Linode Pricing 2026: Akamai Cloud Compute and Egress Costs
Linode Pricing 2026: Compute, Bandwidth and Add-On Costs
Last reviewed: July 20, 2026. Linode services are now sold as Akamai Cloud Computing. Verify the official calculator before purchasing because products and regional availability can change.
Linode remains a common search name, while the current product pages use the Akamai brand. The basic pricing model is still VPS-friendly: compute instances are billed hourly up to a monthly cap, inbound transfer is free, and included outbound transfer is pooled across eligible services on the account.
Official references:
Quick Cost Summary
| Item | Current practical takeaway |
|---|---|
| Entry shared CPU plan | Nanode 1 GB is $5/month or $0.0075/hour with 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 25 GB storage and 1 TB transfer. |
| Shared CPU example | The 4 vCPU, 8 GB plan is $48/month or $0.072/hour with 160 GB storage and 5 TB transfer. |
| Dedicated compute | Dedicated CPU plans have a higher monthly floor and are intended for sustained workloads. |
| Standard egress overage | $0.005/GB after the pooled allowance; inbound traffic is free. |
| Distributed-region egress | $0.01/GB after the included allowance. |
| Block storage | $0.10/GB-month. |
| NodeBalancer | $10/month or $0.015/hour. |
Shared CPU Plans
The Nanode is suitable for a lightweight service, monitoring node, VPN lab or very small static site. A normal application server usually needs at least 2 GB RAM, especially when it runs a database, control panel or several containers.
Shared CPU means virtual CPU time is shared with other customers. It is economical for bursty applications, but not the best fit for continuous compilation, video processing, game servers or busy databases.
The $48 shared CPU example is useful for comparing provider price curves: it includes 4 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM, 160 GB storage and 5 TB transfer. Compare the same resource tier rather than judging providers only by their smallest advertised plan.
Dedicated CPU And General-Purpose Compute
Akamai offers dedicated and newer compute families for workloads that need steadier CPU access. Current G8 dedicated compute starts at $45/month for 2 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM and 40 GB storage.
Dedicated compute can be worth the premium for production databases, CI workers and latency-sensitive applications. It is usually unnecessary for a personal website with low average CPU use. Confirm that the selected plan family exists in your required region before planning a migration.
Bandwidth Pricing
Eligible compute instances contribute their included outbound transfer to an account-level pool. This can make several small servers easier to budget than providers that meter every instance separately.
- Inbound transfer is free.
- Standard outbound overage is $0.005/GB.
- Distributed regions use $0.01/GB overage.
- Transfer allowance does not make every network path free; review the official regional and product-specific rules.
For download sites, media delivery, public mirrors or proxy workloads, estimate traffic from actual logs. A low compute price does not compensate for an unsuitable location or unexpected egress.
Storage And Networking Costs
Block Storage
Block storage is $0.10/GB-month. A 100 GB attached volume therefore adds about $10/month before backups or transfer. Delete unused volumes after deleting an instance because attached and unattached storage can continue billing.
Object Storage
Object storage is listed at $0.02/GB-month. The first 1 TB of outbound transfer is included, followed by $0.005/GB egress. Accounts using less than 250 GB of object storage have a $5 monthly minimum for the service.
Load Balancers And Kubernetes
NodeBalancer costs $10/month or $0.015/hour. High-availability Linode Kubernetes Engine control planes cost $60 per cluster per month, while LKE Enterprise is listed at $300 per cluster per month. Worker nodes, storage and traffic remain separate costs.
Billing Rules That Matter
- Compute is charged hourly up to the listed monthly cap.
- A powered-off instance still occupies resources and continues billing.
- Delete the service when it is no longer required; also audit volumes, snapshots, backups and IP resources.
- Taxes and currency conversion can change the card total.
- Promotional credits are temporary and should not be treated as the renewal price.
Who Linode Pricing Fits
Linode is a strong fit for developers who want simple virtual machines, pooled transfer and lower egress overage than many mainstream clouds. AWS Lightsail may be easier when the project already depends heavily on AWS. Hetzner can offer stronger resource value where its locations work. DigitalOcean may suit teams that prioritize tutorials and a broad managed-service interface.
Before You Buy
- Select the actual region and confirm plan availability.
- Budget enough memory for the operating system and workload.
- Add backups, block storage and load balancing to the estimate.
- Estimate monthly outbound traffic from realistic usage.
- Confirm which resources must be deleted to stop billing.