VPS servers are virtualized onto hardware that you can scale up or down according to need. In addition, these servers are flexibly priced and often on the cloud. Here, we present you with the 7 best cheap Linux VPS hosting providers of 2023 for your business.
We conducted independent studies and tests to ensure accurate information and backed it up with user reviews and experiences. We base our rankings on price, features, reliability, user-friendliness, customer support, and scalability. Learn more about our ranking parameters at the end of this article.
Also, please note that the listed providers may offer managed VPS hosting, unmanaged VPS hosting, or both, varying in price significantly. To understand more about managed vs. unmanaged VPS hosting, refer to the end of the article, where we have explained the difference.
Key Points to Consider When Choosing Cheap Linux VPS Hosting
- Choose the VPS hosting providers with reliable customer support
- Compare prices and choose between managed and unmanaged VPS hosting
- Look for VPS with above 99% uptime and offer future scalability.
- Get VPS with root access if you need it
- Choose a VPS service provider with security features such as DDoS protection.
Best Cheap Linux VPS Hosting Providers of 2023 (Bought And Tested)
Kamatera offers cheap VPS hosting with data centers across the world which you can self-manage. It is a great choice if your business has a global clientbase on multiple continents. You can choose a maximum of 13 data centers across the world to store your server at an exceptional price.
Ratings Based On Expert Reviews
- Overall Score: 4.8
- Features: 4.8
- Reliability: 5
- User-Friendly: 4.8
- Support: 4.8
- Pricing: 5
- Scalability: 5
Kamatera offers a price calculator on their website, which is very helpful for calculating the price of the VPS you are building. There is also a range of OS you can choose from, including different Linux-based ones. The VPS setup does not take more than a minute, and there is also a 30-day free trial worth $100 credit that you can use before any payment is made.
Features: Free SSL certificate, custom-built control panel, 13 data centers, shelving when not in use, backup and monitoring, managed hosting, private networks, 100+ OS images such as CentOS, Debian, FreeBSD, and Ubuntu.
Kamatera offers Solid State Drives (SSDs), which are powered by powerful Intel Xeon Platinum/Cascade Lake processors, 2.7GHz+, which you can choose from while building your VPS server.
Reliability: Kamatera is a very old player on the market and is seen as a reliable VPS hosting provider. The servers are also guaranteed uptime of 99.95%, which is best.
User-Friendly: The custom-built control panel is mobile-friendly. However, it may take time to understand the UI.
Support: Kamatera offers first-class customer service via phone and Live chat 24/7. You can find the Live chat tool on their website’s homepage.
Pricing: Hourly to monthly billing, Kamatera’s pricing is very flexible and depends on the hardware and time you are going to use. The price starts from $4/month minimum or $0.005/hr.
Here are some of the cheap price plans that Kamatera offers.
- $0.005/hr or $4/month
[1024 MB RAM / 20 GB SSD / 1vCPU / 1000 GB per Month Traffic]
- $0.008/hr or $6/month
[2048 MB RAM / 20 GB SSD / 1vCPU / 1000 GB per Month Traffic]
- $0.014/hr or $10/month
[2048 MB RAM / 20 GB SSD / 2vCPU / 1000 GB per Month Traffic]
Scalability: Kamatera provides instant scaling up or down as required. You can log into the cloud management console and make any required changes to the hardware of your VPS server.
Pros
- Wide range of choices, for Instance types
- A large number of data centers across the world
- Very flexible pricing options from hourly to monthly
- Free trial of 1 month with $100 credit
Cons
- DDOS protection is not free
- Complicated for less tech-savvy users
Time4VPS provides top-notch self-managed VPS hosting that grants you more control over your hosting and websites. It uses KVM virtualization to provide you with powerful resources that’ll be just for you. So, all the resources you get you can use; you’ll be able to use however and for whatever you want. In addition, you’ll be using a powerful TIER III data center, which offers great security and reliability.
- Overall Score: 4.1
- Pricing: 4.2
- Features: 3.9
- Performance: 4.2
- Support: 4.1
- User Friendly: 4.1
Pricing: With Time4VPS, you’ll get to choose from eight different Linux VPS plans. The entry-level plan costs €3.24/month and includes 1 CPU core, 2GB RAM, 20GB of storage, and 4TB of bandwidth. You can get your plan on a monthly or yearly basis.
Features: No matter which Time4VPS Linux VPS plan you choose, you’ll get cPanel/WHM, Plesk, DirectAdmin, full root access, resources on demand, KVM-based virtualization, HP ProLiant DL360 Gen10 servers, Intel Xeon Gold 6132 processors, RAID storage, and more.
