15 Cheap VM Hosting Providers 2024

Looking for a quality-oriented virtual machine hosting service at an affordable price? We’ll be sharing a handy list of cheap VM hosting providers in this article to assist you in choosing a reliable host that offers on-the-fly scalability, sustainability, resource upgrade flexibility, and pocket-friendly pricing too.

Virtual machine or VM can also be described as VPS or virtual private server as both web hosting services are provided by virtually dividing a physical server into multiple servers virtually by isolation software such as KVM, OpenVZ, or Xen. There are many virtualization software available in the market suitable for different needs.

The same is true for web hosting companies; there are countless providers (that cater to VPS/VM hosting users), and all of them tend to be the best – most of them self-claimed. However, upon performing different tests over the span of more than five years, we learned that almost all VM hosts have their own pros and cons. Not all providers are the same in terms of features, reliability, speed, and customer support.

Customers often face confusion about which web host would be right to go with, so we wrote this guide on the best cheap VM hosting to help you out.

Top Picks

#1. Kamatera – Overall Best for Money-Value Virtual Servers + $100 Free Credits

#2. InterServer – Cheap VM Hosting with Mass Bandwidth

#3. A2Hosting and Vultr – Affordable VMs (For Managed and Unmanaged Servers)

What is VM Hosting (Virtual Machine or VPS Hosting)

VM or virtual machine hosting (also known as virtual private server) is a stepping stone between shared and dedicated hosting environments. It makes your website or application run on its own virtual server. Usually, beginners don’t need to go with this type of web hosting because the starting plans (shared) feature everything a beginner might need.

If you’ve chosen a VPS hosting plan to get your website on the internet, chances are you’re willing to transfer your existing site which is currently being hosted on a shared hosting plan. Or maybe, you just want to enjoy the overwhelming features like more control, more speed, and customization of virtual hosting machines that the shared server lacks.

What Are the Key Benefits of VM Web Hosting Servers

You are allowed to install your desired operating system
VM server offers more control compared to traditional shared hosting
Users get root access, so altering the hosting environment is possible
Your VM hosting machine comes with dedicated resource allocation, which means high reliability
Virtual private servers, VM, or VPS servers are quite similar to dedicated hosting, but these are made virtually through a web hosting console, so it is way faster to deploy a VM machine because of instant provisioning – it saves time.
Scaling resources (like RAM, storage, CPU Cores, bandwidth, etc.) up and down is easy
It provides alike dedicated hosting environment but at lower prices
Other users on the same server don’t affect your site’s or app’s performance
It’s more flexible than shared web hosting
Virtual machine hosting allows custom OSes and script installation
You can independently optimize the server for high performance
Many VM providers offer add-ons as a service to enhance useability
Suitable for hosting multiple websites and applications on the same server

Anyway, let’s get started.

15 Best Cheap VM Hosting Providers 2024 (Virtual Private Servers Reviewed)

1. Kamatera – Affordable Best VM Hosting Service (Cloud Virtual Servers)

If you’re someone hunting for the best possible yet cheap cloud VM hosting that ensures reliable services, performance-ordinated servers, and 24/7 technical support, then Kamatera should be your first choice. Kamatera got into operation in 1996. While they started serving customers with VPS plans in 2002. So they have 24 years of experience in this field. Their data centers are located all over the world in America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

When it comes to performance, Kamatera, similar to others such as Linode, and DigitalOcean, guarantees a server uptime of 99.95%. If we talk about customer support, Kamatera features a friendly environment with 24/7 live chat. Moreover, they assure you that your server will be running in just a couple of minutes. Furthermore, the hourly billing option is a significant feature, you’ll pay just for the used resources.

Keeping the title of the article in mind, let me tell you that cloud VM plans feature add-on domains, MYSQL, MS SQL databases, DNS management, and Public IPs. You also get a spam-protection feature, which proves to be very useful at times. Each account packs a custom control panel to manage your cloud virtual machines hassle-free with a few mouse clicks.

As I talked about the custom control panel, by default, you get an easy-to-use, secure, free user panel. Being Microsoft’s authorized partner, Kamatera offers software like Microsoft’s SPLA which allows you to save license procedures, manages installation and registration, and ensures automatic updates of apps.

In terms of pricing structure, Kamatera has two options either you can optin for hourly billing or month to month – choose which makes more sense to you. They offer pre-made plans as well as custom server configurations using which one can set up the desired VM. There are dozens of data center locations across the world, various operating systems to install, add-ons for enhanced performance, and a huge stock of storage and memory capacity.

The cheapest VM hosting plan costs just $4 per month or $0.005 per hour with the following resources: 1GB of RAM, 1 vCPU, 20GB SSD storage, 1TB of bandwidth, and 1 public IP address. Kamatera also offers a 30-day free trial or $100 free credits to try its services — so make use of this opportunity TODAY.

Why Kamatera

24/7 live customer support (expert support)
SSD storage with Unlimited 40 Gbit/s per Server
Intel Xeon processors with 300% faster performance than previous generation CPUs
Flexible customization of resources like IPs, CPU Cores, storage, and RAM
You are allowed to choose from dozens of data centers (18 data centers)
Robust firewall and Spam-protection
You install from 100+ OS images as well as your custom OS
Offers MYSQL / MS SQL databases
99.99% Server uptime guarantee
Hourly billing and quick server setup (in just a minute, according to them)

2. InterServer – Runner-up Cheap VM Hosting for Windows and Linux

With 22 years of industry experience, Interserver knows how to deliver reliable, powerful, and user friendly web hosting services at cheap prices. It was founded in 1999 by two ambitious Mike Lavrik & John Quaglieri. Now, Interserver has two data centers located in Secaucus, NJ, and one in Los Angeles, CA.

