A rare find in the web hosting industry, VPS free trials are extremely helpful for developers to test a managed cloud platform, evaluate administration tools, and benchmark hardware for performance.
Most companies rely on money-back guarantees instead of a trial VPS. Although you can still test almost any VPS platform for a certain number of days, you’ll have to pay upfront with a credit card or PayPal.
Free hosting is more common with a shared web hosting provider, but you can still find several trustworthy VPS free trials. The hosts we’ve highlighted below offer the best free options out there.
-
Navigate This Article:
Best Free Trials for VPS Hosting
The two most important issues with VPS free trials are hardware configuration and whether they require a credit card to verify identity at signup. VPS free trials require no pre-payment and no credit card on signup to use.
There are only three web hosting provider plans that meet our main criteria for VPS free trials: Kamatera, Cloudways, and IONOS. We looked at the datacenters, ease of domain registration, control panels, network analytics, scalability, and support of each company.
1. Kamatera — Best Cloud VPS Free Trial
The Kamatera free trial offer requires you to verify your email and add a billing profile with your address and phone number. You do need to add a credit card and expect up to $2 in verification charges. The premium VPS and cloud storage options are excellent at Kamatera, comparable to a dedicated server.
Kamatera.com
- Customize your cloud environment for FREE
- Work with a dedicated account manager
- Dozens of Windows & Linux OS choices
- Complimentary live chat support open 24/7
- Launch in less than 60 seconds
- Get started on Kamatera now.
Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
---|---|---|---|
30-day FREE trial | 20 GB SSD – 4 TB SSD | New or Transfer | 3 minutes |
Kamatera will apply a free offer code to your account that gives a total of $100 in bonus credit that can be used on a VPS plan or other web hosting service. You also receive 1000 GB Cloud Block storage and 1 TB of outgoing internet traffic.
Kamatera VPS plans bill at $4.00 per month for 1 vCPU configurations. The company is known as a reliable VPS hosting provider.
- Length of free trial: 1 month
- Credit card required: Yes
- VPS Configuration: Up to 32 vCPU, 132 GB RAM, and 4 TB of SSD storage on VPS
- Price when the free trial ends: Depends on configuration
Kamatera’s VPS free trial is unique. The $100 monthly credit can be applied to any cloud resource configuration. A 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, and 100 GB SSD storage plan bills at $.06 per hour. There are cloud service options for Windows, Linux, & BSD operating systems as well as multiple datacenters.
2. Cloudways — Free Cloud Server with No Credit Card
Cloudways has a unique VPS service that allows anyone to host a virtual server across a choice of five major public cloud platforms with a managed service stack at low cost. Cloudways deploys virtual servers across your choice of web hosting company infrastructure: DigitalOcean, Linode, AWS, or GCP.
Cloudways.com
- Customizable alternative to traditional VPS hosting
- Choice of 5 popular cloud providers
- Scale server resources up and down as needed
- 24/7 monitoring and auto-healing servers
- Get 25% OFF first 3 months with promo code HOSTINGADVICE
- Get started on Cloudways now.
Setup Time | Disk Space | CPU | RAM |
---|---|---|---|
8 minutes | 20 GB SSD – 4 TB SSD | 1 – 96 cores | 1 GB – 384 GB |
The free trial offer on the VPS platform at Cloudways is only valid for three days. Although you may have to contact its verification department to get registered, the Cloudways service does not require you to register your credit card details to get started with the VPS free trial service.
- Length of free trial: 3 days
- Credit card required: No
- VPS Configuration: Options for 1-96 Cores, 1-384 GB RAM, & 20 GB – 4 TB SSD storage
- Price when the free trial ends: From $8.25 to more than $2,700 per month
The VPS free trial offer at Cloudways applies to three providers (Vultr, Linode, and DigitalOcean) that start at 1 vCPU + 1 GB RAM. The cheapest plan is $8.25, with 25 GB of SSD storage and 1 TB of monthly bandwidth.
From its cheap plans that start for less than $10 a month to its enterprise-level packages nearing $3,000 monthly, Cloudways is the kind of host that has something for everyone.
3. 1&1 IONOS — Risk-Free Linux VPS Trial
Already offering a low-cost shared hosting plan for just $1.00 per month, 1&1 IONOS doubles down by offering two VPS plan options so discounted they might as well be free. All it takes is $2.00 — which is fully refundable — to get started.
