As compared to shared plans, VPS hosting can be pretty costly but you don’t necessarily have to allocate a major chunk of your website running budget to hosting. Instead, there are many affordable VPS hosting providers that will help you save money.
If you’re planning to make the switch from shared hosting to VPS, you might be on the lookout for budget VPS plans that offer significant functionality without costing too much.
In this guide, we discuss the best cheap VPS hosting providers plus their comparison with the competitors to help you find the right plan for your website. If you are not sure yet on what VPS can offer, you can have a read at our what is VPS hosting article.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What Can You Expect From Cheap Virtual Private Servers (VPS)?
For many people, getting a cheap VPS might be a huge no-no since they correlate affordability with lower quality and subpar performance. While this may be true for some services, you can’t paint all providers with the same brush.
Some cheap virtual server providers actually offer decent features in their cheap VPS plans. You can expect to find multiple customization options in each plan, OS selection being the most important one.
Most budget VPS providers allow you to select the operating system for the plan. However, keep in mind that you’ll be in control of most tasks, such as management and administration, since you can’t expect to get substantial assistance at such low prices.
Although it may be a problem for the inexperienced lot, most website owners prefer the additional control.
Furthermore, the extent of satisfaction from an affordable VPS hosting will also depend on whether you’ve selected managed or unmanaged hosting.
While the former includes help and administrative assistance from the provider, the latter leaves you on your own to manage most server aspects.
Is Cheap VPS Hosting Right For You?
You should consider cheap VPS hosting plans if your website is growing in terms of traffic inflow, but you don’t want to spend a lot on hosting. Although it’s not as robust or feature-rich as dedicated hosting, VPS hosting is still a step-up from shared plans.
Moreover, it’s suitable for businesses who want to avail the perks of virtualization technology but intend on keeping the operational costs low.
Differences Between Expensive and Budget VPS Hosting
Although affordable VPS hosting serves the purpose, it’s not the same as expensive hosting. Here are some differences between budget VPS and the costlier options.
Uptime
Uptime refers to the duration in which anything is functional. For websites, this has to be 24/7 because you need people to be able to access your website no matter what time of the day it is.
Most hosting providers ensure 99.99% uptime, but you can’t expect the same from everyone. When selecting the best cheap VPS hosting, make sure you check the uptime reliability because if your website is down, even for a few minutes, you’ll lose prospective buyers.
Page Performance
Another thing that differentiates an expensive VPS from a cheap virtual server is the bandwidth and page performance. Although you get a virtual server – thanks to virtualization technology – in a VPS plan, some hosting providers give you an overcrowded space.
If a server is already overcrowded, it’s not good news for your website since your web pages will load slow – something customers and visitors despise.
Security
The online security of your website is paramount, and a web hosting provider is responsible for it. However, the level of security provided by cheap VPS hosting companies might not be the same as that of their expensive competitors.
Therefore, you must ensure proper security provisions when choosing a cheap VPS.
Scalability
In many cases, cheap VPS servers are not as flexible as their expensive counterparts. That’s why cheap VPS hosting might create hurdles in your website’s scalability. Thus, when choosing the best cheap VPS hosting, make sure they do not lack scalability options.
Most Affordable VPS Hosting Comparison Table
Here is a comparison table on cheap VPS hosting to give you an overview of the services provided by the more affordable VPS hosting companies. Do note that most of the plans are unmanaged.
