Vultr is a cloud hosting provider with worldwide data centers and is an IDEAL rival to DigitalOcean, Linode, Google Cloud, Hetzner, etc. At budget-friendly prices, Vultr high-frequency servers outperform the rest.
I prefer Vultr, DO, and Akamai (Linode) for cloud VPS hosting; they’re all affordable and competitive in the industry. VULTR has fast TTFB, especially on high-frequency servers, so I chose them over the other two.
Vultr and Linode are fantastic cloud hosting services with geeky vibes. Although my interest in Linode waned after Akamai bought it, it is still a good choice.
I haven’t personally experienced this; however, some people complain about some downtime and packets occasionally decreasing with Vultr.
Overview:
| Data Centers | 32 |
| Products | Cloud compute, GPU, Bare metal, VPN, Database hosting, Block storage, and Object storage |
| Cpanel, Plesk, SPanel, RunCloud, GridPane, SpinupWP, CloudPages, CloudPanel, ServerAvatar, etc. | |
| Operating Systems | Linux, FreeBSD, Ubuntu, Windows, Flatcar, etc. |
| Apps | LiteSpeed, WordPress, CyberPanel, cPanel (paid), Docker, Jamulus, LEMP, Joomla, Drupal, Gitlab, etc. |
| Payments | All cards, PayPal, Alipay, Wire, and Bitcoin |
| Support | Tickets and Documents |
| Addons | Backups, DDOS, IPv4, Bitnami |
| Pricing | Starting at $2.50 per month |
Their control panel lets users manage extra storage, like block and object storage. You can add more storage to the server with block storage and store files remotely with the OS – So, let’s get into this VULTR cloud hosting review.
1. Products and Pricing
VULTR is more than just a web host because it offers different web services, such as storage, load balancers, GPUs, VPNs, Bare Metal, and more.
Comparatively, the prices are average; it’s cheaper than AWS and Google Cloud (Same price as DO and Linode).
Regular Performance Hosting
This option is a good choice for static websites looking for average speed. It uses Intel CPUs from older generations and regular solid-state drives (SSDs).
| CPU | RAM | Bandwidth | Storage | Monthly fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 GB | 1 TB | 25 GB | $5 |
| 1 | 2 GB | 2 TB | 55 GB | $10 |
| 2 | 2 GB | 3 TB | 65 GB | $15 |
| 2 | 4 GB | 3 TB | 80 GB | $20 |
| 4 | 8 GB | 4 TB | 160 GB | $40 |
You can even get servers with 24 CPUs and 96 GB of RAM. SSD hosting is viable, but I recommend it only for some websites since my speed test was lower than expected.
I don’t see the point in using regular SSD hosting because high-frequency servers are only a few dollars more expensive than regular servers.
High Frequency
As I mentioned, they have two kinds of high-performance servers, AMD EPYC and Intel Xeon, at the same prices.
| CPU | RAM | Bandwidth | Storage | Monthly fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 GB | 1 TB | 32 GB | $6 |
| 1 | 2 GB | 2 TB | 64 GB | $12 |
| 2 | 2 GB | 3 TB | 80 GB | $18 |
| 2 | 4 GB | 3 TB | 128 GB | $24 |
| 3 | 8 GB | 4 TB | 256 GB | $48 |
You can pick up to 48 GB RAM. If you have dynamic sites, HF can be the right choice since you can get quick TTFB with fast server performance. I don’t write here anymore since this post includes a separate section.
Optimized Cloud Compute
Optimized cloud computing, called virtual machines, runs on AMD EPYC CPUs; these machines deliver the fast, consistent performance required by a wide range of web applications.
It has four types of services:
- Storage Optimized: This server has a lot of NVMe storage and a typical CPU/RAM combination. It works well for sites with a lot of traffic, extensive databases, etc. With 1 CPU, 8 GB RAM, and 150 NVMe, it costs $75.00 per month, but NVMe capacity can even be increased to 5TB.
- Memory Optimized: These VMs provide a significantly higher amount of RAM than CPUs and NVMe. It’s great for sites that analyze data right away. Starting at $40.00/month with 8 GB RAM.