Performance: Time4VPS comes with a 99.98% uptime guarantee, which means that it promises to keep your site online 99.98% of the time. Also, it has a Tier III data center in Lithuania with an N+1 redundant network.
Support: Time4VPS provides excellent customer support, available via a help desk and live chat. Its customer support comes with fast response times, and there’s also a helpful knowledge base that contains hundreds of guides and tutorials.
User Friendly: With a self-managed Linux VPS from Time4VPS, you’ll have to manage your server yourself and keep up with updates. However, you’ll still get great customer support, an easy-to-use cPanel control panel, and an overall intuitive user interface.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- A wide range of Linux VPS plans are at your disposal.
- Stable and reliable performance with a 99.98% uptime guarantee.
- It uses KVM virtualization to provide you with your own resources.
Cons:
- Better for more advanced users (but beginners can get the hang of it, too, with a little effort).
A2 Hosting’s cheapest VPS, Runway 1, is one of the cheapest unmanaged VPS servers you can get on the market. A2 Hosting’s VPS server comes with a 20x faster turbo which often means that there will be a low bounce rate and better SEO optimization.
Ratings Based On Expert Reviews
- Overall Score: 4.7
- Features: 4.9
- Reliability: 4.9
- User-Friendly: 5
- Support: 4.8
- Pricing: 4.8
- Scalability: 4.9
Features: Free SSL Certificate, Free migration, Admin level root access, more control, and customizations.
Reliability: A2Hosting claims 99.9% uptime commitment, and user reviews suggest the same.
User-Friendly: A2Hosting’s VPS servers use CPanel, which is very friendly but also, at the same time it is an old interface from the early 2000s.
Support: The customer service of A2 Hosting is also great, with 24/7 Guru support. Simply log into your account and submit a support request, and you will be contacted back in no time. However, if you are not subscribed to their plans yet, you can still access their support from their website.
The user reviews across the internet also show it has reasonably good user support. The website also has a Live Chat feature on the homepage.
Pricing: A2 Hosting also offers managed VPS servers which start from $39.99 per month if you opt for a 36-month plan. It will include 4 GB RAM and 150 GB SSD Storage. A2 also offers an anytime money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied with what you get. The pricing plans of A2Hosting are reasonably cheap, considering the hardware you will get. However, the premium plans with turbo speed are also not that expensive compared to other providers.
The Supersonic 8 plan with a turbo is the premium package if you are getting an unmanaged VPS server. You will also get root access to the server.
Here is a list of some cheapest VPS hosting plans offered by A2Hosting.
- Runway 1 – $2.99/month
[1 GB RAM / 20 GB SSD Storage / 1 Core CPU / 0.5 TB Transfer / Root Access]
- Runway 2 - $7.99/month
[2 GB RAM / 75 GB SSD Storage / 2 Cores CPU / 2 TB Transfer / Root Access]
- Runway 4 - $9.99/month
[4 GB RAM / 150 GB SSD Storage / 4 Cores CPU / 3 TB Transfer / Root Access]
Scalability: A2hosting’s VPS servers are also very scalable, and hardware capabilities can be increased as your site becomes popular. You can also choose between Ubuntu, CentOS, or Debian, which are Linux-based OSs while building your VPS.
Pros
- Fast loading time compared to other VPS servers
- Servers located in North America, Europe, and Asia
- HostGuard Management software is available alongside CPanel
Cons
- Can choose only 1 data center
- No Free domain with VPS purchase.
IONOS is a reliable VPS hosting provider that not only offers super-low prices but also gives you full root access to your server and all the features you might need to host and manage your site in one place. Namely, in addition to Linux VPS hosting, IONOS also provides domains, security, and a website builder. There are six different Linux VPS hosting plans you can choose from, so you’ll definitely find a solution that caters to your needs with IONOS.
- Overall Score: 3.9
- Pricing: 3.9
- Features: 3.5
- Performance: 4.3
- Support: 4.0
- User Friendly: 3.8
Pricing: IONOS allows you to pay for your VPS plan on a monthly or yearly basis. The entry-level Linux VPS plan from IONOS costs $2/month and includes one vCore CPU, 512MB RAM, and 10GB SSD.
Features: IONOS offers plenty of useful features, such as full root access, fast-paced NVMe storage, unlimited traffic of up to 1 Gbit/s, full virtualization, dedicated resources, an SSL certificate, DDoS protection, server snapshots, multiple Linux OS options, and more.
Performance: IONOS’ UK, US, and Europe data centers are all ISO 27001 certified and offer reliable and fast hosting services. Also, the web host offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee, which is better than the industry standard.
Support: IONOS’ customer support team is available round-the-clock via phone and live chat. Also, on the IONOS website, you can find a help center filled with guides and tutorials.
