# UpCloud

Official pricing: https://upcloud.com/pricing/  
Category: hyperscaler · Isolation: vm

## Pricing regimes (raw)

- **Starter** (sizes): starter-1c-1g 1 vCPU/1 GiB $0.005208333333333333/h; starter-1c-2g 1 vCPU/2 GiB $0.010416666666666666/h; starter-2c-2g 2 vCPU/2 GiB $0.01488095238095238/h; starter-1c-4g 1 vCPU/4 GiB $0.017857142857142856/h; starter-2c-4g 2 vCPU/4 GiB $0.020833333333333332/h; starter-2c-8g 2 vCPU/8 GiB $0.02976190476190476/h
- **Premium** (sizes): premium-1c-1g 1 vCPU/1 GiB $0.008928571428571428/h; premium-1c-2g 1 vCPU/2 GiB $0.017857142857142856/h; premium-2c-2g 2 vCPU/2 GiB $0.026785714285714284/h; premium-2c-4g 2 vCPU/4 GiB $0.03869047619047619/h; premium-2c-8g 2 vCPU/8 GiB $0.0625/h; premium-4c-8g 4 vCPU/8 GiB $0.08035714285714286/h
- **Cloud-Native** (sizes): cloud-native-1c-4g 1 vCPU/4 GiB $0.020833333333333332/h; cloud-native-2c-4g 2 vCPU/4 GiB $0.026785714285714284/h; cloud-native-1c-8g 1 vCPU/8 GiB $0.03422619047619048/h; cloud-native-2c-8g 2 vCPU/8 GiB $0.041666666666666664/h; cloud-native-4c-8g 4 vCPU/8 GiB $0.05505952380952381/h; cloud-native-2c-16g 2 vCPU/16 GiB $0.05803571428571429/h
- **GPU Server (on-demand, Helsinki)** (resource): $0/vCPU-h, $0/GiB-h
- **GPU Server (spot, Helsinki)** (resource): $0/vCPU-h, $0/GiB-h [spot]

## Features

Yes: snapshots, fork/clone, persistent disk, volumes, ≥24 h sessions, custom image (Docker or snapshot), start from your own snapshot, full VM (own kernel), Docker inside, root, systemd, SSH, public IPv4, custom domains, raw TCP inbound, egress allowlist, open internet, static egress IP, private networking, SSO, GPU, Windows, live resize, audit logs, EU data residency, spend limits, snapshots on demand, gVisor or VM (no shared kernel), inbound access rules, firewall inside (nftables), extra volumes, shared volumes

No: memory snapshots, pause/resume, idle auto-stop, your own Docker/OCI image, browser, desktop GUI, computer-use API, code interpreter, browser + desktop control, anti-bot stealth, CAPTCHA solving, residential IPs, preinstalled agents, HTTPS preview URLs, self-hosting, BYOC, open source, SOC 2, HIPAA, arm64, macOS, Python, Node.js, GPU desktop, HTTP method/path egress rules, wake on request, live fork (no pause), memory fork, MCP server, automatic snapshots, agent harness API, hosted agent API (their own agent), secret proxy, secret proxy for any API

Unknown: everything else. Evidence (source + quote) per feature: https://battleships.dev/data/providers/upcloud.json → feature_evidence

## Caveats

- DIY VM: DIY infrastructure rather than an agent-managed sandbox: guest installation, HTTPS/domain setup, abuse controls and operations are customer responsibilities. Linux guest administrative capabilities are not preinstalled agent features. 30% guest CPU utilization does not reduce allocated-compute charges. Unknowns remain null; a partial subtotal is not a complete invoice.
- Starter 4/8/40GB $24/month; Premium 4/8/100GB $54/month; Cloud Native 4/8 compute $37/month plus storage and IPv4.
- Provider-global card IPv4=0 applies to bundled Starter/Premium only; Cloud Native or extra IPv4 $3.85/month.
- MaxIOPS additional storage $0.250/GB-month versus Standard $0.097; card uses Standard, so Premium expanded storage needs manual adjustment.
- Zero transfer fees subject to Fair Transfer Policy, not unlimited guaranteed bandwidth. Cloud Native power-off differs from bundled plans.
- New Starter 1GB/1CPU plan limited to 5 simultaneous deployments. 7-day trial resources may be deleted without deposit.
- 2026-09-28 fix pass: boot_overhead_s 45 on all three plan families from the vendor claim "launching new instances in just 45 seconds from deployment to login" (upcloud.com/products/cloud-servers/, rendered in headless Chrome); vendor figure, not measured. Billing is per started hour (min 1 h per server), so short sessions pay a full hour each; the engine re-prices as kept-on machines when that is cheaper. Category stays hyperscaler (plain IaaS VM, no sandbox API).
- Egress $0 is a pooled fair-transfer share (0.5 TB for Starter 1c/1GB up to 100 TB per server). Above it, bandwidth is throttled to 100 Mbps, or you can opt in to paid transfer at EUR 0.01/GB (no USD price published). egress_gib 0 stays correct for normal workloads.
- The 7-day trial has no stated $ credit. It is quota-limited (2 cores/4 GB total, 60 GB per storage tier, 2 IPv4, locked firewall ports) and has no GPU or Windows. The $10 minimum deposit goes into the prepaid balance, so it is not a fee. Referral signups get $25 of credit (valid only after 2 payments and 28 days); promo-code credits expire after 60 days and need manual activation for GPUs. free.one_time_credit stays 0.
- Not modelled: Private Cloud dedicated hosts (sales, from $3,669/mo; 64C/128T with 1920 or 1280 GB, or 32C with 640 GB), GPU reservations of 3+ months (sales), and B200/B300 Dedicated GPU Clusters (sales, delivery from December 2026). All are sales-only and would need flags ["sales"].