Table 1
VPS Host | Storage (Disk) Space | Bandwidth | RAM | Uptime | Control Panel | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
20 GB | 1 TB | 1 GB | 99.9% | cPanel, WHM, and others | $3.95/mo | |
30 GB | Unlimited | 1 GB | 99.8% | Custom-build panel | $10/mo | |
25 GB | 1 TB | 4 GB | 99.9% | cPanel | $5/mo | |
30 GB | 1 TB | 2 GB | 99.9% | cPanel | $19.99/mo | |
30 GB | 1 TB | 1 GB | 99.9% | CentOS Web Panel, cPanel, Plesk | $8.24/mo | |
80 GB | Unmetered | 2 GB | 99.9% | cPanel | $4/mo | |
20 GB | 1 TB | 1 GB | 99.9% | cPanel | $6.99/mo | |
20 GB | 1 TB | 1 GB | 99.99% | cPanel/WHM | $5/mo | |
150 GB | 2 TB | 1 GB | 99.9% | cPanel | $4.99/mo |
Table 2 (continued)
VPS Hosting Provider | Operating System | Money-back Guarantee | Available Support | Additional Features | Cheapest Price Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CentOS, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Suse | 30 days | 24/7/365 live chat and ticketing | ● free SSL ● Root Access, DDoS Protection & BitNinja ● Automatic backups dedicated IPv4 & IPv6 | $3.95/mo | |
Apache, Nginx, Debian | 30 days | Email, live chat, contact form, receiving a call-back | ● Unmetered Bandwidth ● Fast SSD Storage ● VPS Control Panel ● Free SSL Certificate ● Unlimited Email. | $10/mo | |
CentOS Debian Ubuntu | 90 days | Live chat, call, tickets | ● Unlimited websites allowed per VPS ● MYSQL databases ● FTP accounts ● Individual cPanel sub-accounts ● Email accounts | $5/mo | |
CentOS | 30 days | Phone, chat, email | ● Multi-server management ● Root access ● Spam experts email filtering | $18.99/mo | |
CentOS, Debian, Fedora, Windows, Ubuntu | 72 hours | Ticketing, web chat, and phone 24/7 | ● Nightly Backups ● Monitoring systems ● Free Website Transfer ● Custom ISO's ● Friendliness Guarantee Snapshots | $8.24/mo | |
Linux and Windows | 30 days | Phone, email, webchat, personal consultant | ● Mobile admin app ● Dual platform technology ● DDoS protection ● Wildcard SSL and Site Scan | $4/mo | |
CentOS 6, CentOS 7, Fedora and Ubuntu | 45 days | Phone and live chat | ● Global data center ● Monitoring and alerts ● Root access ● Plesk Obsidian Web Host Edition | $6.99/mo | |
CentOS & Ubuntu | 30 days | Tickets, knowledge base, community forums | ● DDoS Protection ● Free instant startup ● Free SSL ● Free migrations | $5/mo | |
CentOS, Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu | 30 days | Live chat and call | ● Free SSL Certificate (HTTPS) ● Free Website Migration ● 100% Worry-Free Server Management | $4.99/mo |
Reviews of 9 Cheapest VPS Hosting Providers
Before you opt for a cheap virtual server, it’s important to know its features, shortcomings, and benefits. Below, we have reviewed some of the best cheap VPS hosting solutions based on actual usage and real-time results.
Our reviews are a product of accurate analysis, leaving no room for doubt about their authenticity.
#1. Hostinger – Cheapest Host 2022
Hostinger is one of the best providers that comes to mind when speaking of cheap VPS hosting services. With six VPS hosting plans, Hostinger has an option for everyone. Their plans vary in terms of storage, memory, and bandwidth.
You can opt for up to 8 GB of memory space while the storage provisions range from 20 to 160GB. Depending on the plan, the bandwidth goes from 1000 to 8000GB.
Although all plans from Hostinger are suitable for different business sizes, the Server Plan 2 is the most popular, costing $9.95 if you subscribe for 2-year payments.
Moreso, the provider allows you to select between Linux or Windows for VPS hosting. The liberty of choosing the operating system is welcomed by most website owners, especially those whose sites already use Windows.
Although the provider has many flexible features, their customer support could be better. At the moment, they do not offer over-the-phone customer service, which is often the most used medium by customers.
The alternate option is live chat, which is multilingual, catering to customers from all backgrounds.
Pros
- Multiple features
- Ease of selecting the OS
- High uptime
Cons
- No over-the-phone customer support
- Low disk space provision
#2. DreamHost – Best Overall Budget VPS Hosting
Although Hostinger is the cheapest VPS provider, DreamHost has the best features while staying relatively reasonable with respect to pricing. First off, you get 1GB of RAM on your plan along with 30GB of storage.
While this is suitable for smaller websites, moderate-sized or larger sites will have trouble working with just a single GB RAM. However, this can be compensated for by the unlimited features of DreamHost, including email accounts and domains.
More importantly, you get unlimited bandwidth on DreamHost, which is one of the best features in the provider’s plans.
Unlike other hosting providers that lure you with promotions and raise the prices after a month, DreamHosts’ pricing remains consistent – no unpleasant surprises here. Their cheapest plan starts at $10 a month.
Plus, you get a 97-day money-back guarantee, which is long enough to test all features of a plan. However, do note that the hosting provider does not give root access, limiting your server control.
