Which VPS Location Should I Choose? Johannesburg vs Moscow vs Tokyo vs Seoul

Choosing the right VPS location matters more than most specs: the distance and the network route between your server and your visitors decide how fast every page, API call or game packet arrives. JUSTG offers cloud servers in four data centers - Johannesburg (South Africa), Moscow (Russia), Tokyo (Japan) and Seoul (South Korea). This guide helps you pick the best location by audience, explains the route types used in each data center, shows how to run a latency test with ping and mtr before you buy, and ends with a comparison table.

Step 1: Decide where most of your users are

Start with your audience, not the price list. As a rule, the closest location with a good route wins:

• Africa: choose Johannesburg. The data center is close to NAPAfrica, the largest internet exchange in Africa, so local peering is short and fast for South African and regional users.
• Russia and the CIS: choose Moscow to keep traffic inside the Russian network.
• Europe: Moscow is the JUSTG location closest to Europe and suits Eastern European audiences in particular. Measure from your target countries before deciding.
• Japan: choose Tokyo.
• Korea: choose Seoul.
• Mainland China: Tokyo and Seoul are geographically the nearest. Moscow and Johannesburg are farther away but use China Telecom CN2 GIA, which keeps routes stable at peak hours.

Step 2: Understand the route type of each JUSTG location

For visitors in mainland China the route type is often more important than raw distance, because congested international links cause packet loss in the evening.

• Moscow and Johannesburg: China Telecom CN2 GIA, the premium tier of the CN2 backbone.
• Tokyo: China Telecom premium routing.
• Seoul: Asia-optimized routing aimed at users across the region.

Every JUSTG cloud server includes one IPv4 address and a free IPv6 address, typically on a 500Mbps port, and is provisioned instantly after payment, so you can try a location quickly.

Step 3: Run a latency test with ping before buying

Always test from the networks your users actually use (home broadband, mobile, office). Ping a server in the target location 50 to 100 times and compare the average and the packet loss rather than a single reply. Replace 203.0.113.40 with the test address you are checking.

# Windows
ping -n 50 203.0.113.40

# macOS / Linux
ping -c 50 203.0.113.40

Step 4: Check the route with mtr or traceroute

Ping shows how fast; mtr shows where the delay or loss happens hop by hop. Install it and run a report:

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install mtr-tiny

# CentOS / Rocky / AlmaLinux
sudo dnf install mtr

# 100 probes, wide report
mtr -rwc 100 203.0.113.40

On Windows use tracert 203.0.113.40 or the graphical WinMTR tool. When testing a CN2 GIA route from a China Telecom connection, hops in the 59.43.x.x range indicate the CN2 backbone. Loss that appears only at one middle hop and not at the final destination is usually router rate limiting, not real loss.

Step 5: Consider native IP use cases by market

A server with a local IP address in the target country helps legitimate business tasks that depend on geography: checking how your website, ads and search results appear to local users, testing app store and payment flows, running regional APIs, and hosting content close to customers. Examples: a South African IP for local e-commerce and SEO checks, a Russian IP for services aimed at the Russian market, a Japanese IP for Japan-facing sites and apps, and a Korean IP for Korean game or community servers. If you need many addresses, dedicated servers in Johannesburg and Moscow can be ordered with a /24 IP block.

Step 6: Compare the four locations side by side

FAQ

My users are spread around the world. Which location is best?

Put the main server where most of your paying users are, then serve static files through a CDN. You can also run a small VPS in a second location for a regional audience.

Can I move my VPS to another location later?

Locations are separate networks, so moving usually means ordering a new VPS in the new data center and migrating your data. Open a ticket if you need advice on the process.

What happens if my IP gets blocked because of how I use it?

IP changes caused by the customer's own usage are not free. You can buy an extra IPv4 through the upgrade options in the client area, or use the free IPv6 address.

Still unsure which JUSTG location fits your project? Submit a ticket with your target audience and our technical support team will help you choose.