Apart from virtual private server machines, the company also serve almost all type of web storage services such as shared hosting, dedicated servers, Windows hosting, reseller hosting, colocation servers, GPU oriented servers, Linux VPS with different distro options, eCommerce solutions, and email hosting solutions. They also have CMS optimized web hosting plans for WordPress, Magento, Prestashop, and Joomla with a 1-click installation feature.

With a guaranteed 99.9% server uptime, you get a remote backup service for free at all. Moreover, the default control panel is cPanel but you get the option of root access so you can set up any panel you’d like to (cPanel for Linux and Plesk for Windows). Regarding databases, there are lots of databases for one to choose from. As customer support is an important factor to consider when choosing a VM host, being a great competitor, Interserver features 24/7 live chat (yes live chat).

Out of lots of their plans, we’ll specifically talk about the cloud VPS services. The most basic Linux VPS plan starts at $6/month. The resources you’ll get at this price are 2GB of RAM, 1 CPU, 30GB SSD storage, and 1TB of data transfer. While it can be enhanced up to 32GB Ram, 16 CPUs, 480GB SSD storage, and 16TB data transfer at the price of $96/mo. The customizable resources allow you to set up the resources according to your needs.

Interserver’s Windows based VM hosting servers start at $10 per month (Slice 1) with 2GB memory, 1CPU core, 30GB SSD space, and 2TB data transfer. You’re allowed to select between Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019 versions. There are up to 16 Slices where the ultimate one features 32 Gig of Ram, 16 Cores, and 32TB transfer at the cost of $160/mo.

Including WordPress, there are nearly 500 applications that can be quickly installed with just a click. Moreover, they don’t put any limitations on accessing your data from a specific region or at a specific time. It can be accessed from all over the world at any time. For the security of your data, they use KVM, OpenVZ, Virtuozzo, and Hyper-v virtualization platforms for robust isolation.

If the site loading time is talked about, let me tell you that it never keeps your visitors waiting by providing a seamless site loading speed. How do you know if they’re worth a try or not? They owe dozens of awards for their excellence in this work.

Why InterServer

A great web hosting Linux and Windows virtual servers at a lower cost
Ultimate resource customization
Resources allocation through advanced isolation technologies
Self-healing AI system to ensure zero downtime
24/7 customer support
99.99% server uptime commitment
Free remote backup
Support multiple database types
Free DirectAdmin control panel for all VM plans
Full root access
Almost 500+ 1-click installation applications
Utilization of KVM, Openvz, Virtuozzo, and Hyper-v virtualization

3. A2Hosting – Cheap VM Hosting Service

When reviewing the most popular web hosting providers over the Globe, A2Hosting could not be forgotten. It started serving customers in 2001. The guy behind this company is Bryan Muthig (Founder of A2Hosting). Today, they got data centers all across the world, users get the option of choosing from USA – Michigan, USA – Arizona, Europe – Amsterdam, and Asia – Singapore data centers.

Regardless of the VM hosting plan you choose, they promise to deliver 24/7 customer support, 99.99% server uptime, and fast SSD storage. To improve site loading time, you can utilize the Cloudflare CDN feature which enhances the data rendering performance. The thing distinguishing it from other hosts is the utilization of advanced technology, advanced SSDs, updated software, and enterprise-grade hardware to make your site 20x faster.

If you’re thinking of migrating your existing website to A2Hosting, here’s another great surprise for you because migration is absolutely free. And if you don’t find them suitable after opting in, you get the opportunity to refund money anytime. If your site experiences unexpectedly more visitors (even at the same time), visitors won’t face downtime because the company features unlimited bandwidth. Isn’t it impressive?

Like other web hosting services, it features a one-click application installation. So, install any app you want with just a couple of clicks. Enough for features and benefits, let’s put some light on their VM hosting plans. The very basic virtual machine hosting plan starts at $4.99 per month for the unmanaged server while the fully managed VM hosting package costs $39.99 per month. Both managed and unmanaged servers are available in four different variants.

An entry-level unmanaged VM server that costs $4.99/mo comes with 150GB SSD storage, 1 CPU Core, 1GB of Ram, and 2TB of bandwidth. In addition to these, you’ll get to enjoy the Turbo feature which takes your site’s performance to the next level by increasing it up to 20x. Furthermore, this plan also comes provisioned with your choice of Linux OS.

Why A2Hosting

24/7/365 Technical Support
Option to switch b/w multiple data centers around the Globe
Turbo Boost Technology to increase your Website’s performance up to 20X
99.9 Server uptime commitment
SSD-based servers (many times faster than the ones powered with HDDs)
Free site transfer and the utilization of CDN Cloudflare
Competitive plans prices
Anytime money-back Guarantee
Unlimited Storage & Bandwidth
Daily backups and server rewind tool
Excellent choice for cheap Linux VM hosting servers
Pre-installed WordPress

4. TurnKeyInternet – Best Affordable Unmanaged VM Hosting

TurnKeyInternet is a web hosting and data center provider company that heavily focuses on providing solutions to small and medium-sized businesses. It got into operation in 1999 and in just 2 years (in 2001), it became one of the best companies in this field. Today, they are serving a large number of customers with reliable, effective, and budget-friendly services.

