Picking a VPS
Hetzner vs DigitalOcean vs Vultr vs Oracle Cloud — what actually matters.
What a VPS actually is
A VPS (virtual private server) is a slice of a real server rented to you by the hour or month. You get root access, a static public IP, and a clean Linux box you control from top to bottom. Unlike a managed PaaS, nothing runs on it until you install it — which is exactly the point.
The four specs that matter
CPU cores set your ceiling for CPU-bound work (SSR, builds, background jobs). Two shared cores handles most side projects. RAM is the one spec that will bite you first — Postgres plus a Node app plus Traefik eats ~1.5 GB idle. Disk matters less than people think; 40 GB is plenty for a single app with logs and backups rotated off-box. Bandwidth is the sneaky one: Hetzner gives you 20 TB/mo, DigitalOcean gives you 1–4 TB/mo and charges $0.01/GB over.
Provider comparison
Hetzner Cloud is the price-to-performance king. Their CX22 at €4.59/mo gives you 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB disk, 20 TB bandwidth. EU and US data centers. Catch: signup can reject new accounts, and their fraud check is strict. DigitalOcean is the gentle-on-ramp. $6/mo droplet is 1 GB RAM and cramped for anything with a database, so most self-hosters start at the $12/mo 2 GB plan. Excellent docs and a polished UI. Vultr sits between the two on both price and polish, with more global regions than either. Oracle Cloud Free Tier is real — 4 Ampere ARM cores and 24 GB RAM, free forever — but provisioning is a notorious lottery and the console is hostile.
What the $5 server actually runs
A 2 GB shared-CPU box comfortably runs a Next.js app, a Postgres database, a reverse proxy, and two or three background services. People self-host Ghost, Umami analytics, Plausible, Outline, Uptime Kuma, and half a dozen other SaaS replacements on boxes this size. The limit is not compute — it is memory pressure when you forget to set container limits.
Pick this one if you just want an answer
Start with a Hetzner CX22 (€4.59/mo, EU or US). If signup bounces you, take a DigitalOcean 2 GB droplet ($12/mo). Either will outlast your side project. You can always resize up without rebuilding — treat the first box as disposable.
Key takeaways
- RAM is the spec that runs out first — aim for 2 GB minimum
- Hetzner gives the best price-to-performance; DigitalOcean is friendlier to start
- Bandwidth caps vary 5–20× across providers — check before you pick
- The first VPS is disposable. Resize or rebuild whenever you need to