Low cost VPS server: the 12-month bill for 4 GB

The purchase held constant

The floor is a new Linux VPS with at least 2 vCores and 4 GB RAM, a North American location, public IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity, and a 12-month purchase. No paid backup, control panel, extra address, domain or migration service is selected. This is a cash-bill comparison of published configurations, not a performance test. [A] [B] [C] [D]

The locations are not the same city: the OVHcloud quote uses Beauharnois in Canada, IONOS uses the United States selection, and netcup uses Manassas in the United States. They are grouped only as North American purchase options. Storage capacity, bandwidth and recovery tooling also differ, so the totals below answer “what leaves the buyer's account under this order scope,” not “which server performs best.” [A] [B] [D]

Taxes remain at each official quote's boundary. OVHcloud labels its total as excluding taxes; IONOS says state and local taxes apply but does not calculate them on the configuration page; netcup displays a 0% VAT setting for the checked session. An unknown tax amount is not entered as zero. [A] [B] [D]

Published quote evidence

Product labels and capabilities are evidence inputs, not benchmark results.

Calculate the full first-term cash bill

Do not multiply every headline by the term until the billing pattern is clear. OVHcloud's configurator already presents one 12-month total. IONOS separates a 3-month introductory price from its monthly base price and also displays the resulting term price. netcup displays one monthly equivalent with a 12-month billing period. Each route therefore needs its own arithmetic trail. [A] [B] [D]

OVHcloud: 12 × $4.54 = $54.48 before tax.
IONOS: (3 × $5) + (9 × $14) = $15 + $126 = $141 before applicable state and local tax.
netcup: 12 × €5.72 = €68.64 with the displayed 0% VAT setting. [A] [B] [D]

The IONOS formula is independently reproducible from the two rates, but the stronger check is that the official configurator itself shows both $168 before the promotion and $141 after it. The difference is $168 − $141 = $27, which also equals 3 × ($14 − $5) = $27. [B]

Convert monthly labels into the purchase unit

OVHcloud: $4.54 per month × 12 months = $54.48 per term.
netcup: €5.72 per month × 12 months = €68.64 per term.
IONOS: the first 3 months use one rate and the remaining 9 months use the other, so a single monthly label cannot represent the whole term. [A] [B] [D]

Inference: the term totals are suitable for a budget envelope only after tax is handled. They do not support a cross-currency winner because no exchange-rate date or conversion source is introduced. They also do not price an equivalent backup service: the order deliberately selects no paid backup, leaving three different included recovery positions.

What the headline monthly price hides

The result cells are not normalized purchasing-power values. USD stays USD; EUR stays EUR. A buyer who needs automatic off-server backups, more than the listed storage, a different location, Windows licensing or operator work must price that requirement as a new line item from an official quote or an actual work record.

Reproduce the quote before buying

1. Open the linked configurator, choose the stated North American location and Linux image, then confirm the CPU, RAM, storage and public-network selection. Record the quote date because these are changeable offers. [A] [B] [D]
2. Copy the entire term price, setup fee and tax label before adding optional services. If the page provides only monthly phases, calculate each phase separately and check whether the displayed term total agrees.
3. Write the recovery requirement in operational terms. An included snapshot, an included server image and an automatic daily backup are not interchangeable promises. Do not compare backup cost until retention, covered disks and restore path match.
4. Keep currency columns separate unless you add a dated exchange-rate source. Do not use a live conversion silently, because that would make the result unreproducible from this page's evidence set.
5. Leave any unresolved tax, migration labour, software licence or restore-test cost blank. Blank means unknown or excluded by scope; it never means free.

Evidence and number sources

All pages and visible configuration values were checked September 22, 2026. This is a verification date, not an offer-expiry date. Published prices and product terms can change.

• A — OVHcloud plan and term: VPS-1 2027 configurator. The checked state shows 2 vCores, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD NVMe, Beauharnois, 12 months, $4.54 per month, $54.48 excluding taxes, a free Linux image and the included standard backup at $0.
• B — IONOS plan, term and tax boundary: VPS Linux M+ configurator. The checked state shows 2 vCores, 4 GB RAM, 120 GB NVMe, United States, $14 monthly base price, $5 monthly for 3 months, $0 setup, $168 before the promotion, $141 after it, no backup selected and state/local tax additional.
• C — IONOS network and included-image fields: VPS product page. The feature table lists unlimited traffic, a 1 Gbps connection, 1 included IPv4 address, an included IPv6/80 network and server images for point-in-time recovery.
• D — netcup plan, location and traffic boundary: VPS 500 G12 configurator. The checked state uses Manassas, IPv4 + IPv6, 12-month term and billing, €5.72 per month, €0 setup, 0% VAT display, 2 vCore, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB NVMe, included snapshots, a 2.5 Gbit/s interface and its 24-hour/2 TB throttling condition.
• E — OVHcloud address delivery and backup boundary: IPv6 configuration documentation and VPS backup documentation. Each VPS is delivered with IPv4 and IPv6; the standard automatic backup covers the system disk and excludes additional disks.

Downloadable comparison table

The CSV preserves the checked date, source URLs, currencies, tax notes and formulas. It contains published quote inputs and arithmetic, not invoices or test results.

Open in a spreadsheet. Recheck every linked quote before ordering; blank or excluded amounts remain outside the totals.