# Vultr

> Global VPS provider: fixed-size virtual machines from $2.50 (IPv6-only) or $3.50 with IPv4, billed hourly with a one-hour minimum and a 672-hour monthly cap; a stopped server keeps billing until destroyed.

Website: https://www.vultr.com/  
Guide page: https://botperch.com/providers/vultr/  
Checked: 2026-10-30

**Short answer:** One always-on personal agent (2 vCPU / 4 GiB / 20 GiB) costs about $20.00 a month here, the 8th cheapest of the 22 providers that run it as described. The AI model adds about $1.88 a month on top (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (1017), 30 requests a day at 40k tokens each, median zero-retention price; from $0.46 at the cheapest host). Fits well: An always-on agent on a small machine: 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB for $20 a month, or 1 vCPU / 2 GB / 55 GB for $10, with 2–3 TB of egress included.

Vultr sells fixed-size virtual machines in 34 regions across six continents. Cloud Compute is the shared-CPU family: Regular Performance on older Intel and regular SSD, High Performance on current AMD EPYC or Intel Xeon with NVMe, and High Frequency on 3 GHz+ Xeon with NVMe. Every plan bundles vCPU, RAM, disk and a monthly egress allowance; there is no custom CPU/RAM split.
It is an ordinary Linux server product, not an agent sandbox. Root, SSH, any port, Docker if you install it, custom ISO boot, snapshots and block storage all work as on a normal VM. There is no prompt endpoint, no memory snapshot, no idle sleep, no per-second meter and no session limit; a server exists and bills until it is destroyed.
Above Cloud Compute sit Optimized Cloud Compute (dedicated vCPU: General Purpose, CPU Optimized, Memory Optimized and Storage Optimized), VX1 (newer dedicated plans with nested virtualisation), Cloud GPU and Bare Metal. This listing prices the shared Cloud Compute plans; the dedicated and GPU families are named where they change a verdict but are not in the calculator.

**Who it is for:** People who want a real Linux server at a predictable monthly price in a specific region, and will run the OS, the agent and the backups themselves. The one-click Hermes and OpenClaw Marketplace apps make it a reasonable first VPS for a personal agent; the one-hour minimum makes it a poor fit for many short sandbox runs.

**Isolation:** A VPS (virtual private server), not a sandbox built for agents. A full virtual machine per instance with its own kernel, disk and public IP: root, Docker inside, real SSH, custom ISO boot and any TCP or UDP port you open in the firewall. Outbound 25, 137–139 and 445 are blocked by default, and 1688 is blocked inbound only. Nested virtualisation is documented only on VX1 plans; GPUs are a separate product and Windows carries a licence fee.

**Sizes and regions:** Cloud Compute shared plans: Regular Performance 1–24 vCPU, 0.5–96 GB RAM, 10–1,600 GB SSD; High Performance and High Frequency 1–16 vCPU, 1–58 GB, 25–1,024 GB NVMe. Optimized Cloud Compute (dedicated) reaches 96 vCPU / 256 GB / 1,280 GB; VX1 reaches 192 vCPU / 768 GB. Extra disk is Block Storage, up to 16 volumes and 40 TB HDD or 10 TB NVMe per instance.

## How it charges

- model: Per-server hourly rate with a 672-hour monthly cap, plus separately billed Block Storage, snapshots, backups, object storage, reserved IPs, Windows licences and DDoS protection. Prices are USD; some regions differ and the console shows local pricing.
- meter: Hourly, with a one-hour minimum per server and a 672-hour monthly cap. The 2 vCPU / 4 GB plan is $20 a month and $0.0297619 an hour (the page rounds it to $0.03); 672 hours at that rate is $20.
- stopped: Nothing changes. A stopped server keeps its disk, IP and full bill until destroyed: "Servers that are stopped but not destroyed continue to incur hourly charges for reserved resources such as compute, storage, and IP address allocations."
- planFee: No plan and no fee. The monthly figure is a cap on usage: a server destroyed after 90 hours bills 90 hours at the hourly rate.
- minimum: No automatic signup credit. A Free Tier Program offers 1 vCPU / 512 MB / 10 GB in Miami, Seattle and Frankfurt to eligible applicants, and promo codes include a dollar-for-dollar deposit match up to $100. Paid servers need a payment method.

