The cheapest VPS by price per GB of RAM and traffic
Per GB of RAM, OVHcloud, Hetzner and Hostinger's intro prices run about $0.80-$1.75 a month; DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr and Lightsail charge about $5-$6.
Quick comparison
| Provider | From | Starting plan | Free tier | Our rating | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hetzner CloudChecked | $6.49/mo | CX23 (Cost-Optimized, Intel/AMD)2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 40 GB NVMe | No | Not rated | Visit |
 HostingerChecked | $2.49/mo | Premium (web hosting)20 GB SSD | No (30-day money-back guarantee) | Not rated | Visit |
 VultrChecked | $2.50/mo | Cloud Compute Regular Performance, IPv6-only 0.5 GB1 vCPU · 0.5 GB RAM · 10 GB SSD | No free tier | Not rated | Visit |
 DigitalOceanChecked | $4/mo | Basic Droplet 512 MiB1 vCPU · 0.5 GB RAM · 10 GiB SSD | Occasional promo credit for new users | Not rated | Visit |
 BluehostChecked | $3.99/mo | Starter (shared)10 GB NVMe SSD | No (30-day money-back guarantee) | Not rated | Visit |
Measured by what you pay for each gigabyte of RAM, the cheapest VPS plans we checked cost about $0.80 to $1.75 per GB a month: OVHcloud’s VPS line (from $4.54 for 4 GB), Hetzner’s Cost-Optimized servers in Europe ($6.49 for 4 GB, before IPv4 and VAT) and Hostinger’s KVM plans on their 24-month intro price ($6.49 for 4 GB). The big US-style clouds, DigitalOcean, Akamai’s Linode, Vultr and AWS Lightsail, charge $5 to $6 per GB on the same sizes, but bill by the hour and lock you into nothing. Prices are as of November 1, 2026.
How we worked it out: we took each provider’s entry plans, divided the monthly price by the RAM, and did the same for included traffic. Hostinger, Bluehost, DigitalOcean, Vultr and Hetzner figures are AskGPU’s price data (checked October 17-25, 2026); we confirmed Hostinger, DigitalOcean and Hetzner on their pricing pages on November 1, 2026. OVHcloud, IONOS, Akamai and Lightsail prices come straight from their official pricing pages, read the same day. We haven’t run servers at these providers, and price per GB says nothing about CPU speed, disk speed, network quality or support.
Price per GB of RAM, plan by plan
Here are the plans side by side, sorted by size. “Per GB” is the monthly price divided by the RAM.
1-2 GB plans
| Provider, plan | RAM | vCPU | Price/month | Per GB of RAM | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IONOS VPS S+ | 2 GB | 1 | $2 for 3 months ($6 struck through) | $1.00 intro, $3.00 at $6 | 1-year term |
| Bluehost VPS NVMe 2 | 2 GB | 1 | $4.69 (renews $5.69) | $2.35 intro, $2.85 renewal | 24-month term |
| Vultr Regular 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 | $5 | $5.00 | Hourly, capped |
| Akamai Nanode 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 | $5 | $5.00 | Hourly |
| DigitalOcean Basic 1 GiB | 1 GiB | 1 | $6 | $6.00 | Per second, capped |
| AWS Lightsail 1 GB | 1 GB | 2 | $7 | $7.00 | Bundle price |
| Vultr Regular 2 GB | 2 GB | 1 | $10 | $5.00 | Hourly, capped |
| Akamai Linode 2 GB | 2 GB | 1 | $12 | $6.00 | Hourly |
| DigitalOcean Basic 2 GiB | 2 GiB | 1 | $12 | $6.00 | Per second, capped |
