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Migration guide · Cloud & VPS

The 5 best AWS (EC2 compute) alternatives

AWS is the default cloud — EC2 compute plus two hundred managed services. This comparison scopes to what most developers and small teams actually buy: virtual servers to run applications on.

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Bottom line

For a developer or small team that wants servers, not a platform: Hetzner gives you two to four times the hardware per dollar with 20 TB of traffic included, DigitalOcean buys the smoothest developer experience, and Vultr covers the most regions. All three cut the bill and the complexity.

Jump to the full comparison →

The cost

Usage-based: a small always-on EC2 instance with storage and traffic commonly lands at $20–40/mo, and data egress (~$0.09/GB after the free 100 GB monthly) is the classic surprise line item.

Is AWS (EC2 compute) free? The exact limits

Why people consider an alternative

Unpredictable bills are the story people tell: usage pricing, egress fees, and a console/IAM learning curve that's overkill when the need is 'a server or three'. Flat-priced VPS providers deliver the same Linux VM for a known number every month — often with several times the hardware.

Moving to Hetzner Cloud: the real steps →

When AWS (EC2 compute) is still the right call

If your architecture genuinely leans on managed services — RDS, Lambda, SQS, fine-grained IAM — or compliance requires AWS's certifications, the premium buys real things. Startup credits change the math too; spend them before you optimize.

The verdict — at a glance

AlternativeLicenseSelf-hostPricingSovereignty
Hetzner Cloud★Proprietary serviceNoFrom €5.49/mo excl. IPv4 and VAT (CX23: 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 20 TB EU traffic) since the 15 June 2026 price rise; plans are often marked unavailable for new orders; US locations cost more and include less traffic70
ScalewayProprietary serviceNoInstances billed hourly from a few euros/mo; EU regions60
DigitalOceanProprietary serviceNoDroplets from $4–6/mo; 2 vCPU / 4 GB ≈ $24/mo55
Linode (Akamai)Proprietary serviceNoFrom $5/mo; 2 GB plan $12/mo55
VultrProprietary serviceNoFrom ~$2.50–6/mo; hourly billing; GPU instances available52
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Macrostack's top pick

Hetzner Cloud

Two to four times the hardware per dollar, 20 TB of traffic included.

Every alternative, compared

#1★ TOP PICK

Hetzner Cloud

Two to four times the hardware per dollar, 20 TB of traffic included.

70
SOURCE-AVAILABLEProprietary service

The price-performance king of European cloud: €5.49/mo (excl. IPv4 and VAT) for 2 vCPU / 4 GB with 20 TB of included EU traffic on its CX23 plan, after Hetzner's 15 June 2026 price rise — a spec DigitalOcean lists at $24, before bandwidth. Hetzner often marks plans unavailable for new orders, so check before you plan around one. Transparent flat pricing, EU and US locations, and the provider half the self-hosting community quietly runs on. It pays Macrostack nothing, which tells you why it's the pick.

Strengths

  • +Two to four times the compute per dollar of US-priced rivals
  • +20 TB of included traffic — bandwidth-heavy apps save $50–100/mo
  • +Transparent flat pricing with EU data-protection jurisdiction

Trade-offs

  • −Smaller region map (EU, US, Singapore)
  • −Fewer managed services than the big platforms
  • −New-account vetting can be strict
From €5.49/mo excl. IPv4 and VAT (CX23: 2 vCPU / 4 GB, 20 TB EU traffic) since the 15 June 2026 price rise; plans are often marked unavailable for new orders; US locations cost more and include less traffic
Website
#2

Scaleway

The EU-sovereign option — French cloud with ARM and bare-metal range.

60
SOURCE-AVAILABLEProprietary service

For teams that want their infrastructure under EU jurisdiction on principle, Scaleway is the credible sovereign pick: instances billed by the hour, ARM options, object storage, and managed Kubernetes — all operated from France. English-language docs are thinner than the US providers'.

Strengths

  • +EU jurisdiction and data sovereignty
  • +ARM instances and bare-metal range
  • +Hourly billing

Trade-offs

  • −EU-centric region map
  • −Documentation thinner in English
Instances billed hourly from a few euros/mo; EU regions
Website
#3

DigitalOcean

The smoothest developer experience in the VPS world.

