Free VPS: always-free tiers and trial credit
The hosts that state an always-free server or a free first year, what each one includes, and the trial credit others give new accounts.
Oracle Cloud
OCI Compute
Always Free covers two AMD micro VMs (1/8 OCPU, 1 GB each) and Ampere A1 ARM capacity of up to 1,500 OCPU-hours and 9,000 GB-hours a month, with 200 GB of block storage. New accounts also get $300 for up to 30 days.
All Oracle Cloud facts- Cheapest, with IPv4
- $13.87/mo
- VM.Standard.A1.Flex, 1 OCPU, 6 GB, 1 vCPU, 6 GB
- Always-free server
- YesYes
- Hourly billing
- YesYes
Google Cloud
Compute Engine
One e2-micro VM a month in us-west1, us-central1 or us-east1, with 30 GB of standard disk and 1 GB of egress from North America. Google lists an external IPv4 address at $3.65 a month.
All Google Cloud facts- Cheapest, with IPv4
- $9.76/mo
- e2-micro, 2 vCPU, 1 GB
- Always-free server
- YesYes
- Hourly billing
- YesYes
Microsoft Azure
Azure Virtual Machines (B-series)
For the first 12 months, new customers get 750 hours a month each of B1s, B2pts v2 and B2ats v2, plus $200 to spend in the first 30 days.
All Microsoft Azure facts- Cheapest, with IPv4
- $11.24/mo
- B1s, 1 vCPU, 1 GB
- Always-free server
- YesYes
- Hourly billing
- YesYes
Vultr
Vultr Cloud Compute
A Free Tier by application: 1 vCPU, 512 MB and 10 GB SSD with IPv4, in limited regions and quantities. Paid servers are billed by the hour from $3.50 a month.
All Vultr facts- Cheapest, with IPv4
- $3.50/mo
- Regular Performance 0.5 GB, 1 vCPU, 0.5 GB, 10 GB SSD
- Always-free server
- YesYes
- Hourly billing
- YesYes
Every host that could fit, checked
19 hosts, grouped by the currency they bill in and cheapest first within each. Picks are outlined.
| Host | Cheapest with IPv4 | Always-free server | Hourly billing | IPv4 in the price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billed in US dollars | ||||
 Alibaba Cloud | $3.50/mo1 vCPU / 0.5 GB, 1 vCPU, 0.5 GB, 20 GB SSD | Not stated | Yes | Yes |
| Vultr | $3.50/moRegular Performance 0.5 GB, 1 vCPU, 0.5 GB, 10 GB SSD | Yes | Yes | Not stated |
 Kamatera | $4.00/moBasic, 1 vCPU, 1 GB, 20 GB NVMe | No | Yes | Yes |
 Tencent Cloud | $4.20/moStarter 2 GB, 2 vCPU, 2 GB, 40 GB SSD | Not stated | No | Yes |
 Amazon Lightsail | $5.00/moNano-0.5GB Linux with public IPv4, 2 vCPU, 0.5 GB, 20 GB SSD | No | Yes | Yes |
 Linode | $5.00/moNanode 1 GB, 1 vCPU, 1 GB, 25 GB SSD | No | Yes | Yes |
 Civo | $5.43/moxSmall, 1 vCPU, 1 GB, 25 GB NVMe | No | Yes | Yes |
 UltaHost | $5.52/moVPS Basic, 1 vCPU, 1 GB, 30 GB NVMe | No | No | Yes |
| Google Cloud | $9.76/moe2-micro, 2 vCPU, 1 GB | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft Azure | $11.24/moB1s, 1 vCPU, 1 GB | Yes | Yes | No |
| Oracle Cloud | $13.87/moVM.Standard.A1.Flex, 1 OCPU, 6 GB, 1 vCPU, 6 GB | Yes | Yes | Yes |
 Cloudways | $14.00/moDigitalOcean 1GB, 1 vCPU, 1 GB, 25 GB NVMe | No | Yes | Yes |
| Billed in euros | ||||
 Webdock | €2.15/moVPS Essential, 1 vCPU, 2 GB, 15 GB NVMe | No | No | Yes |
 UpCloud | €3.00/moStarter 1 GB, 1 vCPU, 1 GB, 10 GB SSD | No | Yes | Yes |
 Scaleway | €4.08/moSTARDUST1-S, 1 vCPU, 1 GB | No | Yes | No |
 Exoscale | €5.25/moStandard Micro, 1 vCPU, 0.5 GB | No | Yes | Yes |
 Hetzner | €5.99/moCX23, 2 vCPU, 4 GB, 40 GB NVMe | No | Yes | No |
 Aruba Cloud | €6.29/moVPS O2A4, 2 vCPU, 4 GB, 40 GB NVMe | No | No | Not stated |
| Billed in Swiss francs | ||||
 Infomaniak | CHF 2.70/moVPS Lite 1 vCPU / 2 GB, 1 vCPU, 2 GB, 20 GB NVMe | No | No | Yes |
Worth knowing. Free tiers come with conditions: a card on file, limited regions, and charges for anything outside the allowance, such as extra disk, traffic or an IPv4 address. Read each host's free-tier page before relying on one.
