Cheapest Cloud Provider in 2025
Hetzner is the cheapest cloud provider for EU compute (CX21: €5.83/month for 2 vCPU/4 GB). Oracle Cloud is the cheapest for always-free compute (permanent 4 Arm vCPU free). Vultr and Linode are the cheapest US-based alternatives. AWS and GCP are most expensive but offer managed services that reduce operational costs.
Cloud pricing varies enormously based on workload type. Here's a ranked breakdown by category:
Cheapest for VPS / General Compute
1. Hetzner CX21: €5.83/month (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD) 2. Oracle Always Free: $0 (4 Arm vCPU, 24 GB RAM — permanently free) 3. Vultr Cloud Compute: $12/month (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, NVMe) 4. Linode: $12/month (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM) 5. DigitalOcean: $18/month (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM premium) 6. AWS EC2 (t3.medium): ~$30/month 7. GCP (e2-standard-2): ~$24/month
Cheapest for Bare Metal
1. Hetzner Root Servers: from €39/month (dedicated hardware) 2. Vultr Bare Metal: from $120/month 3. AWS Dedicated: significantly more expensive
Cheapest for Credits (via Cloud Accounts)
1. Oracle $300 credit: $45 (best $/credit ratio at entry level) 2. GCP $300 credit: $45 (same entry price, different services) 3. Azure Free Trial: $30 ($200 credit) 4. AWS Free Trial: $15 (free tier, no dollar credit)
Cheapest for Kubernetes
1. DigitalOcean DOKS: free control plane, pay for nodes 2. GCP GKE Autopilot: pay for pod resources only 3. AWS EKS: $0.10/hr control plane charge (~$72/month)
Buying Cloud Accounts from Cloud Accounts
For credit-based savings, purchasing pre-loaded accounts from Cloud Accounts reduces effective cloud costs by 60–80% vs retail billing — making the cheapest cloud even cheaper.
Buying cloud credits from Cloud Accounts is typically 60–80% cheaper than retail rates from AWS, GCP, or Azure. For immediate access without application processes or waiting periods, it's the fastest path to cloud infrastructure.
Also Asked
For EU compute, yes — Hetzner's price-per-vCPU is 40–60% cheaper than DigitalOcean and 60–70% cheaper than AWS for equivalent specs. Outside EU, Vultr and Linode are more competitive.