Best VPS for learning Linux and DevOps
Short answer
For learning Linux and DevOps we look for at least 1 GB RAM. 40 providers sell a plan that meets it; the cheapest qualifying plan is Scaleway STARDUST1-S at $0.48 a month. LikeVPS, Vultr and DigitalOcean rank highest once features that matter here are weighed in.
Checked October 14, 2026. How we rank
- providers listed
- 40
- lowest monthly price
- $0.48
- median monthly price
- $5.58
- sell Windows
- 26
If the goal is to learn — SSH, systemd, Nginx, firewalls, Ansible — you want a cheap server you can break and rebuild in minutes. Hourly billing, snapshots and an API turn a $5 VPS into a lab; a free tier or trial credit makes it cheaper still.
Checklist
- Hourly billing and quick rebuilds
- Snapshots and custom ISOs
- Free credit or a free tier
- Good documentation
The list
-
1
LikeVPS
Since 2020, based in United Kingdom; 26 locations in 26 countries, typically $4.25 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Lite [FR]
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 25 GB NVMe / unmetered
$10.00/mo
Go to LikeVPS -
2
Vultr
Since 2014, based in United States; 32 locations in 19 countries, typically $5.50 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Regular Performance 1 vCPU / 1 GB (vc2-1c-1gb)
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 25 GB SSD / 1 TB
$5.00/mo
Go to Vultr -
3
DigitalOcean
Since 2012, based in United States; 13 locations in 8 countries, typically $7.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Basic 1 GB (s-1vcpu-1gb)
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 25 GB SSD / 1 TB
$6.00/mo
Go to DigitalOcean -
4
UpCloud
Since 2011, based in Finland; 14 locations in 12 countries, typically $4.50 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Starter 1xCPU-1GB
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 10 GB SSD / traffic n/a
$3.50/mo
Go to UpCloud -
5
netcup
Since 2008, based in Germany; 5 locations in 5 countries, typically $2.01 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VPS piko G11s
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 30 GB SSD / unmetered
$2.07/mo
Go to netcup -
6
HOSTKEY
Since 2007, based in Netherlands; 7 locations in 7 countries, typically $1.33 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Hourly VPS Basic
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 50 GB SSD / traffic n/a
$3.60/mo
Go to HOSTKEY -
7
Amazon Lightsail
Since 2006, based in United States; 19 locations in 17 countries, typically $7.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Linux 1 GB
2 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 40 GB SSD / 2 TB
$7.00/mo
Go to Lightsail -
8
Akamai Cloud (Linode)
Since 2003, based in United States; 26 locations in 15 countries, typically $6.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Nanode 1 GB
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 25 GB SSD / 1 TB
$5.00/mo
Go to Linode -
9
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Compute
Since 1977, based in United States; 25 locations in 21 countries, typically $3.38 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VM.Standard.A1.Flex 1 OCPU / 8 GB
1 vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 50 GB NVMe / 10 TB
$16.06/mo
Go to Oracle Cloud -
10
Webdock
Since 2019, based in Denmark; 1 location in 1 country, typically $2.19 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VPS Essential
1 vCPU / 2 GB RAM / 15 GB NVMe / 1 TB
$2.41/mo
Go to Webdock -
11
OVHcloud VPS
Since 1999, based in France; 11 locations in 9 countries, typically $1.04 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VPS-1
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 40 GB NVMe / unmetered