A fixed-size server billed by the hour with a one-hour minimum and a 672-hour monthly cap; a stopped server bills at the running rate until it is destroyed.
- Prices are Vultr's USD list. The FAQ says some locations can differ and the console shows the local price; the card uses the standard list.
- Vultr's billing FAQ derives the hourly rate as monthly ÷ 672. The pricing page rounds some hourly figures (the $20 plan shows $0.03) and lists larger plans at roughly monthly ÷ 730 (the $160 plan shows $0.219); the API publishes a third figure for some plans ($0.027 for the $20 plan). The card uses monthly ÷ 672 so the 672-hour cap equals the monthly price. See research/vultr/research.md, contradiction 1.
- The $2.50 1 vCPU / 0.5 GB plan is IPv6-only and is excluded. Its $3.50 twin includes IPv4 and is the smallest shape on the card.
- One public IPv4 is included on paid plans; up to two additional addresses are available for an extra fee whose amount Vultr does not publish on the pages read.
- Snapshots are $0.05/GB-month, automatic backups add 20%, Block Storage is $0.10/GB-month, Vultr File System is $100/TB-month and Object Storage starts at $18/TB-month. None of these is in the calculator.
- Windows licences are extra: $16–$384 a month depending on the plan.
- A stopped instance bills at the running rate until destroyed; there is no pause, sleep or cheaper stopped-storage rate.
- Vultr labels memory in GB; the plan API returns MB (4096 MB for the 4 GB plan), so the card maps GB to GiB 1:1. Vultr labels disk in GB; the card maps it 1:1 to GiB too.
- The card prices the shared Cloud Compute plans (Regular Performance and High Performance). Optimized Cloud Compute, VX1, Cloud GPU and Bare Metal are separate families and are not priced here.
- Vultr's public plans API (api.vultr.com/v2/plans, read 2026-10-30) shows prices vary by location: the 2 vCPU / 4 GB plan (vc2-2c-4gb) is monthly_cost 20 by default but location_cost.sao monthly_cost 30 in São Paulo. The card uses the default price.

## Monthly cost for each preset workload

- A personal agent that stays on (Hermes, OpenClaw): $20.00
- A coding agent for one developer: $40.00
- A code interpreter inside your product: $595.24
- A browser agent for a small team: $892.86
- Self-hosted n8n for a small team: $20.00
- A Discord or Slack bot for one server: $10.00
- Claude Code for a team of five: $200.00
- A scraper that runs four times a day: $1.79
- Your own remote MCP server: $5.00
- A: 1,000 short tasks: $29.76
- B: one always-on box: $40.00
- C: three hours a day: $20.00

## Fits well

- An always-on agent on a small machine: 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB for $20 a month, or 1 vCPU / 2 GB / 55 GB for $10, with 2–3 TB of egress included.
- A coding box for one developer: 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB for $40 a month, with the repository safe on the disk between sessions.
- A one-click Hermes or OpenClaw on a real VM with root and a public IPv4, from the Marketplace, at the plan price with no app surcharge.
- Global placement: 34 regions including nine in the EU, with free anycast DNS and a static public IPv4.
- Anything that needs a real kernel, root, Docker, arbitrary ports or a stable public IP.

## Fits badly

- Bursty work: a stopped server bills exactly like a running one, so a three-hours-a-day agent costs the same as a 24-hour one.
- Many short runs: every server is billed at least one hour, so 1,000 ten-minute tasks cost 1,000 hours.
- Outbound allowlisting: Vultr's firewall filters only incoming traffic; egress control is a host firewall you run.
- Live resizing down, memory snapshots, idle sleep, per-second billing or a hard user-set spend cap.
- One-click apps that ship a default password: change it before exposing the instance.

