How Much Does VPS Hosting Cost Now: Prices Changed Faster Than We Thought
Three months ago, we compared VPS hosting providers — Contabo, Hetzner, OVHcloud, DigitalOcean, and Linode — to find the best price-to-resource ratio for typical business infrastructure: backend, databases, bots, and background tasks. We put together a table, drew some conclusions, and saved it as a working benchmark for the future.
Today, we decided to double-check the official pricing pages before anyone relies on that benchmark for an actual purchase. The difference turned out to be much bigger than expected: one provider tripled the prices of certain plans in a single day, while another completely renamed its lineup and quietly changed the subscription term baked into the headline price. Below is exactly what changed and what it means if you’re choosing a hosting provider right now.
Hetzner tripled in price in a single day
On June 15, 2026, Hetzner raised prices on some of its cloud plans — according to the official changelog, this looks less like a minor adjustment and more like a complete pricing overhaul for specific product lines. The CPX31 plan (4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM) went from €20.99 to €62.49 per month. CPX41 (8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM) went from €38.99 to €120.49. CCX23 (4 dedicated vCPUs, 16 GB RAM) went from €31.49 to €85.99. That’s a 2.7–3.1x increase for servers with the exact same specs.
Public price hike announcements often cite an overall platform-wide percentage — but as this case shows, a specific plan can increase by multiples of that stated figure. The practical takeaway: any “X%” price increase announcement should be verified against the actual plan you’re interested in, rather than assuming the stated overall percentage applies to you.
- CPX31 (4 vCPU / 8 GB): €20.99 → €62.49/mo — 3x increase
- CPX41 (8 vCPU / 16 GB): €38.99 → €120.49/mo — 3.1x increase
- CCX23 (4 dedicated vCPUs / 16 GB): €31.49 → €85.99/mo — 2.7x increase
Contabo changed not just prices, but the plan names themselves
Three months ago, the lineup was called “Cloud VPS 10/20/30” — based on tier numbers. Those names are gone from the website now: the plans have been renamed by virtual CPU count — VPS 4, VPS 6, VPS 8, and so on. The closest equivalent to the old VPS 20 (6 vCPU, 12 GB RAM) is now the VPS 6, and the old VPS 30 (8 vCPU, 24 GB RAM) is now the VPS 8.
A less obvious but more important change: the headline price on the website is now based on a 24-month subscription, whereas previously it was based on a 12-month term. Formally, the “per month” figure might look similar to the old one, but to get it, you now have to pay upfront for twice as long — meaning you simply can’t compare the old and new prices head-on without adjusting for the same period.
- Cloud VPS 10 → Cloud VPS 4 (4 vCPU / 8 GB) — €5.50/mo on a 24-month subscription
- Cloud VPS 20 → Cloud VPS 6 (6 vCPU / 12 GB) — €7.50/mo on a 24-month subscription
- Cloud VPS 30 → Cloud VPS 8 (8 vCPU / 24 GB) — €14.00/mo on a 24-month subscription
Who stayed stable over these three months
OVHcloud, DigitalOcean, and Linode (Akamai Cloud) have kept their prices virtually unchanged since May. At OVHcloud, the entry-level VPS-1 plan costs $4.54 per month, and the mid-tier VPS-2 (4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM) is $8.50, with daily backups already included in the price across all plans — this remains their strong point compared to Contabo, where backups are billed separately.
DigitalOcean ($48 for 8 GB, $96 for 16 GB) and Linode ($48 for 8 GB) remain noticeably more expensive than both Contabo and even the current OVHcloud — but people don’t choose them for the price. They choose them for the familiar ecosystem, documentation, and predictable hourly billing with no renewal surprises.
How to choose hosting when prices change so fast
The main practical takeaway from this story isn’t about the specific numbers (they’ll be outdated again), but the fact itself: a three-month-old hosting comparison, even if done carefully using official sources, is no longer valid for a real purchasing decision without double-checking. This applies to this article, too — before paying, check the provider’s official pricing page on the day of purchase rather than relying on any comparison article, including this one.
The second important point is to read not just the monthly price, but the subscription term that price implies. If the headline figure looks attractive but the fine print requires a longer upfront commitment than you expected, the real cost of entry could be higher than anticipated — just like what recently happened with Contabo.
Frequently asked questions
We already got a Hetzner server — should we urgently migrate because of the price hike?
There's usually no point in rushing a migration: if your server is already up and running and meets your performance needs, the migration itself takes time and carries the risk of downtime. It makes more sense to factor in the new price next time you decide to renew or scale, rather than migrating in the middle of a work cycle for savings that haven't materialized yet.
How can you avoid ending up in the same situation next time?
Always check the provider's official pricing page right before you pay, rather than relying on a comparison from a month ago, let alone three months ago — including this one. Cloud infrastructure prices change without warning and without mandatory notifications to all customers.
Which hosting should you choose right now for a budget-friendly start?
If the cost of resources is your top priority — go with Contabo VPS 6 or VPS 8, keeping in mind that you'll need to set up and pay for backups separately. If it's more important to have daily backups and DDoS protection already included in the price — OVHcloud VPS-2 is the closest match in terms of specs, offering these features right out of the box.