Comparison · 10 min · 12 citations
Cheapest VPS 2026: Hetzner vs DigitalOcean vs Vultr
Cheapest VPS 2026 after Hetzner's June price rise: CX23 is €5.49 for 4 GB (EU only), DigitalOcean starts at $4, Vultr $5, Linode $5. Official prices.
The cheapest real VPS in 2026 is still Hetzner's CX23 in Germany or Finland: 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB NVMe and 20 TB of traffic for €5.49 a month ($6.49) after the 15 June 2026 price increase[1][2]. The cheapest sticker prices are DigitalOcean's $4 Droplet (512 MiB)[6], Vultr's $5 plan (1 GB)[8] and Linode's $5 Nanode (1 GB)[10].
Two catches most tables miss. Hetzner raised prices twice in 2026, so €3.99 and lower figures are out of date[1]. And the cheap CX and CAX lines are EU-only: a 4 GB Hetzner box in the US is now €31.99 a month, more than the $20 to $24 four-gig plans at Vultr, DigitalOcean and Linode[1][6][8][10].
Every figure on this page was read on 2026-10-11 from the vendor's own price list: Hetzner's published price-adjustment table, DigitalOcean's Droplet pricing page, and the public plan APIs that Vultr and Linode (Akamai) expose. Hetzner prices exclude VAT and the €0.50 primary IPv4 charge, and Hetzner bills in euros with a separate dollar price list.
1. What is the actual cheapest box on each host?
| Host | Cheapest plan | Spec | Included traffic | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hetzner (EU) | CX23 (x86) | 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 40 GB NVMe | 20 TB | €5.49/mo ($6.49) + €0.50 IPv4[1][2][4] |
| DigitalOcean | Basic Droplet | 1 vCPU / 512 MiB / 10 GiB | 500 GiB | $4/mo[6] |
| Vultr | Regular Cloud Compute | 1 vCPU / 1 GB / 25 GB | 1 TB | $5/mo[8] |
| Linode / Akamai | Nanode 1 GB | 1 vCPU / 1 GB / 25 GB | 1 TB | $5/mo[10] |
The asymmetry in that table matters more than any single price. Hetzner's floor is a 4 GB machine; the $4 to $5 floors at DigitalOcean, Vultr and Linode are 512 MiB to 1 GB boxes[6][8][10]. Two footnotes: Vultr's plan list also includes a $2.50 IPv6-only plan with 512 MB, sold in two locations, and a $3.50 512 MB plan in one location[8]. Hetzner states that its cost-optimized CX and CAX servers run on limited hardware, so availability in a given location is not guaranteed[2].
2. Hetzner's two 2026 price increases
Hetzner changed its Cloud prices twice this year. The first took effect on 1 April 2026 for existing products and new orders alike[12], leaving the CX23 at €3.99 a month. The second applied to new orders and rescales from 15 June 2026 at 8 AM CEST, citing hardware procurement costs[1]. Orders placed before 15 June keep the previous price, but some changes to a legacy-priced server can switch it to current pricing[1].
| Plan (Germany/Finland) | Spec | Before 15 June | From 15 June 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CX23 | 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 40 GB | €3.99 ($4.99) | €5.49 ($6.49)[1] |
| CAX11 (Arm) | 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 40 GB | €4.49 ($5.49) | €5.99 ($6.99)[1] |
| CX33 | 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 80 GB | €6.49 ($7.99) | €8.49 ($9.99)[1] |
| CPX22 (AMD) | 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB | €7.99 ($9.49) | €19.49 ($22.99)[1] |
The shared x86 and Arm lines rose by roughly a third; the AMD CPX line more than doubled. That split changes the advice. A CX23 or CAX11 is still the cheapest 4 GB machine of any host on this page, but the CPX22, which used to be the "faster CPU for a little more" option, now costs within a few euros of a $24 DigitalOcean or Linode plan[1][6][10].
3. The EU-vs-US cliff
The €5.49 / 20 TB combination is a European price. Hetzner lists the cost-optimized CX and CAX servers only in its German and Finnish locations[2]. Its US locations in Ashburn and Hillsboro sell CPX and CCX plans only, with at least 1 TB of included traffic instead of 20 TB[1][3][5].
