If you are shopping for your first small server, three names keep showing up: OVHcloud, Hetzner, and DigitalOcean. Their entry-level VPS plans all look cheap on paper, but the sticker price is only part of the story. Storage type, CPU sharing, bandwidth rules, and how often the provider changes prices all shape what you actually pay.
This comparison covers entry-level VPS pricing at OVHcloud, Hetzner, and DigitalOcean, based on their publicly listed plans as of October 2026. Prices in this space move often, so treat every number here as approximate and check the official pricing page before you order.
How this comparison is built
By entry-level I mean the smallest plans each provider sells that a self-hoster would realistically use for a website, a bot, or a side project: roughly 1 to 2 GB of RAM. I compare the cheapest tier and the first sensible step up, using each provider’s official pricing pages.
Two caveats before the numbers. First, prices are shown in the currency each provider lists (euros for OVHcloud and Hetzner, US dollars for DigitalOcean), and I have not converted between them. Second, 2026 was a year of price increases: OVHcloud raised VPS prices in March 2026, and Hetzner adjusted cloud pricing twice in 2026. Any guide quoting 2025 prices for these providers is outdated.
DigitalOcean Basic droplets
DigitalOcean’s entry lineup is the Basic droplet family, all with shared CPU:
- $4/month — 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, 10 GB SSD, 500 GB transfer
- $6/month — 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 25 GB SSD, 1 TB transfer
- $12/month — 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB SSD, 2 TB transfer
- $24/month — 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD, 4 TB transfer
Two things to know. Basic droplets use regular SSD storage, not NVMe; you only get NVMe on the more expensive Premium droplets. Since January 1, 2026, DigitalOcean bills droplets per second with a monthly cap, so short-lived test servers cost less than a full month. What the monthly price buys you is simplicity: an easy dashboard, live chat support, and one-click app images that get a WordPress or Docker box running in minutes.
Hetzner Cloud entry plans
Hetzner’s Cloud lineup splits into two families. The cost-optimized CX line runs on older hardware; the regular-performance CPX line runs on newer AMD EPYC hardware with more disk per tier.
- CX22 — 2 shared vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD, 20 TB traffic included
- CPX22 — 3 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD, 20 TB traffic included
- CPX32 — 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 160 GB SSD, 20 TB traffic included
Hetzner historically listed the CX22 around €3.79 to €4.35 per month, but two price adjustments in 2026 pushed several plans up sharply, and the gap between Hetzner’s cheapest tier and its regular-performance tier is wider than it used to be. Check hetzner.com/cloud for the current figure in your account region before deciding. Billing is hourly and capped at the monthly price, so a box you run for three days costs a fraction of the month. Datacenters are in Germany (Nuremberg, Falkenstein), Finland (Helsinki), Singapore, and the US (Ashburn, Hillsboro).
OVHcloud VPS entry plans
OVHcloud sells its VPS lineup in named ranges. The entry ranges are:
- VPS Starter — 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 20 GB SSD, around €3.99 or $3.50/month
- VPS Value — 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 40 GB NVMe, around $6/month
- VPS Essential — 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB NVMe, around $11.50/month
OVHcloud’s signature trait is unmetered bandwidth on most VPS plans: no monthly transfer cap, just a port-speed limit under a fair-use policy. Every plan also includes anti-DDoS protection at the network edge at no extra charge. The trade-off is the control panel, which feels built for operators rather than beginners, and the March 2026 price increase, which pushed the entry tier from roughly $4.90 to about $6.46 in some regions. Datacenters span Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific.