## Features

- **Isolation** (yes): Full VM; root, Docker, ISO. A full VM per instance with root, Docker and real SSH. Nested virtualisation is documented only on VX1 plans, and a custom image is a mounted ISO (two per account, under 10 GB) rather than a disk-image upload. [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/cloud-compute/) [docs](https://www.vultr.com/products/cloud-compute/)
- **Sizes and regions** (yes): 24 vCPU / 96 GB; 34 regions. Shared Cloud Compute runs 1–24 vCPU and 0.5–96 GB with 10–1,600 GB of SSD or NVMe; dedicated Optimized plans reach 96 vCPU / 256 GB / 1,280 GB and VX1 reaches 192 vCPU / 768 GB. No custom CPU/RAM split, no downgrade on resize, and GPUs are a separate product. [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/cloud-compute/) [docs](https://www.vultr.com/pricing/)
- **Lifecycle** (no): No pause; stop still bills. Stop halts the operating system and all running processes and keeps billing; only destroy ends the charge, and destroying permanently deletes the data. There is no pause, hibernate or memory snapshot. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-compute/management/stop-instance.md) [docs](https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-compute/management/stop-instance.md)
- **Snapshots and forks** (partly): Disk snapshots $0.05/GB-mo. Manual snapshots are disk images kept until deleted at $0.05/GB-month, and they double as the template mechanism. They never include RAM or attached block storage, and automatic backups keep only the two most recent. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/does-vultr-charge-for-stored-snapshots) [docs](https://docs.vultr.com/products/storage/snapshots)
- **Storage** (yes): Disk kept; 40 TB volumes. The plan disk persists across stops and is included in the plan price. Block Storage adds up to 16 volumes per instance, 40 TB HDD or 10 TB NVMe, at $0.10/GB-month and only in the same region. Vultr File System gives multi-instance shared storage at $100/TB-month; Object Storage is S3-compatible. [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/block-storage/) [docs](https://www.vultr.com/products/block-storage/)
- **Idle and waking** (yes): No idle timer; no session limit. There is no idle timeout, auto-stop or maximum session length. The same absence means there is no wake path: a stopped instance stays stopped until the console, API or CLI starts it. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-compute/management/stop-instance.md) [docs](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/how-am-i-billed-for-my-servers)
- **Reaching it** (yes): Public IPv4, any port, SSH. One public IPv4 is included on paid plans, any inbound port can be opened, and SSH is a normal daemon. There is no provider-issued private or token-gated link, and the browser console is a VNC view rather than an API shell. [source](https://www.vultr.com/resources/faq/) [docs](https://docs.vultr.com/products/network/reserved-ips)
- **Custom domains** (partly): Your DNS, your proxy. Vultr DNS is free and anycast, so a custom domain is a DNS record. TLS is yours: the documented paths run Traefik or Caddy with Let's Encrypt, and Vultr does not issue a certificate for a compute instance. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/product-overviews/dns) [docs](https://docs.vultr.com/product-overviews/dns)
