Akamai Cloud Computing vs. Google Compute Engine vs. Vultr

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Akamai Cloud Computing
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Akamai Cloud Computing (formerly Linode) include scalable and accessible Linux cloud solutions and services. These products and services support developers and enterprises as they build, deploy, secure, and scale applications.
$5
per month
Google Compute Engine
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Google Compute Engine is an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) product from Google Cloud. It provides virtual machines with carbon-neutral infrastructure which run on the same data centers that Google itself uses.
$0
per month GB
Vultr
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Vultr is an independent cloud computing platform on a mission to provide businesses and developers around the world with unrivaled ease of use, price-to-performance, and global reach.
$2.50
per month
Pricing
Akamai Cloud ComputingGoogle Compute EngineVultr
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Preemptible Price - Predefined Memory
0.000892 / GB
Hour
Three-year commitment price - Predefined Memory
$0.001907 / GB
Hour
One-year commitment price - Predefined Memory
$0.002669 / GB
Hour
On-demand price - Predefined Memory
$0.004237 / GB
Hour
Preemptible Price - Predefined vCPUs
0.006655 / vCPU
Hour
Three-year commitment price - Predefined vCPUS
$0.014225 / CPU
Hour
One-year commitment price - Predefined vCPUS
$0.019915 / vCPU
Hour
On-demand price - Predefined vCPUS
$0.031611 / vCPU
Hour
Block Storage
$1
per month
Cloud Compute
$2.50
per month
Object Storage
$5
per month
Kubernetes Engine
$10
per month
Load Balancers
$10
per month
Managed Databases
$15
per month
Optimized Cloud Compute
$28
per month
Cloud GPU
$90
per month
Bare Metal
$120
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Akamai Cloud ComputingGoogle Compute EngineVultr
Free Trial
YesYesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsCPU, transfer, storage, and RAM are bundled into one price. Storage capacity can be increased with additional Block Storage or S3-compatible Object Storage. Instant Backups can be added with complete independence to the stack. Linode NodeBalancers ensure applications are available.Prices vary according to region (i.e US central, east, & west time zones). Google Compute Engine also offers a discounted rate for a 1 & 3 year commitment.Pricing is based on specifications chosen in each product category. Bandwidth is also included up to a certain amount per month.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Akamai Cloud ComputingGoogle Compute EngineVultr
Considered Multiple Products
Akamai Cloud Computing
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
Compared to the big cloud players like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, MS Azure, Oracle Cloud, and co., Linode's product is simpler and cheaper. For quick and straightforward client engagements, the power and flexibility afforded by the previously mentioned vendors …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
We switched to Linode from Namecheap due to poor uptime, and never had any issues with stability ever again after switching. We also cut our costs in half by switching. We compared Linode to DigitalOcean and Vultr, with the primary factor that caused us to go with Linode …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
I've used a few other platforms, DigitalOcean is probably the closest, but Linode always had better backend tools aimed at geeks whereas DigitalOcean just focuses too much on blank whitespace on their control panel, while offering less functionality.

Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
There are a lot of very good cloud operations. Linode, for us represents a good offering. It offers a simple way to control infrastructure, without being overly simplified. For us, it was a good median giving us the flexibility to explore, experiment and still build for scale. …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
Linode ultimately has better value for money. Not as many features/services as AWS but they do cloud computing very well. Managed databases are something we’d like to see and it’s on Linode’s roadmap. AWS nickels and dimes you for everything. We’ve also considered UpCloud, …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
Linode is very similar to DigitalOcean. Linode pricing for my use case was the determinant factor for choosing it.
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
I am still evaluating DigitalOcean Droplets as their pricepoint has moved more towards Linode, but so far I am leaning back towards Linode. They also don't have the GPU machines. But they do have a wider range of options for CPU. At present if you do lscpu on Linode it lists …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
DO doesn't take debit card, only credit card. Not good for many people because taking a credit card in many countries has certain legal requirements that many people don't have. Plus their OS-Image storage costs money. Vultr doesn't offer resizing. Moreover, if you have a …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
I'd say Linode's main competition is DigitalOcean, I always liked to use Linode instead of DigitalOcean, even though [DigitalOcean's] website looked more professional, and their panel was more robust. Nowadays though Linode has gotten much better but they can do more for sure. …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
Linode is faster, with no overselling.
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
Linode often offers the most competitive pricing on regular usage.
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
We tested a few infrastructure providers like DigitalOcean, Vultr and AWS.