| AWS Lightsail 2 GB | 2 GB | 2 | $12 | $6.00 | Bundle price |
4 GB plans
| Provider, plan | vCPU | Storage | Price/month | Per GB of RAM | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OVHcloud VPS-1 | 2 | 40 GB NVMe | from $4.54 | $1.14 | Monthly |
| IONOS VPS M+ | 2 | 120 GB NVMe | $5 for 3 months ($14 struck through) | $1.25 intro, $3.50 at $14 | 1-year term |
| Hetzner CX23 (EU) | 2 | 40 GB NVMe | $6.49 + IPv4 + VAT | $1.62 | Hourly, capped |
| Hostinger KVM 1 | 1 | 50 GB NVMe | $6.49 (renews $11.99) | $1.62 intro, $3.00 renewal | 24-month term |
| Hetzner CAX11 Arm (EU) | 2 | 40 GB NVMe | $6.99 + IPv4 + VAT | $1.75 | Hourly, capped |
| Bluehost VPS NVMe 4 | 2 | 100 GB NVMe | $9.49 (renews $11.99) | $2.37 intro, $3.00 renewal | 24-month term |
| Vultr Regular 4 GB | 2 | 80 GB SSD | $20 | $5.00 | Hourly, capped |
| Hetzner CPX22 (EU) | 2 | 80 GB NVMe | $22.99 + IPv4 + VAT | $5.75 | Hourly, capped |
| DigitalOcean Basic 4 GiB | 2 | 80 GiB SSD | $24 | $6.00 | Per second, capped |
| Akamai Linode 4 GB | 2 | 80 GB | $24 | $6.00 | Hourly |
| AWS Lightsail 4 GB | 2 | 80 GB SSD | $24 | $6.00 | Bundle price |
8 GB plans and up
| Provider, plan | RAM | vCPU | Price/month | Per GB of RAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OVHcloud VPS-4 | 24 GB | 8 | from $23.37 | $0.97 |
| OVHcloud VPS-3 | 12 GB | 6 | from $12.32 | $1.03 |
| OVHcloud VPS-2 | 8 GB | 4 | from $8.50 | $1.06 |
| Hostinger KVM 4 / KVM 8 | 16 / 32 GB | 4 / 8 | $12.99 / $25.99 intro | $0.81 intro ($1.81 / $1.56 renewal) |
| Hostinger KVM 2 | 8 GB | 2 | $8.79 intro (renews $14.99) | $1.10 intro, $1.87 renewal |
| Hetzner CX43 / CX33 (EU) | 16 / 8 GB | 8 / 4 | $18.49 / $9.99 + IPv4 + VAT | $1.16 / $1.25 |
| Bluehost VPS NVMe 8 | 8 GB | 4 | $12.99 intro (renews $28.99) | $1.62 intro, $3.62 renewal |
| AWS Lightsail 8 GB / 16 GB | 8 / 16 GB | 2 / 4 | $44 / $84 | $5.50 / $5.25 |
| DigitalOcean Basic 8 GiB | 8 GiB | 4 | $48 | $6.00 |
| Akamai Linode 8 GB | 8 GB | 4 | $48 | $6.00 |
Two patterns stand out. DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr and Lightsail price almost every size at a flat $5-$6 per GB, so a bigger server never gets cheaper per GB. OVHcloud, Hetzner and Hostinger get cheaper per GB as you go up, down to about $0.81-$1.16.
The catches behind the cheapest prices
The cheap end of the table comes with conditions that the per-GB figure hides.
- Hostinger and Bluehost need a long prepayment. Hostinger’s VPS page says “Today you pay $155.76 for 24 months” for KVM 1, and each plan “Renews at [price]/mo for the same term.” Bluehost’s VPS prices are also for a 24-month term, per our data. On renewal, Hostinger’s per-GB price roughly doubles; Bluehost’s NVMe 8 goes from $12.99 to $28.99.
- IONOS’s low price lasts three months. The plan cards read “$2 /month for 3 months with a 1-year term” for VPS S+. The page shows $6 struck through but doesn’t state the price after the three months, so confirm it at checkout.
- OVHcloud lists “starting at” prices. OVHcloud’s US page doesn’t state setup fees, commitment discounts or location surcharges for VPS. VPS ordered outside its US regions “can’t be modified or upgraded after delivery.”
