How we rank providers

Our ranking is driven entirely by how well each plan fits what you asked for, never by whether a provider pays us a commission.

What the calculator asks you

The ranking starts with your inputs. The calculator asks you to describe the workload you are planning to run, such as a website, an application backend, a database, a game server, or general development and testing. It then asks about the resources that workload needs, primarily memory (RAM) and processing power (CPU).

You can also tell us where you want the server located, since physical location affects latency and may matter for your audience, and roughly what you want to spend, whether that is a monthly budget or a preferred billing approach. Every one of these inputs feeds directly into the score.

How a match score is formed

For each candidate plan, we compare its characteristics against your inputs and produce a single fit score. Conceptually, the score rewards plans that closely match your stated task and resource needs and penalizes plans that miss them, so the provider offerings most suited to your situation rise to the top.

The score combines several factors rather than sorting on a single number like price alone. This lets a slightly more expensive plan that genuinely fits your task rank above a cheaper one that would leave you short on memory or poorly located for your users.

The main factors we weigh

Task fit comes first: we look at whether a plan is well suited to the kind of workload you described, since a plan that is great for a small website may be a poor choice for a memory-hungry database, and the reverse is equally true.

Location match rewards plans available in or near the region you selected. Resource headroom matters too: we favor plans that comfortably cover your stated RAM and CPU needs without being wildly oversized, so you are neither cramped nor paying for capacity you will not use. Budget fit weighs how a plan lines up with the spending range you gave.

We describe these factors in plain terms on purpose. We do not publish a fixed table of exact numeric weights, because the balance depends on your specific inputs and because the catalog and provider offerings change over time.

What does not affect the score

Affiliate commission plays no part in ranking. A provider cannot pay to appear higher, to be scored more generously, or to push a competitor down. Whether or not we have a commercial relationship with a provider is invisible to the ranking logic.

We keep the two systems fully separate: one decides what fits your request, the other is simply how the site earns revenue when you choose to click through. If those two things ever pulled in different directions, fit wins.

Why results can change

Rankings are not frozen. Providers adjust their plans, prices, available locations, and stock, and we update the catalog to reflect that. The same inputs can therefore produce a slightly different order at a later date.

Because of this, we always treat our results as a well-reasoned shortlist rather than a final verdict. The last step is always yours: open the provider's own site and confirm the current specifications and price before you commit.