Best cloud hosting

Best cloud hosting for a small business, by what you are doing

Most 'best cloud hosting' lists rank by affiliate commission. This one is organised by what you are actually trying to run, because that is the only thing that determines the right answer.

The short answerThere is no single best cloud host for small business. For a simple website, managed WordPress or a $6-12/month VPS is sufficient. For a web application, DigitalOcean or Hetzner give the best cost-to-simplicity ratio. Choose AWS, Azure or Google Cloud when you need compliance attestations, multiple regions, or managed services that replace staff - not because they are the default answer.

A simple website or brochure site

Managed WordPress hosting, or static hosting if the site does not need a database
$6 - $30 a month is a realistic range
Do not put a brochure site on AWS - you will pay for complexity you never use

A web application with a database

DigitalOcean or Hetzner for the best cost-to-simplicity ratio
Take the managed database - unmanaged databases are where small teams lose data
$70 - $150 a month covers most early-stage applications

Anything with compliance obligations

AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, for the attestations and audit evidence
The premium buys paperwork you cannot produce yourself
Budget for support plans - on the big three they are a percentage of spend

AI and GPU workloads

Start with a hosted API and only move to rented GPUs at sustained volume
See our AI hosting cost breakdown for where the break-even sits
Set a hard spending cap before the first call, not after the first bill

Common questions

Do you earn commission from these recommendations?

Where a provider runs an affiliate programme, yes, and it is disclosed on every page. It does not change the ordering - the cheapest recommendation here, Hetzner, is also among the least lucrative to recommend.

Is managed hosting worth paying for?

For most small businesses, yes. The alternative is not 'cheaper' - it is unpaid work by someone whose time is worth more elsewhere, and patching that quietly stops happening.

Affiliate disclosure. Some links on this page are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you sign up. It does not change what we recommend or the order things appear in, and we only recommend providers we run workloads on ourselves.

Also worth reading

What cloud actually costs · AI hosting costs

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