Top egress and bandwidth pricing compared

About Top egress and bandwidth pricing compared

Egress is the line item that catches people out, because data leaving a bucket is billed apart from the storage holding it. This ranking covers 72 cloud providers on exactly that charge: what each gigabyte of outbound data transfer costs, how much of it arrives bundled with the plan, and what keeps running once the allowance is used. The trade-off sits between a large transfer allowance attached to a plan and a per gigabyte rate that repeats every month. Providers that bundle heavy traffic look cheap for a media heavy workload, while those with the lower unit rate win on steady, constant transfer. Region reach matters alongside price, since data pulled from a nearby zone arrives faster and, at some providers, moves free. Compatibility with the standard object storage API decides how much of your existing tooling still works after a move. Read the allowance and the unit rate together, never one alone.

How we picked

Every provider here is scored on the same published rates, taken from each provider's own pricing pages, storage listings and legal pages, and from the site wide set of 523 brands. The score rests on weights for price, offer and trust. Price carries the most at 40%, because egress is a usage line that compounds with every gigabyte moved. The offer takes an equal share at 40%, covering bundled transfer, the storage types on the same account and the number of regions. Trust closes the ranking at 20%, drawing on the legal entity, the headquarters country and the year a company was founded. Providers holding a paid partnership are listed first, above the rest of the field, and the remainder follow in score order. Where a provider lists several plans, the plan attached to a figure is named, so an opening price is never read as a renewal price. Figures that are absent are left out rather than estimated, so a quiet entry in this ranking is not a poor one.

Our top picks

1. 2. Kamatera

   Kamatera is in this ranking as a value pick among providers that do charge for outbound traffic. Egress is billed at $0.01 per gigabyte, storage per gigabyte each month is $0.05, and each server includes 5,000 of internet traffic a month, so the allowance follows the compute rather than the plan. It operates 21 regions and support runs on email, chat and phone. The clear limitation is the storage model: it offers block storage only and is not compatible with the standard object storage API. Melbicom, ranked next, carries that API and adds object storage at a similar unit rate.

   • Entry price: $4
   • Entry plan: 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB NVMe SSD
   • Bandwidth allowance: 5 TB traffic included

   Pros

   • The entry plan is a usable starting size: 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB NVMe SSD, enough for a small service or a staging box.
   • Billing is flexible: hourly and monthly billing lets a server run for a short test without a long commitment.
   • Traffic is generous, with 5 TB traffic included on the plan and 5 TB internet traffic included per server per month on each server.
   • DDoS protection is included, and the platform holds SOC 2 Type II.
   • Support covers email, chat and phone, so help does not rest on a single channel.

   Cons

   • Egress beyond the included traffic is billed at $0.01 per gigabyte, which adds up for data heavy services.
   • Block storage is priced at $0.05 per gigabyte, above the €0.01 across the site.
   • Block storage is not S3 compatible, so workloads built on object storage APIs do not transfer directly.
   • Hourly billing is the only model listed in hourly, so there is no reserved tier for steady long running capacity.

2. 3. Aruba: best for top-pick

   Aruba tops this ranking because it separates the bundle from the rate better than most of the field. The entry package includes 40,000 of outgoing traffic a month, far more headroom than the entries below it offer, and storage per gigabyte each month is €0.011, among the lowest listed. Egress is billed at €0.05 per gigabyte once that allowance is gone, so the trade is a higher unit rate for a generous starting allowance. It covers object and block storage across 7 regions, is compatible with the standard object storage API, and support runs on phone, email and help centre. Vultr, next in line, spans more regions and charges less per transferred gigabyte, but its included allowance is a fraction of this one.

   • Entry price: €1.99
   • Entry plan: 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB storage
   • Bandwidth allowance: 2 TB/month

   Pros

   • The VPS entry plan costs €1.99, below the site median of €5.83 for the same field.
   • Object storage egress runs at €0.05 per GB, with 40 TB per month with the entry package included on the entry package.
   • The entry plan ships 2 TB/month, well above what most small plans carry.
   • Object storage is S3-compatible, so existing buckets and tooling can be pointed at it rather than rewritten.
   • Server types cover both vps and bare metal, so a team can move from virtual to dedicated hardware inside one account.

   Cons

   • Compute is listed for a single market: IT is the only region, so latency-sensitive users elsewhere pay for the trip.
   • Support runs on phone, email and help centre, with live chat not among the listed channels alongside email, phone and the help centre.
   • The entry plan is small at 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB storage, which leaves little room for a database and a build pipeline on the same box.

