A UK small business can rent a cloud server for £2 to £17 a month before VAT, but the server is the cheap part. Our checks of three UK-facing providers on 9 November 2026 show entry prices from £2 a month at IONOS and £3.31 at OVHcloud, with Krystal starting at £10 in a London data centre. What you pay beyond that depends on how much of the running you want someone else to do.
What does cloud server pricing look like for UK startups?
Most small firms meet cloud pricing as a virtual private server, or VPS. You rent a slice of a provider's hardware, choose an operating system and get root access, which means you control the machine. The monthly price covers the capacity, not the work of looking after it.
At IONOS the VPS S+ plan gives one vCore, 2 GB of RAM and 60 GB of NVMe storage. The page shows £2 a month for the first three months, set against a £5 standard price, plus a £10 setup fee, all excluding VAT. The M+ plan, with two vCores, 4 GB of RAM and 120 GB of NVMe storage, is shown at £4 a month for three months against £12. These offers are time-limited and were checked on 9 November 2026, so confirm on the brand's own site before you buy.
OVHcloud lists four entry plans on its UK page, each priced "from" a monthly figure. The table in the next section sets them out with the specifications.
OVHcloud VPS entry plans, monthly price excluding VAT
Published from prices for four OVHcloud UK VPS plans, excluding VAT.
View the data
| Category | £ per month excluding VAT |
|---|---|
| VPS-1 | £3.31 |
| VPS-2 | £6.29 |
| VPS-3 | £9.01 |
| VPS-4 | £17.34 |
How much do the main plans cost each month?
The prices below are the published figures on each provider's own page on 9 November 2026. They are entry configurations, so treat them as starting points rather than a like-for-like benchmark. A website, a test environment and a database for business software need different sizing.
| Plan | Published price | Configuration |
|---|---|---|
| IONOS VPS S+ | £2 a month for three months, £10 setup, excluding VAT | 1 vCore, 2 GB RAM, 60 GB NVMe |
| IONOS VPS M+ | £4 a month for three months, £10 setup, excluding VAT | 2 vCores, 4 GB RAM, 120 GB NVMe |
| OVHcloud VPS-1 | From £3.31 excluding VAT, £3.97 including VAT | 2 vCores, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB NVMe |
| OVHcloud VPS-2 | From £6.29 excluding VAT, £7.55 including VAT | 4 vCores, 8 GB RAM, 75 GB NVMe |
| OVHcloud VPS-3 | From £9.01 excluding VAT, £10.81 including VAT | 6 vCores, 12 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe |
| OVHcloud VPS-4 | From £17.34 excluding VAT, £20.81 including VAT | 8 vCores, 24 GB RAM, 200 GB NVMe |
| Krystal base VPS | £10 excluding VAT, £12 including VAT | 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM, 25 GB disk, London |
OVHcloud states daily backup of the previous 24 hours on each of these plans, and Krystal lists a standard backup level as included. IONOS says its VPS+ plans offer availability of 99.99 per cent, which is the provider's own claim rather than a measured result.
Which cloud providers offer fixed monthly pricing?
A listed monthly price is predictable, but a "from" price can move once you configure the order. OVHcloud labels its figures "from", so confirm the final price at checkout. IONOS shows both an introductory price and a standard price, so budget on the standard one.
Krystal is the clearest example of a build-your-own price. The base server is £10 a month excluding VAT, and extra resources are priced separately: £5 for each extra core, £3 for each extra GB of RAM and £0.20 for each extra GB of SSD. If you add a cPanel licence, the page shows a price from £18 a month, and its optional management service starts from £80 a month.
Krystal base server and optional extras, monthly starting prices
Krystal's base VPS price and the starting prices of its cPanel licence and management options.
View the data
| Category | £ per month |
|---|---|
| Base VPS | £10.00 |
| cPanel licence from | £18.00 |
| Management from | £80.00 |
Get the scope in writing. Does the quote cover setup, backups, restores, security monitoring and help when something breaks at 7pm? A fixed invoice only helps when the scope behind it is fixed too.
What is cloud computing and how does it work for small businesses in Great Britain?
Cloud computing means using computing capacity, platforms or software that someone else runs, instead of owning every part yourself. The useful question for a small firm is how much of the work stays with you. The National Cyber Security Centre says responsibility for the security and availability of data and workloads is shared between the cloud provider and the customer, and that the split depends on the type of service.
In practice there are three common routes. Software as a service gives you finished applications such as email and document storage. A VPS gives you a server you manage. A managed service sits between them, where a supplier looks after the platform for a monthly fee.
For many offices, subscriptions to business software cover most needs and no server is required. A VPS suits a firm that already has someone comfortable with Linux or Windows administration, or one that needs to host a particular application.
How should a small business choose a provider?
Start with the job the server has to do, not the price list. A brochure site or a test box will sit happily on an entry plan. A database full of customer records needs more memory, backups someone has actually restored, and a named person to do the restoring.
Three checks keep the comparison honest:
- Compare the standard price after any introductory period, plus the setup fee.
