Cloud VPS Hosting: Seven Providers and Where Each One Starts
Cloud VPS hosting starts at $2.50 to $14 a month for the entry plan across the seven providers we cover, but the entry price is not the price you keep. As of 2026-11-01 Vultr lists $2.50/mo (IPv6 only), DigitalOcean $4.00/mo, AWS Lightsail $5/mo, Akamai Cloud (Linode) $5/mo, Hostinger VPS $6.49/mo on a 24-month prepaid term (renewing at $11.99/mo) and Cloudways $14/mo. Hetzner is covered below without a price because none was readable. Use the entry table to shortlist, then open the cost page for the provider you pick.
Disclosure: HostingDive earns a commission when you buy through some links on this page. It does not change which plans are listed or how they are described.
Entry Plans Compared
| Provider | Entry plan on the vendor page | Entry price | Billing basis | Where to read the full cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vultr | 1 vCPU, 0.5 GB, 0.50 TB, 10 GB (IPv6 only) | $2.50/mo | Monthly, no term shown | The Real Cost of Vultr Cloud Compute |
| DigitalOcean | Basic: 512 MiB, 1 vCPU, 500 GiB transfer, 10 GiB SSD | $4.00/mo | Monthly cap, billed per second from 2026-01-01 | DigitalOcean droplet pricing |
| AWS Lightsail | 0.5 GB memory, 2 vCPUs, 20 GB SSD, 1 TB transfer | $5/mo | Bundled monthly | AWS Lightsail pricing |
| Akamai Cloud (Linode) | Nanode 1GB: 1 vCPU, 25 GB, 1000 GB transfer | $5/mo | Monthly, base-region price from the plan-types listing | Linode pricing |
| Hostinger VPS | 1 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 50 GB NVMe, 4 TB bandwidth | $6.49/mo, renews at $11.99/mo | Prepaid 24 months ($155.76 up front) | Hostinger VPS pricing |
| Cloudways | Micro: 1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25GB NVMe, 1TB transfer | $14/mo | Managed layer on top of cloud infrastructure; 5-day trial | The Real Cost of Cloudways Autonomous |
| Hetzner | No price in the page text we read | n/a | n/a | See hetzner.com/cloud |
Entry plan price per month (USD, first plan listed)
Entry plans are not the same size: compare resources in the table above. Hostinger renews at $11.99/mo after its 24-month term. Hetzner is omitted because no price was readable.
Which Shape of Cloud VPS Do You Need?
The phrase covers three different products. Raw self-managed virtual servers (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Akamai Cloud) give you root access and you run the stack. Fully managed platforms (Cloudways) run on top of cloud infrastructure and remove server administration. Bundled on-ramps (AWS Lightsail) package memory, vCPU, storage and a transfer allowance into one monthly price. Picking the wrong shape for your team costs more than picking the wrong price.
Provider Notes
DigitalOcean
Basic Droplets start at $4.00/mo for 512 MiB and 1 vCPU, with a $6.00/mo step to 1 GiB. The page says Droplets move to per-second billing effective January 1, 2026. Read digitalocean droplet pricing for backups and transfer.
Vultr
Vultr lists Cloud Compute from $2.50/mo (marked IPv6 only) and $5.00/mo for 1 vCPU, 1 GB, 1.00 TB and 25 GB. Its cost breakdown is on The Real Cost of Vultr Cloud Compute.
Akamai Cloud (Linode)
Akamai Cloud's plan-types listing shows Nanode 1GB at $5 a month and Linode 2GB at $12 a month. The shared CPU plans are Akamai's most affordable virtual machines, with CPU shared with other instances, per the Akamai docs. See linode pricing for the ladder. Prices here come from the official plan-types listing because the akamai.com pricing page was not readable on 2026-11-01.
Hostinger VPS
The entry plan shows $6.49/mo, but all plans are paid upfront and the page says the monthly rate is the total divided by the months in the plan: $155.76 up front for 24 months, then $11.99/mo on renewal. A 30-day money-back guarantee is shown. Detail on hostinger vps pricing.
Cloudways
Cloudways Micro is $14/mo for 1GB RAM and 1 vCPU, and the pricing page offers a 5-day trial. It is the managed option in this set; compare it with raw servers on DigitalOcean vs. Cloudways.
AWS Lightsail
Lightsail bundles a transfer allowance: the $5 plan includes 1 TB. Read aws lightsail pricing for how overage works.
Hetzner
Hetzner lists US cloud locations in Hillsboro, Oregon, and Ashburn, Virginia. We state no price because none was readable on the page; check hetzner.com/cloud.
Route to Your Actual Question
- Real cost past the entry price: The Real Cost of Cloud VPS Hosting, then the provider pages: digitalocean droplet pricing, hostinger vps pricing, aws lightsail pricing, linode pricing, Vultr and Cloudways
- Which provider: Best Cloud VPS Alternatives for Small Business, Ranked, DigitalOcean Alternatives, Vultr Alternatives and Cloudways Alternatives
- Head to head: DigitalOcean vs. Vultr and DigitalOcean vs. Cloudways
- Switching or renewing: Switching Cloud VPS Providers and Cloud VPS Renewal Pricing
- Coming from shared hosting: the shared-hosting-to-VPS migration guide
- Wider roundups: Best VPS Hosting for Small Business in 2026 and Best Cloud Hosting for Small Businesses in 2026
What This Hub Does Not Do
It lists entry plans only, not each provider's full price ladder, because each cost page carries its own sourced ladder and a copy here would drift. It does not name one best provider: best only means something once you attach a use case such as root-access comfort, budget floor or how much operations work you will take on.
Other provider links: Vultr, Hostinger VPS, Cloudways, AWS Lightsail, Hetzner, Akamai Cloud shared CPU plans.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest cloud VPS?
On the vendor pages read on 2026-11-01, Vultr lists $2.50/mo (marked IPv6 only) and DigitalOcean $4.00/mo. Entry plans differ in memory, transfer and IP support, so compare resources, not just price.
Is Hostinger VPS really $6.49 a month?
The entry plan shows $6.49/mo on a 24-month prepaid term ($155.76 up front) and renews at $11.99/mo for the same term.
What is the difference between cloud VPS and managed cloud hosting?
A cloud VPS gives you a virtual server you administer. Managed platforms such as Cloudways run on cloud infrastructure and handle server administration, at a higher price ($14/mo for Micro).
Does AWS Lightsail include data transfer?
Yes. The $5 bundle includes 1 TB transfer, and plans scale up to larger allowances.
Which page should I read next?
Read the cost page for the provider you shortlisted, then the alternatives or head-to-head page if you are still deciding.