Comparing prices across every provider we track...
CloudHosting.ioCloudHosting.io
Virtual Servers · $12/mo (1 GB RAM, 2 vCPU, 40 GB SSD, 2000 GB transfer)
AWS Lightsail's $12/mo Windows plan is expensive for the specs and carries significant hidden costs (data transfer overages, Windows licensing premium). Several Linux-based alternatives offer comparable or better value at 1/3 the price, though most require accepting lower specs or renewal price increases.
2GB RAM, 1vCPU, 50GB NVMe, unmetered bandwidth, root SSH access; better specs than Lightsail at 1/5 the price.
Caveat: Renewal jumps to $9.99-$15.99/mo after intro term; requires 36-month contract for lowest advertised rate.
1GB RAM, 1vCPU, 20GB SSD, 1TB transfer, unmanaged; matches Lightsail's RAM/vCPU at 1/3 price, avoids Windows licensing.
Caveat: Unmanaged by default (add $10-$25/mo for management); renewal pricing substantially higher; SLA undefined.
1GB RAM, 1vCPU, 25GB SSD, 1TB transfer; transparent pricing, 99.99% SLA, no Windows licensing trap.
Caveat: Shared CPU (not dedicated); outbound bandwidth overages at $0.005/GB; backups are a separate add-on.
1GB RAM, 1vCPU, 10GB SSD, excellent 99.999% SLA; no Windows licensing overhead.
Caveat: Backups are a percentage surcharge (10-60% depending on frequency); data transfer beyond Fair Policy allowance may incur overages.
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
Namecheap
Linode (Akamai)
UpCloud