55
SOURCE-AVAILABLEProprietary service

Droplets from $4–6/mo, the best tutorial library in the industry, and clean managed add-ons (databases, App Platform, Kubernetes) when you want them. You pay more per gigabyte than Hetzner — what the margin buys is polish, docs, and an ecosystem that makes juniors productive fast.

Strengths

  • +Best-in-class documentation and tutorials
  • +Clean managed add-ons: databases, Kubernetes, App Platform
  • +Predictable flat pricing, no billing surprises

Trade-offs

  • −Notably pricier per spec than EU rivals
  • −Bandwidth allowances are modest with overage fees
Droplets from $4–6/mo; 2 vCPU / 4 GB ≈ $24/mo
Get DigitalOcean
#4

Linode (Akamai)

The veteran — two decades of straightforward VPS, now on Akamai's edge.

55
SOURCE-AVAILABLEProprietary service

Linode ran dependable, plainly priced VPS for twenty years before Akamai bought it; plans from $5/mo ($12 for 2 GB) with the reliability record intact. The honest note: product pace has slowed post-acquisition, and the platform extras are thinner than DigitalOcean's.

Strengths

  • +Twenty-year reliability track record
  • +Straightforward pricing
  • +Akamai's global edge network behind it

Trade-offs

  • −Slower product evolution since the acquisition
  • −Fewer platform extras than rivals
From $5/mo; 2 GB plan $12/mo
Website
#5

Vultr

The widest region map — 32 data centres including Asia and South America.

52
SOURCE-AVAILABLEProprietary service

When latency to Mumbai, Tokyo, Seoul, or São Paulo matters, Vultr's 32 regions are the draw. Pricing starts around $2.50–6/mo, billing is hourly, and GPU instances are available for AI workloads — a practical AWS exit that keeps global reach.

Strengths

  • +32 regions — the widest map in this comparison
  • +Hourly billing and GPU options
  • +Competitive entry pricing

Trade-offs

  • −Ticket-first support
  • −Bandwidth caps vary by plan and region
From ~$2.50–6/mo; hourly billing; GPU instances available
Get Vultr

Questions people ask

▸ What is the cheapest AWS alternative for a small server?

Hetzner Cloud: €5.49/mo (excl. IPv4 and VAT) buys 2 vCPU and 4 GB RAM with 20 TB of EU traffic included on its CX23 plan, after Hetzner's 15 June 2026 price rise — when the plan can be ordered: on 3 Oct 2026 Hetzner marked its Cost-Optimized plans unavailable. The same spec is $24/mo on DigitalOcean and more on EC2 once storage and egress land. Vultr's smallest instances start around $2.50–6/mo if you need their regions.

▸ How do I actually move an app off EC2?

For a standard Linux app: provision the new VM, copy with rsync or redeploy your containers, restore the database from a dump, test, then repoint DNS with a short TTL. The work is usually a weekend, not a quarter — the exception is apps woven into managed AWS services, which need substitutes first (managed Postgres exists at every provider here).

▸ Is Hetzner reliable enough for production?

Its track record and price-performance are why half the self-hosting world runs on it. Honest caveats: the SLA guarantees are thinner than AWS's paper promises, the region map is smaller (EU, US, Singapore), and any single-provider setup — AWS included — deserves off-site backups.

▸ Won't egress fees make leaving AWS expensive?

The first 100 GB out per month is free, and after EU Data Act pressure AWS waives egress entirely for customers migrating off. For most small workloads the copy-out costs single-digit dollars — the fee's real function was always to discourage exactly this move.

▸ Can I run Docker and Kubernetes on these alternatives?

Yes — they're standard Linux VMs, so Docker and k3s run identically. DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, and Scaleway all also offer managed Kubernetes if you'd rather not run the control plane; see our Kubernetes platforms comparison for the distro question.

▸ When is AWS genuinely the right call?

Deep managed-service architectures, enterprise compliance programs, teams already fluent in it, and anyone burning startup credits. The mistake isn't using AWS — it's paying platform prices for what is, in practice, one Ubuntu box.

Compare them head-to-head

Hetzner Cloud vs Scaleway→Hetzner Cloud vs DigitalOcean→Hetzner Cloud vs Linode (Akamai)→Hetzner Cloud vs Vultr→Scaleway vs DigitalOcean→Scaleway vs Linode (Akamai)→Scaleway vs Vultr→DigitalOcean vs Linode (Akamai)→DigitalOcean vs Vultr→Linode (Akamai) vs Vultr→

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Entry last verified 2026-07-19. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.

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