Comparing prices across every provider we track...
CloudHosting.ioCloudHosting.io
Virtual Servers · $5/mo (1 GB RAM, 2 vCPU, 40 GB SSD, 2000 GB transfer)
AWS Lightsail's $5/mo plan is competitively priced but faces stiff competition from IONOS and Bluehost on raw monthly cost, and from Linode on total value when accounting for specs and hidden costs. The 2000GB transfer allowance is generous, but regional data transfer overages ($0.09-$0.132/GB) can add up quickly if you exceed it.
Half the price with identical 1GB RAM and 1 vCPU, plus unlimited traffic up to 1 Gbit/s (vs Lightsail's 2000GB cap), and 10GB NVMe storage.
Caveat: Intro pricing renews at 2-6x higher after contract term; outbound data beyond 2TB pooled allowance is metered at $0.036/GB, so heavy users may face overages.
Intro price of $2.09/mo for 2GB RAM (double Lightsail), 1 vCPU, 50GB NVMe, and unmetered bandwidth; better specs at 58% savings.
Caveat: Renewal jumps to $9.99-$15.99/mo after intro term; requires 36-month contract to lock in lowest advertised price.
Same $5/mo price but includes 1000GB transfer (half Lightsail's allowance) and 25GB SSD; no regional overage variance like AWS, and 99.99% SLA is transparent.
Caveat: Backups are a separate add-on (~$1/mo); outbound bandwidth overages are $0.005/GB after allowance, so heavy users should budget for that.
Unmanaged VPS at $3.88/mo with 1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 20GB SSD, and 1000GB transfer; saves 22% vs Lightsail with comparable specs.
Caveat: Renewal pricing is substantially higher; management add-ons (Basic +$10/mo, Complete +$25/mo) are required if you want hands-on support.
30% cheaper at $3.5/mo with 1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10GB SSD, and industry-leading 99.999% SLA; no regional bandwidth overage variance.
Caveat: Backups are a paid add-on (10-60% surcharge depending on frequency); data transfer beyond Fair Transfer Policy may incur overages despite 'free egress' marketing.
Before you switch
| InMotion Hosting | Shared Hosting · Core | $2.99/mo | 512 MB RAM, 100 GB SSD | Visit |
| Fly.io | Machines (Shared CPU) · shared-cpu-1x - 512MB | $3.32/mo | 512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU | Visit |
| Vultr | Cloud Compute · Regular 1vCPU/0.5GB | $3.5/mo | 512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GB NVMe SSD | Visit |
| UpCloud | Cloud Servers - Starter · STARTER-1xCPU-1GB | $3.5/mo | 1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GB Standard SSD | Visit |
| Microsoft Azure | Virtual Machines · B1ls | $3.8/mo | 512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU | Visit |
| Namecheap | VPS Hosting · Spark | $3.88/mo | 1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 20 GB SSD | Visit |
| DigitalOcean | Droplets · Basic 512MB | $4/mo | 512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GB SSD | Visit |
| Kamatera | Cloud VMs · Type A base (Availability, 1 vCPU/1GB) | $4/mo | 1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 20 GB NVMe SSD | Visit |
| Alibaba Cloud | Simple Application Server · economy-e-2c-0.5g | $4.55/mo | 512 MB RAM, 2 vCPU, 40 GB SSD | Visit |
| IONOS | VPS Hosting (VPS+) · VPS S+ | $5/mo | 2 GB RAM, 2 vCPU, 90 GB NVMe | Visit |
| Liquid Web | VPS Hosting · Compute 1 | $5/mo | 1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 30 GB SSD | Visit |
| Linode (Akamai) | Shared CPU Compute · Nanode 1 GB | $5/mo | 1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25 GB SSD | Visit |
IONOS
Bluehost
View AWS Lightsail's plan
Linode
Namecheap
UpCloud