- CPU Optimized: More CPU power in these VMs than RAM and NVMe SSDs. Ideal for video processing, data syncing, ad networks, and data mining. You can get 4 cores for under $100.
- General Purpose: Ideal balance between CPU, RAM, and NVMe. It’s suitable for online stores, ad networks, games, video streaming, API servers, etc. At $120.00/m, it’s 4 CPUs, 16GB RAM, and 80GB NVMe.
Usually, optimized cloud servers are used for particular purposes, and you can obtain dedicated server resources. They’re expensive, but they work for even average sites – perfect for large-scale web projects.
Bare Metal
Bare-metal servers have many advantages:
- It gives you direct access to the hardware without virtualization layers.
- You will have direct control over real, physical servers.
- Bare metal servers are only for one person.
- It has all its capabilities since there are no other clients.
The advantages of this computing are especially good for businesses with high data volumes. With bare metals, you get top-notch performance because all the server’s resources work for one client, so it’s super fast.
This setup is suitable for massive e-commerce sites, databases, multimedia applications, ad exchanges, hosts, and other high-scale businesses.
Bare metal isn’t practical, even for most high-traffic sites. However, it might be an ideal choice if you have a lot of traffic, probably millions of page views, and a lot of dynamic content.
Bare metal plans start at $120/m with 4 cores, 32GB RAM, and 5TB bandwidth. A high-priced NVIDIA GPU + Intel CPU combo is also available.
Other Products
They offer lots of other web hosting and storage options; however, I can’t list them all.
- Cloud GPU: you can rent multiple NVIDIA GPUs starting at $22/month.
- Block storage: offers 10GB of block storage for $1/m.
- Object Storage: Object storage lets you store videos, songs, and files online. Monthly bandwidth and storage up to 1 TB.
- Load Balancers: Usually load balancers are good for improving app performance by reducing latency. The monthly fee is $10.00
2. Control Panel
VULTR has a fun user interface and control panel, and the features it provides are enough to manage/configure a cloud server. It lets you deploy and manage servers quickly, including CPU, RAM, storage, and other stacks.
I like their deployment process because it is simple and can be completed with a few mouse clicks. Once your server is deployed, you can handle them through the dashboard.
I mean, they do not provide fully managed services like a regular web host. But you can start, stop, reboot, and reinstall servers as required.
You can monitor your server’s resource intake using the server console and manage the IP addresses connected to your server.
Users can control features like firewalls, private networks, and DNS through the Panel. Using the team management feature, you can set up limited access for others.
It’s got all the elements you need to run a web server. However, the most suitable option is to use an external control panel such as SPanel, RunCloud, ServerAvatar, etc.
3. Vultr Data Centers
VULTR manages over 30 data centers all over the world, so it’s like a CDN. Fast and easy deployment of low-latency servers, no matter where you are. You can choose a server location in the control panel.
Here is the complete list of Vultr data centers:
- North America: Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Silicon Valley, Toronto, Miami, Mexico City, Honolulu, and New Jersey.
- Latin America: Sao Paulo and Santiago.
- Europe: London, Frankfurt, Paris, Warsaw, Madrid, Stockholm, and Amsterdam.
- Asia: Osaka, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi.
- Australia: Melbourne and Sydney.
- Africa: Johannesburg
Of course, you should choose a server location near your users. Your DNS connection time should be less than 100 ms. And many effects can depend on your conditions.
Local businesses and websites need to set their servers as close to their users as possible. Choose an Asian DC, like Singapore, if most of your traffic comes from Asia.
If your traffic is limited to the USA or Europe, you can select a data center in the U.S., like New Jersey or Chicago.
And if your users are mainly from Australia, New Zealand, and South Asia, you can choose a data center in Melbourne.
If your traffic is entirely African, your only option is Johannesburg. And Latinos can choose between Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and Santiago.
Always choose a close data center because it’s useful for many reasons. Yes, you can use a CDN like FlyingCDN to provide the same experience for people worldwide, but that might not always work.
Users may experience a slow dashboard if your data center is far away, especially for WordPress users. But for average to big websites, you’ll need a good WordPress CDN.
