What is the cheapest cloud server for my personal use?

I use a cloud server for my private projects for such a long time and it’s time to update to the new Ubuntu 22.04 with a fresh install cloud server. The question is what is the cheapest cloud server I can find with my specific server spec?

My server spec is:

• 4 Virtual Cores CPU (x86_64 Architecture)
• 8GB of RAM. It can be more If as long as it has 4 vCores CPU.
• >40GB SSD storage, more is good. No storage speed requirement.
• Location Anywhere, no latency requirement for my specific use case but I would use the nearest location from me(Bangkok, Thailand) if available for the fast ssh access.

Usually, I will focus on the CPU since my projects are somehow can utilize all of the CPU cores.

The candidates

1. Hetzner Cloud — My current cloud server and the champion in 2020 https://console.hetzner.cloud/
2. Vultr — The new upcoming cloud provider (I got $150 from a Linus Tech Tips video) https://vultr.com/
3. AWS EC2 — A good old expensive cloud provider from Amazon. https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/
4. AWS Lightsail — Amazon tries to make cloud server bills look easier. https://aws.amazon.com/lightsail/
5. Google Cloud Compute Engine —A good old expensive cloud server from Google. https://cloud.google.com/
6. Digital Ocean Droplet — A cloud service provider that wrote tutorials for you when you try to do something with your Linux server and google it. https://www.digitalocean.com/
7. Linode — Need a Linux server, That’s Linode. https://www.linode.com/

I will choose the cheapest price available that meets my server spec.

Benchmark

I will use Geekbench5 to measure the CPU performance along with memory usage. Geekbench is not the best tool to test Linux server performance but it’s fast to use and it represents my use case for high CPU utilization tasks.

The Result

Link to the result:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1te1qxNQN9JqU3LkUX2Q2WdqSldhwizwVgnMpKBl6YVw/edit?usp=sharing

Verdict

The new Hetzner 2022 server beats all cloud providers by a huge margin in terms of value and second place is also Hetzner my old server from 2020.

In terms of raw performance, Vultr is the best. Hetzner 2022 server is really good too. AWS Lightsail and DigitalOcean are normal performance.
Linode is kinda worst. I feel like it uses the old CPU and will not upgrade anytime soon. I used to love it but I don’t want to play with you anymore.

The big corporate cloud provider like AWS and Google Cloud is not a contender. The price is too high and the performance is not good. (Why do I bother to test it?)

Please note that Hetzner Cloud is available in Central Europe and North America only. If you need a server in other regions, Vultr is a good choice.

For me, I will stick with Hetzner Cloud for a couple of years before deciding to find a new one. It’s cheap and fast. What more do I want?

During the testing, my Vultr console got an error. I tweet about it and expect nothing but the Vultr Twitter account provided me support on Twitter without me having to open a ticket. That’s a nice touch. I would use Vultr for the professional workload in the future.

Want to try Vultr? You can use my reference to get $100 at: https://www.vultr.com/?ref=9202707-8H

Vultr explains the situation to me on Twitter and the solution worked.

If you have a cheap cloud server provider in your mind, I would love to try it. Please let me know by commenting down below.