After the June adjustment, the US entry plans are expensive. The CPX11 (2 vCPU / 2 GB / 40 GB) is €17.49 a month ($20.49) and the CPX21 (3 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB) is €31.99 ($37.49)[1][3]. A founder who needs US latency therefore loses both the low sticker price and the 20 TB allowance at once, and should model Vultr, DigitalOcean or Linode first.
4. What does a 4 GB always-on box cost on each?
The same target machine (about 2 vCPU and 4 GB RAM) priced on each host, platform cost only:
| Host | Plan | Spec | Traffic | Monthly | 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hetzner (EU) | CX23 + IPv4 | 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 40 GB NVMe | 20 TB | €5.99[1][4] | €71.88 |
| Vultr | Regular Cloud Compute | 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB | 3 TB | $20[8] | $240 |
| DigitalOcean | Basic Droplet | 2 vCPU / 4 GiB / 80 GiB | 4,000 GiB (pooled) | $24[6] | $288 |
| Vultr | High Performance | 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 100 GB NVMe | 5 TB | $24[8] | $288 |
| Linode / Akamai | Linode 4 GB | 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB | 4 TB | $24[10] | $288 |
| Hetzner (US) | CPX21 | 3 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB | 1-5 TB by plan | €31.99 ($37.49)[1][5] | €383.88 |
In an EU region the gap is still stark: a CX23 with its IPv4 address costs €71.88 a year against $240 to $288 for a comparable 4 GB plan elsewhere, with four to six times the included traffic[1][4][8]. Among the dollar-priced hosts, Vultr's Regular plan is the cheapest 4 GB option at $20; DigitalOcean, Vultr High Performance and Linode tie at $24, so that choice comes down to region, overage rate and ecosystem[6][8][10].
5. CX23 vs CAX11: x86 or Arm?
Both are Hetzner's 4 GB cost-optimized servers with 2 vCPU and 40 GB of disk in the EU. The CX23 runs shared Intel or AMD x86 cores at €5.49 a month; the CAX11 runs Ampere Arm cores at €5.99[1][2]. Since June the x86 box is the cheaper of the two. Pick the CAX11 only if your stack ships Arm builds and you have a reason to want Arm; most Docker images publish both architectures, but some older binaries do not.
6. Where does the bandwidth math actually bite?
| Host | Included (entry plan) | Overage | Cost of 1 extra TB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hetzner | 20 TB EU / 1-5 TB US | €1 ($1.20) per TB[5] | €1 |
| Linode / Akamai | 1 TB | $0.005 per GB[11] | $5 (1,000 GB) |
| Vultr | 1 TB | $0.01 per GB[9] | $10 (1,000 GB) |
| DigitalOcean | 500 GiB, team-pooled | $0.01 per GiB[7] | $10 (1,000 GiB) |
Overage is where the ranking reshuffles again. At €1 per TB with 20 TB included, bandwidth is close to irrelevant for a solo app on a Hetzner EU server[5]. Among the dollar-priced hosts, Linode's $0.005 per GB is half of Vultr's and DigitalOcean's rate[7][9][11]. DigitalOcean pools included transfer across every Droplet on a team, so a fleet of small boxes shares one bucket[7]. If your workload is bandwidth-heavy and must stay in the US, fold Linode's rate into an AI stack cost calculator run.
7. Which should you pick?
- Cheapest real box, EU users: Hetzner CX23 at €5.49 plus €0.50 IPv4 for 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 20 TB in Germany or Finland[1][4].
- Cheapest 4 GB box in the US: Vultr Regular Cloud Compute at $20 a month[8].
- Lowest monthly bill for a tiny workload: DigitalOcean's $4 Droplet, or Vultr's $2.50 IPv6-only plan if you can run without IPv4[6][8].
- Bandwidth-heavy, US-hosted: Linode, with $0.005 per GB overage[11].
The summary: Hetzner is still four to five times cheaper at the 4 GB tier, but only in the EU and only on the CX and CAX lines. In the US, Hetzner is now the most expensive of the four, and the dollar-priced hosts converge between $20 and $24. For the platform layer that runs on top of a box, see Railway vs Render vs Fly pricing; to fold hosting into a monthly figure, use the AI stack cost calculator.
All prices verified on 2026-10-11 against Hetzner's official price list and docs, DigitalOcean's pricing page and docs, and the public plan APIs and docs of Vultr and Linode (Akamai). Prices exclude VAT.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest VPS in 2026?