As for customer support, it’s responsive. But there’s an absence of live chat, so you’ll need to wait for the support team to get back to you rather than getting prompt replies.
Pros
- Provides unlimited bandwidth
- Unlimited domains and email accounts
- Over three-month money-back guarantee
Cons
- Lacks live chat in customer support
- Little RAM and storage for cheap plans
#3. InMotion – Editors’ Choice for Affordable VPS
Inmotion is one of the best cheap virtual server hosting you can get for your website. Although it’s fairly more expensive than other options on our list, you’ll get access to better features too.
The most popular plan from the provider costs $17.99 per month and comes with 4TB bandwidth, 75GB storage, and 4GB of RAM. That’s substantial for a website with moderate to large incoming traffic.
Additionally, you get unlimited domains and email accounts. More importantly, the free backup feature from Inmotion can be a life-saver, especially if you’re careless about backing up your data.
If you’re searching for a self-managed plan, Inmotion has one that starts at just $5 a month. You get 25GB storage and 1 GB RAM in this plan. To make things easier for you, Inmotion has a control panel and Ansible Control Node provision, making the setup easier for you.
Being a cheap VPS with cPanel, Inmotion is a preferred pick for people who want more control on the server environment and need to make appropriate configurations.
Inmotion also has multiple support channels, ensuring customers get help whenever they need it. Besides submitting questions and tickets, you can also use Live chat or call customer support when you need help.
Pros
- Unlimited domains
- Unlimited email accounts and CPU cores
- Free domains with some plans
Cons
- Slightly expensive
- Lower uptime
#4. Bluehost – Popular Cheap VPS Servers
Chances are you’ve already heard about Bluehost since it’s a popular inexpensive VPS hosting provider. Although the company is known for its WordPress hosting, its VPS hosting plans are also generally used by websites due to their immense features.
Their Standard Plan costs $18.99 a month and comes with 1TB of bandwidth and 2GB of RAM. Plus, you get access to unlimited domains and email accounts. Possibly the best thing about Bluehost is the free domain, which you rarely get from cheap virtual server providers.
Coming to customer support, Bluehost does a better job than most of its competitors. Irrespective of when and how you need it, you get the customer service you need from the provider.
Another notable feature of Bluehost is its 99.98% uptime, which means your website will hardly ever be down.
Pros
- Impeccable customer support
- Free domain
- High uptime
Con
- Low bandwidth of 1TB
#5. Hostwinds – Top-Rated Inexpensive VPS
Hostwinds is often compared to Bluehost in terms of its features and pricing. The hosting provider offers four tiers of VPS plans for both Windows and Linux. Their cheapest hosting plan costs $8.24 a month and comes with 30GB storage space, 1TB data transfer, and 1 GB RAM.
Meanwhile, the more expensive plans offer up to 100 GB of disk space and two CPU cores.
Besides managed plans, Hostwinds also offers unmanaged plans, starting at just $4.99 per month with 30GB disk space, 1 TB monthly transfers, and 1GB RAM.
Considering the variations in the plans, it’s easy to say that Hostwinds outshines most of its competitors. More importantly, Hostwinds has robust security and customer support features.
Also, their uptime is comparatively better than some other cheap VPS hosting plans. However, you’ll have to be quick when testing your plan’s features because Hostwinds only has a 72-hour money-back guarantee, which is much lower than the 60-day guarantee they previously offered.
As for customer support, you can contact the provider through tickets, web chat, or phone 24/7 – no complaints here.
Pros
- Excellent customer service
- Terrific uptime
- Many VPS options
Cons
- Windows OS not available for each plan
- Short money-back duration
#6. 1&1 IONOS
1&1 has been in the market since 1988 and recently became 1&1 IONOS in 2018. The company offers different web hosting services, including VPS and dedicated plans.
They offer up to ‘100% uptime’ as per their website but private testing shows the actual percentage to be around 99.98%, which is the best you can get.
The cheapest plan from the company is cloud-powered VPS hosting, which costs just $2 a month and comes with 10GB of storage and 512MB of RAM. Plus, you can avail unlimited data transfers in this plan.
1&1 IONOS secures its customers with an SSL certificate, which is a necessary feature for e-commerce stores. Like its uptime and security, 1&1 IONOS customer support is also quite decent.