  1. Digital Ocean servers is slow compared to Linode.
  2. Vultr high frequency server is fast but we prefer Linode as it is more reliable in terms of uptime.
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
In terms and conditions, Linode has the most Constitutional terms on speech. The other simply didn't, especially if in Europe. If I wanted to criticize ideas, even if not criticizing people, then non-Constitutional terms of services simply weren't satisfactory. I did use one …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
Linode has a very competitive price.
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
Linode provides easier and more understandable pricing and value. I never have to wonder or estimate the month's costs or have any surprises. Linode also is more logically laid out and easy to get things set up and running quickly.
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
Linode is easier and more cost-effective than Vultr but lacks an offering around DDOS protection.
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
We compared the performance of small instances from Azure and Amazon, and Linode not only has a superior performance (their smallest nodes feel at least twice as fast as the small nodes from Azure or Amazon), Linode's yearly costs are many times cheaper. We tested other …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
DigitalOcean had very bad communication both internally and externally. Vultr had good features but could not answer questions about Spectre/Meltdown with any specificity. EC2 and GCE's unpredictable costs and higher bandwidth fees make them annoying or expensive for most of my …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
The cost-benefit ratio, along with ease of use and unsurpassed technical support, make Linode our choice.
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
Google Computer Engine: it is too expensive. You have to pay for computing resources (CPU, memory), storage, network traffic individually. While the quality of service is good, it's still with the same level of Linode.

Amazon Web Services: it's more affordable, comparable to …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
For simple VMs or Kubernetes, Linode is cheaper and it also has consistently good performance. As long as this is what you need, you get all you'd want.
AWS and GCP shine when you need their other services. Oracle Cloud was bare bone and expensive. Droplets are easy to start …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
Red Hat OpenShift was the first product I used and it was fantastic--until they changed to a container model and kicked everyone of the previous model. From there I moved to Linode and haven't looked back. You have much more control but it does mean you need to keep on top of a …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
There are giants in the cloud industry like AWS and GCP, which most businesses and corporations prefer. They offer a wide range of services. Hence they are preferred. And they offer enterprise support. They offer full control over user management, security and permissions. They …
Chose Akamai Cloud Computing
Compared to the "big three" cloud providers, Linode does not have the enormous range of service offerings that they do. I would not attempt to build the next Instagram on Linode. But for companies that simply want a straight-forward cloud provider, they're definitely our …
Google Compute Engine
Chose Google Compute Engine
Google Compute Engine provides on-demand computing resources that are easy to scale up or down according to my organization needs. This allows our business to quickly adapt to changes in demand without having to invest in additional hardware. It also offers a very competitive …
Vultr
Chose Vultr
AWS and Google Cloud are great platforms, but the price is complex and their VMs are rather expensive for what they are. I believe these services may be better for more mission critical servers or taking advantage of being able to use their cloud servers rather than just run a …
Chose Vultr
From the perspective of the above, Vultr provides the best balance of cost vs. performance for us. Cloudways stacks a large fee for each VPS you spin up, and this quickly escalates. Linode comes closest (at least when I used it a few years ago) to Vultr, and 3 years ago this …
Chose Vultr
Linode: Similar pricing, changed our business over to Vultr to save credit card fees by using Crypto.
Digital Ocean: Fast and reliable, same pricing didn't stay because the payment methods (Similar case to Linode)
Hetzner: Good pricing, good reputation, limited locations.
Chose Vultr
The Linode data center in Dallas is absolute trash. Nothing but constant issues. I moved a server to Vultr Dallas and it was 1000% better. Digital Ocean is OK, but I'm baked into Vultr for quite some times. Re-architecting would be cost-prohibitive.
Chose Vultr
Linode is a more old-school offering. Linode pricing model and infrastructure rely on classic Virtual Machines. What we like about Vultr is that they offer the same at the front, but in the back, the machines are much more flexible and can be tailor-made to our needs, which of …
Chose Vultr
In its price range I would say Vultr is above the competition, while the "premium" providers are too expensive and don't bring significant improvement.
