The Cheapest Cloud Provider: 9 Affordable Options

Finding the cheapest cloud provider can be tough when they hide the actual cost of their services behind trials and accounts. Fortunately for you, we did some digging to find all of the relevant information.

Frankly, these are some of the most inexpensive options on the market — the priciest one on this list is only $19.99 per month. Starting start with the most affordable options, here are the cheapest cloud providers.

1. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is the cheapest cloud provider by far since it’s one of the only ones offering an unlimited trial. Although the standard plan is over $50, you can get some basic features completely free. You can either choose the 30-day advanced option or the always-free version. 

Here’s what you get in the always-free plan:

• Memory: 24 GB

• Storage: 200 GB block volume and 20 GB object 

• Bandwidth: 10 Mbps

• Features: You get five volume backups, 3,000 emails, 1 billion retrieval data points and 10 TB of outbound data transfers per month.

If you do decide to upgrade eventually, OCI doesn’t charge different amounts depending on the region you’re in — meaning you could save a lot in comparison to similar services. For example, Google Cloud costs nearly 30% more in Germany than in the eastern United States.

2. Google Cloud

Google Cloud offers $300 in credits to new users — all you need is a Google account. If you qualify, you might even be eligible for an extra $100. Some features are also available as always-free options as long as you stay within usage limits.

Here’s what you can get for free:

• Storage: 5 GB – 10GB

• Bandwidth: 1 GB

• Features: You can access over 20 products, including artificial intelligence training, speech-to-text transcription, app engine, cloud build and an analytics data warehouse.

All of these add-ons vary depending on what you enroll in. After you use up your $300 free credits, you can continue using select features as long as you don’t go over usage limits. Even though Google automatically charges you if you go over, you can cancel at any time without paying termination fees. 

The best thing about Google Cloud’s free trial is it doesn’t automatically charge you once your 90 days are up. If you decide you want to pay for this service, you can get discounts by using certain plans or payment structures. 

3. Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers the Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) free tier. It uses the T2 micro instance type.

Here’s what you get for free:

• Memory: 1 GB

• Storage: 500 GB

• Features: You get 750 instance hours.

AWS is technically the cheapest cloud provider if you use the free tier. However, it’s challenging to figure out what you can get and what your limitations are — not to mention you get charged if you go over usage limits. It’s still a solid choice if you use other AWS products, but it’s not our top pick.

If you use this service and like it, you can upgrade to the paid plan. To still snag some savings, we recommend using some alternative structures. For example, you can try the spot instances for a 90% discount or a savings plan for a 72% price reduction.

4. Vultr

Vultr is the most affordable cloud service provider when it comes to paid plans, yet it rivals some of its more expensive competition.

Here’s what you get for only $2.50 per month:

• Memory: 0.5 MB

• Storage: 10 GB

• Bandwidth: 500 GB

• Features: No additional features.

If you want add-ons, Vultr offers them for cheap. For example, you can get 10 GB of block storage for only $1 extra per month. For $6 extra per month, you can get 1 TB of object storage and 1 TB of bandwidth.

The higher tier plans are also very affordable, meaning you can scale for cheap. For example, the third tier plan is only $5 and gives you 1 GB of RAM, 1 TB of bandwidth and 25 GB of storage. The value you get is incredible. 

5. DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean is the cheapest cloud provider available if you don’t want to deal with free trials. Its Droplets plan is ideal for low-traffic websites or apps. Most importantly, it’s affordable. 

Here’s what you get for only $4 per month:

• Memory: 512 MB

• Storage: 10 GB

• Bandwidth: 500 GB

• Features: If you want backups, you can get four monthly for $0.20 each.

If you want a slight upgrade, DigitalOcean has a higher tier that gives you 1 GB of random access memory (RAM), 25 GB of storage and 1 TB of bandwidth for only $2 extra per month. It’s a better deal than many of the other plans on this list.  As a bonus, you might be eligible for $200 in credits when you sign up.

