Cheapest VPS Hosting for Self Managed Kubernetes

Last updated on March 8th, 2023 at 03:56 pm.

Cheapest VPS For Self Managed Kubernetes Hosting

If you are looking for the Cheapest Kubernetes Cluster hosting for your self managed setup, this post will list the cheapest VPS Hosting for self managed Kubernetes.

When you need to self host Kubernetes, your server needs to have at least 2GB of RAM and 2vCPU.

Here is the list for Cheapest managed Kubernetes Clusters.

I have selected the cheapest and reliable VPS providers with these minimum specs of 2GB RAM and 2vCPU. 

Looking for the cheapest VPS for your self hosted kubernetes / self hosted cluster, read on.

I will list them based on my recommendation; from most preferred.

1. Hetzner Cloud

Hetzner is a German Cloud Hosting provider. The reasons why it is at the top of my Cheap cloud providers for Kubernetes are multiple. 

First of all, they provide affordable servers in all ranges. They have standard VPS, dedicated Virtual servers  and also dedicated servers.

You can get a 2GB and 2vCPU AMD VPS for €4.75 pm.

Hetzner provides reliable servers with modern hardware. 

The Hetzner Interface is easy to use. Here is a Hetzner dashboard video overview

WIth Hetzner you can set up a private network to network your Kubernetes clusters. 

They provide a firewall feature that you can attach to many servers. 

Deploy your Hetzner servers, add them to a VPC network and attach your firewall rules to all servers in your cluster.

With Hetzner you can definitely run Kubernetes clusters at a much cheaper cost. On large Cloud providers like AWS, your costs would be really high.

Finally, with hetzner you are only charged for the duration when your server was alive. If you deploy your server for 3 days, you only be charged for the 3 days.

Related post: 5 Cheapest Managed Kubernetes Hosting

2. OVH Cloud

OVH is a French Cloud Hosting company. They provide different types of self managed and managed servers ranging from VPS, dedicated VPS to dedicated Bare metal servers.

Lots of developers use OVHCloud to host their apps, sites , gaming servers and more.

Their lowest server package for your self hosted Kubernetes would be the 4gb memory and 2 vCPU cloud servers. To access cloud VPS on the OVH website, go to bare Metal, then choose Virtual Private Servers. 

Deploy your VPS server on OVH and then set up your Kubernetes cluster as you normally would on any other Cloud server provider you are used to.

3. Contabo

Looking for the Cheapest VPS servers? Contabo has them. Contabo is one of those providers that is used solely because they provide unbelievable VPS offers. A lot of us argue that it is because they have last gen tech and they overprovision their servers.

Contabo is a German Web Hosting Company.

Are Contabo servers reliable for a production environment? I have used them to host my site before and it was online for the full duration (about 14 months) it was hosted there. Never went offline once.

Their support is abysmal , so  if you are going to host your site/app there, ensure that you are not a noob who needs hand-holding with every server issue you get. It is a place for those who can handle their own server support and those who are patient enough to wait for a reply.

For Kubernetes, my first choice would be Hetzner or OVH. For some wordpress blogs, I wouldn’t mind hosting it on Contabo using the HestiaCP LEMP stack.

Earlier ,you couldn’t host a multi node cluster since there was no VPC network capability. About 2 or 1 month ago (2022), Contabo introduced their private network. You can now set up networks and host your Kubernetes multi node clusters .

On Contabo, for $7 you will get a 4vCPU and 8GB RAM VPS server.

4. Vultr

Vultr is an American Cloud Hosting Company. Vultr is not as Cheap as the above options, but it has reliable servers and multiple data center locations.

The Cheapest VPS for your self hosted Kubernetes can start at $18 for 2GB and 2vCPU. 

They have so many servers to choose from. If you are confused about the different products, read this Vultr Server products post.

If you just need to test servers, here is a Vultr $100 credit link. If you do not have an account already, you will receive $100 to try Vultr with any servers.

5. Linode

Linode is also like Vultr. Just as reliable with multiple server options. They provide great support and documentation. Linode is pretty well documented.

The cheapest 4GB and 2vCPU server is about $20.