Chose Vultr
OVH is cheaper overall, but Vultr is more reliable. Especially with support. Even when I have issues that sometimes shouldn't be covered by Vultr they point me in the right direction so I can get things moving. Not that it happens often. I've probably contacted Vultr a total …
Chose Vultr
I just like the Vultr environment. DigitalOcean, for example, has many restrictions about the configuration of 25 ports (email server) and this is really bad for my business. Linode has had security issues in the past, someone has stolen data from one user on their platform. I …
Features
Akamai Cloud ComputingGoogle Compute EngineVultr
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
Comparison of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) features of Product A and Product B
Akamai Cloud Computing
-
Ratings
Google Compute Engine
7.9
66 Ratings
4% below category average
Vultr
8.4
59 Ratings
2% above category average
Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime00 Ratings8.125 Ratings9.353 Ratings
Dynamic scaling00 Ratings7.861 Ratings8.444 Ratings
Elastic load balancing00 Ratings9.054 Ratings8.932 Ratings
Pre-configured templates00 Ratings9.363 Ratings8.540 Ratings
Monitoring tools00 Ratings3.026 Ratings6.846 Ratings
Pre-defined machine images00 Ratings9.265 Ratings8.350 Ratings
Operating system support00 Ratings8.366 Ratings8.955 Ratings
Security controls00 Ratings8.964 Ratings8.248 Ratings
Automation00 Ratings7.92 Ratings8.238 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Akamai Cloud ComputingGoogle Compute EngineVultr
Small Businesses
DigitalOcean Droplets
DigitalOcean Droplets
Score 9.6 out of 10
DigitalOcean Droplets
DigitalOcean Droplets
Score 9.6 out of 10
DigitalOcean Droplets
DigitalOcean Droplets
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
SAP on IBM Cloud
SAP on IBM Cloud
Score 9.0 out of 10
SAP on IBM Cloud
SAP on IBM Cloud
Score 9.0 out of 10
SAP on IBM Cloud
SAP on IBM Cloud
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
SAP on IBM Cloud
SAP on IBM Cloud
Score 9.0 out of 10
SAP on IBM Cloud
SAP on IBM Cloud
Score 9.0 out of 10
SAP on IBM Cloud
SAP on IBM Cloud
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Akamai Cloud ComputingGoogle Compute EngineVultr
Likelihood to Recommend
8.2
(218 ratings)
8.9
(66 ratings)
8.9
(62 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(30 ratings)
7.2
(3 ratings)
8.9
(5 ratings)
Usability
8.7
(22 ratings)
8.6
(9 ratings)
7.4
(5 ratings)
Availability
8.3
(4 ratings)
9.5
(29 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Performance
8.2
(4 ratings)
9.0
(29 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(217 ratings)
10.0
(10 ratings)
7.6
(4 ratings)
Online Training
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.4
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(2 ratings)
Configurability
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(4 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Akamai Cloud ComputingGoogle Compute EngineVultr
Likelihood to Recommend
Akamai
Akamai Connected Cloud Linode would be a good service to host a content delivery network (CDN) because of its edge network but I'd prefer not to use Akamai Connected Cloud Linode for tasks that need GPU power such as Machine Learning or Artificial Intelligence (AI) because Akamai Connected Cloud Linode lacks deep GPU compute compared to AWS or Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure
Read full review
Google
You can use Google Cloud Compute Engine as an option to configure your Gitlab, GitHub, and Azure DevOps self-hosted runners. This allows full control and management of your runners rather than using the default runners, which you cannot manage. Additionally, they can be used as a workspace, which you can provide to the employees, where they can test their workloads or use them as a local host and then deploy to the actual production-grade instance.
Read full review
Vultr
I've been with Vultr over 5 years hosting multiple businesses and email related services. I never experienced a significant outage or data loss. Migration has always been successful as well. Support is top tier and IP reputation is clean. I like the choices of OS, ease of platform use and multiple hosting/ region options.
Read full review
Pros
Akamai
  • It's super easy-to-use - set up a complete virtual environment in a few minutes.
  • Linode is the ONLY service I know that will let you DOWNSIZE a VM - super useful.
  • The price is right - spin up any size server and add additional block storage if needed.
  • Object memory is cheap and integrates very well with S3 CLIs and applications.
  • I've been very happy with the knowledgeable and friendly customer service.
  • The more recent additions of a firewall and Kubernetes is a welcome plus.
  • The load balancer ("Load Balancer") service is easy to spin up and configure.
