Traditional Servers
AntiScuff.com (Recommended)
I tried multiple server providers before I ultimately setup my own from home. AntiScuff was the one I actually used. They have three options, priced at $50/60/90 month. I used the $90 USD option because it gave me full control of a remote instance of Windows Professional, where when I logged in I was able to do everything on that computer like it was sitting on the desk beside me in my room. It was very powerful, and the connection was very strong. I had very, very few problems with it, and Tican (the guy in charge) was accessible and there to help me with every question I had, even logging in and editing the NOALBS file for me to fix an issue I couldn't figure out. Also, I know another streamer who purchased a cheaper plan, and contacted Tican who setup all his overlays and more, which he did quickly and for no extra charge.
Pros:
Full admin rights to an official, licensed Windows Desktop that is preloaded with everything your streaming server needs to run immediately.
Great and accessible support staff.
Includes both SRT or RMTP Ingest in the pricing.
If you don't care as much about having full control, and do want the cheapest 1080p60 option out of these three, the $60/month plan is probably perfect for you.
Cons:
The cheaper options are limited.
$50/month is limited to 720p.
I also did experience a very rare issue where when I'd go to login Remote Desktop, it would hang up and I'd have to get staff to manually restart it for me. Typically this was immediate though.
This one seems to be the most popular (based solely on the fact that I can immediately identify people who are using it). It's also the most expensive, and runs on Linux. They advertise a 'web dashboard for full control of your stream,' but in my experience I was limited to the OBS Studio window, unable to do anything else on the machine. I attempted to import a video file in an OBS window by browsing the system through an OBS browse prompt, and was successful, but couldn't actually import it into OBS. It just wasn't for me.
I actually tried to set this one up twice because someone else I knew in person had rented one, and within the hour he switched to AntiScuff as well, and prefers it.
Pros:
Seems to be very popular and reliable.
I'm pretty sure Ice Poseidon uses it.
Includes both SRT or RMTP Ingest in the pricing.
On the cheapest plan it has built in multistreaming to 2 destinations, on the more expensive plan up to 5 destinations.
Cons:
Cheapest plan is $129/month.
Runs on Linux (It was a con for me, lol).
I tried this one first. Their cheapest plan is $81/month and also charge a $27 one time setup fee.
Pros:
They seem to offer the features that are most important to me, but for $9/month more to have total control with AntiScuff, I ultimately decided against this one and got a refund.
Cons:
I don't really see what they offer for $81 that isn't worth paying $21 less to AntiScuff to save some cash, or $9 more to AntiScuff for full control.
I haven't actually tried this service, but they offer three packages, the middle of which at $80/month includes full desktop control, which is the main thing I paid $90/month for from AntiScuff. With that being said, I can't vouch for the service because I've never used it, but it seems legit.
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