IONOS.com
- Affordable VPS hosting with no hidden fees
- Try it FREE via 30-day money-back guarantee
- Full root access and API
- 10GB to 240GB SSD, Linux or Windows
- No throttling or traffic restrictions, ever
- Get started on 1&1 IONOS now.
Setup Time | Disk Space | CPU | RAM |
---|---|---|---|
6 minutes | 10 GB NVMe – 640 GB NVMe | 1 – 12 cores | 1 GB – 24 GB |
Four of the host’s VPS plans come with introductory rates of less than $10 per month, including two VPS configurations for less than $5 monthly. With the 1&1 IONOS money-back guarantee, website owners just need to cancel within the first 30 days to get their small investment back.
Customers with smaller projects should choose the bite-size VPS with 1 vCPU, 512GB RAM, and 10GB of blazing-fast SSD storage. The XL option comes with 4 cores, 8GB of memory, and 80GB of storage — plenty of processing power that’s sure to impress.
- Length of free trial: 30 days
- Credit card required: Yes
- VPS Configuration: 1 or 4 CPU cores, 512 GB or 8 GB RAM, and 10 GB or 80 GB of SSD storage
- Price when the free trial ends: $2.00 to $30 per month
The trusted experts at 1&1 IONOS have crafted a platform known worldwide for reliability, security, and performance. The company offers above-average 99.99% uptime, unlimited traffic, and a choice of multiple datacenter locations along with Windows or Plesk software.
Cheap VPS Hosting With Money-Back Guarantees
The alternative to VPS free trials is cloud VPS hosting with money-back guarantees. This is another issue that should be standard for consumers, but varies significantly from host to host.
Web hosting companies offer money-back guarantees with terms as short as 7-14 days, where 1 month is standard. A few hosts extend money-back guarantees to 45 or 90 days.
The list of companies below offer the best money-back guarantees included with their platform services in the industry. The customer service of these web hosts is an important aspect of their service quality.
Although they do not provide VPS free trials, a money-back guarantee allows you to test the platform and get a refund for any reason if not satisfied within the limited term.
4. Hostinger — 30-Day Refund Policy
Hostinger offers a money-back guarantee of 30 days on the majority of its shared hosting products, with the main exceptions being domain registrations and renewals. The company will not process any refunds for accounts paid with cryptocurrencies. Read the refund policy for terms.
Hostinger.com
- Cloud-based SSD storage for speed and reliability
- Double your RAM with burst periods
- FREE dedicated IPv4 and IPv6 addresses
- Custom control panel for reboots and OS installs
- HostingAdvice readers enjoy more than 50% off
- Get started on Hostinger now.
Setup Time | Disk Space | CPU | RAM |
---|---|---|---|
6 minutes | 50 GB NVMe - 400 GB NVMe | 1 - 8 cores | 4 GB - 32 GB |
- Length of the money-back guarantee term: 30 days
- Refund available on monthly billed plans: on overfunding only
- Includes a free domain with the account: Yes
- Refund includes domain name transfer: No
If you need to cancel an account, or request the transfer of ownership of a domain to another web host, it is best to contact Hostinger using its Live Chat channel. You can process the refund for shared hosting or transfer to a virtual server by explaining the details to a real person in a no-hassle process.
5. A2 Hosting — 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee or Prorated Refund After 90 Days
The unconditional money-back guarantee at A2 Hosting is 30 days. The company will offer a prorated refund if you choose to cancel an account up to 90 days into the contract. A2 Hosting does not provide refunds on renewal charges, so you need to cancel VPS service accounts in advance.
A2Hosting.com
- Turbo server & cache options for faster page loads
- Well-built plans starting with 4GB RAM
- FREE CDN plus auto-installs with Softaculous
- Multilingual support and up to unlimited databases
- Enhanced security with and daily kernel updates
- Get started on A2 Hosting now.
Setup Time | Disk Space | CPU | RAM |
---|---|---|---|
7 minutes | 20 GB SSD - 450 GB SSD | 1 - 10 cores | 1 GB - 32 GB |
- Length of the money-back guarantee term: 30 to 90 days
- Refund available on monthly billed plans: No
- Includes a free domain with the account: No
- Refund includes domain name transfer: No
A2 Hosting does not offer free domains on its VPS server hosting plans, There is no provision for refund unless you register a new domain on-site, and then the standard domain transfer service is available with a VPS server plan.
