VPS for AI agents
Reference · hosting Hermes Agent / OpenClaw
The two prices of every VPS: walk-away and committed.
Cheapest two tiers of nine VPS vendors — the month-to-month rate you can cancel tomorrow, beside the discounted 12/24-month rate. Click a column header to re-sort — again for reverse.
Re-checked at each vendor's pricing page 9 October 2026 · euro at €1 = 1.1208. Billing basis sits under each price (intro offers expire — see fine print). Vendor name links to its pricing page.
| Vendor▲ | Month-to-month /mo▲ | Committed term /mo▲ | vCPU · RAM · disk▲ | Agent fit▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VultrCloud 0.5 GB | $2.50/moIPv6 only — no IPv4 address | —no commitment discounts published | 1 vCPU · 0.5 GB · 10 GB | not practicalno IPv4: unreachability traps for SSH, DNS, most APIs — choose the $3.50 twin |
| VultrCloud 0.5 GB | $3.50/moIPv4 included | —no commitment discounts published | 1 vCPU · 0.5 GB · 10 GB | test boxthe practical Vultr floor; 1 GB / 25 GB is $5.00 |
| Akamai (Linode)Nanode 1 GB | $5.00/mohourly, $5/mo cap | —no commitment discounts published | 1 vCPU · 1 GB · 25 GB SSD | test boxnext step up (Linode 2 GB) is $12 — outside this page's tier cut |
| OVHcloudVPS-1 | $5.35/mono-commitment rate · configurator-verified | $4.54/mo12-month price, renew same term | 2 vCPU · 4 GB · 40 GB NVMe | Hermes okdaily backup included, anti-DDoS, 500 Mbps port, unlimited traffic |
| IONOSVPS S+ | $6.00/mocheckout-verified 1-month term · intro $2 ×3 months | $2.00/mointro rate, 1-year term | 1 vCPU · 2 GB · 60 GB NVMe | Hermes w/ swap1-click app catalog incl. OpenClaw and Hermes; 2 GB + swap runs Hermes |
| ContaboCloud VPS 4 | $6.60/mo1-month rate · $0 setup confirmed in checkout | $5.28/mo24-month rate (You save $31.68) | 4 vCPU · 8 GB · 100 GB SSD | OpenClaw ≥ 8 GB8 GB = RackNerd's stated OpenClaw floor; cheapest month-to-month 8 GB here |
| HetznerCX23 | $6.71/mo€5.99 · hourly, 20 TB traffic | —no commitment discounts published | 2 vCPU · 4 GB · 40 GB NVMe | Hermes okmarked “currently unavailable” at the check date — capacity rotates |
| HetznerCAX11 | $7.27/mo€6.49 ARM · hourly, 20 TB traffic | —no commitment discounts published | 2 vCPU · 4 GB · 40 GB NVMe | Hermes okAmpere (ARM64) — fine for Node/Python agents, check your deps; also showed unavailable |
| ContaboCloud VPS 6 | $9.00/mo1-month rate · $0 setup confirmed in checkout | $7.20/mo24-month rate ($86.40/yr) | 6 vCPU · 12 GB · 200 GB SSD / 100 GB NVMe | OpenClaw comfortablethe class outlier: 12 GB + 6 cores — nothing else close; the agent serving this site's research runs one |
| HostingerKVM 1 | $9.99/mo1-month cart rate · checkout-verified | $6.49/mo24 months prepaid · renews $11.99 | 1 vCPU · 4 GB · 50 GB NVMe | Hermes okfree weekly backups, 1 Gbps, 4 TB bandwidth |
| OVHcloudVPS-2 | $10.00/mono-commitment rate · configurator-verified | $8.50/mo12-month price, renew same term | 4 vCPU · 8 GB · 75 GB NVMe | OpenClaw ≥ 8 GB8 GB for OpenClaw with 1 Gbps and included daily backups |
| netcupVPS pico G11.5s | $12.14/mo€10.83 1-month term, 0% VAT · checkout-verified | $2.07/mo€1.85 · 12-month term | 1 vCPU · 1 GB · 30 GB SSD | test boxnetcup writes an OpenClaw-hosting guide — but starts it above this tier's 1 GB |
| netcupVPS nano G11.5s | $15.12/mo€13.49 1-month term, 0% VAT · checkout-verified | $3.47/mo€3.10 · 6-month term | 2 vCPU · 2 GB · 60 GB SSD | Hermes w/ swapsame netcup platform, 60 GB disk — roomier for agent logs and caches |
| HostingerKVM 2 | $13.99/mo1-month cart rate · checkout-verified | $8.99/mo24 months prepaid · renews $14.99 | 2 vCPU · 8 GB · 100 GB NVMe | OpenClaw ≥ 8 GB8 GB OpenClaw floor; 1 vCPU fewer than Contabo VPS 4 at more money |
| IONOSVPS M+ | $14.00/mocheckout-verified 1-month term · intro $5 ×3 months | $5.00/mointro rate, 1-year term | 2 vCPU · 4 GB · 120 GB NVMe | Hermes ok4 GB is RackNerd's stated floor for Hermes Agent |
| RackNerdKVM 1 GB specials | $17.99/moclosest regular plan-line tier · 2 vCPU / 1 GB / 50 GB | $1.83/mo1 GB special: $21.99/yr prepaid | 1 vCPU · 1 GB · 20 GB SSD | test box1-click OpenClaw & Hermes images in the ctrl panel, but 1 GB is test-only |