$4.54/mo
Go to OVHcloud -
12
HostHatch
Since 2011, based in United States; 14 locations in 12 countries, typically $1.31 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
NVMe 2 GB
1 vCPU / 2 GB RAM / 10 GB NVMe / 1 TB
$4.00/mo
Go to HostHatch -
13
Tencent Cloud Lighthouse
Since 2013, based in CN; 11 locations in 10 countries, typically $2.25 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Starter 2C2G 40GB
2 vCPU / 2 GB RAM / 40 GB SSD / 500 GB
$4.20/mo
Go to Tencent Cloud -
14
Contabo
Since 2003, based in Germany; 10 locations in 7 countries, typically $0.70 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Cloud VPS 4
4 vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 100 GB SSD / unmetered
$6.16/mo
Go to Contabo -
15
Kamatera
Since 1995, based in United States; 21 locations in 14 countries, typically $11.12 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Basic
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 20 GB NVMe / 5 TB
$4.00/mo
Go to Kamatera -
16
Hostinger VPS
Since 2004, based in Lithuania; 10 locations in 9 countries, typically $1.84 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
KVM 1
1 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 50 GB NVMe / 4 TB
$11.99/mo
Go to Hostinger -
17
Cloudways
Since 2012, based in MT; 9 locations in 8 countries, typically $11.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
DigitalOcean Micro
1 vCPU / 2 GB RAM / 50 GB SSD / 2 TB
$11.00/mo
Go to Cloudways -
18
Hetzner Cloud
Since 1997, based in Germany; 6 locations in 4 countries, typically $1.75 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
CX23
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 40 GB NVMe / 20 TB
$6.71/mo
Go to Hetzner -
19
Alibaba Cloud Simple Application Server
Since 2009, based in CN; 12 locations in 11 countries, typically $4.50 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Linux 1C/1G
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 20 GB SSD / 1 TB
$4.50/mo
Go to Alibaba Cloud -
20
IONOS VPS
Since 1988, based in Germany; 8 locations in 4 countries, typically $3.06 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VPS Linux S+
1 vCPU / 2 GB RAM / 60 GB NVMe / unmetered
$6.00/mo
Go to IONOS -
21
UltaHost
Since 2018, based in United States; 29 locations in 25 countries, typically $4.71 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VPS Basic
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 30 GB NVMe / traffic n/a
$5.52/mo
Go to UltaHost -
22
Leaseweb VPS
Since 1997, based in Netherlands; 9 locations in 8 countries, typically $0.64 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Leaseweb VPS 1
4 vCPU / 6 GB RAM / 100 GB NVMe / 30 TB
$5.58/mo
Go to Leaseweb -
23
InterServer
Since 1999, based in United States; 3 locations in 1 country, typically $1.50 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Linux VPS 1 slice
1 vCPU / 2 GB RAM / 30 GB SSD / 2 TB
$3.00/mo
Go to InterServer -
24
Scaleway
Since 1999, based in France; 4 locations in 4 countries, typically $5.78 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
STARDUST1-S
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 10 GB SSD / unmetered
$0.48/mo
Go to Scaleway -
25
BuyVM
Since 2010, based in United Arab Emirates; 4 locations in 2 countries, typically $5.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Ryzen KVM 1GB
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 20 GB NVMe / unmetered
$5.00/mo
Go to BuyVM -
26
SSD Nodes
Since 2011, based in United States; 15 locations in 10 countries, typically $1.56 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
KVM / Small
2 vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 160 GB SSD / 4 TB
$17.00/mo
Go to SSD Nodes -