- Hetzner’s US-dollar prices exclude IPv4 and VAT, and stock is short. Our data’s US-dollar prices exclude both. Hetzner’s own product page shows euros including IPv4: the CX23 is €5.99 a month there, against €5.49 without IPv4 in our data. On November 1, 2026, Hetzner’s page marked every Cost-Optimized plan “currently unavailable.”
- Hetzner’s cheapest plans are Europe-only. Per our data, the CX and CAX plans are offered in Germany and Finland. The CPX22, which is also sold in Singapore, costs $30.99 there.
Price per TB of included traffic
RAM isn’t the only resource you pay for. If you serve files or video, included transfer matters as much.
| Provider, 4 GB plan | Included traffic | Price per included TB | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|
| OVHcloud VPS-1 | “Unlimited” (1 TB quota in Mumbai, Singapore and Sydney) | — | Speed drops to 10 Mbps past the APAC quota |
| IONOS VPS M+ | “Unlimited traffic” | — | Not stated |
| Bluehost VPS NVMe 4 | Unmetered (per our data) | — | Not stated |
| Hetzner CX23 (EU) | 20 TB | $6.49 ÷ 20 = $0.32 | €1.00 per extra TB, excl. VAT (Hetzner’s wording adds “per hour”) |
| Hostinger KVM 1 | 4 TB | $6.49 ÷ 4 = $1.62 intro | Not stated on the VPS page |
| Akamai Linode 4 GB | 4 TB | $24 ÷ 4 = $6.00 | $0.005 per GB |
| AWS Lightsail 4 GB | 4 TB | $24 ÷ 4 = $6.00 | Varies by region; AWS’s example uses $0.09 per GB (US East, Ohio) |
| DigitalOcean Basic 4 GiB | 4,000 GiB | about $6.00 | Not listed on the Droplet pricing page |
| Vultr Regular 4 GB | 3 TB | $20 ÷ 3 = $6.67 | Not in our data |
If you push 10 TB a month from Europe, Hetzner’s 20 TB allowance covers it for $6.49 plus IPv4 and VAT. On Linode’s 4 GB plan, the 6 TB over the allowance would cost 6,000 GB × $0.005 = $30, so $54 for the month. On Lightsail at AWS’s $0.09 example rate, the same 6 TB would be 6,000 × $0.09 = $540.
What does a 4 GB VPS cost over three years?
A worked example: one 4 GB server, kept for 36 months. Where a plan prepays two years, we add the first year of the renewal at the renewal rate (Hostinger and Bluehost would actually bill a 24-month renewal upfront).
| Provider, plan | Arithmetic | Three-year cost |
|---|---|---|
| OVHcloud VPS-1 | 36 × $4.54 | $163.44 (if the “starting at” price holds) |
| Hetzner CX23 (EU) | 36 × $6.49 | $233.64 + IPv4 + VAT |
| Hostinger KVM 1 | $155.76 + (12 × $11.99) | $299.64 |
| Bluehost VPS NVMe 4 | (24 × $9.49) + (12 × $11.99) | $371.64 |
| IONOS VPS M+ | (3 × $5) + (33 × $14) | $477.00 (if $14 applies after the promo) |
| Vultr Regular 4 GB | 36 × $20 | $720.00 |
| DigitalOcean Basic 4 GiB | 36 × $24 | $864.00 |
| Akamai Linode 4 GB | 36 × $24 | $864.00 |
| AWS Lightsail 4 GB | 36 × $24 | $864.00 |
The gap is large: the same amount of RAM costs about five times as much at the US-style clouds as at OVHcloud or Hetzner. What you get for the difference is hourly billing, many US regions, mature APIs and managed add-ons, and no prepayment.
Hourly billing vs prepaid terms
How a provider bills changes what “cheap” means, especially for short projects.
- DigitalOcean bills per second since January 1, 2026, with “a 60-second minimum or $0.01, whichever is higher,” and its bundled plans have a monthly cap.
- Hetzner bills by the hour; its billing FAQ says “Your server’s bill will never exceed its monthly price cap.” It also says “we will bill you for your servers until you delete them, independent of their state,” so a powered-off server still costs money.
