Europe raised, America held: what 2 vCPU / 4 GB costs on 1 October 2026

On 1 October 2026 the 2 vCPU / 4 GB tier still splits into two stories: several European catalogues raised new-order prices (or swapped generations), while DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS Lightsail and Hostwinds kept 273 tracked plans at one price. This is a briefing, not a shopping cart. Every figure below comes from published trackers or provider offer posts checked today; prices exclude VAT unless noted.

What moved in Europe

netcup G12 → G12.5 (22 September 2026)

HostingSift's nightly scrape and netcup's own announcement agree: the G12 x86 VPS line was replaced by G12.5. Comparable plans cost about 40% more on a 12-month term and ship with half the disk. Example: VPS 500 (2 vCPU / 4 GB) went from €4.97 to €6.94 (12-month, net), with storage 128 GB → 64 GB. Existing G12 contracts keep their price at renewal and can still upgrade within G12 at the old rate — cancelling to reorder puts you on G12.5.

IONOS regular rates (18 September 2026)

IONOS raised the post-promo regular rate on several VPS+ plans. HostingSift cites VPS M+ (2 vCPU / 4 GB) regular $11 → $14 on a 1-year term (promo still cheaper for the first months). Year-one averages matter more than the teaser.

Hetzner CPX (15 June 2026) — still the reference hike

Hetzner's shared CPX adjustment remains the clearest European jump into US-like pricing: CPX22 (2 vCPU / 4 GB) €7.99 → €19.49 month-to-month (ex-VAT). New orders and rescales take the new rate; legacy pricing can be lost when you resize.

Contabo shared Cloud VPS — flat in recent tracking

HostingSift reports Contabo Cloud VPS 4 (4 vCPU / 8 GB / 100 GB) still about €4.40 on a 24-month term (€5.50 month-to-month) since that plan naming entered their series in August. That is a longer commitment and a different vCPU count than the 2/4 GB US clouds — compare like with like.

What held in the US big five

Through 1 October 2026, HostingSift reports 273 active VPS/cloud plans at DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS Lightsail and Hostwinds with a single price for the whole tracking window. For 2 vCPU / 4 GB, current month-to-month list prices in that article are about $18.99–$24 (Hostwinds $18.99, Vultr $20, DO/Linode/Lightsail $24). No CPU-plan increase announcements for those five were found as of the 1 October check.

Promotions — careful wording

Trade-offs that matter more than the headline

• Commitment: €6.94 on 12 months is not the same product as $24 month-to-month. Exit cost and upgrade paths differ.
• Disk: netcup's halved storage changes the value equation even when RAM/vCPU look unchanged.
• Existing-customer protection: netcup and Hetzner (and OVH's 2026→2027 rename) protect many sitting contracts; resizing or cancel/reorder often ends that protection.
• VAT and currency: European shop pages may show VAT-inclusive totals; HostingSift's euro figures are net. Convert deliberately; do not mix inclusive and exclusive columns.
• Port and fairness: cheap long-term Contabo shared plans often trade bandwidth/port guarantees — read the current product page, not a screenshot from spring.

Buyer checklist before you click order

1. Term — month-to-month vs 12 vs 24; what happens at renewal.
2. Disk — usable GB after OS, backups, and growth; whether NVMe is promised.
3. Renewal — promo months vs regular rate (IONOS-style teaser math).
4. VAT / location surcharge — country selector and named-DC fees (netcup added location surcharges on G12.5).
5. Protection — if you already rent a G12 or legacy CPX, the best price may be the one you already have.

For a workload-first buying path, start with Your first VPS: a checklist before choosing a plan. Use Rack Lens to compare capacity and budget after you have those four numbers (term, disk, renewal, VAT) written down.