27
Bluehost VPS
Since 2003, based in United States; 9 locations in 8 countries, typically $3.62 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
NVMe 2
1 vCPU / 2 GB RAM / 50 GB NVMe / unmetered
$5.69/mo
Go to Bluehost -
28
HostGator VPS
Since 2002, based in United States; 1 location in 1 country, typically $2.41 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Snappy 1000 - NVMe 2
1 vCPU / 2 GB RAM / 50 GB NVMe / unmetered
$4.68/mo
Go to HostGator -
29
Liquid Web VPS
Since 1997, based in United States; 3 locations in 2 countries, typically $5.61 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Cloud VPS Compute 1GB
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 30 GB SSD / 1 TB
$5.00/mo
Go to Liquid Web -
30
Exoscale
Since 2011, based in Switzerland; 7 locations in 5 countries, typically $9.58 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Standard Tiny
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 10 GB NVMe / 1 TB
$10.64/mo
Go to Exoscale -
31
GreenCloudVPS
Since 2013, based in United States; 19 locations in 9 countries, typically $5.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
SSDKVM-1
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 15 GB SSD / 1.5 TB
$6.00/mo
Go to GreenCloud -
32
Time4VPS
Since 2003, based in Lithuania; 1 location in 1 country, typically $3.64 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Linux 1
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 10 GB SSD / 1 TB
$3.35/mo
Go to Time4VPS -
33
Hostwinds
Since 2010, based in United States; 3 locations in 2 countries, typically $4.99 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Unmanaged Linux 1
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 30 GB SSD / 1 TB
$4.99/mo
Go to Hostwinds -
34
Evolution Host
Since 2013, based in Ireland; 17 locations in 11 countries, typically $7.40 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Starter
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 20 GB NVMe / 10 TB
$5.59/mo
Go to Evolution Host -
35
RackNerd
Since 2019, based in United States; 12 locations in 5 countries, typically $6.15 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
KVM VPS 1 GB
2 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 50 GB SSD / 1 TB
$17.99/mo
Go to RackNerd -
36
ScalaHosting
Since 2007, based in United States; 15 locations in 13 countries, typically $8.23 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Config #1
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 50 GB NVMe / unmetered
$24.95/mo
Go to ScalaHosting -
37
Namecheap VPS
Since 2000, based in United States; 1 location in 1 country, typically $3.15 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Spark
1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 20 GB SSD / 1 TB
$5.88/mo
Go to Namecheap -
38
GoDaddy VPS
Since 1997, based in United States; 3 locations in 3 countries, typically $7.50 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
1 vCPU / 2GB RAM
1 vCPU / 2 GB RAM / 40 GB NVMe / unmetered
$14.99/mo
Go to GoDaddy -
39
Hosting.com
Since 2001, based in United States; 10 locations in 9 countries, typically $5.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VPS XS (4GB Cloud Server)
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 100 GB NVMe / unmetered
$19.99/mo
Go to Hosting.com -
40
DreamHost VPS
Since 1997, based in United States; 1 location in 1 country, typically $6.79 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Stack 4
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 75 GB NVMe / unmetered
$15.99/mo
Go to DreamHost
See these numbers as a table
| # | Provider | Plan | vCPU | RAM | Disk | $/month | $/GB RAM | Locations | Trustpilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LikeVPS | Lite [FR] | 1 | 1 GB | 25 GB | $10.00 | $10.00 | 26 | — |
