The best cloud VPS for a small business on the pages read 2026-11-02 depends on whether you want a raw server or a managed one: at the $5 to $6 entry level DigitalOcean lists $6.00 for 1 GiB, Vultr $5.00 for 1 GB, Akamai Cloud (Linode) $5.00 for 1 GB and Hostinger $6.49 for 4 GB of RAM, and Cloudways, which manages the server for you, starts at $14 a month. Hetzner is named but not priced because its page shows no price in text. The rest of this page compares the options by price, resources and what you have to manage.
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.
Cloud VPS options compared
| Provider | Entry plan shown | Resources | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean | $4.00/mo (512 MiB); $6.00/mo (1 GiB) | 1 vCPU, 25 GiB SSD and 1,000 GiB transfer at $6.00 | Self-managed, hourly billing |
| Vultr | $5.00/mo (1 vCPU, 1 GB) | 25 GB storage, 1.00 TB bandwidth | Self-managed, hourly or monthly |
| Akamai Cloud (Linode) | Nanode 1 GB $5.00/mo | 1 CPU, 25 GB storage, 1 TB transfer | Self-managed, hourly or monthly |
| AWS Lightsail | $5 USD/mo (0.5 GB) | 2 vCPUs, 20 GB SSD, 1 TB transfer | Bundled plans |
| Hostinger VPS | KVM 1 $6.49/mo on a 24-month term | 1 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 50 GB NVMe, 4 TB bandwidth | Self-managed with panel options |
| Cloudways | Micro $14/mo | 1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25GB NVMe | Managed server |
| Hetzner | Not priced here | Price not shown in the text read | Self-managed |
See the plans: DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hostinger VPS, Hostinger and Cloudways.
Price by entry plan
Entry-level monthly price (USD)
Source: the provider pages read 2026-11-02. Resources differ per bar: Hostinger lists 4 GB of RAM at $6.49 and Cloudways is a managed server. Hostinger's price is the 24-month intro price.
DigitalOcean
Basic Droplets list 512 MiB at $4.00 a month, 1 GiB at $6.00 and 2 GiB at $12.00, each with 1 vCPU, and a 2 GiB, 2 vCPU Droplet at $18.00. The page says Droplets move to per-second billing effective January 1, 2026. It is the plainest pay-as-you-go choice for a technical owner. For alternatives and comparisons see digitalocean alternatives. Source: DigitalOcean Droplet pricing, read 2026-11-02.
Vultr
Vultr's Regular Performance Cloud Compute lists a 1 vCPU, 1 GB plan with 25 GB of storage at $5.00 a month, 2 GB with 55 GB at $10.00 and 2 vCPUs with 2 GB at $15.00, plus an IPv6-only 0.5 GB plan at $2.50. The page says Regular Performance runs on previous-generation Intel CPUs and regular SSD, with High Performance and High Frequency plans offered for newer CPUs and NVMe. See vultr alternatives. Source: Vultr pricing, read 2026-11-02.
Akamai Cloud (Linode)
Shared CPU Nanode 1 GB is $5.00 a month, Linode 2 GB is $12.00 and Linode 4 GB (2 CPUs) is $24.00. The dedicated G8 4x2 plan is listed at $0.07 an hour, and egress overage is US$0.005 per GB. These figures come from a browser read of Akamai's CPU pricing page, because the earlier page fetch failed. Source: Akamai Cloud CPU pricing, read 2026-11-02.
AWS Lightsail
Lightsail bundles memory, vCPU, storage and transfer into one monthly price: $5 for 0.5 GB, $7 for 1 GB, $12 for 2 GB and $24 for 4 GB with 2 vCPUs. The page says the AWS Free Tier lets you start for free. Source: AWS Lightsail pricing, read 2026-11-02.
Hostinger VPS
Hostinger lists four KVM plans on 24-month terms: KVM 1 at $6.49 a month (1 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 50 GB NVMe, 4 TB bandwidth), KVM 2 at $8.79 (2 vCPU, 8 GB), KVM 4 at $12.99 (4 vCPU, 16 GB) and KVM 8 at $25.99 (8 vCPU, 32 GB). Renewals are higher: KVM 1 renews at $11.99, KVM 2 at $14.99, KVM 4 at $28.99 and KVM 8 at $49.99. A 30-day money-back guarantee is shown. It gives the most RAM per dollar of the plans read, at the cost of a steep renewal. Source: Hostinger VPS plans, read 2026-11-02.
Cloudways: a managed alternative
Cloudways runs the server stack for you. Micro is $14 a month (1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25GB NVMe), Small $28 (2GB RAM) and Medium $54 (4GB RAM, 2 vCPU), with a 5-day trial, free migration and 24/7 support listed. The pages read show no per-provider Cloudways price, so none is stated. For the Cloudways comparison see cloudways alternatives. Source: Cloudways pricing, read 2026-11-02.
Hetzner: named, not priced
Hetzner Cloud is known for low prices, but its page renders prices client-side and the text read shows none, so HostingDive states no Hetzner price here. Source: Hetzner Cloud page, read 2026-11-02.
Choosing by who manages the server
- You can manage Linux yourself: compare DigitalOcean, Vultr, Akamai Cloud and Lightsail on the $5 to $6 entry plans.
- You want more RAM per dollar: Hostinger KVM 1 lists 4 GB at $6.49, but price the $11.99 renewal.
- You want the server managed: Cloudways from $14 a month.
- You need billing control: hourly billing at DigitalOcean (per-second from January 1, 2026), Vultr and Akamai suits short-lived servers.
For the head-term list see best vps hosting for small business, cloud vps hosting and the cost breakdown in cloud vps real cost; for the wider cloud option see best cloud hosting for small businesses. HostingDive states no measured speed for these servers here; see the Speed Index.
Compare current plans: DigitalOcean, Hostinger VPS or Cloudways.
Related Reading
- Best VPS hosting for small business, the use-case roundup
- Best cloud hosting for small businesses
- The real cost of cloud VPS hosting, on overage and renewal pricing
- DigitalOcean alternatives, Vultr alternatives and Cloudways alternatives
- The cloud VPS hosting hub
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest cloud VPS?
On the pages read 2026-11-02, DigitalOcean lists a 512 MiB Droplet at $4.00 a month and Vultr an IPv6-only 0.5 GB plan at $2.50. At 1 GB, Vultr and Akamai list $5.00 and DigitalOcean $6.00.
Which cloud VPS gives the most RAM for the money?
Hostinger KVM 1 lists 4 GB of RAM at $6.49 a month on a 24-month term, renewing at $11.99.
Is a managed option available?
Cloudways manages the server stack and starts at $14 a month for 1GB RAM and 1 vCPU.
Does DigitalOcean bill hourly?
The Droplet page says per-second billing starts January 1, 2026, with a minimum charge of 60 seconds or $0.01, whichever is higher.
Why is Hetzner not priced?
Its cloud page shows no price in the text that could be read, and HostingDive states no figure it could not source.