Virtual servers for a small team compared on where the data sits and who owns the company, whether the one-click images stay maintained, the services you will actually use (managed databases, Kubernetes, object storage, an API and Terraform), and what a real server costs per month: the instance, backups and a public IP, then the egress bill. GPUs and bare metal are compared in GPU & High Performance Compute.
The cloud we run Saaskly on: the cheapest credible compute in the field and 33 locations including London and Manchester, from a US company with the worst Trustpilot record here.
Smallest instance: $5/mo (1 vCPU / 1 GB / 25 GB SSD)Reference instance: $20/mo (2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB SSD)Real monthly cost: $24/mo
The German family company that sets the price floor for European cloud, with ISO 27001 and BSI C5, but no UK data centre and no managed databases or Kubernetes.
Smallest instance: €5.99/mo (2 vCPU / 4 GB / 40 GB NVMe (CX23, limited availability))Reference instance: €19.99/mo (2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB NVMe (CPX22))Real monthly cost: €23.99/mo
The Finnish founder-led cloud that sells sovereignty and simplicity together, with a London data centre, zero-cost transfer under fair use and a 99.999 per cent SLA.
Smallest instance: €3/mo (1 vCPU / 1 GB / 10 GB (Starter))Reference instance: €26/mo (2 vCPU / 4 GB / 50 GB MaxIOPS (Premium))Real monthly cost: €28.60/mo
The developer cloud with the best documentation in the business and the best Trustpilot score of the big names, with a London region and a US Delaware company on the contract.
Smallest instance: $4/mo (1 vCPU / 512 MiB / 10 GB SSD)Reference instance: $24/mo (2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB SSD)Real monthly cost: $28.80/mo
Europe's largest cloud company and the cheapest server on this page, with a London data centre and sovereign lines, held back by billing and cancellation friction.
Smallest instance: £3.31/mo (2 vCores / 4 GB / 40 GB NVMe (VPS-1))Reference instance: £6.29/mo (4 vCores / 8 GB / 75 GB NVMe (VPS-2))Real monthly cost: £6.29/mo
Germany's largest hosting group, contracting UK customers through a UK company with London and Worcester data centres and a stated independence from US and Chinese jurisdictions.
Smallest instance: £5.04/mo (1 vCPU / 2 GB / 60 GB SSD (Cube XS))Reference instance: £9.36/mo (2 vCPU / 4 GB / 120 GB SSD (Cube S))Real monthly cost: £17.76/mo
The UK's largest independent host, a B Corp with a London cloud, per-second billing in pounds and UK engineers on the phone, without managed databases or Kubernetes.
Smallest instance: £10/mo (1 vCPU / 1 GB / 10 GB NVMe (C-1))Reference instance: £27.50/mo (2 vCPU / 4 GB / 75 GB NVMe (C-4))Real monthly cost: £33.25/mo
The 2003-era VPS pioneer, owned by Akamai since 2022, with London and six EU cities, flat-price backups and cheap egress, but no pound pricing and a poor Trustpilot.
Smallest instance: $5/mo (1 shared CPU / 1 GB / 25 GB (Nanode))Reference instance: $24/mo (2 shared CPUs / 4 GB / 80 GB (Linode 4 GB))Real monthly cost: $29/mo
Iliad's cloud, sold as Europe's sovereign cloud and AI provider, with cheap hourly compute in Paris, Amsterdam and Warsaw, but no UK data centre and no pounds.
Smallest instance: €10.42/mo (1 vCPU / 2 GB, disk extra (PLAY2-PICO))Reference instance: €28.79/mo (2 vCPU / 4 GB, disk extra (BASIC3-X2C-4G))Real monthly cost: €42.89/mo
Amazon's VPS in fixed bundles, last here after Broadcom withdrew the Bitnami one-click images with three weeks' notice.
Smallest instance: $5/mo (2 vCPU / 512 MB / 20 GB SSD)Reference instance: $24/mo (2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB SSD)Real monthly cost: $28/mo