Show HN: TierHive – Hourly-billed NAT VPS with private /24 subnets
backtogeek Thursday, January 08, 2026This idea has been floating in my head for about 10 years. Some of you might remember LowEndSpirit.com back before it became a forum, I started that. I've been obsessed with making tiny, cheap VPS actually useful ever since.
TierHive is my attempt to make 128MB VPS great again :)
It's a NAT VPS (KVM) platform with true hourly billing. Spin up a server, use it for 3 hours, delete it, pay for 3 hours. No monthly commitments, no minimums beyond a $5 top-up.
The tradeoff is NAT (no dedicated IPv4), but I've tried to make that less painful:
- Every account gets a /24 private subnet with full DHCP management. - Every server gets auto ssh port forwarding and a few TCP/UDP ports - Built-in HAProxy with Let's Encrypt SSL, load balancing, and auto-failover - WireGuard mesh between locations (Canada, Germany, UK currently) - PXE/iPXE boot support for custom installs - Email relay with DKIM/SPF - Recipe system for one-click deploys
Still in alpha. Small team, rough edges, but I've been running my own stuff on it for months. Would love feedback — especially on whether the NAT tradeoff kills it for your use cases, or what's missing. (IPv6 is coming) https://tierhive.com