- **Outbound network** (partly): 0.5–15 TB out; inbound-only FW. Each plan includes 0.5–15 TB of egress, overage is $0.01/GB, and a VPC-only instance can be deployed with no public IP. Vultr Firewall filters only incoming traffic, so outbound allowlisting is UFW, iptables or firewalld on the instance. Outbound 25, 137–139 and 445 are blocked by default and can be removed by ticket. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/products/network/does-vultr-firewall-filter-outgoing-traffic-from-my-instance) [docs](https://docs.vultr.com/support/products/network/does-vultr-firewall-filter-outgoing-traffic-from-my-instance)
- **Keys and secrets** (no): No secrets store. There is no vault, write-only environment store or request-signing proxy. Cloud-init user-data and startup scripts inject first-run configuration onto the disk. API keys are managed through IAM, but the portal's personal access token is account-wide. [source](https://www.vultr.com/api/) [docs](https://docs.vultr.com/platform/other/api/enable-user-api-access)
- **Ways to drive it** (yes): Console, CLI, API, SDKs. Console, REST API v2, official CLI, Terraform provider and official Go, Python, Node, PHP and Ruby clients. There is no PTY or file API, and the official MCP server is a read-only preview. [source](https://www.vultr.com/api/) [docs](https://www.vultr.com/api/)
- **Built-in agents** (partly): Hermes + OpenClaw one-click. Marketplace one-click apps exist for Hermes Agent and OpenClaw, each printed with the default password "Password". There is no coding agent preinstalled, no prompt API and no built-in browser or computer-use desktop; coding agents arrive through guides such as Codex with Dokploy. [source](https://www.vultr.com/marketplace/apps/hermesagent/) [docs](https://www.vultr.com/marketplace/)
- **Teams and accounts** (yes): IAM orgs, roles, OIDC SSO. Organizations, IAM policies, roles, groups, service accounts, OIDC SSO and audit logs with up to 10 years of retention. SAML is not supported. Spend control is an account credit limit plus invoice and bandwidth emails, not a user-set monthly cap. [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/iam/) [docs](https://www.vultr.com/products/iam/)
- **Billing models** (partly): Hourly, 1 h minimum, 672 h cap. Hourly with a one-hour minimum and a 672-hour monthly cap (the monthly price); stopped hours bill at the same rate. Not per-second, not active-CPU, and there is no cheap paused state. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/how-am-i-billed-for-my-servers) [docs](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/how-am-i-billed-for-my-servers)
- **Trials and free tiers** (partly): Free tier by application; deposit match. The Free Tier Program offers 1 vCPU / 512 MB / 10 GB in Miami, Seattle and Frankfurt to eligible applicants, on a limited and randomized basis. Otherwise credit comes from promo codes or a dollar-for-dollar deposit match up to $100, not an automatic signup credit. [source](https://www.vultr.com/free-tier-program/) [docs](https://www.vultr.com/free-tier-program/)
- **The company** (yes): SOC 2+, ISO 27001, 100% SLA. The Constant Company, LLC (Vultr), founded 2014, privately held, 34 regions and 80m+ instances. SOC 2+ (HIPAA), ISO 27001/27017/27018/20000-1, PCI Merchant and CSA Star; a 100% uptime SLA with service credits; a DPA by request. [source](https://www.vultr.com/legal/compliance/) [docs](https://www.vultr.com/legal/compliance/)

