Raff is a Vultr alternative for teams comparing VPS and cloud hosting on price, bandwidth, storage, and operating simplicity. Raff currently lists 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB NVMe at $17.99/month and 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB NVMe at $33.99/month, with unmetered VM bandwidth on a standard 3 Gbps port. Vultr is stronger for global placement, GPU infrastructure, bare metal, file storage, CDN, Direct Connect, load balancing, and specialized AI services. The May 11, 2026 benchmark on this page is preserved only as a historical test snapshot and is not used to claim a current performance winner.
For buyers searching for a Vultr VPS alternative, Vultr cloud hosting alternative, or a cheaper Vultr alternative, the practical question is whether you need Vultr's global infrastructure breadth or a simpler us-east VM platform with lower published shared-VM prices and unmetered transfer.
For the broader location decision, review how to choose a U.S. cloud server for latency and compliance.
Vultr vs Raff: which is right for you?
The choice comes down to global infrastructure breadth versus simpler VM economics.
| Decision factor | Choose Raff | Choose Vultr |
|---|
| Geography | Your workload fits us-east | You need deployment across 33 cloud data center regions |
| Shared VM pricing | You want published monthly pricing with NVMe capacity and unmetered transfer included | You want multiple shared-compute families and global region choice |
| Bandwidth | High or unpredictable outbound traffic makes per-GB overage undesirable | Your transfer fits Vultr's plan allocation and account bandwidth model |
| Storage | Included plan NVMe plus separately available block storage fits the workload | Local-NVMe behavior, Vultr Block Storage, File System, or broader storage options matter |
| Specialized infrastructure | VMs, managed databases, Kubernetes, Apps, Functions, and object storage cover the stack | You need GPU, bare metal, CDN, Direct Connect, global load balancing, or Serverless Inference |
| Operational model | A smaller product surface and direct support are valuable | A larger global infrastructure catalog is more important |
Vultr is not simply a more expensive VPS provider. Its geographic reach and specialized infrastructure are real advantages. Raff is more relevant when the workload can run in us-east and the buyer values lower published shared-VM pricing, unmetered transfer, and a compact application-infrastructure stack.
Vultr overview
Vultr is a global cloud infrastructure provider founded in 2014. Its platform includes shared Cloud Compute, dedicated compute families, VX1, Cloud GPU, Bare Metal, managed Kubernetes, managed databases, block and object storage, file storage, CDN, load balancers, Direct Connect, container registry, VPC networking, Serverless Inference, API, CLI, and Terraform support.
Vultr announced Milan in May 2026 as its 33rd cloud data center region. That geographic footprint remains one of its clearest advantages over Raff.
Vultr Cloud Compute is shared-CPU infrastructure, while Optimized Cloud Compute and VX1 provide dedicated CPU options for workloads that need more predictable allocation. Pricing and plan availability can vary by region, so Vultr's order screen remains the authority for a specific deployment.
Raff overview
Raff serves customers from one public region named us-east. Current General Purpose monthly plans include:
- 2 vCPU / 2 GB / 40 GB NVMe — $12.99
- 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB NVMe — $17.99
- 4 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB NVMe — $24.99
- 2 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB NVMe — $27.99
- 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB NVMe — $33.99
- 8 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB NVMe — $48.99
- 8 vCPU / 16 GB / 240 GB NVMe — $71.99
Every current Cloud Server plan includes unmetered bandwidth on a standard 3 Gbps public port, private networking, DDoS protection, root access, API/Terraform tooling, monitoring, and NVMe storage according to the selected plan. Raff's current pricing page also advertises a free backup-and-snapshot pool up to 50 GB that grows with the VM fleet.
Raff reports 3,000+ customers and 15,000+ VMs with a 99.9% uptime SLA. Trustpilot showed 4.5/5 when checked on August 18, 2026. Vultr has a much longer operating history and a much larger public deployment footprint, so review scores should be read alongside the very different review-base sizes.