Both VUltr and Linode have managed Kubernetes which starts at $10.

6. Namecheap

I’ve just added Namecheap VPS because I saw that they have a 2GB / 2vCPU server for $10. I have never used the Namecheap VPS. However I have used other namecheap services. 

I am not sure whether you’d be able to create a multi-node Kubernetes cluster there. For a single node cluster, it is pretty much possible on any VPS using the right Kubernetes installer.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a cheap cloud server for your self managed Kubernetes, then you can choose any one of the VPS providers mentioned above. If you are looking for the cheapest and most reliable, you can’t go wrong with either OVH or Hetzner Cloud servers.

Video Captions for Self managed Kubernetes Hosting video.

Hi and welcome to this video. In this video we want to see which platform you can use if you’re trying to run Kubernetes on your own. When Kubernetes is in a self-managed environment, normally you should have like 2GB of ram and 2 vCPU.

In this video let’s see some of the cheap cloud or affordable VPSs that you can use to save costs. If you run Kubernetes on a platform like AWS, it is going to be so much more expensive than running it on a VPS. 

One of the first VPSs that you can look at is Contabo. The link for all the VPSs will be in the description. You can look at each of them.

If you come here under cloud VPS you’re going to see that you have the cloud VPS. You have the cloud VDS and you also have storage. Of course you’re interested in the VPS or the VDSes. VDSs are usually more expensive than VPS’s . You want to start with the VPS if that is what is within your budget.

If you come here on the cloud and you click on VPS you’re going to end up on this page. You can see the different offers that you get. With Kubernetes they usually recommend that the lowest server resource should be like two virtual CPUs and 2 gb of ram. You can see that even the smallest Contabo plan surpasses that. You’ll get 4 virtual CPUs and 8GB of ram. It’s important to note that these are shared resources whereby the virtual CPU will be shared with other people on the server, but Kubernetes will still see that your server has enough features for Kubernetes features to be installed and run on that server.

Looking at the dashboard for Contabo. If you come in here you’re going to see your dashboard. This is the Contabo Dashboard. You can do  different management tasks here on Contabo. 

Let’s move on to Hetzner now. You can install your Kubernetes on Hetzner. This would probably be my first choice. If you come here under cloud these are the VPS offers that you get on Hetzner. Just click on cloud and you’re going to see the different offers that Hetzner Cloud has.

If I click on prices you’ll see that they do have the standard which are basically shared VPS . Like the other ones they are shared. And also on this end you can click on VDS to see the prices. They start at 49. On the standard plan you’d probably start with this. You can start with this which has 2GB of ram and 2 vCPUs. You can see that it is 4.75 euros. 

If you want dedicated resources where there won’t be any sharing with your neighbors on the server you can come here under dedicated. You can see the prices for this start at 23 euros and you’ll get 8GB of ram and 2 virtual CPUs. You can select that here.

Going back to Contabo, let’s look at the VDS as well. This is just the same as the dedicated resources from this side. So on this side you’ll get dedicated instances whereby you’ll have 24 GB of ram and three virtual CPUs but this will not be shared. Okay. It’s very important to note that these are not shared. The other ones are shared. If you’re looking for a powerful VPS and you don’t want it to be shared you can start with something from there. These are really really tremendous resources that you get here, definitely value for your money on this other end. You can compare with that. 

Let’s go to the dashboard of Hetzner so that you can see what it looks like. On Hetzner when you log in you’re probably going to end up on a different window from me. But you can come up here. Up here you can go to the different services that are provided by Hezner.  If you come here uh you can see that you can switch to robots. 

Under robot that’s where you’re going to get the dedicated servers. Wherever you are on Hetzner you can always go to the correct resource that you’re trying to deploy or use  by clicking on that .

If you want to go back to your Cloud VPS’s you can click there. You can see these are some of the servers you’re going to get . There’s so many more. Click on that. Your servers will be there. Let’s head back to cloud. If you want to deploy a server you need to put it under a project. So within that project you can deploy a new server. If you go inside of that project you can deploy a server.