You can get in touch with the support team 24/7 through call, email, and webchat. Moreover, you can get access to a personal consultant service that offers you hosting advice. You can get in touch with your dedicated personal consultant through email, phone, or webchat.
1&1 IONOS offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all its plans, and there’s no restriction on when you can cancel.
Pros
- Remarkable uptime
- Windows and Linux-based servers
- Web creation tools are available
Con
- Limited storage options
#7. GoDaddy
Go Daddy is another popular hosting provider for WordPress, being the larger domain registrar in the world. The company’s AI website builder and other features make it a wise pick for new and experienced website owners.
However, the provider lacks in terms of VPS features and that’s probably the reason behind their low pricing. You do not get a free domain when you sign up for hosting with GoDaddy. Plus, there’s no ticket or live chat customer support so you have to rely on emails.
GoDaddy’s cheapest VPS plan is priced at $19.99 per month, offering Linux and Windows servers. Plus, you get unlimited monthly data transfers, 240GB storage, 8GB RAM, and free SSL for the first year. Plus, the plan includes unlimited domains.
However, you can save even more money if you sign up for the two-year payment for the Virtual Private Server Plan. It will come down to $9.99 per month in this case.
With a 45-day money-back guarantee, GoDaddy’s guarantee window is longer than most other companies, giving you more time to test out the plan’s features.
Pros
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Availability of Windows and Linux servers
- Substantial disk space
Cons
- Does not offer a money-back guarantee
- No email support ticket
#8. Knownhost
Knowhost offers some of the best dedicated and VPS hosting plans with terrific uptime and affordable pricing. Their Basic VPS server plan starts at $40 per month and you get 2 IP addresses, direct admin access, 75GB SSD storage, 4GB RAM, and 2 core CPU processors.
Since the company’s plans are managed, you get direct support from them for different administrative purposes. For instance, Knowhost gives free migrations and backups for their clients.
Additionally, you can instantly set up your site and get root access to have full control of the server environment. The company claims to have the ‘best uptime on the planet’, which is to say you won’t experience any problems in website availability.
They also offer 24/7 tech support in case you run into a problem while setting up or managing your website. Additionally, you get a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans.
Pros
- 24/7 customer support
- High uptime and decent security
- Managed hosting for beginners
Cons
- Expensive plans
- Only Linux servers
#9. A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is among the popular cheap VPS hosting providers since it has many dedicated and VPS hosting plans. Besides managed options, the company also offers unmanaged options for people who need more control of their web activities.
However, do note that A2 Hosting only has provisions for Linux so if you require a Windows server, you can select another option from our review.
As for the pricing, it’s as low as $5 per month for the unmanaged basic plan. It comes with 512MB of RAM, 20 GB storage, and one CPU. Plus, there are optimization options to boost your performance.
The managed plans start from $25 per month and come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Once you’ve chosen your plan, getting started is very easy since A2 Hosting has a straightforward setup.
The cheap virtual server provider also uses HackScan to ensure constant security for the customers. The monitoring service scans the server for malware 24/7.
Moreover, you get access to SolusVM, which allows easy account management. The control panel lets you reload t To get you out of tight technical spots, A2 Hosting has 24/7 customer support through live chat and phone to get you out of tight technical spots.
Also, there’s a knowledge center where you can readily find answers to most of your questions.
Pros
- Reliable uptime
- 24/4 malware scanning
- Free site migrations
Cons
- No free domain name
- High renewal rates
Best Cheap $1 VPS
As hard as it may be to believe, some VPS providers are as cheap as $1 a month. Here are three cheap VPS $1 plans to choose from.
HostNamaste, despite being an almost unbelievably cheap VPS, has a good reputation among website owners and reviewers alike. Their cheapest plan comes with a single CPU, 512MB memory, 20 GB storage, and 1 TB bandwidth, which is pretty impressive for the price.
Although their website is enabled for multilingual use, HostNamaste’s default access is in English. Meanwhile, the company has five global strategic locations.
They also offer decent customer support so you can get technical assistance whenever you need it.
Another cheap VPS $1 hosting provider for your website is RackNerd, which was created by industry experts who wanted to make infrastructure stability a success globally.
Their cheapest plan comes with 512MB of RAM, 30GB storage, and 500GB bandwidth. Furthermore, you get full root access, which means you have comprehensive control over the server.
Also, your data is secure in RAID10 Protected Storage, so you can rest easy knowing your hosting provider is keeping your information safe from malicious attacks.
