Small cloud compute · Last verified 2026-08-25
Small cloud compute
What is compared on the small-VM hub?
This hub compares on-demand list prices for small burstable or shared Linux instances and Basic Droplets. Hourly SKUs do not include a boot disk on AWS, Azure, or GCP.
compute ec2 t3-micro-hour
$0.01040 source
compute ec2 t3-small-hour
$0.02090 source
compute vm b1s-hour
$0.01200 source
compute gce e2-micro-hour
$0.008376 source
[01] How each vendor meters this
| Vendor | Unit | Free allowance | Tiers | Special rule | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS EC2 | Hour, Linux on-demand | None on t3 on-demand hours (750 hour) | Flat hourly | Boot disk and IPv4 are other meters | Source |
| Azure VM | Hour, Linux B-series | None on tracked B-series hours (750 hour) | Flat hourly | Managed disk omitted | Source |
| Google Compute Engine | Hour, e2 shared-core | e2-micro Always Free is not this SKU (730 hour) | Flat hourly | Persistent disk omitted | Source |
| DigitalOcean | Month (cap) or hour | Transfer included in the monthly cap | Monthly cap vs hourly, never both | SSD included in the Droplet cap | Source |
[02] Monthly total at the hub usage
Rank uses a published-SKU bundle on this hub and the same usage for every vendor. It is not an invoice.
| Vendor | Monthly total at the hub usage |
|---|---|
| Azure | $0.00 |
| Google Cloud | $0.00 |
| DigitalOcean | $14.52 |
| AWS | $24.26 |
| SKU / Service | Unit price (USD) | Unit | Observed | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| aws ec2 t3-micro-hour (us-east-1) | $0.01040 source | hour | 2026-08-25 | Source |
| aws ec2 t3-small-hour (us-east-1) | $0.02090 source | hour | 2026-08-25 | Source |
| azure vm b1s-hour (eastus) | $0.01200 source | hour | 2026-08-25 | Source |
| gcp gce e2-micro-hour (us-central1) | $0.008376 source | hour | 2026-08-25 | Source |
| digitalocean droplet s-1vcpu-1gb-month (nyc3) | $6.000 source | month | 2026-08-25 | Source |
| digitalocean droplet s-1vcpu-1gb-hour (nyc3) | $0.008930 source | hour | 2026-08-25 | Source |
| aws ec2 internet-egress (us-east-1) | $0.09000 source | GB | 2026-08-25 | Source |
| digitalocean droplet internet-egress (nyc3) | $0.01000 source | GB | 2026-08-25 | Source |
[Judgment]
A one-gigabyte box looks interchangeable until you add disk and outbound traffic. t3, B-series, and e2 list prices are compute hours only; gp3, managed disks, and persistent disks are extra and not in this snapshot. DigitalOcean Basic Droplet monthly caps include SSD and a generous outbound grant, then a cheap overage meter, which is why a two-terabyte public site often ranks the Droplet above a similarly sized T3 once transfer is counted. Burst credits on T3 Unlimited and e2 shared-core are also out of scope. Use the small-VM calculator with your minimum vCPU, RAM, hours, and internet gigabytes; do not compare hourly compute rows in isolation. Sources: https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/ https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/virtual-machines/linux/ https://cloud.google.com/products/compute/pricing https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing/droplets
Sources
Last verified 2026-08-25