## Capabilities

- Its own virtual machine: yes (Full VM, own kernel) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/cloud-compute/)
- Root access: yes (Root over SSH) [source](https://www.vultr.com/company/about-us/)
- Docker inside: yes (Docker Marketplace app) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/how-to-use-vultrs-docker-marketplace-application)
- Nested virtualisation: partly (VX1 plans only). Nested virtualisation is documented only on VX1 plans, not on the Regular Performance and High Performance plans priced here. [source](https://blogs.vultr.com/cpus-workhorse-agentic-ai-infrastructure)
- Your own image: partly (ISO only, 2 per account). A custom image means booting a mounted ISO, not uploading a disk image; accounts hold two ISOs under 10 GB and Windows ISOs are refused. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/how-to-upload-and-use-custom-isos-on-vultr)
- Any size you like: no (Fixed plan sizes) [source](https://www.vultr.com/pricing/)
- Large machines: yes (96 vCPU / 256 GB) [source](https://www.vultr.com/pricing/)
- Resize while running: partly (Upgrades only). Only upgrades are supported; downgrades are refused and Vultr does not document whether running processes survive the change. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-compute/management/resize-instance)
- GPUs: yes (AMD + NVIDIA) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/cloud-gpu/)
- Choose the region: yes (34 regions) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/cloud-compute/)
- Runs in the EU: yes (9 EU locations) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/cloud-compute/)
- Pause keeps memory: no (No pause; RAM lost) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-compute/management/stop-instance.md)
- Pre-started pools: no (No pre-started pool) [source](https://www.vultr.com/api/)
- Starts in under a second: no (Seconds, not under one) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/cloud-compute/)
- Snapshots of files: yes ($0.05/GB-month) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/does-vultr-charge-for-stored-snapshots)
- Snapshots with memory: no (Disk only) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/does-vultr-charge-for-stored-snapshots)
- Copy a running machine: no (Snapshot, then new VM) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/products/storage/snapshots)
- Pick an older snapshot: yes (Kept until deleted) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/products/orchestration/how-can-i-destroy-my-instance-while-maintaining-its-backups)
- Reusable templates: yes (Snapshot → new VM) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/products/storage/snapshots)
- Automatic backups: yes (Daily–monthly, +20%) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/vps-automatic-backups)
- Files survive a stop: yes (Disk kept on stop) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/are-stopped-instances-still-billed-on-vultr)
- Separate volumes: yes ($0.10/GB-mo; 16 per VM) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/block-storage/)
- One volume, several machines: yes (File System, multi-VM) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/file-system/)
- Mount outside storage: partly (S3 API, no native mount). Object Storage speaks the S3 API, but Vultr documents clients such as s3cmd rather than mounting a bucket as a folder; you add s3fs or rclone. [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/object-storage/)
- Large disk: yes (40 TB HDD / 10 TB NVMe) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/block-storage/)
- Can stay on indefinitely: yes (No session limit) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-compute/management/stop-instance.md)
- Choose the idle timeout: no (No idle timer) [source](https://www.vultr.com/api/)
- Wakes on a request: no (Manual start only) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-compute/management/stop-instance.md)
- Scheduled runs: no (Cron inside the VM) [source](https://www.vultr.com/api/)
- Public link to a port: yes (Public IPv4, any port) [source](https://www.vultr.com/resources/faq/)
- Private link: partly (VPC only, no token link). A VPC address is reachable only inside your own network; there is no token or login link in front of a public port. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/products/network/vpc-networks)
- Real SSH: yes (Standard SSH) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/connect-to-a-server-using-an-ssh-key)
- Terminal in the browser: partly (VNC console). The browser console is a VNC view of the screen for emergencies, not a shell API; you log in at the console. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/how-to-upload-and-use-custom-isos-on-vultr)
- Tunnel to your computer: yes (ssh -L over real SSH) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/connect-to-a-server-using-an-ssh-key)
- Non-web ports: yes (Any port; some outbound blocked) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/what-ports-are-blocked)
- Your own domain: yes (Free anycast DNS) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/product-overviews/dns)
- Automatic HTTPS: partly (Traefik/Caddy yourself). Vultr does not issue a certificate for a compute instance; its guides put Traefik or Caddy in front and obtain Let's Encrypt certificates. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/how-to-deploy-hermes-agent-open-source-self-hosted-ai-agent)
