Compare Cloud Providers
The ten platforms side by side on the measures that decide the choice: pricing model, service breadth, support, data residency and verification.
Every table on this page and in the comparisons below is generated from one shared set of provider facts, so the numbers stay consistent across the site. Use it to narrow ten platforms down to two or three, then read those guides in full.
Check the current terms before you commit. Provider pricing, credits and free tier rules change, sometimes at short notice. Everything in these tables is drawn from the providers’ own published terms at the time of writing and is here to narrow your shortlist, not to replace the provider’s pricing page. Each row links to the official source.
All ten at a glance
| Provider | Best suited to | Pricing model | Catalogue breadth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kamatera | Fully customised virtual servers with responsive support | Hourly or monthly; configure CPU, RAM, storage, OS and networking | Narrow. Infrastructure and virtual machines, few native managed services |
| AWS | The widest service catalogue and global reach | Granular pay-as-you-go; needs active cost monitoring | Very broad. More than 150 services |
| Hetzner | Raw compute at the lowest price, especially in Europe | Flat monthly rates; strong RAM and CPU per unit of cost | Narrow. Cloud servers, dedicated hardware and storage |
| Oracle Cloud | A genuinely generous always-free tier and database workloads | Pay-as-you-go beyond the free tier; strong ARM price-performance | Comprehensive but less familiar than AWS or Azure |
| Azure | Organisations already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem | Pay-as-you-go; licensing and pricing need careful planning | Very broad, with deep Windows and Active Directory integration |
| IBM Cloud | Enterprise hybrid cloud and Watson AI services | Pay-as-you-go, with Lite plans at no cost | Enterprise-focused, integrated with IBM’s software portfolio |
| Linode | A reliable VPS without hyperscaler complexity | Straightforward plans starting at $5 per month | Narrow but well documented |
| Google Cloud | Data analytics, machine learning and Kubernetes | Pay-as-you-go; pricing can be complex to predict | Broad, strongest in data and AI tooling |
| OVHcloud | European data residency and bare metal at accessible prices | Competitively priced VPS and dedicated servers | Infrastructure focused, less polished than the hyperscalers |
| DigitalOcean | The most approachable developer experience | Predictable pricing; Droplets from $4 per month with per-second billing | Narrower than the hyperscalers, lower specs per unit cost than Hetzner |
Deeper comparisons
Each comparison below takes one dimension and works through it properly, rather than restating the table above.
Cloud Free Tiers and Trial Credits Compared
What each of the ten platforms actually gives you for nothing, how long it lasts, and what happens when it ends.
Read the guide
Cloud Account Verification Requirements Compared
What each provider asks you to prove at sign-up, why the checks exist, and how to pass them cleanly.
Read the guide
AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: Choosing a Hyperscaler
The three broadest platforms compared on catalogue, pricing behaviour, free tier and the kind of team each one suits.
Read the guide
Hetzner vs DigitalOcean vs Linode: The Developer VPS Tier
Three providers built for people who want a server rather than a platform, compared on price, experience and reach.
Read the guide