6. GoDaddy — 30 Days on Annual Plans & 48 Hours on Monthly Services
GoDaddy has a well-defined money-back guarantee of 30 days that is unconditional on annual hosting plans. For monthly accounts, you need to request a refund within 48 hours. There is a 5-day window for refunds (45 days on auto-renewals) on new domain name registrations.
GoDaddy.com
- Designed to handle traffic with Linux or Windows
- Admin access via root access, cPanel, and Plesk
- High-speed SSDs and 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Unlimited bandwidth and lots of processing power
- Fully or semi-managed servers with optional control panel
- Get started on GoDaddy now.
Setup Time | Disk Space | CPU | RAM |
---|---|---|---|
7 minutes | 40 GB SSD - 200 GB SSD | 1 - 4 cores | 2 - 16 GB |
- Length of the money-back guarantee term: 30 days
- Refund available on monthly billed plans: Yes
- Includes a free domain with the account: Yes
- Refund includes domain name transfer: No
If you need to retain ownership and transfer a domain from GoDaddy on a canceled virtual private server account, you will need to go through the approval process with your new registrar or web host.
7. InterServer — 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
InterServer has an industry-standard 30-day money-back guarantee that is found on annual or multiyear plans. The refund policy will not apply if you register domain names, SSL certificates, or dedicated IP addresses on the platform. The refund term is 7 days for other monthly plans.
InterServer.net
- $0.01 for the first month using code HOSTINGADV
- Then $6 monthly with no contracts, no changes
- Latest of PHP, MySQL, Perl, Python, and Ruby
- 7 operating system options for Linux or Windows
- Full root access and choice of datacenter
- Get started on InterServer now.
Setup Time | Disk Space | CPU | RAM |
---|---|---|---|
6 minutes | 30 GB SSD - 480 GB SSD | 1 - 16 CPUs | 2 - 32 GB |
- Length of the money-back guarantee term: 30 days
- Refund available on monthly billed plans: Yes
- Includes a free domain with the account: No
- Refund includes domain name transfer: No
If you register domain names, IP addresses, or SSL certificates with InterServer, you won’t be able to request a refund under the money-back guarantee, but you can submit an ownership transfer for the domain. This is the same policy applied by all web hosts with these products.
8. Hostwinds — 72-Hour Window on Refund Requests
Hostwinds has a fairly strict refund request policy as many of its virtual private server products are billed monthly or under “pay-as-you-go” terms with fixed rates for hardware. You need to request a refund from Hostwinds within 72 hours of purchase, and this will not be possible for SSL or IP addresses.
Hostwinds.com
- Managed or unmanaged, in Windows or Linux
- Cloud hosting with hourly or monthly billing
- Instant upgrades without downtime
- FREE around-the-clock monitoring
- Automatic nightly backups available
- Get started on Hostwinds now.
Setup Time | Disk Space | CPU | RAM |
---|---|---|---|
6 minutes | 30 GB SSD - 750 GB SSD | 1 - 16 cores | 1 - 96 GB |
- Length of the money-back guarantee term: 72 hours
- Refund available on monthly billed plans: Yes
- Includes a free domain with the account: No
- Refund includes domain name transfer: No
You can register domain names on Hostwinds, but they will not be refunded, even under the 72-hour policy. This also applies to software licenses, SSL certificates, and dedicated IP addresses. You may be able to transfer domain name ownership from a VPS server if working through customer service.
What Is VPS Hosting?
As you may already know, there are several different types of hosting. The main ones are shared hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting. I’m going to use an analogy to explain how each of these work.
Imagine you’re going on vacation, and you need to find a place to stay for the night. You could stay in a hostel, which is really cheap, but you have to share a room with several other people, and you might not have enough space. That’s how shared hosting works. You share space with dozens (sometimes hundreds) of other websites on the same server.
Then, you have dedicated hosting. You can think of this setup as renting a house from Airbnb. Yes, it’s going to be expensive, but you get a heck of a lot more space. With a dedicated server, the entire physical hardware is dedicated to your website.
Finally, in steps VPS hosting — a nice middle ground that’s similar to renting a hotel room. Sure, you’re sharing the hotel building with other people, but you get your own dedicated room.