User Friendly: You can manage your Linux VPS hosting plan with IONOS’ custom cloud panel, which is easy to use and has an intuitive user interface. Also, you can use IONOS’ “Deploy Now” feature to get your website online in three steps.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- All IONOS VPS plans offer full root access and unlimited traffic.
- You’ll get excellent features and great security for your site and visitors.
- A 99.99% uptime guarantee.
Cons:
- Higher prices when you renew (but the prices are still very low and affordable).
InterServer offers one of the best cheap Linux VPS hosting with centOS and a free Webuzo control panel. You can also install cPanel separately if you are not comfortable with Webuzo. The best thing about InterServer is that the cheap plan is also supported equally as any other premium plan. Root access, top-notch security, and high speed are equally available for any range of VPS servers. There are also no hidden fees other than the stated price.
Ratings Based On Expert Reviews
- Overall Score: 4.6
- Features: 4.8
- Reliability: 4.6
- User-Friendly: 5
- Support: 4.9
- Pricing: 4.6
- Scalability: 4.8
InterServer provides a wide range of prices, from cheap to premium range that accompanies balanced hardware capability for any user. It supports a broad range of scripts, such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc., which can be installed with one click.
It lets you have full control of your VPS with root access to it. You can install tools such as cPanel by yourself and access them whenever you want without any restrictions. It guarantees 99.99% uptime and remote backup service.
Features: Cheap remote backup, free manual backup, DirectAdmin, Free cPanel, self-healing hardware that detects issues and directs resources to another node, Hyper-V, and KVM virtualization platforms.
Reliability: InterServer guarantees 99.99% uptime. The security is also top-notch, using various virtualization platforms that ensure the resources are not affected by any other server on the hardware.
User-Friendly: The default use of Webuzo may not be user-friendly, so InterServer also allows you to install CPanel on your own.
Support: InterServer provides 24/7 support through ticketing, Live chat, and email. You can also get assistance via phone calls from its call centers across the world.
Pricing: InterServer pricing plans are affordable by any metric. It allows you to get a slice of a VPS server starting from $6/month, which is very low if you compare it with other providers with the same hardware. The VPS server price starting from $6/month comes with 1 core CPU, 2048 MB RAM, 30 GB SSD Storage, and 2 TB Bandwidth. InterServer makes sure the price and the hardware are balanced.
Some of the cheapest plans offered by InterServer are.
- $6/month / 1 core CPU / 2048 MB RAM / 30 GB SSD Storage / 2 TB Bandwidth.
- $12/month / 2 cores CPU / 4096 MB RAM / 60 GB SSD Storage / 4 TB Bandwidth
- $18/month / 3 cores CPU / 6144 MB RAM / 90 GB SSD Storage / 6 TB Bandwidth
Scalability: InterServer allows you to upgrade your hardware at any time. You can do so by simply logging into your account and choosing the upgrade.
Pros
- Value for money in terms of hardware
- Lightning fast speed due to the dedicated resources
- Self-healing hardware ensures the resources are safe from any destruction
- Webuzo control panel is very helpful for developers
Cons
- No free trial is available.
If you’re a medium-sized business with an already-established customer base and want to get online, then you should definitely consider UltaHost as your web hosting provider. With this provider, you’ll get managed hosting services, ideal for medium-sized businesses to start with and grow. And once you grow out of your primary plan, you can easily get more resources with UltaHost and meet the increased popularity and demand for your website.
- Overall Score: 4.9
- Pricing: 4.9
- Features: 4.8
- Performance: 4.9
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.9
Pricing: UltaHost’s entry-level Linux VPS plan costs $5.50/month. From this plan, you’ll get one CPU core, 1GB of RAM, 30GB of NVMe storage, a managed server, and one dedicated IPv4 IP. You can pay for your plan monthly or yearly and try it risk-free via UltaHost’s 30-day money-back guarantee.
Features: Some of the features that you’ll get with UltaHost include fast-paced NVMe storage, IPv4 addresses, unlimited bandwidth, BitNinja security, staging environment, SSH & SFTP access, free backups, a free domain transfer, free SSL certificates, dedicated firewalls, auto-healing, and more.
Performance: UltaHost offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee and uses fast-paced NVMe storage, scalable DDR5 RAM, and top-notch hardware to provide fast and reliable performance. Also, you’ll get a CDN add-on that’ll make your loading speeds even faster.
Support: This provider offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, and email, along with an extensive knowledge base filled with guides. Also, you can get support add-ons via which UltaHost’s senior engineers will work with you hand-in-hand for whatever you need.