Vultr pricing vs Raff pricing
For shared VPS-style workloads, Raff General Purpose is the most useful starting point. The Vultr High Performance references below were last verified for this comparison on August 10, 2026; Vultr notes that exact pricing can vary by region, so buyers should confirm the selected location before purchase.
| Shared class | Raff General Purpose | Vultr High Performance reference | Buying takeaway |
|---|
| 2 vCPU / 2 GB | $12.99 — 40 GB NVMe | $18 — 60 GB NVMe / 4 TB | Raff lower; Vultr includes more disk and transfer allowance |
| 2 vCPU / 4 GB | $17.99 — 80 GB NVMe | $24 — 100 GB NVMe / 5 TB | Raff about 25% lower; Vultr includes 20 GB more disk |
| 4 vCPU / 8 GB | $33.99 — 160 GB NVMe | $48 — 180 GB NVMe / 6 TB | Raff about 29% lower; Vultr includes 20 GB more disk |
| 8 vCPU / 16 GB | $71.99 — 240 GB NVMe | $96 — 350 GB NVMe / 8 TB | Raff about 25% lower; Vultr includes more disk and transfer allowance |
Raff now also has a 4 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB plan at $24.99/month and a 2 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB plan at $27.99/month. These shapes give buyers additional CPU-first and memory-first options without forcing an artificial one-to-one Vultr match.
Backup pricing
Vultr automatic backups add 20% to the instance's base hourly or monthly price. Raff's current public pricing instead advertises a free backup-and-snapshot storage pool up to 50 GB across the VM fleet; additional protection should be sized separately when the free pool is not enough.
Billing model
Vultr bills standard server products hourly with a 672-hour monthly cap. A stopped server continues billing because the resources remain reserved; billing ends when the server is destroyed. Raff offers published subscription pricing plus hourly PAYG options, so always-on monthly comparisons are straightforward while short-lived workloads can still use hourly billing.
Bandwidth and transfer policy
Vultr counts outbound transfer against account bandwidth limits and charges $0.01 per GB when the allocated quota is exceeded. Inbound transfer is not metered. Vultr's account calculation includes a monthly free-bandwidth allocation plus bandwidth accrued by running instances.
Raff VM bandwidth is unmetered on a standard 3 Gbps public port. That makes the cost model easier to forecast for public APIs, downloads, SaaS traffic, replication, media delivery, and other workloads whose outbound traffic can change sharply from month to month.
The tradeoff is geographic reach. Vultr lets a team choose from many more deployment regions, while Raff currently uses one public us-east region.
Feature comparison: Vultr vs Raff
| Area | Raff | Vultr |
|---|
| Shared compute | General Purpose | Regular Performance, High Performance, High Frequency |
| Dedicated compute | CPU-Optimized | Optimized Cloud Compute and VX1 |
| Current 2 vCPU / 4 GB shared anchor | $17.99 / 80 GB NVMe | $24 / 100 GB NVMe / 5 TB, last verified Aug. 10 |
| VM internet transfer | Unmetered, standard 3 Gbps port | Plan/account allowance, then $0.01/GB |
| Backups | Free backup-and-snapshot pool up to 50 GB advertised on current pricing page | Automatic backups add 20% |
| Managed Kubernetes | Available | Vultr Kubernetes Engine |
| Managed databases | PostgreSQL, MySQL, Valkey, ClickHouse, Kafka | PostgreSQL, MySQL, Valkey, Kafka |
| Application platform | Raff Apps | Marketplace and one-click applications |
| General-purpose functions | Raff Functions | No directly equivalent general-purpose function product identified |
| AI inference | Not positioned as a separate inference product | Serverless Inference |
| GPU / bare metal | Not offered in the current Raff VM catalog | Available |
| CDN / Direct Connect / file storage | Not part of the current Raff comparison scope | Available |
| Public regions | 1 (us-east) | 33 |
Vultr wins on geographic reach, GPU and bare-metal infrastructure, global networking products, file storage, CDN, and specialized AI inference. Raff is more focused on conventional VM and application infrastructure with fewer billing dimensions.
Historical benchmark — May 11, 2026. This section is not a current performance claim.
The preserved test compared a Raff 2 vCPU / 4 GB benchmark VM with a Vultr High Performance 2 vCPU / 4 GB shared-CPU VM. It was a single test window, the regions differed, and Raff's commercial catalog has changed since then. The results therefore should not be used to declare a present-day performance winner.
