Top 10 Vultr alternatives for 2023/2024

Choosing a cloud services provider to host your infrastructure is a critical decision, especially for businesses selling a technology product. The cloud hosting provider you choose can impact how quickly your users can access your product, the monthly cost you pay to host your service, and the skills your development team will need to possess to manage your cloud infrastructure effectively.

There are many providers in the cloud infrastructure market today, ranging from hyperscalers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, to smaller cloud services providers like DigitalOcean, which caters to small-to-medium businesses and developers, and Vultr, another alternative to large cloud providers.

While most of these providers offer virtual machines or virtual private servers (also known as cloud VPS hosting), some offer other cloud solutions, including databases, managed cloud services, block storage, object storage, Kubernetes, load balancing, DDoS protection, cloud firewalls, and other web hosting services needed to build a website or application.

Vultr offers a range of cloud hosting features, including SSD Storage and global data centers which make it a viable option for certain businesses. However, as with any decision, it’s important to consider alternatives and see how they stack up against Vultr’s products and services. When assessing Vultr alternatives, several factors come into play, including cost, product range, support offering, target market, and ease of use. Read on to find out more about Vultr alternatives and how to choose a cloud provider for your business.

Factors to consider when choosing a cloud services provider

Choosing a cloud services provider is a crucial decision that can impact many aspects of your business operations. It’s important to weigh various factors such as cost, the variety of products and features offered, the typical user base, available documentation and support, and ease of use to make an informed choice.

Cost

Price is often a deciding factor when choosing a cloud provider. It’s important to compare the pricing structures of different providers to get a clear understanding of what you’ll be paying for. Keep in mind that the cheapest option may not always provide the best value, and think about how your cost may scale over time, especially if you use a large amount of egress or bandwidth.

Products and features

Consider the range of services each provider offers. Some may specialize in certain areas such as data storage or simple hosting services, while others might offer a more comprehensive suite of services. Large providers offer hundreds of cloud products, but simple applications often need a much smaller range of products. Also look at the features offered, like backups, DDoS protection, and storage, and if they will require additional cost or are included for no extra cost.

Typical user base

Who does the provider typically serve? Some providers cater primarily to large corporations, while others may be more geared towards startups or small businesses. Similarly, certain providers may be more geared toward specific industries or use cases, while others offer more generalized solutions.

Documentation and support

Good documentation and support can save countless hours of frustration. Look for providers that offer comprehensive guides, tutorials, and a responsive support team. Some providers, like DigitalOcean, offer paid levels of support in addition to their free support, which provide faster response times and more in-depth technical advice.

Ease of use

Managing cloud infrastructure can be a tedious job, and a user-friendly interface can significantly streamline your workflow. Consider how easy it is to manage your cloud servers, monitor usage, and make changes. Providers that offer simple control panels, CLIs, and APIs can help developers get their job done faster.

Top 10 Vultr alternatives

When identifying the top Vultr alternatives, it’s useful to group them into two categories: hyperscaler cloud hosting providers and alternative providers. Vultr is a smaller alternative to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and other hyperscalers, but there are several other niche cloud hosting providers that businesses may want to consider that may offer additional benefits over Vultr.

Hyperscalers

Hyperscaler cloud providers are global giants with expansive cloud offerings, robust cloud infrastructure and data center networks, and a broad customer base. These large cloud providers may be a good choice for enterprises looking for an alternative to Vultr that offers a broader range of services and tools catered to the complex needs of enterprises. For small-to-medium-sized businesses and individual developers, hyperscalers often come with product complexity and unclear pricing, which can be challenging in the long run. Hyperscaler cloud hosting providers include:

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

As the current market leader in the cloud space, AWS provides a wide array of products and cloud hosting services. They also have a large network of data centers and robust cloud infrastructure. However, their opaque pricing, complexity, and lack of free support options may cause headaches for smaller businesses looking for an affordable alternative to Vultr.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Known for its high-performance machine learning facilities and robust data analytics, GCP is another leading cloud provider. However, their products are also often complex to navigate and their high bandwidth pricing can mean costs scale quickly.

Microsoft Azure

Azure offers a vast range of services and comprehensive support for Microsoft software. While they are a good option for those who want to use Windows-based virtual machines, for those looking for Linux operating systems Microsoft may not be as well suited.

IBM Cloud

IBM’s cloud service offers a wide range of products including high-powered AI and machine learning capabilities for its cloud servers. IBM Cloud is more suited for enterprises—its platform may be too complex for smaller businesses, and it offers limited free support options.

Alibaba Cloud

Primarily catering to the Asia Pacific market, Alibaba Cloud has a strong presence and offers a comprehensive suite of cloud solutions. They are most well-suited to customers in China and other Asian countries.

Alternative providers

Vultr is considered a niche cloud provider, and there are other smaller cloud service providers known for their specialty features, competitive pricing, and customer service. It’s important to note that while these cloud hosting providers are not hyperscalers, some of them, like DigitalOcean and Linode, are still public companies with larger teams that may provide more hands-on support to customers than Vultr.

DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean is a cloud infrastructure provider that shines for its simplicity, competitive pricing, and excellent support offerings, and is a top alternative to Vultr for SMBs and developers. DigitalOcean has a wider product portfolio compared to Vultr, including more Managed Databases and a Platform as a Service offering. DigitalOcean also offers more levels of support than Vultr and a 24/7 support team, which Vultr does not offer.

Linode

Known for its straightforward pricing and solid performance, Linode is a popular choice among developers looking for cloud hosting. However, Linode was acquired by Akamai, a larger content delivery network provider, in 2022, so customers may have questions regarding the future of Linode’s pricing and cloud services.

Scaleway

Scaleway is a European cloud provider that offers a range of hosting services, including database, storage, and compute products. Like Vultr, Scalaway offers bare metal services, however, it only has data centers in Europe, so may not be a good fit for businesses catering to a global customer base.

OVHcloud

OVHcloud is a France-based provider recognized for its budget-friendly dedicated servers and private cloud offerings. They cater largely to the European market, and their offerings are more catered to enterprise businesses than SMBs and individual developers.

Hetzner

Hetzner is known as a very affordable cloud provider, however, their range of products is more limited when compared to Vultr. Hetzner focuses on compute offerings and does not offer managed databases, Kubernetes, or Platform as a Service. Additionally, their data center locations are limited to Europe and North America.

Remember, while each of these Vultr alternatives has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, it’s crucial to consider your specific requirements and resources when making your final decision regarding which cloud hosting services to use. You should also conduct a thorough analysis of what your costs will look like with another provider using the most up-to-date information available on their website or pricing calculator.

Pros and cons of Vultr

Whether you are already using Vultr and looking to switch providers, or looking to Vultr as a new cloud option, you should weigh the pros and cons of Vultr as a cloud provider. Migrating your cloud provider is a time-consuming process, so think carefully about your needs both today and in the future when you consider Vultr and any Vultr alternatives.

Pros of Vultr:

• Flexible billing: With hourly and monthly billing options for its cloud servers, Vultr provides flexibility to its users. Pricing starts at $2.50/month for its regular performance virtual machines with 1 vCPU, 0.5 GB memory, 0.5 TB bandwidth, and 10 GB storage.

• Global reach: Vultr has 32 data centers across the globe, which can mean faster performance from global locations.

• Dedicated servers and bare metal options: Vultr provides several compute options, including dedicated servers, virtual machines with shared CPU, and bare metal servers.

Cons of Vultr:

• Limited support: Though Vultr provides a knowledge base with articles and information, their customer support is not 24/7, and they do not offer paid support options in order to expedite urgent queries.

• Limited managed database offerings: Vultr offers some managed database products, but does not include MongoDB, or Kafka, which other providers such as DigitalOcean do offer.

• Reliability concerns: Some Vultr users have raised issues concerning its reliability and downtime, which can have negative consequences for users who rely on Vultr for production applications. They have a 1.8 star average rating on TrustPilot, compared to DigitalOcean, which has a 4.2 star rating.

• Smaller team size: Vultr is a relatively small cloud provider even among the alternative clouds, with a team size of approximately 100 people (according to LinkedIn), compared to providers like DigitalOcean, which has over 1,000 employees, and Linode, which has the backing of its larger parent company, Akamai.

DigitalOcean is the Vultr alternative your business needs

If you’re looking for a reliable cloud services provider as an alternative to Vultr, DigitalOcean may be the right solution for you. DigitalOcean provides a range of hosting services, including scalable cloud servers that are optimized for memory or storage and cloud VPS hosting. DigitalOcean also offers more product options than Vultr, with more managed cloud databases, Functions as a Service, and Platform as a Service products. DigitalOcean has a reliable platform with a 99.99% SLA for Droplet virtual machines and Volumes block storage, and provides customers with peace of mind by offering a higher level of customer support.

In addition to 24/7 support channels provided for free to all customers, DigitalOcean offers several paid support plans starting at just $24/month that provide faster response times and severity coverage covering mission-critical incident response. DigitalOcean also provides a vast range of documentation and tutorials so you can get the information you need to manage your cloud servers with ease.

DigitalOcean is valued by customers for its simplicity, including an easy-to-use control panel. It offers several managed services, including databases MongoDB, Redis, MySQL, NoSQL, and Kafka, and Managed Kubernetes. Those looking to spin up a WordPress website can use DigitalOcean’s 1-click application, or get fully managed cloud hosting services through Cloudways by DigitalOcean. DigitalOcean also offers GPU servers and AI/ML Notebooks through Paperspace by DigitalOcean.

Here’s what BrightData, an industry-leading web data platform, had to say about using DigitalOcean “We soon found out that the service we received from DigitalOcean was the best in terms of stability of the Droplets and the bandwidth, and all of the network that comes out of the data centers. It’s very stable. This is the key point, and that stability has helped us to increase our volume as well.” - Nir Borenshtein, COO

Sign up for a DigitalOcean account today to get the peace of mind, customer support, and product suite your business needs.