- Outbound data included: yes (0.5–15 TB per plan) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/regular-performance-compute/)
- Allow only some sites: no (Inbound firewall only) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/products/network/does-vultr-firewall-filter-outgoing-traffic-from-my-instance)
- Turn the internet off: yes (VPC-only, no public IP) [source](https://blogs.vultr.com/nat-gateways)
- Fixed outgoing IP: yes (Reserved IP or fixed IPv4) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/products/network/reserved-ips)
- Stored secrets: no (No secrets manager) [source](https://www.vultr.com/api/)
- Secrets the agent cannot read: no (None) [source](https://www.vultr.com/api/)
- Limited API keys: partly (IAM users; PAT account-wide). Scoped access comes from IAM users and OAuth tokens; the portal's Personal Access Token is account-wide, with no per-key read-only switch. [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/iam/)
- Create from the website: yes (Console deploy) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/cloud-compute/)
- Command-line tool: yes (Official vultr-cli) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/reference/vultr-cli)
- Python SDK: yes (Official Python client) [source](https://github.com/vultr/vultr-python-client)
- TypeScript SDK: partly (Official Node client, JS). The official @vultr/vultr-node client is JavaScript; Vultr publishes no separately typed TypeScript SDK. [source](https://github.com/vultr/vultr-node)
- Documented HTTP API: yes (API v2, full portal) [source](https://www.vultr.com/api/)
- MCP server: partly (Read-only preview). The official Vultr MCP server is a read-only public preview: it can inspect resources but cannot create, change or delete them. [source](https://blogs.vultr.com/vultr-mcp-server-public-preview)
- Interactive terminal over the API: no (No PTY API) [source](https://www.vultr.com/api/)
- Files over the API: no (No file API) [source](https://www.vultr.com/api/)
- Coding agents preinstalled: no (None preinstalled) [source](https://www.vultr.com/marketplace/)
- Send it a prompt: no (No prompt API) [source](https://www.vultr.com/api/)
- One-click Hermes: yes (Marketplace app) [source](https://www.vultr.com/marketplace/apps/hermesagent/)
- One-click OpenClaw: yes (Marketplace app) [source](https://www.vultr.com/marketplace/apps/openclaw/)
- Browser built in: no (Install it yourself) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/how-to-deploy-neko-self-hosted-virtual-browser-platform)
- Desktop for computer use: partly (Windows Server + RDP). A Windows Server instance with RDP gives a graphical desktop you manage; there is no computer-use API or preconfigured desktop agent. [source](https://www.vultr.com/servers/windows/)
- Runs other platforms' agents: yes (Hermes, OpenClaw, Codex guides) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/how-to-deploy-hermes-agent-open-source-self-hosted-ai-agent)
- Team workspace: yes (IAM organizations) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/iam/)
- Roles and permissions: yes (Roles, groups, policies) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/iam/)
- Single sign-on: yes (OIDC; no SAML) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/single-sign-on)
- Hard spending cap: no (No user-set cap) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/platform/billing/manage-account-limits)
- Usage alerts: partly (Invoice + bandwidth email). Vultr emails new invoices and bandwidth usage, but there is no alert at a dollar threshold you set. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/platform/other/manage-notifications)
- Audit log: yes (Up to 10 years) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/iam/)
- Billed per second: no (One-hour minimum) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/how-am-i-billed-for-my-servers)
- CPU billed only while working: no (Billed while it exists) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/how-am-i-billed-for-my-servers)
- Paused costs only storage: no (Stop bills in full) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/how-am-i-billed-for-my-servers)
- No monthly fee: yes (No plan fee) [source](https://www.vultr.com/products/block-storage/)
- Flat monthly price: yes ($20/mo for 2 vCPU / 4 GB) [source](https://www.vultr.com/pricing/)
- Ongoing free tier: partly (1 vCPU/512 MB, 3 regions). The free instance is an application-only, randomized program limited to Miami, Seattle and Frankfurt, not a standing free tier for every account. [source](https://www.vultr.com/free-tier-program/)
- Free starting credit: partly (Deposit match up to $100). The advertised credit is a promo code or a dollar-for-dollar deposit match, not an automatic signup credit. [source](https://www.vultr.com/coupons/)
- Try without a card: no (Payment method required) [source](https://www.vultr.com/resources/faq/)
- Public status page: yes (status.vultr.com) [source](https://status.vultr.com/)
- Uptime promise (SLA): yes (100% uptime, credits) [source](https://www.vultr.com/legal/sla/)
- SOC 2 report: yes (SOC 2+ (HIPAA)) [source](https://www.vultr.com/legal/compliance/)
- Data processing agreement: yes (DPA by request) [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/compliance/does-vultr-offer-a-data-processing-addendum)
- Open source or self-hostable: no (Hosted service only) [source](https://www.vultr.com/legal/tos/)