- Akamai bills by the hour; its pricing FAQ gives the example of a 1 GB VM at “$0.0075/hr,” so 24 hours costs $0.18.
- Vultr bills hourly, capped at the monthly price, per our data.
- Hostinger, Bluehost and IONOS sell terms. Hostinger’s KVM plans also come in 1- and 12-month terms per its billing help article, at prices it shows only at checkout.
For a two-week test, a $24 DigitalOcean Droplet costs about $0.03571 an hour × 336 hours = $12.00, half its monthly price. A two-year prepaid plan can’t do that. Hostinger and IONOS offer 30-day money-back guarantees, but that’s not the same as paying by the hour.
Add-ons that change the total
The base price rarely includes everything.
| Item | DigitalOcean | Hetzner | Hostinger | OVHcloud | IONOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backups | 20% of the Droplet price weekly, 30% daily | 20% of the server price | Free weekly | Daily backup of the system disk included | Cloud Backup from $0.065/GB a month |
| Public IPv4 | Included on bundled plans | Extra (excluded from USD prices) | Not stated | Not stated | Extra IPv4 addresses $5/month each |
| Snapshots | $0.06 per GB a month | Not checked | Not stated | From $0.40 a month | Not stated |
The backup rates come from DigitalOcean’s Droplet pricing page and Hetzner’s billing FAQ; the OVHcloud and IONOS figures from their VPS pages. Lightsail’s pricing page offers IPv6-only bundles from $3.50 a month (512 MB) if you can do without IPv4.
On a $24 DigitalOcean Droplet, daily backups add $24 × 0.30 = $7.20, so the server is really $31.20 a month. At Hetzner, backups on a CX23 add $6.49 × 0.20 = about $1.30.
Which cheap VPS should you choose?
- Lowest cost, users in Europe, comfortable running Linux yourself: Hetzner’s CX23 or CX33, if they’re in stock, or OVHcloud’s VPS-1 and VPS-2. Both give 4-8 GB for under $10 a month. See DigitalOcean vs Hetzner and Hetzner vs Vultr.
- Lowest cost with US users, and you can prepay two years: Hostinger’s KVM 2 (8 GB for $8.79 a month, $210.96 upfront) is the cheapest per GB among the US-friendly plans we track. Plan for the $14.99 renewal. Our Hostinger pricing guide has the full terms.
- Short projects, tests or anything you’ll scale up and down: DigitalOcean, Vultr or Linode. You pay $5-$6 per GB, but only for the hours you use. Our DigitalOcean vs Linode vs Vultr comparison covers transfer, backups and billing in detail.
- Heavy outbound traffic: Hetzner in Europe (20 TB included) or Linode ($0.005 per GB overage). Avoid paying cloud egress rates at scale.
- Already on AWS: Lightsail’s $24 bundle with 4 TB is priced like DigitalOcean, and keeps you inside one account.
- Want to pay nothing at all: the Oracle, AWS, Google and Azure free tiers are covered in our free VPS guide.
Contabo, which appears in many “cheapest VPS” lists, isn’t in this comparison: its VPS page refused our request on November 1, 2026, and it isn’t in AskGPU’s price data yet. For more providers, see the VPS hosting hub and DigitalOcean alternatives.
Sources
- OVHcloud: VPS (read November 1, 2026)
- IONOS: VPS hosting (read November 1, 2026)
- Akamai: Cloud computing pricing and CPU pricing (read November 1, 2026)
- AWS: Amazon Lightsail pricing (read November 1, 2026)
- DigitalOcean: Droplet pricing (read November 1, 2026)
- Hetzner: Cost-Optimized cloud servers (read November 1, 2026)
- Hetzner Docs: Billing FAQ (read November 1, 2026)
- Hostinger: VPS hosting (read November 1, 2026)
- Hostinger Support: Renewal periods and advance payments (read November 1, 2026)
- AskGPU price data for Hostinger, Bluehost, DigitalOcean, Vultr and Hetzner (
src/data/products.json, checked October 17-25, 2026)