For most readers, Amazon Web Services is the default pick for breadth of services, with Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure close behind, and DigitalOcean the simpler pick for a single small server. Entry compute is cheap on paper, from $4 per month at DigitalOcean to $7.59 per month for a small AWS or Azure virtual machine, but storage, transfer and a public IPv4 address are billed separately. Oracle has the most generous free tier here, with two AMD micro instances and Arm capacity equal to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB, after Oracle cut the Arm allowance in half in June 2026 from 4 OCPUs and 24 GB.
IaaS means rented virtual servers, storage and networking that you manage yourself, instead of buying hardware. The right choice depends on whether you need one small server, a full set of managed services, or a free tier for a small project. Prices below are entry compute prices only, and storage, transfer and extra services add to the total.
On this page
Best iaas software: comparison table
Swipe the table sideways on a phone to see every column.
| # | Name | Best for | Starting price | Free plan / trial | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amazon Web Services | Largest service range and global reach | $0.0104 per hour | Free trial (12 months) | Visit |
| 2 | Microsoft Azure | Teams already using Microsoft tools | $7.59 per month | Free trial (30 days) | Visit |
| 3 | Google Cloud | Simple free tier and per-second billing | $0.01 per hour | Yes | Visit |
| 4 | DigitalOcean | Simple flat pricing for small servers | $4 per month | No | Visit |
| 5 | Linode | Predictable monthly caps for developers | $5 per month | No | Visit |
| 6 | Vultr | Low-cost servers in many regions | $5 per month | No | Visit |
| 7 | Oracle Cloud Infrastructure | Generous free tier and low egress cost | $0.01 per OCPU-hour | Yes | Visit |
The 7 best best iaas software tools, in detail
Amazon Web Services
Best for: Largest service range and global reach
Amazon Web Services, known as AWS, sells Elastic Compute Cloud, or EC2, virtual servers in many sizes and regions, plus managed storage, databases and networking. The entry point for a small Linux server is the t3.micro, with 2 vCPUs and 1 GiB of memory, at $0.0104 per hour on demand in US East, about $7.59 for a 730-hour month before storage and transfer. A cheaper Graviton option, the t4g.nano, costs $0.0042 per hour, about $3.07 a month, but it uses Arm chips.
- AWS suits teams that want the widest choice of services and regions.
- The trade-off is complexity.
- Choose AWS for scale, and a simpler provider for one small server.
Pros
- Widest range of compute, storage and database services
- t3.micro $0.0104 per hour, about $7.59 for 730 hours
- free tier gives 750 hours a month for 12 months
Cons
- One limit: t3.micro runs on CPU credits, so sustained high CPU use costs extra
- storage, transfer and a public IPv4 address are billed separately
Microsoft Azure
Best for: Teams already using Microsoft tools
Microsoft Azure sells Virtual Machines in Linux and Windows forms, with burstable B series sizes for light workloads and larger D and E series sizes for production use. The small B2ts v2, with 2 vCPUs and 1 GiB of memory, lists at $7.59 per month on a pay-as-you-go basis. Azure also gives 750 hours a month of B1s, B2pts v2 and B2ats v2 burstable virtual machines free for 12 months, alongside the $200 credit for 30 days.
- Azure is the natural pick for teams that run Windows Server, SQL Server or Microsoft 365, and for firms that reuse Windows licences through the Azure
- It is a poor fit if you want a single flat price, because compute, disk, an address at about $3.65 a month, and transfer each appear as separate lines
Pros
- Deep links to Microsoft 365, Windows Server and Active Directory
- B2ts v2 $7.59 per month
- new accounts get $200 in credit for 30 days
Cons
- One limit: B series machines rely on CPU credits, so steady high CPU use is a poor fit
- a stopped but allocated machine keeps billing for its cores
Google Cloud
Best for: Simple free tier and per-second billing
Google Cloud sells Compute Engine virtual machines, with the E2 family as its low-cost general purpose line. The e2-micro, with 2 shared-core vCPUs and 1 GiB of memory, lists from $0.01 per hour on the official Compute Engine page, and the detailed price list shows $0.008376428 per hour in Iowa, about $6.11 for a 730-hour month. New accounts also get $300 in credit for 90 days, separate from the free tier, which covers one non-preemptible e2-micro a month, 30 GB-months of standard disk, and 1 GB of outbound transfer from North America.
- Google Cloud suits small projects, developers learning cloud, and teams that already use Google Workspace or BigQuery.
- It is less suited to a workload that needs a free machine outside the three named US regions, or to a team that wants a flat monthly price.
- Add disk and address costs before you compare it with a $4 or $5 server.