User Friendly: You’ll get the cPanel control panel with UltaHost’s Linux VPS plans, via which you’ll be able to manage your hosting and website easily. Also, you’ll get managed services, where UltaHost takes care of your updates, maintenance, patches, etc.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- UltaHost offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee and excellent performance.
- You’ll get top-notch security features like BitNinja security.
- All Linux VPS plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Cons:
- Prices are higher compared to other providers.
HostGator is a well-known player in the web hosting industry and for a good reason. It offers a super-affordable, all-in-one hosting solution to users, comprising various web hosting services, a website builder, domains, and security. No matter which HostGator web hosting service you choose, you’ll surely receive excellent services with reliable and stable performance.
- Overall Score: 3.7
- Pricing: 3.8
- Features: 3.8
- Performance: 3.7
- Support: 3.6
- User Friendly: 3.8
Pricing: HostGator offers three Linux VPS hosting plans, starting at $23.95/month. The entry-level Linux VPS hosting plan includes 2GB of RAM, two CPU cores, 120GB of SSD storage, and unmetered bandwidth.
Features: HostGator provides its Linux VPS users with root access, cPanel/WHM, CentOS 7, Softaculous, Let’s Encrypt SSL, MySQL, unmetered bandwidth, dedicated IPs, centralized DDoS protection, weekly offsite backups, and more.
Performance: HostGator uses fast-paced SSD storage and high-quality hardware to offer fast and reliable VPS services. Also, it has a fully-redundant network with multiple bandwidth providers, such as AboveNet, AT&T, Comcast, Global Crossing, Level (3), and NTT.
Support: With HostGator, you’ll have access to 24/7/365 customer support, available via live chat, phone, and Twitter. Also, you can find a knowledge base filled with guides and tutorials on HostGator’s website.
User Friendly: HostGator is an ideal web hosting provider for beginners as it is super easy to use and comes with beginner-friendly control panels. It also offers the Softaculous 1-click installer and great management tools.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Flexible and scalable Linux VPS plans that allow you to get more resources with no downtime.
- An all-in-one web hosting provider that offers hosting, a website builder, security, and domains.
- Ideal for beginners who have never created and had a website before.
Cons:
- Some security features cost extra (but still go for low prices).
Ranking comparison between the Top Providers
Best Cheap Linux VPS Hosting Providers: Final Recommendations
The above list of the best cheap Linux VPS hosting providers is based on extensive research and hands-on experience. It also includes reviews and discussions related to the topic from different forums.
As we weighed all the different comparison metrics, Webdock came out on top with its extremely cheap price, hardware variation, scalability, and features such as free SSL, backups, and DDoS protection.
However, all seven contenders are equally powerful in providing VPS hosting. All of them are selected from a pool of VPS hosting providers; therefore, you can select any provider that suits your needs.
How Do We Rank And How You Should Choose Your Best Cheap Linux VPS Hosting Provider?
- User reviews30%
- Performance and reliability10%
- Types of hosting offered5%
- Customer support10%
- Site speed8%
- Bandwidth and storage3%
- Traffic volume4%
- Scaling potential4%
- Features included10%
The above chart represents on what basis we rank our top 7 contenders. The percentage for each of the metrics represents how much impact they have on the rankings of each of the contenders.
For example, User reviews have a 30% impact, which is the largest among all. This means that the User reviews that we have found on various forums and sites have a 30% impact on the ratings the contenders get.
Besides the User Reviews, every other metric is the result of our independent research, tests, experiences or the information presented by the authorized site of the contender. Features such as Performance and reliability, types of hosting offered, customer support, site speed, bandwidth and storage capacity, traffic volume, scaling potential, were all considered.
Besides these metrics, when you are going to choose your best cheap Linux VPS hosting provider, also take into account the price of the server compared to other providers, security features, guaranteed uptime, ease of use, and more.
What Is VPS Hosting, And Who Is It For? Managed Vs. Unmanaged
VPS is a Virtual Private Server that is virtualized onto a hardware server and can be accessed from the cloud. The same hardware server may contain multiple virtual servers but do not affect each other in any way. When you are going to choose a VPS server for you, you first need to determine the level of hardware you need to run your program or website, the performance you want, and the traffic it gets.
VPS servers are for sites and web apps that have outgrown their previous shared hosting server and are in need of more secure and private servers. VPS servers provide flexibility and upscaling potential without any major disruption.
Unmanaged or self-managed VPS is mainly for an organization with skilled manpower to manage the server by themselves. Therefore, if you are a big organization or business with internal staff capable of managing a server, you can opt for the unmanaged one.
Managed servers are managed by the service provider, so you can only focus on running your business. If you are a small business or individual with no skill or internal team to manage a VPS server, you can opt for a managed VPS server.