Overview
UpCloud is a European cloud hosting provider offering high-performance servers, storage, and managed services. It is known for its in-house MaxIOPS SSD storage, sub-45-second server deployment, and a strong 99.999% uptime SLA across global data centers.
Our take
UpCloud is infrastructure hosting competing on performance and an unusually strong uptime SLA rather than on breadth of managed services. For straightforward compute and storage it is fast and predictable. What you give up relative to the hyperscalers is the enormous surrounding catalogue of managed services, which for many workloads is precisely the point.
Worth it if
Teams wanting fast, predictable virtual machines without the complexity and pricing surface of a hyperscaler.
Look elsewhere if
Architectures built on a specific cloud's managed services — migrating those is the real cost.
✨ Features
MaxIOPS Storage
In-house SSD storage architecture built to outperform industry averages.
Fast Deployment
Spin up cloud servers in under 45 seconds.
Managed Databases
Maintenance-free MySQL and PostgreSQL hosting with zero-downtime scaling.
Global Infrastructure
15 ISO-certified data centers across 12 countries.
⚖️ Pros & Cons
Pros
Cons
💰 Pricing
Starter
$3.50 /mo
- Entry-level from ~$3.50/mo
- 1-4 CPU cores, 1-16 GB RAM
- Up to 56 TB storage
- 99.99% SLA
- Zero-cost data transfer included
- For development & self-hosting
Premium
Custom
- Production-grade, AMD EPYC Turin CPUs
- MaxIOPS high-performance storage
- 99.999% SLA
- Pricing scales with chosen resources
- Zero-cost data transfer
Categories
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What does a 99.999% SLA actually promise?
Roughly five minutes of allowed downtime a year, backed by service credits rather than compensation for your losses. Read what the SLA covers — usually the platform, not your application — and what the remedy is. An SLA is a commercial commitment about credits, not a guarantee your service stays up.
Is a smaller provider risky compared to a hyperscaler?
Differently risky. You lose the managed-service catalogue and the ecosystem, and you gain simpler pricing, usually better price-performance on raw compute, and less lock-in. The deciding question is how much of your architecture depends on services that exist only on one cloud, because that is what makes leaving expensive.