If you use the Premium AMD plan, you can get 2GB of RAM, 50 GB of storage and 2 TB bandwidth for $14 per month. We’re only mentioning it because it’s nice to know you can scale your cloud services for cheap if you ever need to.

6. Akamai Connection Cloud

Since Akamai acquired Linode, the two cloud providers now offer their services as Akamai Connection Cloud. 

Here’s what you get for $5 per month:

• Memory: 1 GB

• Storage: 25 GB

• Bandwidth: 1 TB

• Features: You get a seven-day money-back guarantee, a free firewall, 24/7 support, domain name system management and distributed denial-of-service protection. 

Akamai is the cheapest cloud provider if you use its shared hosting — a highly affordable kind of hosting for small businesses. Factoring in all of the features and the 99.99% uptime, you get a lot of value for your money. If you eventually want to expand, the next tier up gives you double the memory, storage and bandwidth for only $7 extra per month.

7. AccuWeb 

AccuWeb’s GP.1 plan is the most affordable. It’s a general-purpose cloud — the memory, storage or central processing unit (CPU) optimized versions are more expensive. 

Here’s what you get for $7.99 per month:

• Memory: 1 GB

• Storage: 30 GB

• Bandwidth: 500 GB

• Features: You get 30 GB of high-availability disk space and 500 GB of transfers per month.

Note the above features are for Linux cloud hosting. If you want Windows instead, you get the same specifications for $19.99 per month instead of $7.99. If you need additional CPU cores, RAM or bandwidth, you can pay for each upgrade separately. Also, you can save $6 per year — that’s almost one month free — if you pay for one year upfront instead of monthly.

8. Hostinger

When it comes to the value of features, Hostinger is the cheapest cloud provider. Once you pay $8.99 for the most affordable plan, you get three months for free. 

Here’s what you get for $8.99 per month:

• Memory: 3 GB

• Storage: 200 GB

• Bandwidth: Unlimited 

• Features: You get free daily backups, unlimited bandwidth, SSL, 24/7 support, migration, AI tools, DDoS protection, firewall, malware scanner and CDN. Hostinger ensures you’ll get 99.99% uptime and has a 30-day money-back guarantee. 

Once you’ve had this plan for four months, the price jumps to $19.99 from there on out. Hostinger is still a good choice if you like all of the features, but other services offer similar stuff for less. If you’re on a tight budget, we recommend paying the extra $11 per month only if you want to stick with the unlimited bandwidth.

9. Cloudways

Technically, Cloudways offers DigitalOcean plans because it was acquired a few years ago. Still, we’re separating the two for clarity and convenience since the plan structure looks different on both of their websites. 

Here’s what you get for $11 or $14 per month:

• Memory: 1 GB 

• Storage: 25 GB

• Bandwidth: 1 TB 

• Features: You get free Secure Sockets Layer, migration, unlimited application installation and dedicated firewalls. Also, you get 24/7 support and real-time monitoring.

You might be wondering what the $11 and $14 difference is for since there’s no difference in specifications or features for either plan. Technically, the more expensive premium plan comes with better performance and content delivery since better tech backs it. Either way, when you factor in all of the upgrades, Cloudways is the cheapest cloud provider.

Considering cloud compromises cost over $6 million in 2021, the free dedicated firewall and real-time security monitoring are fantastic additions. If you deal with particularly sensitive data or you simply want peace of mind, these plans are ideal. 

These Are the Cheapest Cloud Providers Around

Although you might technically be able to find cheaper cloud providers, you should know most seemingly affordable options always end up being expensive. Whether they charge you for surpassing a usage limit or have an incredibly short free trial, their goal is to get more money out of you.

However, the providers on our list are as affordable as they come. If their deals and discounts come with any fine print, we made sure to point it out in their descriptions. Compare your options before you settle on one to see which is the best.