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Cheapest VPS with 4 TB monthly transfer in 2026
Some prices quoted in this guide are out of date. It is being rebuilt on our price index; for current prices use the comparison pages, which show when each price was checked.
For a workload that moves data — video serving, game distribution, backup targets, high-traffic media sites, or anything that hits Cloudflare Workers limits — the bandwidth allowance on the plan is a real line item. 4 TB is a threshold most consumer-tier VPS plans hit at their mid-tier. What's often not obvious is that Hetzner's entry tier already includes 5x that. Below is the honest comparison.
Prices as of 2026-09-22.
Plans with 4 TB or more of included transfer
| # | Provider | Plan | Price | Transfer | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hetzner | CX22 | $4.60/mo | 20 TB | €1/TB |
| 2 | Hetzner | CPX11 | $5.20/mo | 20 TB | €1/TB |
| 3 | Hetzner | CX32 | $7.60/mo | 20 TB | €1/TB |
| 4 | Hetzner | CPX31 | $15.60/mo | 20 TB | €1/TB |
| 5 | DigitalOcean | Basic 4 GB | $24.00/mo | 4 TB | $0.01/GB |
| 6 | Akamai/Linode | Linode 4 GB | $24.00/mo | 4 TB | $0.01/GB |
| 7 | AWS Lightsail | General 4 GB | $24.00/mo | 4 TB | $0.09/GB (US) |
| 8 | Vultr | Regular 8 GB | $40.00/mo | 4 TB | $0.01/GB |
| 9 | DigitalOcean | Basic 8 GB | $48.00/mo | 5 TB | $0.01/GB |
OVHcloud, Contabo, UpCloud and Cloudways are notionally "unmetered" and don't publish a firm TB number to compare against. See the caveat section below.
What the numbers say
Hetzner CX22 at $4.60 includes 20 TB. That's the same 20 TB the CX32 ($7.60) and CPX31 ($15.60) include. Hetzner does not scale bandwidth allowance by plan size — every cloud plan gets 20 TB. This makes Hetzner by a wide margin the cheapest way to buy bandwidth on the internet if you don't need the specific US/APAC coverage of DO or Vultr.
DigitalOcean and Vultr's overage rate is friendly at $0.01/GB. 10 GB of overage costs 10 cents. 100 GB is $1. Real, but small.
AWS Lightsail's overage rate at $0.09/GB in US regions is the danger zone. A misconfigured hot-linked image gone viral can generate a four-figure monthly bill quickly. Cap it with CloudFront or don't buy AWS Lightsail for anything bandwidth-heavy.
About "unmetered" on OVHcloud, Contabo, UpCloud
- OVHcloud publishes port speeds (typically 250 Mbps on VPS-1, 500 Mbps on VPS-2, 1 Gbps on VPS-3+). No firm TB. You can move as much as your port allows, but you cannot exceed the port.
- Contabo shapes traffic to ~200 Mbps sustained under heavy usage. Fine for bursts, not for streaming.
- UpCloud meters per GB from the first byte. Every GB is billed. This is the least friendly bandwidth pricing on the market at high volume.
For a bandwidth-heavy workload, treat OVHcloud's port speeds and Contabo's shaping as the real answer, not "unmetered." Hetzner's 20 TB is the only number that's simultaneously quantified and generous.
Which one you should actually pick
- Any bandwidth-heavy workload where regions Hetzner covers work for you → Hetzner CX22 at $4.60/mo. 20 TB. Not close.
- Bandwidth-heavy workload, must be on US-East / US-West / APAC region Hetzner doesn't have → DigitalOcean Basic 4 GB at $24/mo. 4 TB included, cheap overage.
- You expect to consistently hit 200-500 Mbps sustained → OVHcloud VPS-3 or 4 — sized by port speed, priced fair.
- Do not choose AWS Lightsail for anything you can't strictly bandwidth-cap in front of. The overage rates are genuinely dangerous.
Cost per TB of included transfer
| Provider | Plan | Transfer | $/TB included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hetzner CX22 | $4.60 | 20 TB | $0.23 |
| DigitalOcean Basic 4 GB | $24 | 4 TB | $6.00 |
| Vultr Regular 8 GB | $40 | 4 TB | $10.00 |
| DigitalOcean Basic 8 GB | $48 | 5 TB | $9.60 |
Hetzner is 20-40x cheaper per TB of allowance than the next credible provider on this list. That is not a typo.
Related guides
- Cheapest VPS under $10 in 2026 — Hetzner's entry tier in the broader context.
- Hetzner Cloud pricing analysis — deeper look, including the 20 TB story.
- How to calculate cloud hosting cost — bandwidth overage as a line item.
Prices as of 2026-09-22.