As we are reviewing only VM web hosting services, let’s jump straight into the details of their virtual server solutions. The basic VM cloud package of TurnkeyInternet is named Custom Cloud VPS and costs $4.99/month. It features 1CPU core, 1GB of Ram, 5 GB of ultra-fast SSD storage, IPv4 & IPv6 support, and unmetered bandwidth. For enhanced resources, higher plans are available. You can go up to 56 CPU cores, and 384GB of Ram.

If we talk about other features of cloud virtual servers, it ensures a 100% server uptime guarantee. It is essential for online businesses that cannot afford the downtime of a single minute or two. To keep your data protected, there’s an automatic backup feature. If you sell products via a website, free SSL certificates are another remarkable feat of TurnkeyInternet for you. They also operate as a domain name registrar and offer registration for all top-level domains.

Alongside the generous 30 days money-back guarantee, the company’s cloud VM servers support IPv4 and IPv6 IP addresses for fast mapping. Moreover, the administrator features include automated reboots, automated OS reloads, VNC/ KVM console access, 50+ operating systems (to choose from), password management, and Bandwidth and usage stats.

Regarding server technology, they utilize the fastest SSDs coupled with the powerful Intel processors available in the market. Configured in Raid 10, your servers will keep working even if some components start misbehaving. Lastly, 24/7/365 live support is another plus so you could get peace of mind VM hosting experience.

Why TurnKeyInternet

Raid-10 SSD storage (Samsung Pro series)
24/7/365 live customer support
Free site migration
50+ operating systems to choose from
100% server uptime guarantee
Cheap pricing of plans
Usage of IPv4 and IPv6 databases for seamless performance
Free SSL certificates
Automatic backups
30-days money-back guarantee

5. HostGator – Best VM Hosting for Websites/WordPress

Hostgator is not only the largest web host for starting a new website but also a good choice for purchasing a virtual machine server. It was founded by Brent Oxley in 2002. According to our more than 5 years of experience and using it independently, it worths a TRY. The reason behind their popularity is reliability, cheaper plans, and friendly customer support (Gone are the days when their support was slow but now they are quite fast to respond). As of today, HostGator has over 2 million websites hosted under its management.

When it comes to performance, they ensure a 99.9% server uptime guarantee through cutting-edge hardware manufactured by leading brands like AMD and Intel. Third party user reviews and our tests tell us that they deliver a seamless page load speed so visitors never keep waiting. HostGator features different web hosting types such as shared, cloud, WordPress, VM servers (VPS), reseller, and dedicated hosting. Let’s straight jump to the details of virtual hosting servers.

The most basic package named “Snappy 2000” costs $19.95/mo and goes up to $39.95/mo for Snappy 8000. There is also a mid-range Snappy 4000 plan as well which costs $29.95 a month. The Snappy 2000 brings the power of 2 vCPU Cores, 2GB of Ram, 120GB SSD space, and assigned 2 IP addresses. You’ll get to enjoy unmetered bandwidth meaning that you don’t have any limit of visitors. A flexible choice of different softwares allows you to deploy the desired OS/App (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.) or install custom codes.

Customer support is an important factor to consider when making a wise decision, HostGator has managed the remarkable feat of providing 24/7 round-the-clock technical support. Plus, VM hosting users are allowed to create and manage unlimited databases, email addresses, SFTP, and FTP accounts. The users can modify PHP versions, access VM via SSH shell, and monitor Raw log files.

Alongside all these features, you’ll get a free site builder, powerful script installer, and site templates. Plus, weekly off-site backup secures your data from any unpleasant incident. Still, skeptical about HostGator and confused to decide if it’s the right web host for VM hosting? Don’t be as they do have a long refund time frame of 45 days.

Why HostGator

24/7/365 live customer support
Powerful VPS server technology
45 days money-back guarantee
Unlimited emails, FTP accounts, bandwidth, and databases
Flexible software options
99.9% server uptime guarantee
The broad range of plans
Impeccable site loading time
Free website transfer and website builder
Easy-to-use optional cPanel/WHM
Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates

6. InMotionHosting – Cheap Cloud VM Server Hosting

InMotionHosting is a well-known hosting company that started serving customers to provide reliable and friendly hosting services in 2001. Now, the company hosts over 300,000 domains of startups, bloggers, small businesses, and enterprises. They got over 300 employees working in two data centers located in Los Angeles and Virginia Beach.

The specific workers are specialized in technical support to provide users with any time live chat. This makes it a trustworthy and reliable platform for VM hosting solutions. Just like any other web host, InMotion also commits to providing an above average uptime of 99.99%, so your website won’t often get down. Thanks to the utilization of SSDs by the company, solid state storage is available for all plans even for shared hosting. Solid state drives are way faster compared to traditional HDDs for data rendering.

Moreover, InMotion features quick Google apps integration, so users can quickly install Google apps with just a couple of clicks. Regarding the control panel, you’ll get to use the traditional cPanel (managed plans) which is probably ideal for beginners. If you’re willing to sell products through your website, nothing to worry about, you’ll get free SSL certificates and eCommerce features.

InMotionHosting offers two types of VPS hosting solutions; managed and unmanaged VM. For tech-savvy users, unmanaged cloud VPS is the cheapest option yet required advanced command line expertise. It starts as low as $5/month for cVPS-1 and goes up to $160/month for cVPS-32. The cVPS-1 package includes 1GB memory, 1 CPU core, 25GB SSD storage, and 1TB bandwidth.