Pros
- Free tier gives one e2-micro a month with no end date
- Compute Engine starts at $0.01 per hour for an e2-micro
- billing is per second with a 60-second minimum
Cons
- One limit: free e2-micro is limited to us-west1, us-central1 and us-east1, with 30 GB of disk and 1 GB of outbound transfer
- a public IPv4 address costs about $3.65 a month
DigitalOcean
Best for: Simple flat pricing for small servers
DigitalOcean sells virtual machines called Droplets, with Basic, CPU-Optimized, General Purpose, Memory-Optimized and Storage-Optimized lines. The smallest Basic Droplet costs $4 per month, or $0.00595 per hour, for 512 MiB of memory, 1 vCPU, 10 GiB of SSD and 500 GiB of transfer. The next sizes are $6 for 1 GiB, $12 for 2 GiB, $24 for 4 GiB and $48 for 8 GiB.
- Bundled plans have a monthly cap.
- DigitalOcean suits solo developers, small teams and side projects that want one server with a known monthly cost.
- It is a weaker pick for a large enterprise, or for a team that needs a free tier.
- Add backups and extra transfer to the $4 headline.
Pros
- Basic Droplets start at $4 per month with a monthly cap
- the $4 plan includes 1 vCPU, 512 MiB, 10 GiB of SSD and 500 GiB of transfer
- per-second billing from 1 January 2026
Cons
- One limit: no free tier, only promotional credit for new users
- backups add 20% for weekly or 30% for daily backups
- a powered-off Droplet still bills until destroyed
Linode
Best for: Predictable monthly caps for developers
Linode, now sold as Akamai Cloud Computing after Akamai acquired Linode in 2022, sells Linux virtual machines with shared CPU, dedicated CPU, high memory and GPU lines. The entry Nanode 1 GB plan gives 1 vCPU, 1 GB of memory, 25 GB of SSD storage and 1 TB of transfer for $5 per month. Dedicated CPU plans start at $36 per month for 2 vCPUs, and the high-availability Kubernetes control plane costs $60 per month.
- Linode suits developers who want a plain Linux server and a clear monthly cap.
- It is a weaker pick if you need a free tier or a managed Windows service.
- Check transfer, because a data-heavy app can pass the 1 TB included and add $0.005 per GB.
Pros
- Nanode 1 GB $5 per month, or $0.0075 per hour, with 25 GB of SSD and 1 TB of transfer
- shared CPU plans rise to $12 for 2 GB, $24 for 4 GB and $48 for 8 GB
Cons
- One limit: no free tier
- a powered-off Linode still bills until deleted
- transfer over the allowance costs $0.005 per GB in most regions
Vultr
Best for: Low-cost servers in many regions
Vultr sells Cloud Compute virtual machines, High Performance and High Frequency lines, Optimized Cloud Compute with dedicated vCPUs, and bare metal servers from $120 per month. The realistic entry point is the $5 per month Regular Performance plan with 1 vCPU, 1 GB of memory, 25 GB of SSD and 1 TB of transfer. The 2 GB plan costs $10 and the 4 GB plan costs $20 on Regular Performance, or $12 and $24 on High Performance.
- Extra outbound transfer costs $0.01 per GB, and inbound transfer is free.
- Vultr suits developers who want a cheap server in a specific region, and teams that run many small servers across regions.
- It is a weaker pick if you need a free tier or a single vendor for a full enterprise stack.
- Read the $2.50 headline with care, because that plan has no IPv4 address and is limited to two locations.
Pros
- Cloud Compute 1 GB $5 per month, or $0.007 per hour, with 1 vCPU, 25 GB of SSD and 1 TB of transfer in 31 locations
- High Performance 1 GB $6 per month
Cons
- One limit: the $2.50 plan is IPv6 only in two locations, and the same size with IPv4 costs $3.50 in New Jersey only
- backups add 20% and DDoS protection costs $10 per month per server
- a stopped server still bills until destroyed
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
Best for: Generous free tier and low egress cost
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or OCI, sells flexible virtual machines where you pick OCPU count and memory separately on Flex shapes. On x86 shapes one OCPU equals two vCPUs, while on Arm Ampere A1 shapes one OCPU equals one core. The lowest published rate is the Ampere A1 Flex shape at $0.01 per OCPU-hour plus $0.0015 per GB of memory per hour.
- The Always Free tier also includes two AMD VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro instances, each with 1/8 OCPU and 1 GB of memory, plus two Autonomous Databases and
- OCI suits hobby projects, small teams and cost-sensitive workloads that can live inside the free tier, and teams that move a lot of data out, because
- It is a weaker pick if you need guaranteed free capacity in a busy region.
- New accounts also get $300 in credit for up to 30 days.