If I click there on another server you can add all the different types of servers that we saw on the front end. You can deploy any of them here. Choose the operating system and then you can choose the different types of server resources that you want; VPS server resources that you want. If you want shared of course you’ll leave it at standard. If you want dedicated, you’ll go back to the dedicated side. The good thing with Hetzner is that you can also set up a VPC network so you can set up a network for your Kubernetes setup. 

That would be something you can do here. You can create a new network where you can have all your different servers. 

Let’s move on to another Cloud provider and this time round let’s look at OVH Cloud. Let’s see what are some of the offers that OVH can provide. On this end I’ve just landed on the OVH Cloud dashboard. You can see what it’s like.

When you click on Bare metal it’s going to bring you to this page and you can choose the different types of servers you manage. If you need to get an OVH server you probably should go to the front end. Let’s go to the front end to look at the prices. I will come here under bare metal and here under VPS let’s look at all the VPS solutions. Let’s go to dollars. I don’t use euros.

I want to use the US dollars. There we go. You can see it also depends on where you are on OVH. You can start with $3.50 and you’ll get one virtual core. This is probably not enough for the Kubernetes setup. For the minimal Kubernetes setup you’ll need two vCPU and 2GB RAM. With that said you’ll definitely need to start with this. You need to start with this at $11.50 because this has only one vCPU.

You can also look at Namecheap. I think Namecheap has one for nine dollars or about 10. You can get 2GB ram and2vCPU for nine dollars on Namecheap. Of course instead of using that you’d probably rather use this because you get 4gb here at 2 vcore and 4gb and it’s about the same price as the one on Namecheap. 

So that is if you want to install all the Kubernetes setup on your own. However if you want to run a Kubernetes engine and you don’t want to use AWS because AWS in the end ends up getting very expensive.

What you can use in that case, you use something like Vultr. If you come to Vultr the good thing with Vultr is that they have a Kubernetes engine that is built inside of their system. What you’ll do is, here under products, if you come here on this end you’ll see Kubernetes and you can add a Kubernetes cluster. 

Adding a Kubernetes cluster here is very easy, you just give the cluster a name and then of course the version of the Kubernetes that you want to deploy. And then you choose a location for your server. Let’s choose Frankfurt. On Vultr you only pay for the resources that you’re using. Just the resources. If you come here you can see that they’ve chosen for you high performance but you can choose something else.Maybe you want regular cloud compute and for regular cloud compute maybe you want three servers; you want one control plane and two worker nodes.

You can deploy three servers and that’s going to be 30 dollars. If you’re using the regular cloud. You can see for Vultr, the engine at least, I think  supports one CPU as well. Maybe that depends on the engine but if you’re installing on your own it is recommended you start with two CPU and 2gb ram. You can also change your server performance. This is just the server performance. If you know about Vultr,then you know the different products that they offer .

You can choose that appropriately right here. If you want high performance servers you can choose starting from there. If you also want a direct alternative for Vultr, if you are looking for a managed Kubernetes engine then you can use linode. Linode is also priced the same as Vultr whereby they only charge you for whatever you’re using. You’re not charged for the engine. If you use two servers, three servers you will be charged for the three servers only. If you are using the load balancer you’ll also be charged for that based on the monthly pricing for Linode. You can check on the pricing.

For Linode you’d have to check the pricing.If you come here on the pricing you’ll just click on the pricing list. You’re going to see all the different servers that they do provide. They have dedicated CPU plans that start at that price. They have shared CPU plans. You’d probably start with one of these. If you just want to save on costs, probably you’re still learning Kubernetes and you need a place to install it then you can start with one that has two CPUs. Kubernetes is charged based on the resources that you consume. If you’re using any of these other servers you’ll be charged for those servers times the number of servers that you have. All in all if you’re learning Kubernetes , don’t use AWS because it might end up getting very expensive using AWS. What you can do is use any of these cheap options.

Just in brief, I’ve  said you can use Contabo. You can use Contabo. Let’s go back to cloud VPS. All the links are in the description. If you want to use any of these platforms and you want to support me I will greatly appreciate your support. If you have any questions feel free to let me know. Just ask a question in the comment section and I will see how to assist you. We have Contabo, Hetzner and then OVH . You can use any one of these to host Kubernetes. So that’s it.

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