On the other hand, managed VPS servers come in four variants. A 2GB VM server which is also a basic plan costs $17.99 per month and offers 2CPU cores, 2GB of Ram, 45GB SSD, 4TB data transfer, and 1 dedicated IP address. It also includes free SSL, free server setup, data migration, and cPanel/WHM control panel. To enjoy significant discounts, you should opt in for a yearly contract though monthly subscriptions are also available but it costs significantly higher.

Similar to HostGator reviewed above, they also offer free website migration to make it easier for you to switch to them (from your current host).

If going with InMotionHosting does not result in a good experience, they’ll refund your money back within 90 days of registration (With VPS and higher plans).

Why InMotion Hosting

High server uptime
Utilization of SSD drives for low latency
Fast hosting servers built with modern hardware
24/7 Customer support through different channels
90-days money-back guarantee (30 days with shared hosting)
Free site transfer and SSL certificates
Easy to use cPanel
Quick Google Apps integration

7. Vultr – Cheapest VM Hosting Servers

Are you looking for a highly affordable VM server provider that delivers speedy services? Then Vultr is what you should look at. It is one of the fastest cloud services that offers virtual private servers through its cutting-edge cloud infrastructure. Vultr utilizes a 100% Kernal Virtual Machine (KVM) for fully virtualized Linux servers. Started its operation in 2014 by David Aninowsky. Today, it is one of the leading cloud companies that offer options for choosing the most suitable server location near you (It can help you boost the server’s performance).

Our findings prove that Vultr is not only a great place for launching cloud computing servers for any scale but also a reliable host for low end VPS under budget. With 20+ years of combined team experience, their team knows what people need and they try their best for users’ satisfaction. For impeccable server performance, you get the opportunity to choose from 32 worldwide locations. Choosing a server near your target audience boosts the performance because of low latency, thus less time for data retrieval.

Without a doubt, Vultr has cheaper pricing compared to its most competitors like DigitalOcean, Linode, and Kamatera cloud, still they feature powerful compute instances. Vultr uses powerful Intel CPUs paired with SSDs to get a performance that never keeps you waiting. The cloud VM plans feature SSDs for storage, on-the-go scalability, and can be availed on a monthly as well as hourly basis. The very basic cloud instance costs $2.50/month and comprises a single CPU core, 10GB SSD space, 0.5GB RAM, and 0.50TB of bandwidth.

Vultr offers up to ten packages where the resources are directly proportional to the price. The fully loaded cloud server packs 24 CPU cores, 1600GB storage, 96GB RAM, and 15TB bandwidth at the price of $640 per month. Let’s have a look at common features that come with all instances. They allow instant development all over the world (on your desired data center). You’ll get infinite OS combinations (See details), and dozens of apps that can be installed within minutes (e.g., WordPress, cPanel).

Unlike other services that provide discounted prices only if you agree to sign a long term contract, Vultr charges you on a monthly or hourly basis. There is zero setup fee involved as well. Other worth mentioning pros are; automatic backups, snapshots, Firewalls, DDoS attack protection, modern control panel, flexible networking, IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Besides SSD cloud servers, Vultr also delivers high processing compute solutions such as Bare Metal servers, Dedicated cloud, and High frequency compute.

Why Vultr

A broad range of plans for all businesses
Transparent hourly and monthly billing system
Cheaper (than market pricing) and Flexible compute rates
Simple and easy-to-understand interface
100% service-level agreement (SLA)
Root administrator access
32 low-latency data center locations
Infinite OS combinations
One-click installation of dozens of apps

8. HostWinds – Cheap Linux VM Hosting

If you’re looking for economically priced, powerful, and flexible VM web hosting for Linux or Windows, HostWinds should be on your radar. HostWinds got into operation in 2010. If we talk about server uptime which is an important thing to consider when looking for a host, you’ll be pleased to know that they guarantee an incredible uptime of 99.99% for Linux based servers. That’s is also true for Windows based virtual servers too.

HostingWinds features highly professional customer support assistance which is available 7 days a week to assist you instantly regarding technical and sales questions. For Linux web hosting services, users can choose either managed or unmanaged VPS, choose the right one according to your budget and technical experience.

Both products support different distros like Debian, Fedora, CentOS, and Ubuntu. On the other hand, applications such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, LEMP, LAMP Stack, ISP Manager, and Minecraft can also be installed within a few clicks.

A fully managed Linux VPS server costs $8.24/month, while a self-managed VM costs half the price of a managed plan. You can save up to 50% by choosing an unmanaged plan which is priced at $4.99/month for Linux OS, both come with the same system specs of 1GB Ram, 1CPU, 30GB storage, and 1TB monthly data transfer. The highest unmanaged package includes 16CPU Cores, 96GB of Ram, 750GB space, and 9TB monthly bandwidth at the price of $328.99/mo.

An unmanaged Windows VPS server starts at $10.99/month and $12.74/mo for fully managed services, server resources are the same as Linux for an entry-level plan mentioned above. You can launch the needed version of the Windows server OS by choosing between 2012, 2016, and 2019.

HostWinds backups all your data nightly, monitors server health in real-time, ensures redundant network connectivity of 1Gbps and provides instant scalability through an easy-to-use control panel. All VM hosting plans include SSDs, multiple data center locations, 99.9999% uptime, and robust firewall protection. Choosing your data center near geographically targeted audience results in improved performance, so a better user experience. Another existing feature is free website migration which means you won’t have to pay any extra charges for data migration.