With VPS hosting, you get a virtual slice of a physical server that’s isolated from other users.
It’s less expensive than a dedicated server because you’re on the same hardware as other users, but it gives you more privacy and control than shared hosting.
How Does a VPS Free Trial Work?
A VPS free trial allows anyone to sign up and use the resources provided under limited terms. Some companies require ID and credit card verification. Other companies do not offer free trials at all, but commit to money-back guarantee offers where you can request a refund on the plan.
When looking for a VPS free trial, it’s important to evaluate how long the trial period lasts, whether the provider requires a credit card upon signup, and the configuration of the virtual server.
With VPS free trials, developers can preview server administration across different control panels, including cPanel, Plesk, and Webuzo.
- cPanel is one of the most popular control panels on the market.
- Plesk is a hosting control panel widely employed by web professionals and hosts.
- Webuzo‘s multi-user control panel works well with cloud and dedicated hosting.
The best VPS free trials do not function as a scaled-down or restricted offer, so they can be used to test the full platform features of a web host.
Why Should I Get VPS Hosting With a Free Trial?
A free trial allows developers to test a platform assessing for functionality and benchmark performance. A free offer can save budget users the equivalent of $5 to $10 per month on a VPS plan with most hosting companies.
The money-back guarantee is standard across the industry.
More important is a money-back guarantee if you are committing to an annual or multiyear VPS plan. Review the terms before you buy.
Main Advantages of a Money-Back Guarantee vs. Free Trials:
- Money-back guarantees allow you to sign up for long-term plans to test platforms.
- If not satisfied for any reason, you can request a refund in the first 30 days.
- Some companies offer prorated refunds up to 90 days on multiyear plans.
The ability to sign up for a VPS free trial is limited at most of the major hosting companies. The best deals for freeVPS plans are available from companies like Cloudways that offer a $100 credit for use in the first month.
How Do I Choose the Best VPS Provider?
The best VPS provider depends on the hardware, cost, type of virtualization used, data center optimization, and tools provided to administrators for configuration. Web server hardware is available in elite configurations with SSD storage and web traffic load balancing on VPS plans.
SSD storage, monthly bandwidth allotments, datacenter optimization, and vCPU and GB of Ram are all essential items to consider when looking for a VPS hosting plan.
Many web developers, business users, and publishers choose a VPS plan based on the operating system required or the control panel utilized for configuration.
Premium VPS companies offer advanced metrics and web traffic analytics in real time, with free control panel licensing included in the total cost of the virtual private server plan.
What Is the Difference Between VPS and Cloud Hosting?
The main difference between a VPS solution and cloud hosting is the method of virtualization used to orchestrate the partitions of hardware in a multitenant environment.
VPS plans use hypervisor virtualization like KVM, OpenVZ, Virtuozzo, and Xen, among others, while VM plans implement container virtualization with a lighter footprint. VMs require a smaller OS vs. VPS plans.
Unlike VPS, cloud hosting comes with elastic scalability and integrations with GPU/TPU hardware for machine learning.
The best way to get free VPS hosting is to use the bonus signup credits at a public cloud host like AWS, Azure, or GCP.
With Kamatera, you get access to the full features of its cloud server platform with $100 in bonus credit for the first month that can be used on a VPS free trial with variable pricing per hour. Cloud hosting like AWS EC2 or EKS is used for enterprise scale.
Can I Get Free VPS or Cloud Hosting Without a Credit Card?
There are only a few companies that offer a VPS free trial without registering a valid credit card at signup, and these plans require other forms of identity verification. You will need to submit copies of your driver’s license or passport and verify your mobile phone to use a free VPS plan.
Why VPS Free Trials Require Credit Card or Identity Verification:
- The risk of fraud or use of free plans by hackers and spammers is the main concern.
- Web hosting companies offer VPS free trials as a means of upselling to new customers.
- Mobile phone verification is consistent with 2-factor authentication in cloud hosting.
Cloudways is the best option if you need a VPS free trial for use without a credit card. The Cloudways account is only valid for three days.
You can get a free VPS trial without a credit card, but it’s rare and usually requires submission of alternative forms of identification.
For most companies, a credit card, ID, and mobile verification is required.
Is a Free Trial Better Than Free Web Hosting?
