IONOS Cloud vs UpCloud: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of IONOS Cloud and UpCloud to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
IONOS Cloud
6.4/10
European public cloud from IONOS offering pay-as-you-go VMs, bare metal, managed Kubernetes, databases and S3-compatible storage for businesses needing GDPR-aligned hosting.
UpCloud
7/10
A Finnish cloud infrastructure provider offering cloud servers, managed Kubernetes, managed databases, object storage, and networking to developers and businesses.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.4/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 5/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Ease of Use | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Reliability | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Scalability | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | €3/mo Starter |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Contact for pricing | €3/mo Starter |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Automatic Backups | ||
| Cloud Compute | ||
| Content Delivery Network | ||
| Managed Databases | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| Uptime SLA | ||
| VPS Hosting | ||
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
IONOS Cloud vs UpCloud cost by team size
| Team size | IONOS Cloud | UpCloud |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | Contact for pricing | €3/moStarter |
| 5 users | Contact for pricing | €3/moStarter |
| 10 users | Contact for pricing | €3/moStarter |
| 25 users | Contact for pricing | €3/moStarter |
| 50 users | Contact for pricing | €3/moStarter |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose IONOS Cloud
- Higher Cost score (7/10 vs 6/10)
Why choose UpCloud
- Higher Support score (8/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Ease of Use score (7/10 vs 6/10)
- Better fit for developers (9/10 vs 7/10)
Pros & Cons
IONOS Cloud
Pros
- The Kubernetes control plane is free, so you pay only for node cores, RAM and storage.
- Hourly per-resource pricing is transparent, and Savings Plans can cut dedicated core rates by roughly half over three years.
- EU-based provider with GDPR alignment and reported ISO 27001 and BSI C5 attestations.
- Strong automation options, including a Terraform provider, Cloud API, CLI and visual Data Center Designer.
- Broad catalog covering managed databases, Kafka, CDN, DDoS protection and GPU servers.
Cons
- No Asia-Pacific or Latin American regions, and multi-zone resiliency is thinner than at the hyperscalers.
- Reviewers report billing friction, renewal price increases and difficult cancellation.
- GPU capacity is reported to be limited to Frankfurt, with small default quotas.
- IAM granularity and observability depth lag behind AWS-class providers.
- Very few independent user reviews of the cloud product specifically.
UpCloud
Pros
- Independent benchmarks recorded very low p99 disk latency on its MaxIOPS storage
- Advertises a 100% uptime SLA with 50x credits for downtime
- Fixed plan prices include data transfer, which keeps bills predictable
- Official Terraform provider, REST API, and CLI support infrastructure as code
- Broad managed portfolio covering Kubernetes, four database engines, object storage, and a CDN
- EU headquarters, ISO 27001 certification, and GDPR focus suit European buyers
Cons
- Reviewers find it several times more expensive than Hetzner for similar specs
- Fewer locations than larger providers, concentrated in Europe
- Smaller community and fewer third-party reviews than DigitalOcean or Vultr
- One user reports outbound port 25 is blocked by default, which hinders mail servers
- Pricing is changing in November 2026, so older published prices may be out of date
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
UpCloud scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 7/10 against 6.4/10 for IONOS Cloud. The largest gap is in Support: 6/10 for IONOS Cloud and 8/10 for UpCloud.
No, neither IONOS Cloud nor UpCloud lists a free plan.
UpCloud is the better fit for developers: we rate it 9/10 for them, against 7/10 for IONOS Cloud.