Last but not least, if HostWinds failed to satisfy, you can easily refund within 60-days. Overall, HostWinds is the cheapest VM hosting provider where you can deploy affordable Linux and Windows VPS instantly.

Why HostWinds

Independent web hosting company that owns all its servers
Well recognized by INC. 500 and PCMAG
All SSD inclusive plans
Rapid resource upgrades
Different Windows and Linux OS options
1 click quick installation wizard
Various global locations
Instant 24/7 Customer support
Generous 60-days money-back guarantee
99.99% almost ideal server uptime commitment
Snapshots, Custom ISO’s, firewall, and nightly backup system
Free site migration

9. DreamHost

DreamHost is a Los Angeles based web hosting provider that has been serving customers all around the world with its remarkable services for a long time. Dallas Bethune found DreamHost in 1996. Over two decades of experience, they cater to almost all range of users and feature different web hosting solutions with remarkable features at competitive prices. Regardless of the plan, you’ll get US-based expert technical support 24/7 – whenever needed.

With more than 1.5 million hosted websites and PCMag’s recommendation, it won’t be wrong to say that DreamHost is the best VM hosting provider for websites, developers, and programmers. You’re allowed to host unlimited domains on your VM server without putting any bandwidth limitations. All VPS servers come with managed services, so you won’t have to worry about security patches, updates, and software upgrades. They also have unmanaged cloud VM services that are not only cheaper compared to managed VPS but also yield more administration control over the server.

Both cloud VM and traditional VPS servers utilize 20x faster SSDs which ensures an incredible uptime of one hundred percent as well as high performance. Your hosted applications and websites load way quickly compared to standard HDD hosting. You can refund your money within 30 days (97-days for shared hosting) of registration if Dreamhost fails to satisfy you. Keep in mind only yearly subscriptions are eligible for refunds. Their custom build control panel offers instant scalability in under 10 seconds, pretty impressive, right? Scaling up server configuration is dead simple.

There are four virtual private server plans named VPS Basic, VPS Business, VPS Professional, and VPS Enterprise. The starting price of the Basic VPS package is $15/mo when you choose a monthly billing cycle which decreases straight to $10/mo for a three year contract. It provides 30GB SSD space, 1GB Ram, free SSL certificates, unhindered server performance, & dedicated resource isolation. You’ll get to enjoy a custom control panel that is easy-to-use and quickly gets your work done.

The benefits this VPS gets you do not end here as it includes unmetered bandwidth (no traffic limitation), IPv4/IPv6, email accounts, SSD servers, expendable Ram, and storage. All VMs offer automatic updates for softwares, PHP versions, security updates, and WordPress out of the box at no extra fees. Plus, the availability of choosing between multiple web servers like Apache or Nginx is remarkable as well.

If you’re a developer seeking more control over the server, then DreamHost’s unmanaged cloud VM is what you should look at. Similar to their traditional VPS, cloud servers are also built with SSD disks, allow SSH access, and are compatible with all major platforms, including MongoDB, Redis, Ruby, Node.js, and Python. A 512MB RAM Server brings the power of 1 CPU core, 512MB Ram, 80GB SSD, 100GB free block storage, and OpenStack compatible API. It can be used for deploying BSD, Windows OS, and Linux hosting servers.

The one-click application installer has further aided DreamHost’s versatility. If you’re willing to use WordPress as your site builder, nothing to worry about; they feature the WordPress staging function. Overall, DreamHost is worth a try. Moreover, the money-back guarantee comes with all the plans.

Why DreamHost

Highly scalable virtual servers
Unlimited databases, email addresses, and bandwidth allowed
Unlimited hosted sites on VPS
Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates
Automatic updates handled by experts
One-click app installer for popular platforms
SSH access for remote tasks
OPcache for PHP applications
Free IPv6 and IPv4 addresses
Option to choose between Nginx and Apache web servers
User-friendly custom control panel

10. Linode

Linode is a popular cloud hosting provider for Linux based applications and development as the entire cloud infrastructure is powered by the Linux OS. In their own words, they are the largest independent cloud computing platform. If you are looking for stable Linux VM servers that run on cloud technology, then Linode is the best bet. The company is older than Amazon AWS, founded in 2003, managing over 1 million customers globally at the time of writing – most of them are developers. No doubt, their growth speed is massive for the last 17 years.

They have 11 data centers spread across the world in Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America. Users can launch a cloud VM by selecting between Sydney, Singapore, Dallas, Toronto, Newark, Atlanta, Fremont, Tokoyo, Mumbai, London, and Frankfurt. All data centers offer SSD storage, flexible scaling, server alerts, free support services, free data migration, and a tipple nine uptime guarantee (99.9%).

A 7-day free trial is available to let you start quickly for testing their services. Regarding the server performance in terms of uptime and speed, all of your data stored on high-end SSDs thus ensures low latency and higher uptime of ninety nine percent for most of the months. Linode offers a broad range of cloud products that include shared servers, dedicated CPU, dedicated GPU, high memory VMs, Bare Metal Servers, and Kubernetes solutions. They also have block storage, object storage, backup, cloud Firewall, NodeBalancers, and Vlan services.

