AWS EC2 vs Vultr Cloud Compute
Vultr Cloud Compute is cheaper across every workload modelled here.
List prices checked
Rate cards side by side
Only the axes at least one of them bills on. A dash means that provider does not charge for it.
| Billing axis | AWS EC2 | Vultr Cloud Compute | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | — | $2.50/mo | — |
| Compute | $0.042/vCPU-hr | $0.0040/vCPU-hr | 10.4× Vultr Cloud Compute |
| Data transfer out | $0.090/GB | $0.010/GB | 9× Vultr Cloud Compute |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes | — |
Source: Amazon Web Services pricing (May 2026) · Vultr pricing (May 2026). Published list prices only — committed-use discounts, regional variation, and per-request charges are not included. Not yet independently re-checked against the vendor’s page.
Monthly cost for three real workloads
The rate cards applied to identical usage. This is where the winner changes.
| Workload | AWS EC2 | Vultr Cloud Compute | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Side projectA personal site or small app with modest traffic, a few gigabytes of assets, and one small always-on process. | $39 | $2.92 | Vultr Cloud Computesaves $36/mo (93%) |
| Growing SaaSA funded product serving a few thousand daily users, with an image-heavy frontend and two application servers. | $151 | $11 | Vultr Cloud Computesaves $140/mo (93%) |
| Media-heavy siteA publisher or video product where delivery dominates the bill and compute is almost an afterthought. | $930 | $98 | Vultr Cloud Computesaves $832/mo (89%) |
Workload definitions are identical on every comparison page, so figures here can be read against any other pair in the same category.
What each one is for
AWS EC2
by Amazon Web Services
On-demand instances across every region and instance family. List rates are the highest in this category on both compute and egress; reserved instances and savings plans are how the price actually comes down.
Free tier: 750 hours per month of a t-class micro instance for 12 months
Vultr Cloud Compute
by Vultr
Cheap flat-rate instances across an unusually wide region list, including locations the hyperscalers do not serve. Bandwidth is allocated per instance rather than pooled.
Free tier: None; the $2.50 IPv6-only plan is the entry point
Common questions
- Is AWS EC2 or Vultr Cloud Compute cheaper in 2026?
- Vultr Cloud Compute is cheaper in all 3 modelled workloads.
- What is the difference in egress cost between AWS EC2 and Vultr Cloud Compute?
- Vultr Cloud Compute charges $0.010 per GB against AWS EC2's $0.090, roughly 9× cheaper. Egress usually dominates the bill once traffic is measured in terabytes.
- Which has the better free tier, AWS EC2 or Vultr Cloud Compute?
- Both publish one. AWS EC2: 750 hours per month of a t-class micro instance for 12 months. Vultr Cloud Compute: None; the $2.50 IPv6-only plan is the entry point.
- What do these estimates not include?
- Committed-use and reserved discounts, regional price variation, per-request API charges, support plans, and minimum retention periods. All of those move real invoices, sometimes by a lot. These figures compare published list prices for the same workload, which is the comparison the rate cards alone cannot give you.