## Usability

- Dashboard: Yes: the Vultr Console creates instances, block storage, snapshots, backups, VPCs, firewalls, reserved IPs, DNS and object storage, with usage graphs and invoices.
- Without code: Partly. Marketplace one-click apps (Hermes, OpenClaw, Docker, Coolify and others) deploy from the console, but everything after that — the model key, the channel, TLS, the database — is terminal or app configuration.
- Signup: Email plus a payment method (card, PayPal, Alipay, UnionPay or crypto). New accounts start with an account credit limit that is raised on request; the free tier is a separate application.
- Docs: Extensive docs at docs.vultr.com with product guides, a full API v2 reference, an official CLI, a Terraform provider and official Go, Python, Node, PHP and Ruby clients.
- Trips people up: Powering a server off does not stop the bill; only destroying it does.
- Trips people up: The minimum billing unit is one hour, so a ten-minute task pays for sixty minutes.
- Trips people up: The hourly rate on the pricing page is rounded; Vultr's own billing FAQ derives it as monthly ÷ 672, and the API publishes a third figure for some plans.
- Trips people up: The firewall filters only incoming traffic; outbound rules are yours to run inside the VM.
- Trips people up: The Hermes and OpenClaw Marketplace apps print a default password (Password) in their listings.
- Trips people up: Windows licences are extra: $16–$384 a month on top of the plan.
- Trips people up: Prices can differ by region; the console shows the local price.
- Trips people up: Resizing is upgrade-only; downgrades are unsupported.
- Trips people up: Outbound ports 25, 137–139 and 445 are blocked by default; open a ticket to remove them, while a few ports are permanently blocked.

## Company

- Legal entity: The Constant Company, LLC, trading as Vultr. [source](https://www.vultr.com/legal/tos/)
- Founded and scale: Founded in 2014; 34 regions, 80m+ instances deployed and 1.5m+ customers, with 75+ engineers. [source](https://www.vultr.com/company/about-us/)
- Ownership and funding: Privately held. A December 2024 financing from LuminArx and AMD Ventures valued it at $3.5 billion; June 2025 added $329 million in credit financing. [source](https://www.vultr.com/company/about-us/)
- Certification: SOC 2+ (HIPAA), ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, ISO 20000-1, PCI Merchant and CSA Star Level 1. [source](https://www.vultr.com/legal/compliance/)
- Status and SLA: A public status page with JSON and RSS feeds, and a 100% uptime SLA on network and host-node availability, credited per service item on request. [source](https://www.vultr.com/legal/sla/)
- Data protection: A GDPR DPA is available by request through an account manager or support ticket; Vultr acts as processor for customer content. [source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/compliance/does-vultr-offer-a-data-processing-addendum)

## Caveats

- **A stopped server is not a paused server** (open): There is no pause, sleep or hibernate. A stopped instance keeps its disk and its IP but also its full bill; the documented way to stop paying is to destroy it, which permanently deletes the data.
- **The one-hour minimum punishes short runs** (open): Usage is billed in whole hours per server, so any task under an hour costs a full hour: 1,000 ten-minute tasks bill 1,000 server-hours, not 167.
- **Three first-party hourly rates for the same plan** (contradiction): The pricing page shows $0.03/hr for the $20 plan, the billing FAQ says the hourly rate is the monthly rate divided by 672 hours ($0.02976), and the public plans API returns $0.027. The card uses monthly ÷ 672, the figure the billing FAQ defines, so the 672-hour cap equals the monthly price. A reader using the page's $0.03 would get $30.00 for workload A instead of $29.76.
- **One-click apps ship a default password** (open): The Hermes and OpenClaw Marketplace listings both print a username and the password "Password" in their getting-started steps. An instance exposed before that password is changed is trivially accessible; the OpenClaw app also includes a browser VS Code terminal with the same password.
- **The free tier is an application, not a tier** (open): The Free Tier Program offers one 1 vCPU / 512 MB / 10 GB instance in Miami, Seattle and Frankfurt, granted on a randomized, weighted basis to applicants. It is not a standing allowance for every account, and paid servers still need a payment method.