| 2 | Vultr | Regular Performance 1 vCPU / 1 GB (vc2-1c-1gb) | 1 | 1 GB | 25 GB | $5.00 | $5.00 | 32 | 1.6 |
| 3 | DigitalOcean | Basic 1 GB (s-1vcpu-1gb) | 1 | 1 GB | 25 GB | $6.00 | $6.00 | 13 | 4.5 |
| 4 | UpCloud | Starter 1xCPU-1GB | 1 | 1 GB | 10 GB | $3.50 | $3.50 | 14 | 3.0 |
| 5 | netcup | VPS piko G11s | 1 | 1 GB | 30 GB | $2.07 | $2.07 | 5 | 3.8 |
| 6 | HOSTKEY | Hourly VPS Basic | 2 | 4 GB | 50 GB | $3.60 | $0.90 | 7 | 3.1 |
| 7 | Amazon Lightsail | Linux 1 GB | 2 | 1 GB | 40 GB | $7.00 | $7.00 | 19 | 1.3 |
| 8 | Akamai Cloud (Linode) | Nanode 1 GB | 1 | 1 GB | 25 GB | $5.00 | $5.00 | 26 | 2.5 |
| 9 | Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Compute | VM.Standard.A1.Flex 1 OCPU / 8 GB | 1 | 8 GB | 50 GB | $16.06 | $2.01 | 25 | 1.3 |
| 10 | Webdock | VPS Essential | 1 | 2 GB | 15 GB | $2.41 | $1.21 | 1 | 4.9 |
| 11 | OVHcloud VPS | VPS-1 | 2 | 4 GB | 40 GB | $4.54 | $1.14 | 11 | 3.8 |
| 12 | HostHatch | NVMe 2 GB | 1 | 2 GB | 10 GB | $4.00 | $2.00 | 14 | 2.7 |
| 13 | Tencent Cloud Lighthouse | Starter 2C2G 40GB | 2 | 2 GB | 40 GB | $4.20 | $2.10 | 11 | — |
| 14 | Contabo | Cloud VPS 4 | 4 | 8 GB | 100 GB | $6.16 | $0.77 | 10 | 4.6 |
| 15 | Kamatera | Basic | 1 | 1 GB | 20 GB | $4.00 | $4.00 | 21 | 4.3 |
| 16 | Hostinger VPS | KVM 1 | 1 | 4 GB | 50 GB | $11.99 | $3.00 | 10 | 4.6 |
| 17 | Cloudways | DigitalOcean Micro | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB | $11.00 | $5.50 | 9 | 4.6 |
| 18 | Hetzner Cloud | CX23 | 2 | 4 GB | 40 GB | $6.71 | $1.68 | 6 | 3.0 |
| 19 | Alibaba Cloud Simple Application Server | Linux 1C/1G | 1 | 1 GB | 20 GB | $4.50 | $4.50 | 12 | 1.2 |
| 20 | IONOS VPS | VPS Linux S+ | 1 | 2 GB | 60 GB | $6.00 | $3.00 | 8 | 4.6 |
| 21 | UltaHost | VPS Basic | 1 | 1 GB | 30 GB | $5.52 | $5.52 | 29 | 3.5 |
| 22 | Leaseweb VPS | Leaseweb VPS 1 | 4 | 6 GB | 100 GB | $5.58 | $0.93 | 9 | 3.4 |
| 23 | InterServer | Linux VPS 1 slice | 1 | 2 GB | 30 GB | $3.00 | $1.50 | 3 | 4.3 |
| 24 | Scaleway | STARDUST1-S | 1 | 1 GB | 10 GB | $0.48 | $0.48 | 4 | 1.5 |
| 25 | BuyVM | Ryzen KVM 1GB | 1 | 1 GB | 20 GB | $5.00 | $5.00 | 4 | 3.8 |
| 26 | SSD Nodes | KVM / Small | 2 | 8 GB | 160 GB | $17.00 | $2.12 | 15 | 3.0 |
| 27 | Bluehost VPS | NVMe 2 | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB | $5.69 | $2.85 | 9 | 4.5 |
| 28 | HostGator VPS | Snappy 1000 - NVMe 2 | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB | $4.68 | $2.34 | 1 | 4.6 |
| 29 | Liquid Web VPS | Cloud VPS Compute 1GB | 1 | 1 GB | 30 GB | $5.00 | $5.00 | 3 | 3.8 |
| 30 | Exoscale | Standard Tiny | 1 | 1 GB | 10 GB | $10.64 | $10.64 | 7 | 3.5 |
| 31 | GreenCloudVPS | SSDKVM-1 | 1 | 1 GB | 15 GB | $6.00 | $6.00 | 19 | 3.3 |
| 32 | Time4VPS | Linux 1 | 1 | 1 GB | 10 GB | $3.35 | $3.35 | 1 | 4.7 |
| 33 | Hostwinds | Unmanaged Linux 1 | 1 | 1 GB | 30 GB | $4.99 | $4.99 | 3 | 2.1 |
| 34 | Evolution Host | Starter | 1 | 1 GB | 20 GB | $5.59 | $5.59 | 17 | 4.5 |
| 35 | RackNerd | KVM VPS 1 GB | 2 | 1 GB | 50 GB | $17.99 | $17.99 | 12 | 4.3 |
| 36 | ScalaHosting | Config #1 | 2 | 4 GB | 50 GB | $24.95 | $6.24 | 15 | 4.9 |
| 37 | Namecheap VPS | Spark | 1 | 1 GB | 20 GB | $5.88 | $5.88 | 1 | 4.2 |
| 38 | GoDaddy VPS | 1 vCPU / 2GB RAM | 1 | 2 GB | 40 GB | $14.99 | $7.50 | 3 | 4.4 |
| 39 | Hosting.com | VPS XS (4GB Cloud Server) | 2 | 4 GB | 100 GB | $19.99 | $5.00 | 10 | 4.8 |
| 40 | DreamHost VPS | Stack 4 | 2 | 4 GB | 75 GB | $15.99 | $4.00 | 1 | 4.6 |
Price check
Questions
Is there a free VPS for learning?
Oracle Cloud's Always Free tier and the sign-up credits at the developer clouds are the usual ways in; all require a payment card for verification.