Let’s specifically discuss their cloud VM or VPS plans. Not to mention, Linode beats its main competitors like AWS, Google, and Microsoft Azure when it comes to pricing. The starter plan starts at $5/mo, features 1GB Ram, 1 CPU, 25GB SSD storage, 1TB of data transfer, 40Gbps network in, and 1000Mbps network our speed. These configurations can go up to 192GB Ram, 32 CPU Cores, 3840GB SSD space, and 20TB transfer at the cost of $960/mo.

All VMs allow root access, SSH, unfiltered API access, IPv6 support, and CLI. Monthly and hourly billing option further aids the provider’s versatility. The whole infrastructure is DDoS protected and features two-factor authentication for your account security to shield against hacks.

The ease of use for any cloud company is critical; it won’t be wrong to say that a host is worthless without a friendly control panel. How would it be beneficial if it takes hours to execute a single task? That’s why Linode has an intuitive control panel that has a brilliantly designed layout. There is also an Android app to ensure quick access to your virtual machines; by downloading it on your smartphone, you’ll get complete control of your projects.

It takes a few seconds to launch a server after the account activation, plus scalability is instant too. Unlike others, Linode provides around-the-clock customer service but lacks live chat. However, there are several ways of getting assistance, such as their comprehensive guides have everything one might need.

Why Linode

Multiple data center locations
Option for scaling up the server resources
7-days money-back guarantee
High server uptime guarantee
SSD VM servers and the utilization of powerful Intel processors
Inclusion of root access, DDoS protection, advanced API, and DNS systems
Availability of android app for control over your VMs
Competitive pricing
Trusted by lots of businesses

11. DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean is yet another excellent choice for the cheapest VM hosting servers empowered by clouds; it brings forth developer-friendly features to help developers build, run, scale, debug, and test applications. They aim to simplify cloud computing for businesses and developers by offering an easy deployment of major platforms, including CoreOS, Fedora, Ubuntu, FreeBSD, CentOS, Debian, and much more. Launched in 2011, DigitalOcean is an American cloud provider company having various data centers worldwide.

Besides developers-oriented features, DigitalOcean also features hassle-free cloud web hosting for startups, websites, blog owners, video streaming hosting, SaaS development, and managed cloud hosting at affordable prices. Now handling more than 1 million users (mostly developers) in 195 countries through 13 data centers, and have launched over 78 million cloud VMs so far. Like any other provider, DigitalOcean’s cloud architecture is based on SSDs hence flawless performance is guaranteed. Your hosted apps and websites will load way faster compared to traditional HDDs storage, ensuring a gratifying user experience.

With 40GbE of network connectivity, KVM VPS virtualization technology, solid state drives, and global server availability, you get to enjoy 99.99% uptime SLA; otherwise, service credit will be given. Thanks to load balancers add-ons and automatic failover feature because both these features play a vital role for high uptime. You can scale your droplet (DigitalOcean named cloud servers as droplet) vertically and horizontally using one-click DevOps tools. There is also an option for team collaboration which allows assigning different roles to your team members based on their designations.

The team management functionality yields a large group of developers to build or work on the same project without creating an individual DigitalOcean – less hassle, more productivity. Even though they don’t have a live chat for instant help, but you can get assistance via support tickets, plus the knowledgebase section has tons of tutorials. Lacking the live chat might be an issue for less experienced users, so consider it before registration. You can also browse these DigitalOcean alternatives for better services.

Your droplet can be integrated with automatic backups, which take the server snapshots on a daily basis. In under 55 seconds, users can deploy the desired virtual machine hosting server no matter if it’s CPU-optimized, memory-optimized, or general-purpose instance. Each droplet can be customized according to your business needs; plus, there’s an inclusion of add-ons, system alerts, cloud firewall, 1-click apps, monitoring, and advanced security.

From a pricing point of view, DigitalOcean makes its position in the list of cheapest cloud hosting companies, offering the lowest plan at five bucks a month. A $5 per month or $0.007/hour plan comprises 1GB Ram, 1 regular Intel CPU, 25GB space, and 1000GB bandwidth. The same VM server resources cost $6/mo for premium Intel and AMD CPUs with NVMe SSDs. You can effortlessly scale up the resources (processing cores, ram, storage & bandwidth) you need.

Overall, DigitalOcean can be the best choice for experienced developers. But if you’re a beginner, change your way.

Why DigitalOcean

Droplet monitoring against performance
Free cloud Firewall
Team collaboration for easy role management
Pocket-friendly cloud VM hosting
Automatic failover and backups (costs separately)
Service level uptime of 99.99%
Modern API allows remote deployment and executions
Vertical and horizontal scaling
Monthly and hourly billing options

12. Scaleway

Started by Xavier Niel in 1999 as Online SAS (also known as Online.net), Scaleway is a French based cloud computing firm offering cloud services through its parent company’s data centers. Being a subsidiary of the Iliad group and a top player in French, it handles a whopping 3.2+ TB/sec internet traffic. With over 22+ years of web hosting experience, Scaleway provides a wide array of hosting plans, domain registration services, cloud computes, and dedicated servers.

In 2015, Online SAS rebranded to Scaleway and was one of the first adopters of ARM-based Bare Metal SSD servers provider as IaaS cloud solutions. Though it was started as a web hosting and domain registration platform, however, cloud services were introduced later. Scaleway features reliable, secure, and cost-effective 40+ cloud services that are payable on per hour billing structure.

They have 6 data centers containing 130k physical servers located in France, Netherlands, and Poland. Those six data centers host more than 150k virtual machines launched by users from 160 countries. One thing is crystal clear that Scaleway has a massive global customer base – 300k+ clients, including Adobe, SeLoger, DailyMotion, Safran, and Systran.