4. Server Stacks
In my opinion, I would recommend using VULTR with cloud hosting control panels like RunCloud, SpinupWP, CloudPages, SPanel, etc. You don’t need technical or server admin experience to use cloud hosting panels.
They’re perfect for startups, the tools are easy to use, and most of the features are within reach with just a few clicks. The only concern is that using the control panel incurs an additional charge.
Compared to providers, this can cost up to $5 a month. GridPane, for example, can cost more than $100. However, an average user can obtain ServerPilot/RunCloud for less than $10/M.
But it has enough stacks to control a server if you’re a techie. You can try different settings once you know what to change. Have operating systems such as Debian, Cent, Ubuntu, Rocky Linux, Windows, Fedora, etc.
If you wish to use LiteSpeed WordPress hosting with them, setting up OpenLiteSpeed+WordPress on Ubuntu is straightforward and quick.
It’s good to pick Litespeed because you get a free cache plugin. Users can use Drupal, Joomla, Rails, and all of them with OpenLiteSpeed in the control panel; besides that, you can upload your ISO.
You don’t need a third-party control panel if you know how to do those things. However, for average and new users, you may want to opt for a control panel (connect your server with an IP address or API) or other hosts that provide Vultr servers instead of the control panel.
5. High Frequency
Several tests have proven that VULTR High-Frequency Cloud VPS Hosting outperforms regular hosting by almost double.
Since HF comes with NVMe storage, you can get the most out of your high-clock speed due to the faster cores that speed things up.
With it, you can use the most capable architecture, including processors with 3+ GHz (Intel Xeon CPUs), designed to power applications that require high performance And you can pick AMD EPYC.
Their high frequency makes them one of the most popular hosting solutions among many users. As a result of modern hardware and stacks, it is easier to get an efficient TTFB and connection time.
It’s not a big deal for an average website with low or medium traffic or for static content sites like blogs, services, and content-focused websites.
Having high-frequency servers is a good idea if your site gets 50k visits a month and has tons of uncacheable content. – ideal for documentation websites.
Cloudways used to be an ideal provider for Vultr hosting. Since DigitalOcean bought Cloudways, many complaints have occurred, especially about Vult being removed. However, Cloudways still provides Vultr hosting (standard and high-frequency servers).
Yes, Cloudways has backed VULTR and Linode again recently, so I am hopeful that they will continue to be a solid cloud hosting company without having to chop and change constantly. However, it is still likely to be expensive.
6. Pros And Cons
Pros:
- Budget-friendly: VULTR is less expensive than the big names like Google Cloud, AWS, and Azure.
- High Performance: With high-frequency servers, you get NVMe and high-speed CPUs (3GHz+ Intel Xeon, AMD EPYC).
- Stylish User Interface: The control panel and user interface are elegant and easy to use.
- Multiple data centers: they offer 32 data centers worldwide.
- Multiple host options: You can get Cloud GPUs, VPS, Object storage, Load balancers, Block storage, Bare metal, etc.
- Free credit: They gives free credit to new customers.
- Cool server stacks: There are plenty of server applications, and you can even upload your own ISO.
Cons:
- Support isn’t quick: Many people don’t like their customer service; however, it’s unmanaged. And most unmanaged cloud computing services do not offer complete customer service.
- A bit pricey: Similar prices to Linode and Digital Ocean, but more expensive than Hetzner or OVHcloud.
- A little downtime: Occasionally, they receive complaints about their servers going down, but it happens rarely.
- Availability issues: Some advanced packages aren’t available at all server locations.
- Unmanaged: This isn’t a con, but users should remember they’re responsible for managing the server.
Conclusion
If you’re a techie, you can use VULTR without much trouble. However, I urge using control panels for most others – To set up the server, you must sign up on the website and follow the control panel steps.
You can run everything from a small website to a large one with Vultr. I have yet to try their Cloud GPU or Bare Metal, which I can’t comment on.
But I am a fan of their high-frequency, high-performance servers built with the latest technology. HF VPS has NVMe and fast clock speeds – they’re suitable for dynamic websites with heavy themes and lots of features.
DigitalOcean also offers premium cloud servers with AMD CPUs. Despite that, V-high-frequency has the fastest response time. Also, DO Premium with AMD CPUs has comparable performance.