| RackNerdKVM 2 GB specials | $20.59/moclosest regular plan-line tier · 3 vCPU / 2 GB / 75 GB | $3.00/mo2 GB special: $35.99/yr prepaid | 2 vCPU · 2 GB · 35 GB SSD | Hermes w/ swapHermes with swap; ctrl 1-click apps; RackNerd rates n8n “comfortable from 2 GB” |
Fine print — read before ordering
How these numbers were taken
Every figure was read from the vendor's own pricing page, configurator or cart on 9 October 2026 (US market, tax excluded). Euro prices convert at €1 = 1.1208 USD (ECB reference of that day); the euro figure stays in the cell note. Month-to-month rates marked “checkout-verified” come from the vendors' own order flows, which is where the honest number lives. A snapshot, not a quote — this market reprices monthly.
The two-column story
The gap between the columns is what a commitment is worth. Contabo takes ~20% off for 24 months ($6.60 → $5.28, $9.00 → $7.20 — then the meter returns to the standard $6.60/$9.00, per its own checkout "You save" figures). OVH takes 15% for 12 months (VPS-1 $5.35 → $4.54, VPS-2 $10.00 → $8.50) and auto-renews the same term unless you switch it off in the panel. Hostinger takes 35% for 24 months ($9.99 → $6.49) but then renews at $11.99, above month one on either cycle. IONOS hides its real monthly rate behind a 1-year checkout ($6.00/$14.00 month-to-month, first 3 months $2/$5). Hetzner, Vultr, Akamai bill the same rate either way — their two columns are equal, and Vultr/Hetzner rows show a dash for that reason: no published commitment discount.
RackNerd's two halves
RackNerd sells two price lists. The permanent low-end KVM plans bill month-to-month at $17.99–$55.99 (2 vCPU/1 GB 50 GB at $17.99, 3 vCPU/2 GB 75 GB at $20.59). The famous specials (bar the 1 GB at $21.99/yr and the 2 GB at $35.99/yr here) are prepaid annual promotions, and the /mo figure for them is only the annual price divided by twelve — the cheapest committed-rate rows on this page, at the cost of the full year upfront and smaller disks than the regular line.
Hetzner showed every shared tier “unavailable”
At the check date all shared CPU plans (CX/CAX and the newer CPX line) displayed “currently unavailable” at Hetzner's usual EU locations. Their published prices (€5.99–€6.49 for 2 vCPU / 4 GB) are still the reference points here because capacity rotates back regularly; when it does, hourly billing with a 20 TB traffic allowance makes Hetzner the reliability-per-dollar pick in this class. Worth a return visit before ordering anything else.
What 8 GB vs 4 GB vs 2 GB means for an agent
RackNerd's own published guidance for its one-click images: OpenClaw wants at least 8 GB of RAM; Hermes Agent, AnythingLLM, Ollama and LibreChat want at least 4 GB — and are comfortable with 2 GB + swap for a single agent with cron jobs and a browser. 1 GB is for echo tests and DNS, not an agent. The “Agent fit” column applies exactly that scale.
Smaller print
Vultr's $2.50 tier has no IPv4: it cannot be reached from IPv4-only networks, which breaks SSH from most home lines — the $3.50 twin with IPv4 is the practical floor; the 1 GB plan is $5.00. Akamai's next tier (Linode 2 GB, $12) falls outside this page's cheapest-two rows. netcup's Lite 1 (2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB) at €4.92 = $5.51 on its 6-month billing is a further step up if the nano's 2 GB is too tight. All rows: full root/shell access; KVM virtualization except Hetzner and Akamai shared tiers.
Bottom line
Cheapest month-to-month real agent box: Contabo VPS 4 ($6.60, 8 GB, month-to-month with no setup fee) — exactly what this page's research agent runs. Cheapest 4 GB walk-away rate: Hetzner CX23 at $6.71 when available, OVH VPS-1 at $5.35 (or $4.54 committed). For the low entry price the committed specials still win: RackNerd 2 GB at $3.00 or netcup nano at $3.47, both with swap on. The 12 GB / 6-core class stays Contabo-only at $7.20 committed — the reason the incumbent keeps its niche.