Is the RAM shortage killing small VPS hosts?
by neelc on 1/29/2026, 3:42:57 PM
https://www.fourplex.net/2026/01/29/is-the-ram-shortage-killing-small-vps-hosts/
Comments
by: ZenoArrow
I'd see Chinese RAM manufacturers like CXMT filling the void left in the market for consumer-grade RAM modules, I appreciate they face challenges (like lack of access to cutting edge EUV machines), but the RAM just needs to be fast enough and affordable enough for the average user for these companies to make significant inroads into the market that Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix are abandoning to chase the AI server market.
1/29/2026, 6:05:23 PM
by: dpedu
While not a small host, I thought I would mention what I observed with OVH's VPS offering. I was considering their line of VPSes recently because of how generous the cores/ram quantities were given the price. For example, the <i>smallest</i> offering is 4 cores / 8GB at just over $4 a month.<p>What I found is that it is cheap because the cores, and presumably ram, is old. Like, 2013 era Xeon E3-1275 v3 old. But that's fine! Old hardware like this uses old ram that is less affected by the current shortage. It's good enough for my needs.
1/29/2026, 7:15:46 PM
by: miyuru
Most low-end providers will just keep using old hardware for longer.<p>IPv4 shortages didn’t kill it, and I don’t think this will either.
1/29/2026, 5:58:12 PM
by: Tiberium
I don't know if you can consider Netcup "small", but their RS 4000 G12 ("root server", basically a VPS with dedicated/guaranteed resources) costs ~€31 for a monthly contract for any location in Europe <i>without</i> VAT included.<p>It's 12 dedicated cores of a modern EPYC CPU, 32GB RAM, 1TB NVMe.<p>I got that offer during their Black Friday sale and pay €25/month (price before VAT), plus the offer I got has a 2TB NVMe instead of the 1TB one.
1/29/2026, 6:55:02 PM
by: saidinesh5
Out of curiosity, what advantages do the small VPS hosts offer compared to the big 3 (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)? Customer Service? Pricing? Local Data Center?
1/29/2026, 6:04:30 PM
by: conductr
If everyone is being hit by the same cost issues, small VPS hosts just need to charge more to operate the same. Most small VPS hosts are dirt cheap and I don't think many people would be shocked if prices go up in this environment.
1/29/2026, 6:28:10 PM
by: MagicMoonlight
Small VPS hosts shouldn’t really exist. They’re either resellers or just half-assing it.<p>How can you trust Gary from GaryHosting not to just steal all your data? How can you trust him to have redundant networks? You just can’t.
1/29/2026, 7:19:16 PM
by: ianseyler
Can we get smaller VM hosts? I’ve seen some minimums at 512MB for a host. I need 8MB at most sometimes.<p>Update: Fourplex (this host) uses a 1GB minimum.
1/29/2026, 7:15:43 PM
by: tokyobreakfast
RAM shortage or competent programmer shortage?<p>Can't get a Linux box to idle (or even install) under 512M these days.<p>Can't find a web developer worth a shit who doesn't think he needs a Python backend application server to print "Hello, world" when you could do this with a static page served with something like OpenBSD with two-digit RAM requirements.<p>It's not the RAM that's changed; it's everyone around the RAM.<p>A coddled generation who were taught that AWS is the Internet and live in abstractions certainly hasn't helped.
1/29/2026, 6:27:39 PM