What does a server for an always-on AI agent really cost?
Eight cloud servers (VPS) priced at three sizes for an AI agent, bot or automation that runs all day and calls model APIs. Each figure is the cheapest plan you could actually order month to month, with a public IPv4 address, in Europe or the UK. Pick a size.
Last checked: 9 Nov 2026 · every price read off the vendor's own page, billed month to month, before VAT · no affiliate links
Jump to: the short answer · how the sizes are priced
The short answer
Cheapest that fits, month to month: OVHcloud at every size, on a bigger plan than you asked for. With no commitment, OVHcloud's VPS-2 (4 vCores, 8 GB) is £7.40 a month, the cheapest at 2 vCPU / 4 GB and at 4 vCPU / 8 GB: its 2 vCore / 4 GB plan, VPS-1, was 'currently unavailable', so VPS-2 was the smallest you could order. At 8 vCPU / 16 GB, VPS-4 (8 vCores, 24 GB) is £20.40. OVHcloud's own page leads with lower 'From' prices, £6.29 and £17.34, which need a 12-month commitment that renews automatically for another 12 months.
Cheapest after OVHcloud: at 2 vCPU / 4 GB, Vultr at $20 (about £14.94), then Scaleway at €19.34 (about £16.13, with its IPv4 and boot disk) and Hetzner at €19.99 (about £16.67). At 4 vCPU / 8 GB, a near-tie that the exchange rate decides: Vultr $40 (about £29.88), Scaleway €35.87 (about £29.92) and Hetzner €35.99 (about £30.02). At 8 vCPU / 16 GB, Hostinger's KVM 8 at £49.99 (with 32 GB), then Hetzner at €69.99 (about £58.38).
The IPv4 address: every figure here includes one public IPv4. Most put it in the price (Hetzner's €0.50 is inside its listed price). Lightsail sells each bundle without one for $4 less ($20 against $24 at 2 vCPU / 4 GB). Scaleway's list price leaves it out: €0.005 an hour, about €3.65 a month, added here with the 10 GB minimum boot disk (about €0.95).
Backups cost extra almost everywhere: Hetzner 20% of the server price, DigitalOcean 20% for weekly or 30% for daily, Akamai $5 / $10 / $20 a month at these sizes, Hostinger £4.99 a month for daily (weekly is free), Lightsail snapshots $0.05 per GB a month. OVHcloud includes a daily backup. Vultr switches its paid backups on by default, and their price is on the pricing page that showed a bot check, so it isn't here.
Headline prices assume a commitment; these don't. OVHcloud's 'From' prices need 12 months and renew automatically. Hostinger's headline prices are 24-month prepayments at a Black Friday price, renewing at a higher rate (its line gives both). Every figure on this page is the regular month-to-month price.
The sizes aren't like-for-like on CPU. Most of these plans share their vCPUs with other customers: Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Scaleway and Akamai's two smaller plans. Lightsail's are burstable, a baseline with bursts above it. Akamai's 8 vCPU / 16 GB figure is a dedicated plan, because it's cheaper there than its shared ones. OVHcloud sells 'vCores' and Hostinger 'vCPU cores' with 'dedicated resources', and neither says whether each is a dedicated thread. Dedicated vCPUs cost more: DigitalOcean $42 against $24 at 2 vCPU / 4 GB, and Hetzner's cheapest dedicated plan (2 vCPU / 8 GB) €43.49 against €19.99.
Two vendors' cheapest plans couldn't be bought on the check date. Every Hetzner Cost-Optimized plan was marked 'not available' (CX23, 2 vCPU / 4 GB, €5.99), so the cheapest Hetzner server you could create at that size was CPX22 at €19.99. OVHcloud's VPS-1 ('From £3.31') was 'currently unavailable'.
Switching a server off doesn't stop the bill at Hetzner, Akamai, Vultr or Lightsail; deleting it does. Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Akamai and Lightsail cap the hourly bill at the monthly price; Scaleway bills each hour with no stated cap, so a 31-day month costs about 2% more than its figure here.
Traffic allowances differ a lot: unlimited at OVHcloud in Europe, 20 TB at Hetzner, 8 to 32 TB at Hostinger, 3 to 8 TB at Vultr, 4 to 6 TB at Akamai, 4,000 to 6,000 GiB at DigitalOcean and 4 to 7 TB at Lightsail, which counts inbound traffic too; Scaleway includes outbound traffic in its price. An agent calling model APIs uses little; browser automation and downloads add up.
When the cheapest is not the answer
- Your agent keeps the CPU busy all day. Shared vCPUs suit work that doesn't: DigitalOcean sells its Basic Droplets for "workloads that underuse dedicated threads", and Lightsail's bundles run at a baseline with bursts above it. For steady load, dedicated vCPUs start at $42 a month at DigitalOcean (2 vCPU / 4 GB), €43.49 at Hetzner (2 vCPU / 8 GB) and about €42.70 at Scaleway (2 vCPU / 4 GB, before its IPv4 and disk).