Historical methodology
| Field | Test detail |
|---|
| Test date | May 11, 2026 |
| Raff VM | 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB benchmark instance in us-east |
| Vultr VM | High Performance 2 vCPU shared / 4 GB / 100 GB local NVMe in Chicago |
| Operating system | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS |
| Tools | sysbench 1.0.20, fio 3.36, iperf3 3.16, redis-benchmark 7.x, SQLite benchmark |
| Runs | Single pass |
| Test cost | Paid at standard rates by Raff; no Vultr sponsorship or rebate |
Historical results
| Benchmark | Raff | Vultr | Observed result in that test window |
|---|
| Redis SET | 157,356 req/s | 70,596 req/s | Raff higher |
| Redis GET | 157,356 req/s | 70,596 req/s | Raff higher |
| Memory random write | 6,099 MiB/s | 2,790 MiB/s | Raff higher |
| Memory random read | 5,541 MiB/s | 5,259 MiB/s | Raff slightly higher |
| Memory sequential read | 131 GB/s | 127 GB/s | Raff slightly higher |
| CPU single-thread | 1,662 events/s | 1,824 events/s | Vultr higher |
| Disk QD1 random-read P99 | 807 µs | 53 µs | Vultr lower latency |
| Disk QD32 random read | ≈75,000 IOPS | ≈210,000 IOPS | Vultr higher |
| Disk sequential read | 2.4 GB/s | 4.6 GB/s | Vultr higher |
| SQLite inserts | 331,000 inserts/s | 424,000 inserts/s | Vultr higher |
The useful lesson from the old test is workload sensitivity: Raff led the Redis and memory-heavy measurements in that window, while Vultr led several CPU and local-disk measurements. A fresh comparison would need matched regions where practical, matched memory/storage assumptions, at least three runs, and application-level testing before making new performance claims.
When you should choose Vultr over Raff
Choose Vultr when:
- You need deployment across 33 cloud data center regions.
- You need GPU, bare metal, VX1, or other specialized compute families.
- CDN, Direct Connect, file storage, or Vultr's load-balancing products are requirements.
- Your architecture depends on global placement rather than one
us-east region.
- You want a broader infrastructure catalog under one provider.
- Serverless Inference is relevant to your AI workload.
- The larger operating history and deployment footprint matter to procurement.
When you should choose Raff over Vultr
Choose Raff when:
- A 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB VM at $17.99/month fits your workload.
- A 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB VM at $33.99/month fits your growth path.
- Unmetered VM bandwidth is more useful than a fixed transfer allowance plus overage.
- Included plan NVMe capacity and fewer pricing dimensions make budgeting easier.
- Your users and compliance requirements fit
us-east.
- You need VMs, managed databases, Kubernetes, Apps, Functions, and object storage without a hyperscale service catalog.
- A smaller provider relationship with direct human support is valuable to your team.
Compare nearby decisions with Raff versus DigitalOcean, Raff versus Hetzner, and Raff versus AWS Lightsail.
Migrating from Vultr to Raff
- Inventory the Vultr estate. Record instances, plan families, regions, operating systems, disks, block storage, VPCs, firewall groups, IPs, load balancers, DNS, backups, snapshots, managed databases, and object-storage dependencies.
- Classify portable services. Standard Linux/Windows VMs, files, containers, and common databases are usually portable. CDN, Direct Connect, file storage, load-balancer behavior, or Serverless Inference integrations need replacement planning.
- Choose the Raff target size. Select General Purpose for shared-vCPU workloads and CPU-Optimized where dedicated CPU allocation is required. Do not size a new workload from the May benchmark alone.
- Move application and data layers. Redeploy stateless services from source control, transfer files with rsync or equivalent tools, and use native database dump/restore or replication workflows.
- Recreate networking and security. Build VPC/private networking, firewall rules, IP configuration, monitoring, credentials, and backup policy before cutover.
- Validate the full workload. Test TLS, application health, database consistency, storage mounts, jobs, outbound integrations, third-party allowlists, and restore procedures.
- Cut over with rollback. Lower DNS TTL, perform the final sync, update records, monitor production, and keep the Vultr environment until the rollback window closes.
Vultr reserved IPs do not move between providers, and local-NVMe data should be treated differently from durable attached storage. Document those dependencies before migration.
About Vultr
Vultr is a global cloud infrastructure provider offering shared and dedicated compute, VX1, GPU, bare metal, Kubernetes, managed databases, storage, CDN, load balancing, Direct Connect, networking, and Serverless Inference across 33 cloud data center regions.
Conclusion: Vultr or Raff?
For buyers comparing Vultr alternatives, Vultr VPS pricing, and Vultr cloud hosting options, Raff is strongest when the workload fits us-east and predictable VM economics matter more than global infrastructure breadth.
Raff currently lists 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB at $17.99/month and 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB at $33.99/month, with unmetered VM bandwidth. Vultr remains stronger for global regions, GPU, bare metal, file storage, CDN, Direct Connect, load balancing, and specialized AI infrastructure.
The May 11 benchmark remains on this page as historical evidence only. It is not used to claim that Raff or Vultr is faster today.
Continue with the U.S. cloud server decision guide or review Raff VM plans.