3. 4. Aruba Cloud

   Aruba Cloud sits just below Biznet Gio in this ranking because it bills for outbound traffic where Biznet Gio's is free, and it earns its place on the size of the bundle instead. Egress is billed at €0.05 per gigabyte, storage per gigabyte each month is €0.011, and subscription packages bundle outgoing traffic, including 40,960 a month with the entry package. It offers object and block storage across 7 regions and is compatible with the standard object storage API. The comparison that matters sits above it: the free egress removes the line item entirely, while here the unit rate still applies past the bundle.

   • Entry price: €1.99
   • Entry plan: 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB storage
   • Bandwidth allowance: 2 TB/month

   Pros

   • Entry plans start at €1.99 with 2 TB/month included, below the site median of €5.83.
   • Bare-metal alongside VPS, so vps and bare metal cover both virtual and dedicated use.
   • Object storage priced at €0.011 per GB per month with egress at €0.05 per GB.
   • DDoS protection is included, which most providers in the comparison charge for separately.
   • A free control plane means managed Kubernetes carries no platform fee of its own.

   Cons

   • Billing runs on monthly terms only, so short projects pay for a full month.
   • Support reaches you through help centre and chat, with no phone line listed.
   • Nine locations sit well below the site median of 4 for providers of this size.
   • Egress free allowance of 40,960 is tied to subscription packages rather than offered on every storage tier.

4. 6. Google Cloud

   Google Cloud sits in this ranking for reach rather than for the rate. Egress is billed at $0.12 per gigabyte, the highest unit price among the entries near the top, and the free allowance is 100 of data transfer a month, limited to North America traffic to each Google Cloud data transfer destination, with Australia and China excluded. Storage per gigabyte each month is $0.02, the minimum storage period is 30 to 365, and it runs 46 regions, more than any other provider listed. It is compatible with the standard object storage API. HostKey, ranked next, charges a fraction of that unit rate on a much smaller footprint.

   • Control plane price: $0.10
   • Free control plane: Yes
   • HA control plane price: $0.10

   Pros

   • The control plane is free, and the paid tier sits at $0.10, close to the site median of €0.06.
   • Scale headroom is large: clusters run to 65,000 nodes, well past what most managed offerings in the ranking allow.
   • A free tier and $300 in free credits in credits cover early experiments before any spend.
   • Egress includes 100 a month for North America transfers, which cuts the $0.12 per-GB rate for small-scale traffic.
   • Footprint is wide, with 40 locations and 46 regions, so workloads can sit close to users.

   Cons

   • The control plane is free only inside the allowance, so sustained clusters bill at $0.10 for the standard tier and $0.10 for the highly available one.
   • Egress is charged at $0.12 per GB once the free allowance is used, and traffic to Australia and China is excluded from it.
   • Support runs on help centre and community only, so paid and phone channels are not part of the standard offering.

5. 7. HostKey

   HostKey holds a firm middle position in this ranking because its egress rate is among the lowest charged by anyone here, and its bundle sits on a named plan. Egress fees run €0.0086 to €0.013 per gigabyte, storage per gigabyte each month is €0.01 to €0.017, the Standard plan includes 1,024 of outbound traffic with the Cold plan including none, and inbound bandwidth is free. It runs 13 regions, offers object storage, is compatible with the standard object storage API, and support runs on email, chat and phone. Set against Google Cloud above, the rate is a fraction of it; set against Biznet Gio below, HostKey still bills for outbound traffic.

   • Entry price: €2.46
   • Entry plan: 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD
   • Bandwidth allowance: 1 Gbit/s port, 3 TB traffic included

   Pros

   • The entry plan is €2.46 for 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD, and the port comes with 1 Gbit/s port, 3 TB traffic included.
   • Billing models are hourly and monthly, so a short test run and a long lived project both fit the same catalogue.
   • DDoS protection is listed for the VPS, and GDPR is named as the compliance item for the Netherlands line.
   • GPU work is billed at €0.50 per hour with hourly billing, across NVIDIA RTX 4090, NVIDIA A100 80GB and NVIDIA H100 80GB.
   • Object storage runs €0.01 to €0.017 per GB per month with egress at €0.0086 to €0.013 per GB, and the Standard plan bundles 1,024 GB of outbound traffic.

   Cons

   • Aruba lists €1.99 at entry, so the HostKey entry price of €2.46 is not the lowest of the three.
   • The entry plan is 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD, which leaves little room for anything past a small site or a test build.
   • Support runs on email, chat and phone, with no community forum listed.
   • Object storage egress is charged at €0.0086 to €0.013 per GB, and the Cold plan carries none of the outbound traffic the Standard plan includes.