- The server has to be in the UK. OVHcloud offered VPS-2 and VPS-4 only in Gravelines, France, and Hetzner's prices are for Nuremberg and Helsinki. DigitalOcean and Vultr have London datacentres at these prices, and Hostinger lists a United Kingdom location among its 10, with no different price shown.
- You'd commit for a year anyway. OVHcloud's 12-month commitment takes 15% off (VPS-2 £6.29 a month instead of £7.40) and renews automatically for another 12 months; 6 months takes 5% off. Scaleway's Savings Plans take up to 25% off compute. Hostinger's 12- and 24-month terms are paid upfront and renew at a higher price than the first term.
- You want to run the model on the server. These sizes are for an agent that calls model APIs over the internet. Running a large model yourself needs a GPU server, which this page doesn't price.
Who made this page
An AI agent read each vendor's pricing page in a real browser set to UK English, chose monthly, "No commitment" or a 1-month period with the page's own controls (OVHcloud's configurator and Hostinger's cart; nothing was bought), set Akamai's region menu to Europe, and copied the sentence behind every figure; code checked each sentence was really on the page before it could be used. Vultr's pricing page showed a bot check, which the agent didn't bypass, so Vultr's figures come from its own public list of plans.
A disclosure: the server these pages and their research agents run on is a Hostinger VPS. There are no affiliate links on this page and nothing on it earns a commission.
How the numbers are worked out
monthly cost = the cheapest plan, billed month to month, with at least that many vCPUs and that much RAM, in a European or UK region, with one public IPv4 address
- 2 vCPU / 4 GB: one agent or bot process, a small database or queue, a headless browser now and then, all calling model APIs
- 4 vCPU / 8 GB: several agents or automations side by side, say n8n with a few workers, a vector database and a headless browser
- 8 vCPU / 16 GB: a small fleet of agents, or many browser sessions, sandboxes or code runs in parallel
A vendor with no exact match is priced at its next plan up, and the plan line says "more than asked". Anything the vendor's price leaves out that an internet-facing server needs is added: only Scaleway's, whose list price excludes the public IPv4 and storage. Backups, extra disks and control panels are optional and not added. Disk and traffic aren't part of the size; each plan line gives them.
VAT. Every price here is before VAT or sales tax. Hetzner, DigitalOcean, OVHcloud and Hostinger list 20% UK VAT, added on top; Vultr and Akamai add tax where it applies; Scaleway's prices "exclude all taxes"; Lightsail's pricing page and FAQ don't say.
| Server | 2 vCPU / 4 GB | 4 vCPU / 8 GB | 8 vCPU / 16 GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hetzner Cloudthe cheaper Cost-Optimized plans (CX23, 2 vCPU / 4 GB, €5.99) were all 'not available'; IPv4 is in the price (€0.50 of it); backups +20%; billed hourly up to the cap, even when switched off; Nuremberg or Helsinki | £16.67CPX22 (Regular Performance): 2 shared AMD vCPUs, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB NVMe, 20 TB traffic, IPv4 included: €19.99 a month cap (€0.0320 an hour) · €19.99 · ≈$22.31 | £30.02CPX32 (Regular Performance): 4 shared AMD vCPUs, 8 GB RAM, 160 GB NVMe, 20 TB traffic, IPv4 included: €35.99 a month cap (€0.0577 an hour) · €35.99 · ≈$40.18 | £58.38CPX42 (Regular Performance): 8 shared AMD vCPUs, 16 GB RAM, 320 GB NVMe, 20 TB traffic, IPv4 included: €69.99 a month cap (€0.1122 an hour) · €69.99 · ≈$78.14 |
| DigitalOcean Dropletsbilled per second (60-second minimum) up to the monthly cap; backups +20% weekly or +30% daily; dedicated vCPUs (CPU-Optimized) cost $42 / $84 / $168; London available | £17.93Basic Droplet, Regular CPU: 2 shared vCPUs, 4 GiB RAM, 80 GiB SSD, 4,000 GiB transfer, IPv4 included: $24 a month cap ($0.03571 an hour) · $24.00 | £35.86Basic Droplet, Regular CPU: 4 shared vCPUs, 8 GiB RAM, 160 GiB SSD, 5,000 GiB transfer, IPv4 included: $48 a month cap · $48.00 | £71.72Basic Droplet, Regular CPU: 8 shared vCPUs, 16 GiB RAM, 320 GiB SSD, 6,000 GiB transfer, IPv4 included: $96 a month cap · $96.00 |
