Is Fly.io's shared-cpu-2x - 512MB the best deal?

Machines (Shared CPU) · $4.04/mo (512 MB RAM, 2 vCPU)

Better deals exist

Fly.io's $4.04/mo shared-CPU plan is competitively priced but faces stiff competition from cheaper entry-level options with similar or better specs. Several alternatives offer 1GB RAM (vs 512MB) at comparable or lower cost, though Fly.io's per-second billing and region flexibility may justify the premium for certain workloads.

Cloud VPS XS

$2/mosave 50%

Half the price with double the RAM (1GB vs 512MB), 1 vCPU, 10GB NVMe, and unlimited traffic up to 1 Gbit/s.

Caveat: $2/mo is intro pricing on a 1-year contract; renewal jumps to $12-$14/mo, making long-term cost 3-7x higher.

Cloud Compute Regular 1vCPU/0.5GB

$2.5/mosave 38%

38% cheaper with 512MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10GB disk, and 500GB transfer; no region-based price variance.

Caveat: Bandwidth overage rates vary by data center; Windows licensing not included.

GP 0.5GB (Linux, IPv6)

$3.5/mosave 13%

13% cheaper with matching 512MB RAM, 2 vCPU, 20GB SSD, and 1000GB transfer (vs Fly.io's 500GB implied).

Caveat: Data transfer overage at $0.09-$0.132/GB depending on AWS region; Windows bundles cost 70-90% more.

Droplets Basic 512MB

$4/mosave 1%

Virtually identical price ($4/mo) with 512MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10GB SSD, 500GB transfer, and transparent $0.01/GB overage billing.

Caveat: 1 vCPU vs Fly.io's 2 shared vCPU; no per-second billing granularity.

Cloud VMs Type A base

$4/mosave 1%

Same $4/mo with 1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 20GB NVMe, and 5TB transfer (10x Fly.io's bandwidth).

Caveat: Non-dedicated CPU thread; burstable CPU overages at $0.041/hr once average usage exceeds 10%; powered-off servers may still accrue charges.

Before you switch

IONOS and Namecheap intro pricing is a renewal trap: verify the renewal rate before committing to a 1-year contract.
Fly.io's per-second billing and region flexibility are genuine advantages if you need to scale or run in non-Amsterdam regions; factor in the 10-50% regional premium for fair comparison.
Fly.io charges $0.15/GB/mo for stopped machines' rootfs storage and $5/GB/mo for extra RAM; budget these if you plan to pause instances or scale vertically.
Vultr, DigitalOcean, and Kamatera all charge bandwidth overages ($0.01/GB+); verify your expected egress before switching.
AWS Lightsail's data transfer overage rate ($0.09-$0.132/GB) is significantly higher than Fly.io's per-second compute model if you exceed the 1000GB allowance.

This comparison is generated from publicly listed pricing and may contain errors or omissions. It is not financial or professional advice, and CloudHosting.io is not responsible for decisions made based on it. Pricing, promotions, and specs change frequently and may not reflect current terms, regional availability, taxes, or contract length. Always verify current pricing and terms directly on the provider's site before purchasing or switching.

Comparable plans across providers

Provider	Plan	Price	Specs
Scaleway	Virtual Instances · STARDUST1-S	$0.43/mo	1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU	Visit
IONOS	Cloud VPS (Linux) · Cloud VPS XS	$2/mo	1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GB NVMe	Visit
InMotion Hosting	Shared Hosting · Core	$2.99/mo	512 MB RAM, 100 GB SSD	Visit
Vultr	Cloud Compute · Regular 1vCPU/0.5GB	$3.5/mo	512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GB NVMe SSD	Visit
AWS Lightsail	Virtual Servers · GP 0.5GB (Linux, IPv6)	$3.5/mo	512 MB RAM, 2 vCPU, 20 GB 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
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
Civo	Compute Instances · xSmall	$5.43/mo	1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25 GB NVMe	Visit
Exoscale	Standard Instances · Micro	$5.75/mo	512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 200 GB SSD	Visit

Visit Fly.io

Comparing prices across every provider we track...

Is Fly.io's shared-cpu-2x - 512MB the best deal?

Machines (Shared CPU) · $4.04/mo (512 MB RAM, 2 vCPU)

Better deals exist

Cloud VPS XS

$2/mosave 50%

Half the price with double the RAM (1GB vs 512MB), 1 vCPU, 10GB NVMe, and unlimited traffic up to 1 Gbit/s.

Caveat: $2/mo is intro pricing on a 1-year contract; renewal jumps to $12-$14/mo, making long-term cost 3-7x higher.

Cloud Compute Regular 1vCPU/0.5GB

$2.5/mosave 38%

38% cheaper with 512MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10GB disk, and 500GB transfer; no region-based price variance.

Caveat: Bandwidth overage rates vary by data center; Windows licensing not included.

GP 0.5GB (Linux, IPv6)

$3.5/mosave 13%

13% cheaper with matching 512MB RAM, 2 vCPU, 20GB SSD, and 1000GB transfer (vs Fly.io's 500GB implied).

Caveat: Data transfer overage at $0.09-$0.132/GB depending on AWS region; Windows bundles cost 70-90% more.

Droplets Basic 512MB

$4/mosave 1%

Virtually identical price ($4/mo) with 512MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10GB SSD, 500GB transfer, and transparent $0.01/GB overage billing.

Caveat: 1 vCPU vs Fly.io's 2 shared vCPU; no per-second billing granularity.

Cloud VMs Type A base

$4/mosave 1%

Same $4/mo with 1GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 20GB NVMe, and 5TB transfer (10x Fly.io's bandwidth).

Caveat: Non-dedicated CPU thread; burstable CPU overages at $0.041/hr once average usage exceeds 10%; powered-off servers may still accrue charges.

Before you switch

IONOS and Namecheap intro pricing is a renewal trap: verify the renewal rate before committing to a 1-year contract.
Fly.io's per-second billing and region flexibility are genuine advantages if you need to scale or run in non-Amsterdam regions; factor in the 10-50% regional premium for fair comparison.
Fly.io charges $0.15/GB/mo for stopped machines' rootfs storage and $5/GB/mo for extra RAM; budget these if you plan to pause instances or scale vertically.
Vultr, DigitalOcean, and Kamatera all charge bandwidth overages ($0.01/GB+); verify your expected egress before switching.
AWS Lightsail's data transfer overage rate ($0.09-$0.132/GB) is significantly higher than Fly.io's per-second compute model if you exceed the 1000GB allowance.

Comparable plans across providers

Provider	Plan	Price	Specs
Scaleway	Virtual Instances · STARDUST1-S	$0.43/mo	1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU	Visit
IONOS	Cloud VPS (Linux) · Cloud VPS XS	$2/mo	1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GB NVMe	Visit
InMotion Hosting	Shared Hosting · Core	$2.99/mo	512 MB RAM, 100 GB SSD	Visit
Vultr	Cloud Compute · Regular 1vCPU/0.5GB	$3.5/mo	512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GB NVMe SSD	Visit
AWS Lightsail	Virtual Servers · GP 0.5GB (Linux, IPv6)	$3.5/mo	512 MB RAM, 2 vCPU, 20 GB 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
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
Civo	Compute Instances · xSmall	$5.43/mo	1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 25 GB NVMe	Visit
Exoscale	Standard Instances · Micro	$5.75/mo	512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 200 GB SSD	Visit

Visit Fly.io