Compare / Fly.io Machines vs OVHcloud VPS
Fly.io Machines vs OVHcloud VPS
Pre-calculated from hand-checked data — Fly.io checked 2026-08-06, OVHcloud checked 2026-08-06.
The short version
Fly.io Machines wins more of our comparison points, but OVHcloud VPS still fits if traffic-heavy European projects that want unmetered bandwidth and an included IPv4 at rock-bottom prices describes you.
Price Fly.io Machines
Fly.io Machines is cheaper at every stage we model — about $12/mo even for a growing project.
Ease Fly.io Machines
Fly.io Machines is easier to get running: fly launch builds the image and deploys it; configuration lives in fly.toml and the flyctl CLI.
Control OVHcloud VPS
OVHcloud VPS gives you more control over the stack — the flip side of the convenience trade.
Features Fly.io Machines
Fly.io Machines comes out ahead on 6 of the 15 features we track, versus 1.
What developers say about this matchup
We couldn't find a substantive first-person discussion comparing this exact pair. We leave the section empty instead of filling it with vendor marketing or generic SEO comparisons.
At a glance
| Fly.io Machines | OVHcloud VPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Dockerized apps that want low cost, fine control, or multi-region placement. | Traffic-heavy European projects that want unmetered bandwidth and an included IPv4 at rock-bottom prices. |
| How deploys work | fly launch builds the image and deploys it; configuration lives in fly.toml and the flyctl CLI. | You get root on a bare server: pick a distro or an app image (Docker, WordPress, cPanel) and set everything up yourself. |
| The tradeoff | You operate more of the stack yourself — especially the database. | Entirely self-managed, headline prices need a commitment, and support below premium tiers is slow. |
| Free tier | None | None |
What you'd realistically pay
| Project stage | Fly.io Machines | OVHcloud VPS | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just starting | ≈$3/mo shared-cpu-1x, 256 MB — About $2.02/month in Amsterdam if always on; less with scale-to-zero. | ≈€3.81/mo VPS-1 — From-price with commitment. 2 shared vCores, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB NVMe, unlimited traffic at 500 Mbps. | Fly.io Machines |
| Steady traffic | ≈$6/mo shared-cpu-1x, 1 GB — About $5.92/month in Amsterdam, plus egress at $0.02/GB. | ≈€10.40/mo VPS-3 — From-price with commitment. 6 shared vCores, 12 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe, unlimited traffic at 2 Gbps. | Fly.io Machines |
| Growing | ≈$12/mo Two 1 GB Machines — Two machines for availability; databases and egress on top. | ≈€19.96/mo VPS-4 — From-price with commitment. 8 shared vCores, 24 GB RAM, 200 GB NVMe, unlimited traffic at 3 Gbps. | Fly.io Machines |
Fly.io Machines pricing notes
- Billed per second only while Machines are started; scale-to-zero is natively supported.
- Egress: $0.02/GB in North America and Europe; more elsewhere.
OVHcloud VPS pricing notes
- Prices are ex-VAT "from" prices requiring the longest commitment — month-to-month is noticeably higher.
- Monthly prepaid subscription only; there is no hourly billing on the VPS line.
- Daily backups are included free; snapshots cost from €0.30/month extra.
Our ratings
Ease of use Fly.io Machines
Pricing clarity
Free tier
Scaling Fly.io Machines
Control OVHcloud VPS
Feature by feature
Fly.io Machines wins 6, OVHcloud VPS wins 1, with 8 even.
Deploy workflow
| Fly.io Machines | OVHcloud VPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy from Git push | Partial No native git integration; the documented path is flyctl in GitHub Actions. | No No deploy pipeline — bring your own CI or scripts. |
| Preview deploys | Partial PR apps work via the official GitHub Action, not out of the box. | No Nothing built in. |
| Official CLI | Yes flyctl does everything: launch, deploy, scale, ssh, logs. | Partial Full REST API and Terraform provider; no first-class official CLI like hcloud or doctl. |
| Instant rollbacks | Partial Redeploy any previous image; no one-click dashboard rollback. | Partial Included daily backups and paid snapshots restore machines; no deploy-level rollback. |
Platform
| Fly.io Machines | OVHcloud VPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domains + HTTPS | Yes Custom domains with free managed certificates. | Yes Point DNS at the server; TLS is yours via certbot or a proxy. |
| Built-in CDN / edge network | Partial Anycast routing sends users to the nearest region, but there is no static-asset CDN. | Partial OVHcloud sells a separate CDN product; nothing is integrated with the VPS. |
| Serverless functions | No Machines are micro-VMs, not functions. | No Not a VPS feature. |
| Docker containers | Yes A Docker image is the deployment unit. | Yes Docker app image at install time, or install it yourself. |
| SSH / shell access | Yes fly ssh console opens a shell in any running Machine. | Yes Full root SSH. |
| EU hosting region | Yes Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, London, and more. | Yes France, Germany, Poland, and the UK — OVHcloud is EU-headquartered. |
Runtime & operations
| Fly.io Machines | OVHcloud VPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic scaling | Yes Machines autostart and autostop with traffic; scale counts per region. | No Manual plan upgrades only. |
| Scale to zero | Yes Stopped Machines cost only their storage. | No A monthly subscription bills until cancelled, powered off or not. |
| Scheduled jobs | Partial Scheduled Machines run on fixed intervals; full cron needs a workaround. | Yes Classic cron on the box. |
| Managed database | Partial Fly Postgres is automated-but-unmanaged; managed options come from partners like Supabase and Upstash. | Partial Managed databases exist on OVH Public Cloud (from ~$64/month) — a separate product, not part of the VPS. |
| Logs & metrics built in | Yes Built-in metrics (Grafana), live logs, and log shipping. | Partial Basic usage graphs in the control panel; app-level monitoring is yours. |
Watch out for
Fly.io
- New pay-as-you-go organizations get no free allowance.
- Fly Postgres is explicitly unmanaged: automated but not a managed database service — backups and failover are your responsibility.
- Per-second compute plus $0.02/GB egress makes bills variable; prices differ by region.
OVHcloud
- The advertised prices are "from" prices tied to the longest commitment — rolling month-to-month costs more.
- Traffic is unlimited in Europe and North America only; Asia-Pacific locations have 500 GB – 3 TB quotas, then throttle to 10 Mbps.
- Standard-tier support is slow and famously unhelpful for anything OS-level — you are expected to manage the server yourself.
- OVHcloud US is a separate legal entity with its own accounts — easy to sign up in the wrong portal.
Read the full reviews: Fly.io and OVHcloud. Or answer four questions to see what fits your project.