| Vultrfrom Vultr's own public plans list, because its pricing page showed a bot check; automatic backups are on by default and cost extra (price not readable); a stopped server is charged the same; London | £14.94Cloud Compute, Regular (vc2-2c-4gb): 2 shared vCPUs (previous-generation Intel), 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD, 3 TB transfer, IPv4 on by default: $20 a month ($0.027 an hour) · $20.00 | £29.88Cloud Compute, Regular (vc2-4c-8gb): 4 shared vCPUs (previous-generation Intel), 8 GB RAM, 160 GB SSD, 4 TB transfer, IPv4 on by default: $40 a month ($0.055 an hour) · $40.00 | £71.72High Performance (vhp-8c-16gb): 8 shared vCPUs (AMD or Intel), 16 GB RAM, 350 GB NVMe, 8 TB transfer, IPv4 on by default: $96 a month ($0.132 an hour) · $96.00 |
| Akamai Cloud (Linode)Europe prices; backups $5 / $10 / $20 a month at these sizes; billed hourly up to the monthly cap, even when powered off | £17.93Linode 4 GB (Shared CPU): 2 shared CPUs, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB storage, 4 TB transfer, one IPv4 included: $24 a month cap ($0.0360 an hour) · $24.00 | £35.86Linode 8 GB (Shared CPU): 4 shared CPUs, 8 GB RAM, 160 GB storage, 5 TB transfer, one IPv4 included: $48 a month cap ($0.0720 an hour) · $48.00 | £107.58G6 Dedicated 16 GB: 8 dedicated CPU cores (legacy hardware), 16 GB RAM, 320 GB storage, 6 TB transfer, one IPv4 included: $144 a month cap ($0.216 an hour). Dedicated, because it's cheaper here than shared: Linode 16 GB has only 6 CPUs and the 8-CPU Linode 32 GB is $192 · $144.00 |
| OVHcloud VPSread in OVHcloud's own configurator with 'No commitment'; its page's 'From' prices (VPS-2 £6.29, VPS-4 £17.34) need a 12-month commitment that renews automatically (6 months: VPS-2 £7.03); these plans were offered in France (Gravelines) only | £7.40VPS-2, no commitment: 4 vCores and 8 GB RAM, more than asked (VPS-1, 2 vCores / 4 GB, was 'currently unavailable'), 75 GB NVMe, unlimited traffic, IPv4 and daily backup included: £7.40 a month. OVHcloud doesn't say whether a vCore is shared or dedicated · ≈$9.90 | £7.40VPS-2, no commitment: 4 vCores, 8 GB RAM, 75 GB NVMe, unlimited traffic, IPv4 and daily backup included: £7.40 a month. OVHcloud doesn't say whether a vCore is shared or dedicated · ≈$9.90 | £20.40VPS-4, no commitment: 8 vCores and 24 GB RAM, more than asked, 200 GB NVMe, unlimited traffic, IPv4 and daily backup included: £20.40 a month. OVHcloud doesn't say whether a vCore is shared or dedicated · ≈$27.31 |
| Hostinger VPSthe regular price from Hostinger's own cart, Period 1 month. Black Friday takes the first month to £8.99 / £17.99 / £34.99 (KVM 2 / 4 / 8). The page's headline prices are 24-month prepayments, £6.79 / £9.99 / £18.99 a month, renewing at £12.99 / £24.99 / £39.99 | £19.99KVM 2, 1-month period: 2 vCPU cores and 8 GB RAM, more than asked (KVM 1 has 1 vCPU), 100 GB NVMe, 8 TB bandwidth, dedicated IP, weekly backups: £19.99 a month. Sold as 'dedicated resources'; Hostinger doesn't say each vCPU is a dedicated thread · ≈$26.76 | £31.99KVM 4, 1-month period: 4 vCPU cores and 16 GB RAM, more than asked, 200 GB NVMe, 16 TB bandwidth, dedicated IP, weekly backups: £31.99 a month. Sold as 'dedicated resources'; Hostinger doesn't say each vCPU is a dedicated thread · ≈$42.82 | £49.99KVM 8, 1-month period: 8 vCPU cores and 32 GB RAM, more than asked, 400 GB NVMe, 32 TB bandwidth, dedicated IP, weekly backups: £49.99 a month. Sold as 'dedicated resources'; Hostinger doesn't say each vCPU is a dedicated thread · ≈$66.91 |
| AWS Lightsailburstable: a baseline level of CPU with bursts above it; the IPv4 effectively costs $4 a month; inbound traffic counts toward the allowance too; billed hourly up to the cap, also while stopped | £17.93General Purpose bundle with public IPv4, Linux: 2 burstable vCPUs, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD, 4 TB transfer: $24 a month cap ($20 without the IPv4) · $24.00 | £62.76General Purpose bundle with public IPv4, Linux: 4 burstable vCPUs and 16 GB RAM, more than asked (no 4 vCPU / 8 GB General Purpose bundle), 320 GB SSD, 6 TB transfer: $84 a month cap ($80 without the IPv4). Compute Optimized 4 vCPU / 8 GB is also $84 · $84.00 | £122.53General Purpose bundle with public IPv4, Linux: 8 burstable vCPUs and 32 GB RAM, more than asked, 640 GB SSD, 7 TB transfer: $164 a month cap ($160 without the IPv4) · $164.00 |