## How this provider charges


DIY infrastructure rather than an agent-managed sandbox: guest installation, HTTPS/domain setup, abuse controls and operations are customer responsibilities. Linux guest administrative capabilities are not preinstalled agent features. 30% guest CPU utilization does not reduce allocated-compute charges. Unknowns remain null; a partial subtotal is not a complete invoice.

Prices below are public list prices unless a row explicitly says promotion/commitment. USD; taxes excluded unless noted.

| Regime | When / billing | Captured prices | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | On demand; USD Global Price /672 for hourly rate; cap at listed monthly price. Compute charged while powered off; primary IPv 4 and root disk included. | starter-4c-8g: $0.035714286/h; cap 24.0 | https://upcloud.com/pricing/ |
| Premium | On demand; USD Global Price /672 for hourly rate; cap at listed monthly price. Compute charged while powered off; primary IPv 4 and root disk included. | premium-4c-8g: $0.080357143/h; cap 54.0 | https://upcloud.com/pricing/ |
| Cloud-Native | On demand; USD Global Price /672 for hourly rate; cap at listed monthly price. Only compute stops billing on power off; storage/IP extra. | cloud-native-4c-8g: $0.055059524/h; cap 37.0 | https://upcloud.com/pricing/ |

## Billing details
- **granularity_seconds**: 3600
- **minimum_billed_seconds**: 3600
- **setup_fee_usd**: 0
- **api**: True
- **cli**: True
- **ipv 6**: True
- **ingress_usd**: 0
- **cpu**: Starter previous-gen AMD; Premium MaxIOPS; shared vs dedicated hardware thread guarantees not inferred.
- **backup**: Simple Backup day/week/month/year +10/20/40/60% of bundled plan; Cloud Native/additional disks charged per GB. On-demand backup $0.06/GB-month.
- **minimum_term**: One started hour, 672h monthly cap.
- **provisioning**: 45-second deployment marketing claim, not measured API timing.

## Gotchas
- DIY infrastructure rather than an agent-managed sandbox: guest installation, HTTPS/domain setup, abuse controls and operations are customer responsibilities. Linux guest administrative capabilities are not preinstalled agent features. 30% guest CPU utilization does not reduce allocated-compute charges. Unknowns remain null; a partial subtotal is not a complete invoice.
- Starter 4/8/40 GB $24/month; Premium 4/8/100 GB $54/month; Cloud Native 4/8 compute $37/month plus storage and IPv 4.
- Provider-global card IPv 4=0 applies to bundled Starter/Premium only; Cloud Native or extra IPv 4 $3.85/month.
- MaxIOPS additional storage $0.250/GB-month versus Standard $0.097; card uses Standard, so Premium expanded storage needs manual adjustment.
- Zero transfer fees subject to Fair Transfer Policy, not unlimited guaranteed bandwidth. Cloud Native power-off differs from bundled plans.
- New Starter 1 GB/1CPU plan limited to 5 simultaneous deployments. 7-day trial resources may be deleted without deposit.

## Worked example
4 vCPU / 8 GiB; 50 concurrent × 8 h/day × 22 days = **8,800 guest-hours**; 30% CPU busy; **50 GiB-month total snapshots**, **100 GiB total egress**. 50 GiB retained state is total, not 50 GiB per VM. Compute-only subtotals below exclude unknown components and tax.

| Mode | Delete/recreate / active-window compute | 50 retained hosts, 730-hour month |
|---|---:|---:|
| Starter | $314.29 | $1,200.00 |
| Premium | $707.14 | $2,700.00 |
| Cloud-Native | $484.52 | $1,850.00 |

Snapshot subtotal: $3.0000; rate $0.06/GiB-month. Egress: see allowances, pooling/accrual and rate $0/GiB; not every mode has the same allowance.
Powered-off compute billed: None. A retained-host column is the always-running upper scenario when this is false; powered-off storage/IP still accrue.
Monthly caps attach to instance identities, not to a pool of replacement instances. The active-window column requires deleting/releasing billable compute between shifts for products that bill while off. Restoring from disk is not memory resume. The engine cannot perfectly model these lifecycles; see validation/estimator-gaps.md.

## Sources
- https://upcloud.com/pricing/
- https://upcloud.com/docs/products/cloud-servers/configurations/
- https://upcloud.com/docs/products/block-storage/backups/
- https://upcloud.com/docs/products/networking/network-transfer/
- https://upcloud.com/fair-transfer-policy/