Can the vps provider not read everything on your server, unless it’s explicitly encrypted?
I’m asking because I’m interested in self-hosting mainly as a way to get privacy respecting services where good hosted ones don’t exist. I’m not sure I really want to deal with running my own hardware
I’m assuming that would drive up costs, so not very many use it
They will offer it as an optional service and charge you for it. So yes they use it.