A VPS free trial will allow you to test the exact hardware configuration and platform administration software provided by the web host. A free hosting plan will likely leave you limited to subdomain hosting on a web builder plan or custom platform linked to a major company.
The best VPS provider depends on the hardware, cost, type of virtualization used, and tools provided for management and orchestration.
The products on most public cloud hosts like GCP, AWS, Azure, and IBM Cloud are not designed for retail users or small businesses. In some instances, these companies offer a free tier to users as long as web traffic or CPU usage does not exceed fixed rates.
Free Hosting Options to Consider vs. VPS Free Trials:
- GoDaddy, Wix, Weebly, WordPress, and other companies offer free hosting.
- Public cloud hosts like AWS, DigitalOcean, and Azure offer free credits on signup.
- Free hosting on a public cloud host will allow custom web server configurations.
These are better options than free website builders for developers, but niche businesses can save with site builder options.
Where Else Can I Find No-Cost VPS Hosting?
Some of the other cloud hosting companies offering free credits on signup are Vultr, Linode, UpCloud, and CloudSigma.
These credits can be applied to premium VPS plans under any configuration and can be used normally under term limitations. Thereafter, the standard billing rates for the plan will apply. Bonus credits at public cloud hosts like Azure can be as high as $200.
Some of the best options for no-cost VPS include those with managed platforms with monthly terms and the ability to transfer files for apps in development between hosts until the project is viable.
FastComet and ScalaHosting have some other options for no-cost VPS hosting that are worth considering.
You can get a 14-day free VPS trial offer at FastComet with ID and credit card validation. ScalaHosting offers a 30-day money-back guarantee — an industry standard — on trial VPS plans. ScalaHosting is popular with developers for managed cloud services.
What Are the Cheapest VPS Hosts?
A free trial is enticing for those who want to save money. But don’t let a no-cost trial period distract you from the regular monthly price of a VPS. Before signing up for the trial, ensure the regular monthly price is within your budget. Otherwise, you’ll have to go through the headache of canceling your plan and migrating your website all over again.
If budget is at the front of your mind, consider these hosts first:
- IONOS: Plans starting at $2.00
- A2 Hosting: Plans starting at $2.99
- Kamatera: Plans starting at $4.00
- Hostinger: Plans starting at $4.49
These providers represent the best value when it comes to cheap VPS hosting. If you outgrow your cheap, entry-level plan, each offers the option to upgrade for more features at a higher (but still affordable) price.
Test Drive Your Hosting Service to Find the Best Value
VPS free trials can be helpful for developers to jump-start new projects on custom web server configurations or to test platforms for long-term support. Although it would appear normal to test a product or platform before using it, this is managed in web hosting through the money-back guarantee.
The difference is that you need to pay for the VPS hosting service in advance and request a refund from the web hosting provider with a money-back guarantee. Unless you use a free SSL certificate, your refund will not cover certain domain name or security fees.
In our survey, Kamatera, Cloudways, and IONOS rated the best for offering VPS free trials with full functionality with or without prepayment.
All of the companies follow different policies for identity and credit card verification. The Kamatera account includes a $100 free credit for the first month, which is the best value.
The best practice is to test your web host for VPS quality with a money-back guarantee. This allows you to use the full platform services without hosting trial limits for 30 days at most VPS provider companies. If you are not satisfied for any reason, you can request a refund on a prepaid annual or multiyear plan.
Although you need to pay upfront, you can get your refund with a money-back guarantee easily. Otherwise, rely on bonus credits from a public cloud host.
HostingAdvice.com is a free online resource that offers valuable content and comparison services to users. To keep this resource 100% free, we receive compensation from many of the offers listed on the site. Along with key review factors, this compensation may impact how and where products appear across the site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). HostingAdvice.com does not include the entire universe of available offers. Editorial opinions expressed on the site are strictly our own and are not provided, endorsed, or approved by advertisers.
Our site is committed to publishing independent, accurate content guided by strict editorial guidelines. Before articles and reviews are published on our site, they undergo a thorough review process performed by a team of independent editors and subject-matter experts to ensure the content’s accuracy, timeliness, and impartiality. Our editorial team is separate and independent of our site’s advertisers, and the opinions they express on our site are their own. To read more about our team members and their editorial backgrounds, please visit our site’s About page.