6. 9. UpCloud

   UpCloud belongs in this ranking for the plainest reason in the field: outbound data transfer is not charged, on any service or region, subject to the Fair Transfer Policy, with content delivery traffic excluded. Storage per gigabyte each month is €0.02 and the service covers 15 regions, a broad footprint to sit behind that policy. It offers object and block storage, is compatible with the standard object storage API, and support runs on email, chat and phone. Kamatera, ranked next, bills $0.01 per gigabyte with no free transfer, and the pair marks the split this ranking is built around.

   • Entry price: €3
   • Entry plan: 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB SSD
   • Bandwidth allowance: 250 Mbit/s

   Pros

   • Outbound data costs €0 per GB on every plan, subject to the Fair Transfer Policy, so serving downloads does not add a line to the bill.
   • The entry plan at €3 comes in below Aruba at €1.99 and UCloud at $5.34.
   • Billing runs hourly and monthly with hourly metering, so a test server can be released in the same hour it was created.
   • Servers sit in 15 locations spanning FI, NO and DK, which leaves room to place a box close to its users.
   • The managed Kubernetes control plane is free, and nodes start at €3.

   Cons

   • The highly available control plane option is priced at €60, so a cluster that needs it pays well past the free default.
   • Clusters stop at 120 nodes, a low ceiling for large estates.
   • Server types cover vps only, so dedicated hardware requirements sit outside the range.
   • Object storage at €0.02 per GB per month sits above the site median of €0.01.

7. V10. Vultr

   Vultr earns its place in this ranking by pairing a low egress rate with a wide footprint, and it is the closest challenger to the entry above it. Egress runs $0 to $0.01 per gigabyte, the lower end of the field, with 1,000 of outbound data transfer included each month and inbound transfer included as well. Storage per gigabyte each month is $0.018, and the service spans 33 regions, well beyond the entry above, with object and block storage on the same account. It is compatible with the standard object storage API. The trade against Aruba is allowance size, and support runs on help centre and community only.

   • Entry price: $2.50
   • Billing models: Hourly, Monthly, Reserved
   • Locations: 33

   Pros

   • Cloud Compute plans start at $2.50 and bill at hourly granularity, which suits game servers and other jobs that stop without warning.
   • A footprint of 33 locations across AU, BR and CA lets one account place workloads near several different audiences.
   • Object Storage is S3-compatible at $0.018 per GB per month, with 1,000 GB of monthly egress included and the remainder at $0 to $0.01.
   • Kubernetes runs on a free control plane at $0 with nodes from $10, and the GPU range covers NVIDIA GB300 NVL72, AMD Instinct MI455X and NVIDIA HGX B300.
   • The trust centre lists SOC 2+ Type II (HIPAA), ISO 27001 and ISO 27017, and DDoS protection comes with the compute range.

   Cons

   • Support runs on help centre and community only, with no phone or live chat channel listed.
   • Egress past the free 1,000 GB bills at $0 to $0.01 per GB, so transfer-heavy workloads keep a running charge.
   • Billing granularity stops at hourly, so a job that runs for minutes is still metered by the hour.

What to look for

The rate on data going out

Egress is charged per gigabyte, and in this ranking the median is €0.01, with a lower quartile of €0 and an upper quartile of €0.02. Read this next to the allowance, never on its own.

What the plan bundles

Bundled transfer decides the bill until you outgrow it. Storage alone carries a median of €0.01 per gigabyte each month across this ranking, so a plan with a large transfer allowance can be worth more than a small saving on the unit rate.

Opening price against renewal

Entry prices in this category have a median of €3.51, a lower quartile of €2.53 and an upper quartile of €9.16. The opening figure covers the smallest usable plan, while the per gigabyte storage and egress rates are what repeat afterwards.

How many places it runs

A provider's location count has a median of 7.5 in this ranking, and the top of the spread reaches 80. More sites mean a nearer endpoint for readers, which shortens the trip and, at providers with unmetered traffic between zones, keeps the move free.

What the plan stores

Object storage is common here, carried by 92.8% of providers, while block storage appears in 47.8%. Compatibility with the standard object storage API decides how much of your existing tooling survives a move.

How the bill arrives

Monthly billing covers 82.4% of providers in this category and hourly billing 79.4%. Confirm which rhythm a renewal lands on, because a plan billed hourly behaves very differently from one billed by the month once traffic is heavy.

Frequently asked questions

Top egress and bandwidth pricing compared by country

• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• India
• Indonesia
• Italy
• Japan
• Mexico
• South Korea
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Vietnam

Providers compared head to head

• Cubbit vs DigitalOcean
• Cubbit vs MEGA
• Cubbit vs Melbicom
• DigitalOcean vs MEGA
• DigitalOcean vs Melbicom
• MEGA vs Melbicom