By sticker price, Vultr's $2.50 a month IPv6-only plan (512 MB RAM, sold in two locations) is the lowest, followed by DigitalOcean's $4 Droplet with 512 MiB. By value, Hetzner's CX23 is still in a different class after its 15 June 2026 price increase: 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB NVMe and 20 TB of traffic for €5.49 a month ($6.49) plus €0.50 for a primary IPv4, but only in its German and Finnish locations. All prices were read from each vendor's own price list or API on 2026-10-11 and exclude VAT.
Did Hetzner raise its prices in 2026?
Yes, twice. A first increase took effect on 1 April 2026 for both existing servers and new orders, after which the CX23 cost €3.99 a month. A second adjustment for new orders and rescales took effect on 15 June 2026 at 8 AM CEST, moving the CX23 to €5.49, the Arm CAX11 to €5.99 and the AMD CPX22 from €7.99 to €19.49 in Germany and Finland. Hetzner's own price-adjustment page lists every old and new figure in both euros and dollars. Many comparison tables still quote €3.99 or lower, which is no longer the price for a new server.
Is Hetzner still cheaper than DigitalOcean in the US?
No, not since June 2026. Hetzner's US locations (Ashburn and Hillsboro) sell only CPX and CCX plans. The 4 GB CPX21 is now €31.99 a month ($37.49), and the 2 GB CPX11 is €17.49 ($20.49), so a 4 GB box in the US costs more at Hetzner than DigitalOcean's $24 Droplet, Linode's $24 plan or Vultr's $20 Regular plan. Hetzner's price advantage now applies to its EU-only CX and CAX lines.
Which VPS has the cheapest bandwidth overage?
Hetzner, at €1 ($1.20) per TB beyond the included allowance, which is 20 TB on EU cloud servers. Among the dollar-priced hosts, Linode charges $0.005 per GB in its core regions, half the $0.01 per GB that Vultr charges and the $0.01 per GiB that DigitalOcean charges. DigitalOcean pools included transfer across every Droplet on a team, which softens the 500 GiB allowance on its smallest plan.
References
Sources
Primary sources only. No vendor-marketing blogs or aggregated secondary claims.
- 1 Hetzner Docs: Price Adjustment 15 June 2026 (old and new Cloud prices for Germany/Finland, USA and Singapore, in EUR and USD, excl. IPv4 and VAT) — accessed 2026-10-11
- 2 Hetzner: Cost-Optimized cloud servers (CX23, CX33 and CAX11 specs, EU locations, 20 TB included traffic, limited availability) — accessed 2026-10-11
- 3 Hetzner: Regular Performance cloud servers (CPX specs; EU 20 TB, U.S. at least 1 TB included traffic) — accessed 2026-10-11
- 4 Hetzner Docs: IP pricing (Cloud Primary IPv4 €0.50 / $0.60 a month; Primary IPv6 free) — accessed 2026-10-11
- 5 Hetzner Docs: Traffic (€1 / $1.20 per TB overage; CPX 1-5 TB in U.S. locations depending on plan) — accessed 2026-10-11
- 6 DigitalOcean: Droplet pricing (Basic Droplets from $4/mo; 4 GiB / 2 vCPU / 4,000 GiB transfer at $24/mo) — accessed 2026-10-11
- 7 DigitalOcean Docs: Bandwidth billing ($0.01 per GiB overage; transfer pooled across all Droplets on a team) — accessed 2026-10-11
- 8 Vultr: public plans API (Cloud Compute plan specs, included bandwidth and monthly prices) — accessed 2026-10-11
- 9 Vultr Docs: What is the bandwidth overage rate? ($0.01 per GB) — accessed 2026-10-11
- 10 Linode (Akamai): public plan types API (Nanode 1 GB $5/mo, Linode 4 GB $24/mo, included transfer) — accessed 2026-10-11
- 11 Linode (Akamai): network transfer prices API ($0.005 per GB in core regions) — accessed 2026-10-11
- 12 Hetzner: Statement on price adjustment as of April 1st 2026 (applies to existing products and new orders) — accessed 2026-10-11
The 10 vendor figures on this page, each with its source and the date it was checked, are also in the vendor price reference, where every figure has its own link.
Tools referenced in this article