Who doesn’t love a bargain? Everyone wants to get the best deal possible. So if you are going to be signing up for a Linux VPS plan, it is only natural that the most affordable options attract your attention.
Things are not always that straightforward, though. The lowest cost plan is rarely synonymous with the most reliable plan. You have to strike the right balance between affordability and quality of service. Fortunately, there are service providers whose Linux VPS plans offer a path that is as close as you can get to enjoying the best of both worlds.
But first, let’s get the definition and basics of VPS out of the way.
What is VPS hosting and why is it so popular?
Virtual private server (VPS) hosting involves the use of virtualization technology to split a physical server into multiple virtual machines. The physical server is operated and owned by a web hosting provider. Each virtual machine runs as an isolated, independent server with its own custom environment, including its operating system and applications.
Unlike shared hosting, VPS hosting assigns you guaranteed computer resources such as RAM, disk space, CPU cores, and bandwidth that you don’t share with other clients on the same server. In effect, you enjoy nearly all of the features of a dedicated hosting plan but at a substantially lower cost and with a lighter maintenance workload.
Types of VPS hosting
There are two major types of VPS hosting – managed VPS hosting and unmanaged VPS hosting.
1. Managed VPS
Managed VPS offers hosting where the web hosting provider takes charge of most server administration processes. That typically includes server setup, server tuning, server hardening, application/OS updates, backups, and security monitoring.
Managed plans are not a monolith — different providers will offer different combinations of features for their managed VPS plans.
Managed VPS allows you to concentrate on the actual reasons why you signed up for the plan, such as building your website and creating content. A managed VPS plan is ideal for people with little to no technical knowledge, as well as for micro and small organizations that cannot afford to hire specialized staff. Since the service provider does all the heavy lifting, managed VPS plans cost more.
2. Unmanaged VPS
Also referred to as self-managed VPS hosting, unmanaged VPS sees nearly all of the workload of running your virtual server rest on the account owners’ shoulders. The web host installs the operating system, and you do the rest. You are responsible for everything from application installation and updates to operating system configuration and security patching.
Unmanaged VPS plans are best suited for individuals/organizations that are familiar with the technical aspects of server management or have someone on retainer to do so on their behalf. Unmanaged VPS plans cost significantly less.
The advantages of VPS hosting
Some of the more notable advantages of a VPS hosting plan include the following:
How we ranked VPS hosting providers
There are thousands of Linux VPS hosting providers out there. To determine the best cheap plans, we evaluated a shortlist of leading providers on the following factors to come up with a list of the five best cheap Linux VPS plans.
Based on these attributes, we zeroed in on the following five cheap Linux VPS hosting providers that are a cut above their peers.
Top cheap VPS hosting providers in 2022
| Image | Product | Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
| 9.6 | Visit Kamatera |
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| 9.5 | Visit InMotion Hosting |
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| 9.4 | Visit A2 Hosting |
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| 9.3 | Visit Bluehost |
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| 9.2 | Visit Liquid Web |
1. Kamatera
Kamatera takes first place on this list as they provide unrivaled VPS hosting plan customization options. Unlike other web hosts, you get to choose the combination you prefer for data center location, server type, server operating system, RAM, storage, and bandwidth. You can pay by the minute as well as cancel at any moment (all contracts are monthly and not long-term).
Fittingly, the company’s motto is “probably the most flexible cloud in the world”.
Available Plan Types:
Offers both managed and unmanaged VPS plans.
General Performance Capabilities:
The company stands out for its commitment to building high-performance virtual environments by offering machines with Solid State Drives (SSDs), SSD accelerators, 600 Gbps bandwidth (with up to 10 Gbps per VPS), and Intel Xeon 2.7 GHz+ processors.
Kamatera operates 15 data centers spread across the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Israel. The thousands of servers in these data centers support tens of thousands of clients.
Stability:
99.95 percent uptime commitment and a 30-day free trial.
Customer Support:
24/7 customer support through live chat, phone, and email.
Reviews:
Packages
Unlike the other web hosts in our top five, Kamatera doesn’t offer fixed feature plans. Instead, you choose your own customized setup. Pricing depends on your choice of data center location, server type, server operating system, RAM, storage, and bandwidth.
Server configurations range from one vCPU per server to 104 vCPUs per server and from 1 GB RAM to 512 GB RAM. Plans start from $0.00054 per hour up to $4 per month, depending on your chosen configuration as well as the number of months paid in advance.
2. InMotion Hosting
InMotion Hosting takes second place for its well-earned reputation of testing the limits of VPS hosting tools and technology. The brand does this by combining cutting-edge hardware, resource scalability, and plan flexibility.