Pros
- Always Free tier includes two AMD micro instances, Arm capacity equal to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB, 200 GB of block storage and 10 TB of outbound transfer a month
- Ampere A1 $0.01 per OCPU-hour plus $0.0015 per GB-hour
Cons
- One limit: Oracle cut the Always Free Arm allowance in half in June 2026, from 4 OCPUs and 24 GB to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB
- free capacity can fail with out-of-capacity errors
- idle free instances may be reclaimed
How we chose
We chose providers that sell real virtual machines with published entry prices. Prices and plan limits come from official vendor pricing pages opened on 12 November 2026, with Vultr and Linode rates checked against their published plan lists in October and early November 2026 where the vendor page uses a bot check. We did not test any tool hands-on. We did not use customer counts, awards or review scores to rank the providers. The unique fact is the June 2026 Oracle cut: Oracle halved its Always Free Arm allowance from 4 OCPUs and 24 GB to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB.
Pick by budget and use case
| Budget or need | Pick | Why it fits |
|---|---|---|
| $0 to run a small project | Oracle Cloud Infrastructure or Google Cloud | Oracle gives 2 OCPUs and 12 GB free, plus two micro instances; Google gives one e2-micro free a month |
| $4 to $6 per month for one server | DigitalOcean, Linode or Vultr | DigitalOcean $4, Linode $5 and Vultr $5 for a 1 GB server, each with a monthly cap |
| $6 to $8 per month on a large cloud | Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services | Azure B2ts v2 $7.59 per month; AWS t3.micro about $7.59 for 730 hours |
| Microsoft or Windows workload | Microsoft Azure | Windows and Microsoft 365 links, plus Hybrid Benefit for existing licences |
| Widest service catalog | Amazon Web Services | Largest range of compute, storage, database and networking services here |
| Low egress cost | Oracle Cloud Infrastructure | First 10 TB of outbound transfer a month is free, then $0.0085 per GB |
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest best IaaS software for a small server?
DigitalOcean is the cheapest flat-price pick, at $4 per month for a Basic Droplet with 512 MiB of memory, 1 vCPU, 10 GiB of SSD and 500 GiB of transfer. Linode and Vultr cost $5 per month for a 1 GB server, while AWS and Azure cost about $7.59 per month before storage and transfer. Oracle and Google Cloud can cost $0 inside their free tiers, if your workload fits the limits.
Which is best for a team already using Microsoft tools?
Microsoft Azure is the best pick for a team already using Microsoft tools, because it links closely to Microsoft 365, Windows Server, SQL Server and Active Directory, and it lets firms reuse Windows licences through the Azure Hybrid Benefit. The small B2ts v2 costs $7.59 per month, and new accounts get $200 in credit for 30 days.
Is there really a free IaaS option?
Yes, with limits. Google Cloud gives one e2-micro free each month in three US regions, with 30 GB of disk and 1 GB of outbound transfer. Oracle gives two AMD micro instances, Arm capacity equal to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB, 200 GB of block storage and 10 TB of outbound transfer each month. AWS and Azure give free hours and credit for a limited time only.
How much does IaaS cost per month in practice?
The compute price is only part of the total. A $4 DigitalOcean Droplet can stay at $4 if you skip backups, while a $7.59 AWS t3.micro can rise with disk, transfer and a public IPv4 address, and a $5 Vultr server can rise to $6 with backups at 20% extra. Work out disk, transfer, address and backup costs, then compare the totals, not the headline price alone.
Which IaaS provider is best for developers who want simple pricing?
DigitalOcean, Linode and Vultr are the best picks for simple pricing, because each lists a flat monthly price with a cap, from $4 at DigitalOcean to $5 at Linode and Vultr for a 1 GB server. The large clouds bill by the hour or second across many separate lines, which makes the monthly total harder to predict.
Why did Oracle cut its free tier in 2026?
Oracle cut its Always Free Arm allowance in June 2026 from 4 OCPUs and 24 GB to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB, which is 1,500 OCPU hours and 9,000 GB hours a month. The rest of the tier stayed in place, including two AMD micro instances, 200 GB of block storage and 10 TB of outbound transfer a month. A project sized for 4 OCPUs now needs a usage-based account or a smaller setup.
Sources
- https://aws.amazon.com/
- https://aws.amazon.com/de/ec2/instance-types/t3/
- https://azure.microsoft.com/
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/
- https://cloud.google.com/
- https://cloud.google.com/products/compute?_gl=1
- https://www.digitalocean.com/
- https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing/droplets?ref=blog.threshold.network
- https://www.linode.com/
- https://www.linode.com/pricing
- https://www.vultr.com/
- https://www.vultr.com/pricing/
- https://www.oracle.com/cloud/
- https://www.oracle.com/apac/cloud/price-list/
Prices and features were read on each company’s own website in November 2026. They change often, so confirm the current offer on the official site before you sign up or buy.