Read full review
Google
  • Scaling - whether it's traffic spikes or just steady growth, Google Compute Engine's auto-scaling makes sure we've got the compute power we need without any manual juggling acts
  • Load balancing - Keeping things smooth with that load balancing across multiple VMs, so our users don't have to deal with slow load times or downtime even when things get crazy busy
  • Customizability - Mix and match configs for CPU, RAM, storage and whatnot to suit our specific app needs
Read full review
Vultr
  • Good performance from servers close to me and my customers
  • Ease of spinning up new servers
  • Great service levels of servers I spin up
  • Notifications of issues or downtime come through quickly, allowing me to handle client queries with knowledge in hand.
Read full review
Cons
Akamai
  • Some of the documentation requires some hand-holding to get started. It does explain how to do things, but sometimes finding the answer takes work.
  • Some of the settings are not obvious, or in locations that are not completely clear without experience.
Read full review
Google
  • Built-in monitoring via Stackdriver is quite expensive for what it provides.
  • Initially provided quotas (ie. max compute units one can use) are very low and it took several requests to get an appropriate amount.
  • Support on GCE is limited to their knowledge base and forums. For more hands-on support provided by Google, you must pay for their Premium services.
Read full review
Vultr
  • The response times for support tickets is too high and a quicker response time would be appreciated
  • Availability of the VPS solution in Middle east and Africa would help
  • Abilito to connect SIP trunks would make it more easy to run active communictaion platforms on Vultr
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Akamai
I've been with them a long time. They provide me with the capabilities I need coupled with knowledgeable support that's not pay-for-extra. However, if I move to a non-Linux OS, the level of support by necessity will drop off. I can still ask questions about the infrastructure but I my ability to ask about OS features will decrease.
Read full review
Google
Its pretty good, easy and good performance. Also, interface is very good for starters compared to competitors. Infra as Code (IaC) using Terraform even added easiness for creation, management and deletion of compute Virtual Machines (VM). Overall, very good and very easy cloud based compute platform which simplified infrastructure, very much recommend.
Read full review
Vultr
Just a great product with no bells and whistles, which is the advantage. We spend very little time learning and using Vultr and more time using the systems we have in Vultr to complete our tasks. Not having to worry about the IT overhead is huge and saves a great deal of time
Read full review
Usability
Akamai
Simple and clear, no BS interface. From a design perspective it's no Apple or Stripe, but it does what it needs without making me want to stick a fork in my eyes, like when being forced to use Azure, AWS or GCP.
Read full review
Google
Having interacted with several cloud services, GCE stands out to me as more usable than most. The naming and locating of features is a little more intuitive than most I've interacted with, and hinting is also quite helpful. Getting staff up to speed has proven to be overall less painful than others.
Read full review
Vultr
easy to use and configure. great bang for the buck. I need an affordable solution to host in the cloud data from systems installed at our client's site with the ability to drill down and change the configuration remotely. Vultr enabled us to do that in an efficient and affordable way.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Akamai
There is very little planned downtime. Whenever planned downtime is necessary I'm always given lots of advanced notice and an explanation that I can pass along to my users that they'll understand. I really appreciate that Linode appreciates my commitment to reliable service to my users. It shows that they believe they've been successful when I'm successful.
Read full review
Google
Google Compute Engine works well for cloud project with lesser geographical audience. It sometimes gives error while everything is set up perfectly. We also keep on check any updates available because that's one reason of site getting down. Google Compute Engine is ultimately a top solution to build an app and publish it online within a few minutes
Read full review
Vultr
No answers on this topic
Performance
Akamai
Servers are well dimensioned and price performant. Of course one always wants more, so if they were to upgrade their hardware for the same price I'd consider moving more workloads. Networking - never had an issue. Hardware speeds - disks are fast and can grow to great size.
Read full review
Google
It works great all the time except for occasional issues, but overall, I am very happy with the performance. It delivers on the promise it makes and as per the SLAs provided. Networking is great with a premium network, and AZs are also widespread across geographies. Overall, it is a great infra item to have, which you can scale as you want.
Read full review
Vultr
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Akamai
Support was excellent and fast. The documentation is extensive and helpful. I learned many things from their online documentation. I did not contact them by phone, but email took a day or less. Complex problems would probably need a service contract. I liked the friendly and polite tone of the support.
Read full review
Google
  • The documentation needs to be better for intermediate users - There are first steps that one can easily follow, but after that, the documentation is often spotty or not in a form where one can follow the steps and accomplish the task. Also, the documentation and the product often go out of sync, where the commands from the documentation do not work with the current version of the product.
  • Google support was great and their presence on site was very helpful in dealing with various issues.