It does not have the plan flexibility of Kamatera, but it makes up for that by providing more than 20 distinct VPS hosting plans. With so many options, you are likely to find a plan that is well-suited for your goals.
Available Plan Types
Offers both managed and unmanaged VPS plans.
General Performance Capabilities
All managed VPS plans offered by InMotion Hosting, and half of their unmanaged VPS plans include NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) SSD storage. NVMe SSD’s speed and reliability exceed that of the more conventional SATA SSD storage. NVMe delivers more than twice the link speed of SATA and data transfer rates between storage and other computing hardware that are up to six times quicker.
Three of four InMotion Hosting managed VPS plans come with unlimited bandwidth. The company’s 350 employees take care of thousands of servers split between its Los Angeles, CA, and Ashburn, VA data centers.
Stability
99.9 percent uptime commitment and 90-day money-back guarantee.
Customer Support
24/7 US-based customer support through live chat, phone, and support tickets.
Reviews
Packages
Plan Name | CPU Cores | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth | Monthly Pric |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
VPS 4GB RAM (managed) | 2 | 4GB | 90 GB SSD | 2TB | $79.99 |
VPS 8GB RAM (managed) | 4 | 8GB | 150 GB NVMe SSD | Unlimited | $109.99 |
VPS 12GB RAM (managed) | 6 | 12GB | 210 GB NVMe SSD | Unlimited | $136.99 |
VPS 16GB RAM (managed) | 8 | 16GB | 360 GB NVMe SSD | Unlimited | $146.99 |
Cloud VPS SSD 1GB (unmanaged) | 1 | 1GB | 30 GB SSD | 2 TB | $6 |
Cloud VPS SSD 2GB (unmanaged) | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB SSD | 3 TB | $12 |
Cloud VPS SSD 2GB (unmanaged) | 2 | 2 GB | 60 GB SSD | 4 TB | $18 |
Cloud VPS SSD 4GB (unmanaged) | 2 | 4 GB | 100 GB SSD | 5 TB | $24 |
Cloud VPS SSD 6GB (unmanaged) | 2 | 6 GB | 120 GB SSD | 6 TB | $34 |
Cloud VPS SSD 12GB (unmanaged) | 6 | 12 GB | 280 GB SSD | 8 TB | $54 |
Cloud VPS SSD 16GB (unmanaged) | 8 | 16 GB | 360 GB SSD | 9 TB | $96 |
Cloud VPS SSD 32GB (unmanaged) | 16 | 32 GB | 540 GB SSD | 12 TB | $192 |
Cloud VPS NVMe 1GB (unmanaged) | 1 | 1 GB | 30 GB NVMe SSD | 2 TB | $7 |
Cloud VPS NVMe 2GB (unmanaged) | 1 | 2 GB | 50 GB NVMe SSD | 3 TB | $14 |
Cloud VPS NVMe 2GB (unmanaged) | 2 | 2 GB | 60 GB NVMe SSD | 4 TB | $21 |
Cloud VPS NVMe 4GB (unmanaged) | 2 | 4 GB | 100 GB NVMe SSD | 5 TB | $28 |
Cloud VPS NVMe 6GB (unmanaged) | 2 | 6 GB | 120 GB NVMe SSD | 6 TB | $36 |
Cloud VPS NVMe 8GB (unmanaged) | 4 | 8 GB | 150 GB NVMe SSD | 7 TB | $56 |
Cloud VPS NVMe 12GB (unmanaged) | 6 | 12 GB | 280 GB NVMe SSD | 8 TB | $78 |
Cloud VPS NVMe 16GB (unmanaged) | 8 | 16 GB | 360 GB NVMe SSD | 9 TB | $112 |
Cloud VPS NVMe 32GB (unmanaged) | 16 | 32 GB | 540 GB NVMe SSD | 12 TB | $224 |
3. A2 Hosting
We have placed A2 Hosting in the third spot for the company’s commitment to investing in VPS hosting infrastructure and knowledge that meets or exceeds customer expectations. The affordable VPS plans are designed for everyone, from personal websites and blogs to eCommerce stores and corporate portals.
Available Plan Types
Offers both managed and unmanaged VPS plans.
General Performance Capabilities
All of A2 Hosting’s VPS plans are backed by SSD storage, with half of its 12 plans offering NVMe SSD for advanced performance. A Turbo Boost option is designed to deliver page loads that are 20 times faster than peer VPS hosting plans.
The Michigan-based company has over 200 employees overseeing its data centers spread across the globe and supporting the company’s more than 110,000 customers.
Stability
99.9 percent uptime commitment and 30-day money-back guarantee.