Entry plans, side by side
| Provider | Entry plan | vCPU | RAM | Storage | Bandwidth | From (approx., Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DigitalOcean | Basic 1GB | 1 shared | 1 GB | 25 GB SSD | 1 TB | $6/mo |
| DigitalOcean | Basic 2GB | 1 shared | 2 GB | 50 GB SSD | 2 TB | $12/mo |
| Hetzner | CX22 | 2 shared | 4 GB | 40 GB SSD | 20 TB | ~€4–5/mo |
| Hetzner | CPX22 | 3 (AMD) | 4 GB | 80 GB SSD | 20 TB | check hetzner.com |
| OVHcloud | VPS Starter | 1 | 2 GB | 20 GB SSD | Unmetered (fair use) | ~€3.99 or $3.50/mo |
| OVHcloud | VPS Value | 1 | 2 GB | 40 GB NVMe | Unmetered (fair use) | ~$6/mo |
Prices marked with a tilde or “check” are the ones most likely to have moved since this article was written. All three providers run promotions and adjust prices, so the table is a snapshot, not a contract.
Five things the sticker price hides
1. SSD is not NVMe. DigitalOcean Basic droplets use regular SSD; Hetzner’s Cloud and OVHcloud’s Value tier and above use NVMe or faster SSDs. For a database or a Docker host, disk I/O matters more than the CPU core count at this tier.
2. Shared CPU means neighbors. All of these entry plans use shared vCPUs, so your performance depends on what else is running on the host. That is fine for a blog or a bot. If you need consistent CPU, Hetzner sells dedicated-CPU CCX plans and DigitalOcean sells CPU-Optimized droplets, both at a much higher price.
3. Bandwidth rules differ. DigitalOcean gives you a generous fixed transfer allowance per plan (1 to 4 TB at the entry tiers) and bills overage. Hetzner includes 20 TB outbound per month. OVHcloud’s VPS bandwidth is unmetered under fair use. If your project pushes a lot of traffic, OVHcloud and Hetzner have the friendlier models.
4. Backups and snapshots cost extra. Automated backups typically add around 20% to the monthly price at DigitalOcean and Hetzner. Snapshots are billed per gigabyte per month at Hetzner. Factor this in from day one; running without any backup on a production box is not an option.
5. VAT and currency. Hetzner and OVHcloud quote in euros and add VAT depending on your country, so the invoice can land noticeably above the listed price. DigitalOcean quotes in US dollars. Check the final checkout total, not the marketing number.
Which one should you pick?
This is opinion, and it depends on what you value. If you want the most specs for the least money and you are comfortable with a European provider, Hetzner’s CX line is still the cheapest way to get 4 GB of RAM onto a server, and its API and panel are a pleasure to use. If you push heavy bandwidth or want built-in DDoS protection without thinking about it, OVHcloud’s unmetered plans are the pragmatic pick, especially in regions where Hetzner has no datacenter. If you are new to servers and you would rather pay a premium for a forgiving dashboard, responsive chat support, and one-click apps, DigitalOcean’s Basic droplets are worth the higher price per gigabyte.
My own rule of thumb: pick the cheapest provider for experiments, and pick the one whose panel you understand for anything that has to stay up. You can always migrate a small project in an afternoon.
FAQ
What is the cheapest entry-level VPS among the three?
As of October 2026, Hetzner’s CX22 and OVHcloud’s VPS Starter are the cheapest entries, each around €4 or less per month, both with 2+ GB of RAM. DigitalOcean’s comparable Basic droplet starts at $6 for 1 GB of RAM. Verify current prices before ordering.
Which provider is best for Europe?
Both Hetzner (Germany, Finland) and OVHcloud (France and other EU locations) are European companies with EU datacenters, which suits GDPR-conscious projects. DigitalOcean also operates EU regions (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London) but bills in USD.
Can I upgrade the plan later without rebuilding?
DigitalOcean and Hetzner both let you resize a server to a larger plan in place. OVHcloud supports in-place upgrades in its US region; in other regions you may need to order a new VPS and migrate manually, so check the docs for your region before you start small.
Do VPS prices change often?
Yes. All three providers adjusted prices during 2026, so treat any comparison article, including this one, as a snapshot. Always confirm the live price on the provider’s official pricing page during checkout.
The bottom line
For raw specs per dollar, Hetzner still leads at the entry tier. For unmetered bandwidth and built-in DDoS protection, OVHcloud has the edge. For the easiest first-server experience, DigitalOcean earns its premium. Check the official pricing pages as of today, pick the one that matches your workload, and keep backups from day one.