Most affordable virtual private server packages in South Africa

Modern businesses must have an online presence through a website or an app, and virtual private server (VPS) products offer an affordable means of hosting such platforms.

VPSes are hosting environments where customers share hardware but are isolated from one another. Each customer gets specific CPU, RAM, storage, and bandwidth allocations, almost as if they have their own server.

However, they can be substantially more affordable than dedicated server products.

MyBroadband compared VPS products available from prominent hosting providers like Absolute Hosting, Afrihost, Axxess, Cybersmart, Domains.co.za, EliteHost, and 1-Grid regarding specs and pricing.

We compared entry-level and higher-specced products from each provider.

Absolute Hosting’s VPS offerings are the most affordable across the board. It’s AMD Epyc Bergamo 9754 VPS with two virtual CPUs (vCPUs), 2GB of RAM, 50GB of SSD storage, and 1TB of bandwidth costs R87.45 per month.

The next-most affordable entry-level option is EliteHost’s VM1 product, which has one vCPU, 2GB of RAM, 25GB of SSD storage, and unlimited traffic and is priced at R129 per month.

Cybersmart’s Linux 1 VPS product is the third-most affordable entry-level package at R179 monthly. It features two vCPUs, 1GB of RAM, 20GB of SSD storage, and unlimited traffic.

Domains.co.za and 1-Grid both offer entry-level VPS products for R209 per month. 1-Grid’s Small package provides one vCPU, 2GB of RAM, 50GB of SSD, and 2TB of monthly traffic.

Domains.co.za’s Linux Epyc VPS 1 product features similar specs, with the only difference being that it offers unlimited bandwidth.

Regarding higher-specced VPS products, Absolute Hosting’s AMD Epyc Bergamo 9754 VPS with four vCPUs, 4GB of RAM, 100GB of SSD storage, and 2TB of monthly bandwidth is the cheapest at R175.17 per month.

Customers can customise the VPS to increase various specs, and the same package with four vCPUs, 6GB of RAM, 200GB of SSD storage, and 3TB of monthly bandwidth costs R295.53 per month.

Between those two packages is 1-Grid’s Medium VPS product, which provides two vCPUs, 4GB of RAM, 100GB of SSD storage, and 3TB of monthly bandwidth for R289 per month.

EliteHost and Cybersmart also offer higher-specced VPS products priced at under R400 per month.

EliteHost’s VM3 package provides two vCPUs, 6GB of RAM, 100GB of SSD storage, and unlimited monthly traffic for R319 monthly.

For R399 per month, businesses can get Cybersmart’s Linux 3 VPS with four vCPUs, 4GB of RAM, 100GB of SSD storage, and unlimited monthly bandwidth.

The table below compares specs and pricing for virtual private server products available from prominent South African providers. We included entry-level and higher-specced options.