Read full review
Vultr
Vultr makes it easy to contact technical support. The techs are very competent. In a number of occasions they have bounced the responsibility back to me when they could have saved us all time and heartache by simply implementing the solution directly
Read full review
Online Training
Akamai
We got kick started with an initial walkthrough along with some free credits. The initial walkthrough helped us to understand Linode's ecosystem and start our hands on with Linode. We tried out some apps from Marketplace initially with the free credits, which not only helped us understand Linode better, but also those apps. We had implemented many such apps to our customers with Linode
Read full review
Google
No answers on this topic
Vultr
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Akamai
We're a small organization. The implementation of our Linode solution was trivial. Once I justified a cloud server to my bosses over a co-location -- the co-lo wasn't as fast as our linode server in load tests -- it was a matter of moving one Linux implementation to another. Trivial.
Read full review
Google
No answers on this topic
Vultr
Vultr implementation seemed based on open-source tools and basic cloud principles - some things were more complicated to do compared with more developed cloud providers, but on the other hand it was more extensible by open-source tools.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Akamai
We switched to Linode from Namecheap due to poor uptime, and never had any issues with stability ever again after switching. We also cut our costs in half by switching. We compared Linode to DigitalOcean and Vultr, with the primary factor that caused us to go with Linode initially being their documentation. After using Linode for 3 years, their amazing support is another reason why we wouldn't consider anyone else at this point.
Read full review
Google
Google Compute Engine provides a one stop solution for all the complex features and the UI is better than Amazon's EC2 and Azure Machine Learning for ease of usability. It's always good to have an eco-system of products from Google as it's one of the most used search engine and IoT services provider, which helps with ease of integration and updates in the future.
Read full review
Vultr
Linode is a more old-school offering. Linode pricing model and infrastructure rely on classic Virtual Machines. What we like about Vultr is that they offer the same at the front, but in the back, the machines are much more flexible and can be tailor-made to our needs, which of course also impacts the costs of running the infrastructure.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Akamai
No answers on this topic
Google
No answers on this topic
Vultr
Pricing is fair and did not increase
Read full review
Scalability
Akamai
Although I use only a fraction of their product offerings, the total set makes scalability an easy goal to shoot for. As I said, I have a few customers that use the services my Linode provides...and I like it that way. However, should I need to scale up, I can...without incurring any more cost than I need to.
Read full review
Google
It works really well with other Google Cloud services, making it easy to build scalable solutions across different teams and locations.
Read full review
Vultr
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Akamai
  • With the partnership of Linode, Configr is today the best performance hosting solution in Brazil.
  • With Linode, Configr can provide a PaaS solution without the cost of taking care of all the infrastructure issues such as IaaS.
  • Linode allowed Configr to be one of the biggest hosting companies in Brazil.
Read full review
Google
  • With Google Compute we don't have the overhead of managing our own data centers reducing costs and reducing the staff needed to manage systems.
  • As I said earlier, Google's costs are ~1/2 of AWS, so we are able to see a ROI much faster.
Read full review
Vultr
  • We have experienced a 200% return on using Vultr products with a 100% Customer Satisfaction rating.
  • Vultr gives us the regions to deploy where our small business customers are located.
  • Vultr has helped us scale up our company and our cloud solutions.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Akamai Cloud Computing Screenshots

Screenshot of the interface to manage all LinodesScreenshot of the Cloud Manager used to create Linode instances, manage Kubernetes clusters, add backups to Linodes, deploy Marketplace Apps, or create Object Storage buckets.Screenshot of the fully-managed container orchestration engine to deploy Kubernetes clusters.Screenshot of dedicated CPU instances that run on their own CPU cores. No sharing the processor with other instances.

Google Compute Engine Screenshots

Screenshot of How to choose the right VM
With thousands of applications, each with different requirements, which VM is right for you?Screenshot of documentation, guides, and reference architectures
Migration Center is Google Cloud's unified migration platform with features like cloud spend estimation, asset discovery, and a variety of tooling for different migration scenarios.

Vultr Screenshots

Screenshot of Vultr's control panel helps users spend less time managing infrastructure.Screenshot of Vultr's services offer additional configuration and inside of the simplified control panel.Screenshot of a display of when peak activity happens on an application. The server health graphs provide insight from the moment the server is created.Screenshot of Vultr's interface, which allows users to deploy high performance servers worldwide from any device.Screenshot of how to reach the 24/7/365 technical support team that is available through Vultr's ticketing system.