Providers / Akamai Linode

Akamai Linode

The veteran VPS, now on Akamai's network.

Type
Virtual server (VPS)
Starting cost
≈$5/mo
Free tier
No
Ease of use
2/5

Linode (now Akamai Cloud) has sold no-nonsense Linux servers since 2003. Shared CPU plans start at $5/month with pooled transfer allowances and the cheapest bandwidth overage of the US providers at $0.005/GB.

Good to know

  • Charges accrue while a server exists on the account, powered on or off.
  • Transfer allowances are prorated for partial months.
  • Some regions (Jakarta, São Paulo) carry documented higher prices.

Virtual server (VPS)

Linode Shared CPU

Best for
Developers who want a proven, boring VPS with cheap bandwidth.
How deploys work
You get root on a Linux server; the Marketplace offers one-click apps for common stacks.
The tradeoff
Fully self-managed, with a smaller ecosystem than DigitalOcean's tutorials and tooling.

Why pick it

  • Two decades of running Linux servers — boring in the best way.
  • The cheapest bandwidth overage of the US providers at $0.005/GB.
  • Pooled transfer allowances across all servers on the account.
  • Identical pricing in US and EU core regions.

Why look elsewhere

  • Fully self-managed — updates, backups, and monitoring are on you.
  • Charges accrue while a server exists, powered on or off.
  • A smaller tutorial and tooling ecosystem than DigitalOcean.
  • Transfer allowances prorate for partial months, which can surprise you.

Our ratings

Ease of use
2/5
Pricing clarity
5/5
Free tier
1/5
Scaling
2/5
Control
5/5

What developers say

First-person reports from the past three years, drawn from public discussions and independent write-ups. These are individual experiences, not our ratings; open the original source for its workload and full context. Critical reports include a follow-up check so you can see whether the problem was fixed, partly addressed, remains current, or has no public resolution.

What people like 10 sources

The hands-on review praises developer-friendly infrastructure, documentation, a straightforward dashboard, and solid performance.

Independent technical review

Linode (Akamai Cloud) Review 2026

A decade-long customer reports quiet, dependable service; commenters add similar long-term experiences.

Reddit

10 years with Linode

Critical reports and follow-ups 10 sources

The customer says a production database was deleted and immediately decided to cancel the account.

Reddit

Linode deleted my production DB

A prospective customer says repeated legitimate signup attempts were automatically rejected without a useful explanation.

Reddit

Does Linode just not want business?

The poster says a new Linode server was compromised within hours and criticizes the platform's security defaults and guidance.

Reddit

Linode still feels unsafe — server hacked within four hours of migrating from GCP

A customer reports losing account and service access for weeks while support and recovery channels failed to resolve it.

Reddit

Lost access to my Linode account since September

The author reports a six-hour outage and several prior incidents, with inadequate service credits and communication.

Reddit

Avoid Linode at all cost

A personal recap documents a major data-center outage and the operational impact on sites hosted there.

Independent blog

Linode outage recap

A customer reports disruptive maintenance, recovery trouble, and difficulty exporting a snapshot to another provider.

Reddit

Bad Linode Experience

The prospective customer exhausted multiple legitimate identities, cards, and connections but could not pass opaque fraud filters.

Reddit

Rant: signup cancellation

A customer reports an unexpected roughly $100 charge, inability to log in, and difficulty reaching support.

Reddit

An out-of-nowhere charge

Virtual server (VPS)

Linode Shared CPU

What you'd realistically pay

$5 $12 $24 Just starting Steady traffic Growing
Estimated monthly cost on Linode Shared CPU at each project stage, based on prices checked 2026-08-01.
Project stage Estimate Based on
Just starting ≈$5/mo Nanode 1GB — 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 25 GB SSD, 1 TB pooled transfer.
Steady traffic ≈$12/mo Linode 2GB — 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB SSD, 2 TB pooled transfer.
Growing ≈$24/mo Two Linode 2GB — Scale horizontally or move up the shared-CPU line.

Published prices

Plan Price What you get
Nanode 1GB $5/mo 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 25 GB SSD, 1 TB transfer.
Linode 2GB $12/mo 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB SSD, 2 TB transfer.
  • US and EU core regions share identical pricing; transfer overage is $0.005/GB.
  • IPv4 is included; private same-datacenter traffic doesn't count against the allowance.

Deploy workflow

Deploy from Git push Connect a repository and every push deploys automatically. No No deploy pipeline — bring your own CI or scripts.
Preview deploys Each branch or pull request gets its own temporary URL. No Nothing built in.
Official CLI A maintained command-line tool for deploys and management. Yes linode-cli covers instances, volumes, and DNS.
Instant rollbacks Revert to a previous deploy without rebuilding. Partial Backups and images restore machines; no deploy-level rollback.

Platform

Custom domains + HTTPS Bring your own domain with TLS certificates handled. Yes Free DNS manager; TLS on the box is yours via certbot.
Built-in CDN / edge network Static assets served from locations near your visitors. No Akamai CDN exists as a separate enterprise product; nothing bundled.
Serverless functions Run backend code without managing a server process. No Not a VPS feature.
Docker containers Deploy your own container image. Yes Docker Marketplace app or install it yourself.
SSH / shell access Open a shell on the machine running your app. Yes Full root SSH, plus a web-based LISH console.
EU hosting region Run the app itself in a European data center. Yes Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, and more at US prices.

Runtime & operations

Automatic scaling Capacity grows with traffic without manual resizing. No Manual resizing only.
Scale to zero Costs stop (or pause) when nobody is using the app. No Servers bill while they exist on the account.
Scheduled jobs Run code on a schedule without an external trigger. Yes Classic cron on the box.
Managed database A database the provider runs, backs up, and updates. Yes Akamai Managed Databases (Postgres, MySQL) sold separately.
Logs & metrics built in See what the app is doing without wiring up third parties. Partial Longview basic metrics free for a few servers; app logs are yours.

Every comparison is pre-calculated from the same hand-checked data as this page — prices, ratings, and all 15 features we track, side by side.

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