Linode

Linode has no intro price and no renewal price: the listed price is what you keep paying. The smallest Shared CPU plan, Nanode 1 GB, is $5/mo ($0.0075/hr). Billing is hourly, rounded up to the nearest hour, with an invoice on the first of the next month, and we didn't see a minimum term. Transfer beyond the included allowance costs US$0.005 per GB, and powered-off Linodes are still billed. The tax guide says posted prices exclude tax, which is added to invoices in US dollars, and the CPU pricing page says some plans are priced differently by region.

The terms say customers outside North America sign with Akamai Technologies International AG, and North American customers with Akamai Technologies, Inc. Akamai's EMEA legal notice gives the Swiss company's registered office at Grafenauweg 8, Zug, and its registration number, CHE-115.356.067. Notices to Akamai go to 248 Arch Street, Philadelphia, or to support@linode.com. The About page says Linode launched in June 2003, founded by Christopher S. Aker, and the footer still names Linode LLC.

A public status page tracks Linode.com, Cloud Manager and the API, DNS, backups, storage and other services, most of them broken out across about 43 regions. It lists incidents for the past two weeks, marks which are resolved, announces scheduled maintenance, and links to an incident history page and RSS feeds. All components showed as operational when we looked. A separate SLA promises 99.99% monthly uptime for compute plans, with pro-rata credits you request by ticket within 30 days after the month ends.

Support is free and available 24 hours a day, by ticket from Cloud Manager, the CLI or the API, and by phone. Phone numbers are listed for the US, Brazil, China, Japan and India, plus a global line, and phone support is in English only. Live chat is limited to account and billing questions. Support covers the infrastructure, network and billing, but not setting up your own software or Linux. We didn't see stated response times on the pages we read.

The terms say fees are non-cancelable and non-refundable, with a few exceptions. The cancellation guide says that if you close your account within the first 7 days, you're likely eligible for a full refund of service charges, but not of credits or promo codes. The terms also allow prorated refunds for services you stop using, for payments made within 180 days of a cancellation form, minus a $5.00 service charge. You close the account yourself in Cloud Manager, and any unpaid balance is charged straight away. There is no fixed term to renew, and the terms promise 30 days' notice before fees change.

Backups are a paid add-on per Linode, from $2/mo on the Nanode 1 GB to $10/mo on the Linode 8 GB. The service keeps a daily, a weekly and a biweekly backup plus one manual snapshot, and drops automated backups older than 14 days. You restore to a new or existing Linode yourself, and a new Linode is billed for the time it runs. Backups can't be downloaded directly: the docs say to restore first, then copy files over SFTP or SCP. Only unencrypted ext3 or ext4 disks are covered, and deleting a Linode deletes its backups.

On a Linode you set up a free Let's Encrypt certificate yourself with Certbot, and the WordPress Quick Deploy app sets one up during deployment. Cloud Firewalls are free in all regions. Account login supports two-factor login with a one-time code and recovery codes, or a Google or GitHub login with 2FA handled by that provider. We didn't see malware scanning on the pages we read.

The availability page lists 31 core compute regions in 26 cities, including Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Stockholm in Europe. Some regions are closed to new customers, among them London (eu-west), Jakarta and Washington, D.C. The terms say you decide where your data is processed, and point to a Data Processing Agreement for data protection duties. That agreement names the GDPR, makes Akamai the processor, offers EU standard contractual clauses, and is part of the terms without a separate signature.

Every Shared CPU plan lists memory, CPUs, storage, monthly transfer and network speed as numbers. The $5 Nanode 1 GB has 1 CPU, 1 GB of memory, 25 GB of storage, 1 TB of transfer and 1 Gbps outbound. Dedicated CPU plans start at $36/mo for 2 CPUs and 4 GB of memory, and the newer G8 Dedicated plans include no transfer. We didn't see "unlimited" used on the pricing pages.

You close the account yourself in Cloud Manager, and we didn't see a fee for closing it. The docs show how to copy a whole disk to your own computer over SSH, or download files with SFTP or SCP. Closing the account permanently deletes Linodes, volumes and DNS records, so you copy your data first. The EU Data Act addendum lets EU customers request a switch with two months' notice, but says Akamai may charge for switching help, including data egress, until 12 Jan 2027. We didn't see whether Linode registers domains, so we found no domain transfer-out process.