## Sources

- [Pricing](https://www.vultr.com/pricing/)
- [Cloud Compute](https://www.vultr.com/products/cloud-compute/)
- [Regular Performance plans](https://www.vultr.com/products/regular-performance-compute/)
- [Docs: how am I billed for my servers](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/how-am-i-billed-for-my-servers)
- [Docs: stopped instances are still billed](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/are-stopped-instances-still-billed-on-vultr)
- [Docs: stop an instance](https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-compute/management/stop-instance.md)
- [Docs: snapshot pricing](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/does-vultr-charge-for-stored-snapshots)
- [Docs: automatic backups](https://docs.vultr.com/vps-automatic-backups)
- [Block Storage](https://www.vultr.com/products/block-storage/)
- [File System](https://www.vultr.com/products/file-system/)
- [Object Storage](https://www.vultr.com/products/object-storage/)
- [Docs: firewall does not filter outgoing traffic](https://docs.vultr.com/support/products/network/does-vultr-firewall-filter-outgoing-traffic-from-my-instance)
- [Docs: VPC networks](https://docs.vultr.com/products/network/vpc-networks)
- [Docs: reserved IPs](https://docs.vultr.com/products/network/reserved-ips)
- [Blog: NAT gateways and VPC-only instances](https://blogs.vultr.com/nat-gateways)
- [Docs: custom ISOs](https://docs.vultr.com/how-to-upload-and-use-custom-isos-on-vultr)
- [Docs: resize an instance](https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-compute/management/resize-instance)
- [Docs: Vultr DNS](https://docs.vultr.com/product-overviews/dns)
- [Docs: API access](https://docs.vultr.com/platform/other/api/enable-user-api-access)
- [API v2](https://www.vultr.com/api/)
- [Docs: Vultr CLI](https://docs.vultr.com/reference/vultr-cli)
- [IAM](https://www.vultr.com/products/iam/)
- [Docs: single sign-on](https://docs.vultr.com/single-sign-on)
- [Compliance](https://www.vultr.com/legal/compliance/)
- [SLA](https://www.vultr.com/legal/sla/)
- [Docs: DPA](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/compliance/does-vultr-offer-a-data-processing-addendum)
- [About Vultr](https://www.vultr.com/company/about-us/)
- [Terms of service](https://www.vultr.com/legal/tos/)
- [Free Tier Program](https://www.vultr.com/free-tier-program/)
- [Coupons](https://www.vultr.com/coupons/)
- [Marketplace](https://www.vultr.com/marketplace/)
- [Marketplace: HermesAgent](https://www.vultr.com/marketplace/apps/hermesagent/)
- [Marketplace: OpenClaw](https://www.vultr.com/marketplace/apps/openclaw/)
- [Status](https://status.vultr.com/)
- [Cloud GPU](https://www.vultr.com/products/cloud-gpu/)
- [Windows servers](https://www.vultr.com/servers/windows/)
- [Blog: VX1 and nested virtualisation](https://blogs.vultr.com/cpus-workhorse-agentic-ai-infrastructure)
- [FAQ](https://www.vultr.com/resources/faq/)
- [Docs: account limits](https://docs.vultr.com/platform/billing/manage-account-limits)
- [Docs: notifications](https://docs.vultr.com/platform/other/manage-notifications)
- [Docs: snapshot and destroy](https://docs.vultr.com/support/products/orchestration/how-can-i-destroy-my-instance-while-maintaining-its-backups)
- [Docs: Docker Marketplace app](https://docs.vultr.com/how-to-use-vultrs-docker-marketplace-application)