The starting price of development instances is €0.01/hour for DEV1-S, which goes up to €0.06/hour for DEV1-XL, depending on resources. DEV1-S virtual machine server configured with 2 vCPUs, 2GB of Ram, 20GB SSD storage, and 100Mbit/sec speed, while the DEV1-XL comes with 4 vCPUs, 12GB Ram, and 120GB SSD space with 500Mbit/sec bandwidth.

Looking for cheaper VM hosting instances? Well, then Stardust servers would be the best bet for you. Scaleway’s Stardust instances are the cheapest cloud VM to get started at just €0.0025/hour. It offers 1 vCPU, 10GB NVMe space, and 1GB of memory with IPv4, quite suitable for small projects. Of course, GPU and Bare Metal servers are the expensive ones – a perfect fit for huge projects. Each plan covers anti-DDoS protection, FTP backup, 24/7 customer support, API access, CLI & SDK, flexible IPs, and cloud firewalls.

Furthermore, they yield a service level 99.99% uptime guarantee for cloud VMs which means ultimate availability. The utilization of AMD EPYC virtual processors paired with the latest NVMe SSDs, and modern control panel ensures an unmatched experience. No matter where your location is, you’ll enjoy the fastest speeds.

There are tons of apps ready to use which can be installed with a few clicks. All major OSes such as Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, Arch Linux, Fedora, and Alpin Linux are supported along with custom images. If you’re a WordPress lover, let us tell you that WordPress installation is also dead simple to set up a website. Your console panel comes in handy for capturing snapshots of hosted apps or sites for backup and clone purposes.

Why Scaleway

Support popular Linux distros
1-Click installation script for WordPress, Docker, etc.
24 by 7 throughout the whole week support agents
Dedicated resource allocation
Per-hour billing structure
Multiple data centers
Free Kubernetes Kapsule for supported instances
Choice of AMD and Intel processors for high-end Bare Metals
Free snapshots
One-click installation for lots of applications (including WordPress)

13. Atlantic.net

Atlantic.net is a leading hosting solutions provider established in 1994. With over two and a half decades of industry experience, they managed to gain massive popularity and trust from a large number of businesses, individuals, & developers. The web host offers various hosting services for small to large-scale projects through the cloud platform, VM web hosting, dedicated servers, colocation servers, and managed hosting environments. Atlantic’s technological partnership with Intel, Microsoft, RedHat, CloudFlare, VMWare, and TrendMicro delivers unmatched performance worldwide.

The combination of hardware and software offered by those top brands helped Atlantic featured on Forbes, USAToday, TechCrunch, WSJ, and CNN. On top of that, it’s also an award-winning company featured on Inc. 500, Gartner, MedTech, CRN., and many more. Users can select between 7 data centers located in New York, London, Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas, Ashburn, and Orlando, while two locations (Amsterdam and Singapore) are in progress. All facilities are certified by HIPPA, PCI DSS, SOC 1, 2, 3, and HiTech audited, plus ensure GDPR compliance.

It won’t be wrong to say that Atlantic.net is one of the few companies offering HIPAA compliance hosting services. Their virtual cloud servers and VPS are closed match our topic “VM hosting providers”, so we’ll review both solutions. The VPS category is sub-divided into four sections: General Purpose, Storage Optimized, Memory Optimized, & Compute Optimized. There are more than dozens of server choices for Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD in General purpose VPS servers. All servers are SSD powered, so you can get the exceptional advantages of the latest drives.

The starting price for a Linux VPS server (G3.2GB) is quite affordable at $8 per month, whereas a Windows server costs 14.5 per month with the same resources. It consists of 2GB memory, 50GB space on SSDs, 1 vCPU, and an extensive 3TB data transfer. The General-purpose VM server plans go up to G3.192GB at the price of $816/mo (Linux) and $1344/mo (Windows) for 32 vCPU Cores, 3840GB storage, 192GB Ram, and 13TB bandwidth. You can opt-in for hourly billing, but it is available only for Linux based VPS.

Their stat of the art infrastructure brings forth an uptime guarantee of one hundred percent, thanks to the RAID-10 SSDs array, redundant network connectivity, and certified data centers. In addition, the RAID-10 SSD technology assures your server keeps running even when some components misbehave. Along with 24*7 customer support, your VM comes with a free IPv4 address, one-click applications installation, and RESTful API access. Unfortunately, the daily backups are not free, it costs 20% of your server price.

Why Atlantic

24hrs/365 days support availability
7 data center locations
PCI and HIPPA compliance solutions
Free VM trial offer
Variety of Windows and Linux versions
Hourly billing option (for Linux packages)
Free SSL certificates
Set up your VM cloud in under 30 seconds
Transparent pricing model

14. ToggleBox

ToggleBox got into operation in 2003. They’re on a mission to provide customers with performance-focused cloud VMs at competitive prices. Headquartered in the USA, they feature flexible pricing of a broad range of plans so everyone can choose according to their needs and circumstances. For those seeking instant expert customer services, ToggleBox is worth a try. You can purchase virtual cloud plans through Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, PayPal, and ACH transfer.

The feat of instant setup allows you to set up and run your server in some minutes after ordering. Plus, they assure you to use SSD drives no matter how cheap the plan you’re choosing. If you’re the one willing to transfer your existing website to ToggleBox, here’s a pleasant surprise, site migration is free! Not sure about ToggleBox? Nothing to worry about; they bring forth a 7-days money-back guarantee.