- Confirm the data centre is in the UK. Krystal's configurator, for instance, shows London.
- Ask what support covers, and at what hours.
The NCSC's advice is to hand as much security work as you sensibly can to a provider you trust, because it is best placed to do it. Use that as a test on every quote. If the cheap plan leaves patching, monitoring and recovery with you, the real price includes your own time.
Which company offers the best cloud computing services for small businesses, and which providers can you recommend?
No single company is best for every small business, and the pages we checked do not support a universal ranking. The better question is which kind of supplier fits your workload and your in-house skills. A technically confident startup can start with a published VPS plan from IONOS, OVHcloud or Krystal. A firm without an IT team is usually better served by a supplier that takes on the running of the service.
Krystal's separate management option, from £80 a month, shows how that choice is priced. The server and the management are two line items, so you can see what each one costs. Whichever route you take, ask the supplier to name who handles patching, monitoring and restores before you order.
What cloud and IT support options are there in St Helens, Knowsley, Ormskirk and Burscough?
Cloud servers work from anywhere in the UK, so local suppliers are mainly about migration help, site visits and support. For a manufacturing or other small business in the area, a local managed provider can set up the service and look after it. We checked three suppliers' own pages on 9 November 2026. These are shortlist candidates, not a ranking, and each page describes the supplier's own service.
Blowfish Technology is based in Ormskirk and has pages for St Helens and Burscough. It lists Hosted Desktop and Remote Desktop Servers, and says its cloud infrastructure is UK-hosted and backed by ISO 27001 processes. Anntech offers managed IT services in Knowsley with unlimited remote and on-site support for a fixed monthly cost, plus Microsoft 365 setup and encrypted cloud backups. The page does not state a price, so ask for a written quote.
Klariq covers Ormskirk, Aughton and Burscough with fixed prices agreed in writing. Its Microsoft 365 setup starts from £499 as a one-off, and its security health check from £349. That suits a small office that needs Microsoft 365 set up well rather than a server.
For a manufacturer, ask each supplier how it would support your shift patterns and any production software, since a website alone cannot confirm that.
What is the best cloud directory service for a small business?
For a business that already uses Microsoft 365, Microsoft Entra ID is the natural first choice for a cloud directory, which is the service that holds your users and controls who signs in. Microsoft says Entra ID Free is included with a Microsoft 365 or Azure subscription, covering multi-factor authentication, single sign-on and password self-service. The paid Entra ID P1 plan is listed at £5.40 per user a month, paid yearly, excluding VAT, and Microsoft says it is included with Microsoft 365 Business Premium for small and medium businesses.
That last point can save money. Check which Microsoft 365 plan you hold before buying a separate identity subscription. If you do not use Microsoft 365, ask any directory supplier for a quote in pounds sterling and a list of the apps and devices it will cover.
How do Convergent Technology and Softcat compare for cloud services?
They offer different things, so the comparison is about fit. Convergent Technology describes itself as an adviser. Its Navigator platform generates vendor comparisons across public cloud, communications, connectivity and data centre options, and the firm says it then introduces you to your chosen suppliers. Softcat offers a Managed Azure Service, which it describes as 24x7 support, technical assistance and security management for Azure infrastructure and platform resources.
In short, Convergent is a route when you are unsure which provider to choose, and Softcat is a route when you have settled on Azure and want it run for you. Neither page publishes a price, so request a scoped quote from either, using the same written brief.
What should you check before you sign up?
The monthly figure is where the questions start. Who applies security updates to the server? If you leave, what can you take with you, and in what format? How often is backup taken, and has anyone tried a restore?
OVHcloud's plans include a daily backup of the previous 24 hours. That suits many small workloads, but it is not a tested recovery of your accounts package. Krystal lists a free monthly snapshot and a 60 day money-back guarantee, and IONOS offers a full refund if you cancel within 30 days.
Where personal data is involved, the contract should say how it is handled and secured. Ask where support staff sit and who else can reach your data, and take your own data protection advice on the detail.
What changes next for UK cloud buyers?
Entry prices are now low enough that the server is rarely the biggest line on a small firm's bill. Administration time, licences and support cover cost more. Providers will keep bidding with introductory offers, so plan around the standard price that follows.
Our advice for the next twelve months is simple. Price a small pilot on a published plan, test the backup and restore, and only then commit more money. Check the provider's page again before you order, because these figures were observed on 9 November 2026 and are not a quotation.
Sources
- Microsoft, Microsoft Entra pricing, checked 9 November 2026
- Convergent Technology, Getting you to the cloud, checked 9 November 2026
- Softcat, Managed Azure, checked 9 November 2026
- Blowfish Technology, IT Support St Helens, checked 9 November 2026
- Anntech, Managed IT Services Knowsley, checked 9 November 2026
- Klariq, IT Support in Ormskirk, checked 9 November 2026
- IONOS, VPS Hosting UK, checked 9 November 2026
- OVHcloud, VPS Hosting UK, checked 9 November 2026
- Krystal, Virtual Private Server Hosting, checked 9 November 2026
- National Cyber Security Centre, Cloud security shared responsibility model
