Anyone running SaaS or sites from Australia? What hosting headaches have you hit when scaling? Or any other VPS you'd recommend here?