It costs $22.99 a year and will fulfill the server needs of a small website. The company’s data centers are spread across the nation in locations such as Utah, Dallas, New York, Montreal, and Los Angeles.
If you need a cheap VPS $1 plan, opt for CloudSurph since the company has fully managed VPS hosting plans for small to medium-sized websites. The cheapest plan costs $1.49 a month and comes with 8GB RAM and 500 MPBs unmetered bandwidth. Additionally, the OS options include CentOS, Ubuntu, and Debian.
Meanwhile, a slightly upgraded plan costs $1.99 and includes 8GB RAM and 160 GB storage. It also has the same operating system options. But if you need a plan for Windows, opt for the company’s advanced feature that costs $2.99 a month.
Overall, CloudSurph is easily configurable, secure and has round-the-clock customer support, assisting you whenever you need help.
Cheap VPS Hosting Renewal Plans
Just as you would with any expensive service, you have to renew your plans from cheap VPS providers. Typically, you can do this by going to your account and making the required changes to your plan.
Some cheap VPS server providers also have self-renewing plans, so make sure to check this beforehand. If you do not renew your plans, your website content will no longer be visible to your audience.
Also, if you let the hosting plan expire, your database will be at risk, especially if you do not have a backup. So, it’s important to renew your plan as soon as possible. Here’s a cheap VPS hosting comparison for the renewal plans.
Our Top Picks of The Best Cheap VPS Hosting Companies in 2022
After reading our cheap VPS hosting reviews, you would have gotten an idea about the services provided by the cheapest VPS hosting providers on our list.
Among these, some plans will be more suitable for your website than others, depending on whether your preference is speed, storage, or bandwidth. When selecting a hosting plan for your website, you must consider the uptime and the security features of the provider.
Plus, some providers also have free backups and migrations that can come in handy to keep your database safe. Most VPS providers in our list have these features, but you can’t expect every provider to offer you over-the-top features since they’re low-cost.
Hostinger is the cheapest virtual private server of all, starting at just $9.95 per month with decent features.
Since this cheapest VPS provider offers Windows and Linux OS, it’s suitable for most websites. Meanwhile, Bluehost is a popular option among WordPress users and is slowly rising to the same fame for websites needing VPS too.
Although the Standard Plan is slightly more on the pricier side, starting at $18.99 a month, you get plenty of features, such as 2GB of RAM and 1TB bandwidth. Additionally, the 99.98% uptime is another attractive feature of this cheap VPS service.
Despite Hostinger and Bluehost’s decent features, DreamHost remains the best overall pick since it gives value for money. In just $10 a month, you get 1 GB RAM, 30 GB storage, and a whopping 97-day money-back guarantee. So, there’s ample time to test each feature.
However, DreamHost falls short due to the absence of live chat. But if you’re prepared to overlook that shortcoming, the cheap VPS server is arguably the best out there.
If you are looking for more premium plans, you may want to read our research on the best VPS hosting companies.
Who is the cheapest VPS provider?
Based on the VPS price comparison, the cheapest VPS providers have to be the ones offering their services at $1 per month. Some options include HostNamaster and RackNerd. Apart from that, 1&1 IONOS is a low cost VPS provider, with their plans starting at $2 per month.
But if you need more functionality and better storage, Hostinger is a good option with unmanaged plans starting at $3.95 and managed plans from $9.95. Since the VPS cost depends on the features, the price goes higher as the provisions do.
What is the difference between cheap and expensive VPS?
A cheap VPS review will instantly tell you that the plan does not have as many features as an expensive option. Moreover, cheaper VPS alternatives also have lesser storage, bandwidth, and RAM.
Some of them also don’t come with free domains while most expensive VPS plans have free domains. Besides, cheap VPS hosting providers often don’t offer the same level of support and security as expensive options.
However, that doesn’t mean cheap VPS providers are useless. Rather, they’re more suitable for smaller websites than larger sites with more needs.
Who are the best inexpensive VPS providers in this review?
In our cheap VPS hosting review, the three best VPS providers are DreamHost, Bluehost, and Hostinger.
While Hostinger is the most budget-friendly option, Bluehost is ranked on top due to its popularity, while DreamHost has been picked for its long money-back guarantee window and other features.
We’ve discussed the pros and cons of each provider along with the cheap VPS reviews so you can weigh them accordingly to find the best option for your website.