| Scaleway Instancesthe list price leaves out the public IPv4 (€0.005 an hour, about €3.65 a month) and the 10 GB minimum boot disk (about €0.95), so both are added at 730 hours; billed by the hour with no stated monthly cap, so a 31-day month costs about 2% more; Paris | £16.13DEV1-M: 3 shared vCPUs, more than asked, 4 GB RAM, ~€14.74 a month (€0.0202 an hour) + public IPv4 €3.65 + 10 GB boot disk €0.95 = €19.34 · €19.34 · ≈$21.59 | £29.92DEV1-L: 4 shared vCPUs, 8 GB RAM, ~€31.27 a month (€0.04284 an hour) + public IPv4 €3.65 + 10 GB boot disk €0.95 = €35.87 · €35.87 · ≈$40.05 | £66.80BASIC2-A8C-16G: 8 shared vCPUs, 16 GB RAM, ~€75.48 a month (€0.1034 an hour) + public IPv4 €3.65 + 10 GB boot disk €0.95 = €80.08 · €80.08 · ≈$89.41 |
Exchange rates. ECB euro reference rates of 6 November 2026 (the latest published when checked on Monday 9 November before the 16:00 CET release): 1 EUR = 0.83415 GBP, 1 EUR = 1.1165 USD, so 1 USD = 0.74711 GBP.
Left out: Hetzner Cost-Optimized plans (CX23 from €5.99, Arm CAX11 from €6.49) — listed with prices, but every one was marked 'not available' on the check date, so none could be ordered; OVHcloud VPS-1 (2 vCores / 4 GB, 'From £3.31' on a 12-month commitment) — 'currently unavailable' in OVHcloud's configurator, so it couldn't be ordered or priced month to month; DigitalOcean v5 Droplets — billed by the hour with no monthly cap (shared 2 vCPU / 4 GB from $0.052 an hour, about $38 over 730 hours), so not the cheapest way to run all month; Akamai G8 Dedicated plans — priced by the hour only, with no monthly cap from 1 July 2026 ($0.27 an hour for 8 CPUs / 16 GB, about $197 over 730 hours); DigitalOcean Agent Droplets — a managed AI-agent platform sold as a plan credit plus usage discounts, not a server sized by CPU and RAM; Akamai custom pricing and Lightsail pricing quotes — sales-quote routes with no published price; the published plans are used.
There are no affiliate links on this page. DigitalOcean runs an affiliate programme and a referral programme, Akamai a referral programme, and Hostinger an affiliate programme and a referral programme; this site hasn't joined any of them. The research is done by AI agents reading each vendor's own pages. Product names and logos are trademarks of their owners, used only to identify the products compared. No analytics cookies, no tracking scripts, no third-party requests. A personal project, separate from the author's day job.
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest VPS for an AI agent?
Month to month and before VAT, on this page's figures: OVHcloud's VPS-2 at £7.40 a month. It has 4 vCores and 8 GB, more than a 2 vCPU / 4 GB server needs, because OVHcloud's 2 vCore / 4 GB VPS-1 was unavailable. Next at 2 vCPU / 4 GB are Vultr at $20 (about £14.94), Scaleway at €19.34 (about £16.13, with its IPv4 and boot disk) and Hetzner at €19.99 (about £16.67).
Is OVHcloud's £6.29 VPS price month to month?
No. OVHcloud's 'From £6.29' for VPS-2 needs a 12-month commitment (15% off), which renews automatically for another 12 months. With no commitment, VPS-2 is £7.40 a month before VAT; on a 6-month commitment it is £7.03.
Can you still buy Hetzner's €5.99 cloud server?
Not on 9 Nov 2026: every Hetzner Cost-Optimized plan, including CX23 (2 vCPU / 4 GB, €5.99), was marked 'not available'. The cheapest Hetzner server you could create at that size was CPX22, with 2 shared AMD vCPUs and 4 GB, at €19.99 a month with the IPv4 address included.
Do VPS providers charge extra for an IPv4 address?
Every figure on this page includes one. Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Akamai, OVHcloud and Hostinger include it in the price, and Vultr switches one on by default with no separate charge in its plans list. Lightsail sells each bundle without one for $4 less ($20 against $24 at 2 vCPU / 4 GB). Scaleway's list price leaves it out and charges €0.005 an hour, about €3.65 a month.
Answers use the figures on this page, last checked 9 Nov 2026.