Overview
UpCloud is a Finnish cloud provider with 15 data centers. Its cloud servers come in three families: Starter (replacing the older Developer plans, previous-generation AMD CPUs and standard SSD, 99.99% SLA), Premium (MaxIOPS storage, 1 Gbps networking, premium AMD CPUs and a 99.999% SLA) and Cloud Native (compute priced separately from storage).
All plans include an IPv4 address and zero-cost egress under a fair transfer policy, and private networks, SDN routers and firewalls are free. Billing is hourly, with Starter plans capped at 28 days per month.
Starter plans at €3 to €28 a month compete with budget hosts, though the €3 plan is limited to five per customer. Premium plans cost more than Hetzner or DigitalOcean for the same RAM but come with UpCloud's fast MaxIOPS storage and one of the highest published SLAs among VPS providers. Before choosing, decide whether Starter hardware is enough or whether your workload needs Premium storage and SLA guarantees, since the price gap is large.
Pricing and plans
checked 28 Sept 2026| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Starter 1 GB | €3/mo | 1 core, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB SSD, 250 Mbit/s; max 5 per customer |
| Starter 2 GB | €6/mo | 1 core, 2 GB RAM, 20 GB SSD |
| Starter 4 GB | €12/mo | 2 cores, 4 GB RAM, 30 GB SSD, 500 Mbit/s |
| Premium 1 GB | €5/mo | 1 core, 1 GB RAM, 25 GB MaxIOPS, 1 Gbps, 99.999% SLA |
| Premium 4 GB | €26/mo | 2 cores, 4 GB RAM, 50 GB MaxIOPS |
| Cloud Native 4 GB | €12/mo | 1 core, 4 GB RAM; storage priced separately |
What it does
- Zero-cost egress
- No per-GB data transfer fees on any plan; a fair transfer policy applies.
- MaxIOPS storage
- UpCloud's high-performance block storage on Premium plans, also sold at €0.22/GB/month.
- 99.999% SLA
- Premium and Cloud Native plans carry a five-nines SLA; Starter plans have 99.99%.
- Free networking
- SDN private networks, routers and firewalls are included at no cost.
- Cloud Native plans
- Choose compute and storage separately, including Standard or Archive storage tiers.
- Fast deployment
- Servers deploy in about 45 seconds.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Free egress on every plan.
- High SLAs and fast MaxIOPS storage for production workloads.
- Cheap Starter plans for development and self-hosting.
- European company with a wide spread of data centers.
Limitations
- Starter plans use previous-generation AMD CPUs and standard SSD.
- The €3 Starter plan is limited to five concurrent deployments per customer.
- Premium plans cost noticeably more per GB of RAM than budget hosts.
- Additional IPv4 addresses cost €3.47/month each.
Who it suits
Good for
- Production apps that need fast disks and strong SLAs
- Self-hosting and dev servers on Starter plans
- European companies wanting EU-based infrastructure
Look elsewhere if
- Getting the most RAM for the least money
- Teams needing hyperscaler-style managed services
Alternatives to UpCloud Cloud Servers
| Tool | From | Free option | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akamai Cloud (Linode) Cloud VPS | $5/mo | ||
| DigitalOcean Droplets Cloud VPS | $4/mo | ||
| Kamatera Cloud Servers Cloud VPS | $4/mo | ||
| Scaleway Instances Cloud VPS | €6.55/mo | ||
| Vultr Cloud Compute Cloud VPS | $2.50/mo | ||
| Amazon Lightsail Cloud VPS | $5/mo |
Questions
How much does the cheapest UpCloud server cost?
The Starter plan with 1 core, 1 GB RAM and 10 GB SSD costs €3/month, limited to five per customer.
Does UpCloud charge for bandwidth?
No, all plans include zero-cost egress under UpCloud's Fair Transfer Policy.
What is the difference between UpCloud Starter and Premium?
Starter uses previous-generation AMD CPUs and standard SSD with a 99.99% SLA; Premium uses newer CPUs, MaxIOPS storage and 1 Gbps networking with a 99.999% SLA.
How does UpCloud bill?
By the hour; Starter plans are billed by the starting hour up to a maximum of 28 days per month.
Sources read for this page