You can choose from a variety of Windows, FreeBSD, and Linux OS templates. Furthermore, custom ISO and OVA files are also allowed to configure your VM. Cloud infrastructure operates on various servers where each machine processes as a cluster, so higher uptime is guaranteed. That said, if your instance encounters an error, all its hosted data will start serving through another working node/server.

ToggleBox has two data centers located in Dallas, Texas and Philadelphia, PA, where each facility has dozens of enterprise-grade servers. Their expert support is available around the clock via live chat, ticket, and email, so you won’t have to worry if encounter a problem.

The cheapest VM hosting plan backed by cloud starts at $9/mo for 1GB Ram, 1 CPU Core, 20GB space, 20GB off-cloud backup, and 1 IP address. While an hourly price is $0.01590090/hr for the same resources and can be launched at just $1. Your VM can be scaled up on the go within minutes. You can get up to 64GB of RAM, 32 CPUs, 1000 GB storage, 8 IPs, and 1000GB backup at $457.75/ month by customizing the plan.

Why ToggleBox

Competitive pricing (option for hourly billing)
Quick setup (your cloud gets ready in minutes after ordering)
Flexible resources customization (setup resources as you want)
Round-the-clock expert support
7-days money-back guarantee
Free site migration
Usage of SSD drives for seamless performance
Option to choose from a variety of Windows and Linux templates

15. UpCloud

Last but not least, UpCloud is one of the rapidly growing cloud platforms founded in 2012, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. They have twelve global data centers spread strategically to ensure the fastest server response from anywhere hence delivers blazing-fast load speeds.

UpCloud’s data center coverage includes Amsterdam, New York City, London, Helsinki, Chicago, San Jose, Madrid, Singapore, Sydney, Frankfurt, Poland, and Warsaw. All facilities are built with best-in-class hardware, solid state drives, 2N and N+1 approach regarding power, resources, and internet connectivity.

Ensuring an unparalleled performance cannot be achieved by relying on old hardware that is why they actively upgrade their system hardware. Instead of building their cloud infrastructure with one brand regarding processing power, UpCloud utilizes both Intel and AMD EPYC processors. The entire platform is directly connected to the internet to avoid bottlenecks during high data transfer. As a result, UpCloud self-claims not only the fastest cloud web hosting but quick server launch within 45 seconds.

Deploying a cloud virtual hosting machine takes only a few steps, such as selecting the desired server location, perfectly fitting plan, and required operating system. Plus, modifying or upgrading the instance resources is simple too. Moreover, the company promises an incredible uptime of one hundred percent and 2x faster storage speed through MaxIOPS block storage. This uniquely designed MaxIOPS technology is way quicker than HDDs hence concedes highly responsive I/O.

Whether you’re an experienced developer, blogger, professional webmaster, or blog owner seeking reliable VM hosting on clouds, UpCloud provides sustainable solutions at cost effective prices. You can bill by hours/month for only used resources – no bundled packages or long term contracts. An in-house support team is available 24*7*365 days that can be approached on average in under 1 minute and 37 seconds.

As discussed above, all cloud VM plans come with flexible scalability, which means one can re-arrange specifications later according to their needs instead of migrating to a new machine. The very basic plan costs $5/mo ($0.007/hr), offering the power of 1 CPU, 1GB memory, 25GB SSD space, and 1TB of bandwidth.

Their simple API allows you to automate anything like firewalls, server management, deploying, destroying an instance, and other crucial stuff. Other essential features include cloning, staging environment, IPv6 & IPv4 compatibility, multiple OS choices, VM tagging, load balancers, elegant API, and a modern control panel. UpCloud has solutions for all working in SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, eCommerce, website building, and application development sectors.

Why UpCloud

A free 3 day trial for testing
Allow custom ISO images
Instant server launch
IPv6 addresses option
2x Faster data storing technology
Effortless VM deployment
Cheap and flexible pricing
Snapshots and scheduled backup services
100% SLA uptime guarantee

Conclusions

I hope now you have got a pretty clear picture in your mind of which one offers more and suits your needs. Now, it is your turn to decide which is the best bargain for VM web hosting services. Every customer’s circumstances vary like if someone needs high space, the other would like to have more processing power or RAM. Some might prefer more data center locations instead of massive storage.

The thing is, you are the one who would have to determine what you need the most, is it memory, storage, CPU Cores, or ease of use? But we won’t leave it on your own.

After extensive research and reviewing a variety of hosts, we recommend Kamatera VM (VPS synonym) servers the most if you don’t mind having a cloud-powered virtual machine. You can launch a cheap Linux VM hosting server in under 60 seconds or less through their simple control panel. The pricing is affordable at a $4/mo starting price, scalability is dead simple, and anytime customer support is always online.

Our runner-up recommendation is InterServer – it combines the goodness of top-notch security, 24/7 customer service, utilization of dedicated resources, self-healing hardware to manage load, and a money-back guarantee. The starting cost of $6/mo for unmanaged VMs is competitive as well as pocket-friendly. You can pick from 16 different packages according to your needs.

Users finding the cheapest VM hosting provider should have a look at Vultr. It offers the most affordable cloud instances with a starting price of $2.5/month. Although, this entry-level server is only suitable for basic tasks.

That’s it; we did our best to bring forth cheap VM hosting that fulfilled our primary analyzing criteria of uptime, speed, support responsiveness, prices, ease of use, and online reputation. So which one are you going to choose?