Customer Support
24/7 customer support through live chat, phone, and support tickets.
Reviews
Packages
Plan Name | CPU Cores | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LIFT 4 (managed) | 2 | 4 GB | 150 GB SSD | 2 TB | $59.99 |
LIFT 8 (managed) | 6 | 8 GB | 250 GB SSD | 3 TB | $79.99 |
LIFT 16 (managed) | 8 | 16 GB | 450 GB SSD | 4 TB | $99.99 |
MACH 8 (managed) | 2 | 8 GB | 150 GB SSD | 2 TB | $89.99 |
MACH 16 (managed) | 6 | 16 GB | 250 GB NVMe SSD | 3 TB | $119.99 |
MACH 32 (managed) | 8 | 32 GB | 450 GB NVMe SSD | 4 TB | $152.99 |
RUNWAY 1 (unmanaged) | 1 | 1 GB | 150 GB SSD | 2 TB | $6.99 |
RUNWAY 2 (unmanaged) | 2 | 2 GB | 250 GB SSD | 3 TB | $12.99 |
RUNWAY 4 (unmanaged) | 4 | 4 GB | 450 GB SSD | 4 TB | $16.99 |
SUPERSONIC 8 (unmanaged) | 2 | 8 GB | 150 GB NVMe SSD | 2 TB | $49.99 |
SUPERSONIC 16 (unmanaged) | 6 | 16 GB | 250 GB NVMe SSD | 3 TB | $83.99 |
SUPERSONIC 32 (unmanaged) | 8 | 32 GB | 450 GB NVMe SSD | 4 TB | $114.99 |
4. Bluehost
One of the best-known names in the web hosting business, Bluehost takes fourth place for not just its well-established reputation in the industry but also its use of tried-and-tested open-source technologies. Unlike the top three, Bluehost keeps its VPS hosting range simple by offering just four plans, all of which are unmanaged.
Available Plan Types
Offers unmanaged VPS plans.
General Performance Capabilities
All Bluehost VPS plans come with SSD storage. Bluehost leverages tried-and-tested open-source technologies, which helps keep its plan prices relatively low. The company’s team of 750 employees supports in excess of two million websites.
Stability
30-day money-back guarantee. No uptime commitment but one of the industry's highest average uptimes.
Customer Support
24/7 customer support through live chat and phone.
Reviews
Packages
Plan Name | CPU Cores | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard | 2 | 2 GB | 30 GB SSD | 1 TB | $59.99 |
Enhanced | 2 | 4 GB | 60 GB SSD | 2 TB | $71.99 |
Premium | 3 | 6 GB | 90 GB SSD | 2 TB | $107.99 |
Ultimate | 4 | 8 GB | 120 GB SSD | 3 TB | $143.99 |
5. Liquid Web
Liquid Web rounds up our top five with its proven capacity to offer fast, affordable, and secure VPS hosting plans. Built for speed, it provides faster performance than equivalent plans from industry giants Amazon Web Services and Rackspace. The company’s products are designed for mission-critical applications, stores, and websites.
Available Plan Types
Offers managed, semi-managed, and unmanaged VPS plans.
General Performance Capabilities
All Liquid Web VPS plans are backed by SSD storage. The company provides one of the fastest-managed VPS products in the market.
Their team of more than 500 staff oversees 10 data centers spread across the globe that supports in excess of 500,000 websites and over 45,000 customers.
Stability
100 percent uptime commitment. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Customer Support
24/7 customer support through live chat, phone, email, and support tickets.
Reviews
Packages
Plan Name | CPU Cores | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Linux 2 GB RAM | 2 | 2 GB | 40 GB SSD | 10 TB | $59 |
Linux 4 GB RAM | 4 | 4 GB | 100 GB SSD | 10 TB | $99 |
Linux 8 GB RAM | 8 | 8 GB | 150 GB SSD | 10 TB | $139 |
Linux 16 GB RAM | 8 | 16 GB | 200 GB SSD | 10 TB | $189 |
Conclusion
If your website is growing or you are launching one or more websites with requirements too high to be covered by shared hosting, then cheap Linux VPS hosting may just be the way to go.
VPS hosting is more expensive than shared hosting, but if you want to sign up for a plan that is built for performance and can be a stepping stone to dedicated hosting in the future, VPS hosting is the way to go.
We identified the five best cheap Linux VPN plans to make it easier for you to find the most suitable one. Pick the plan that best meets your pre-defined requirements. While this review is meant to help you get your choice right the first time, always keep an open mind and be ready to switch to a different provider if your expectations are unmet or you failed to consider factors that are crucial to you the first time around.
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