A Windows VPS is a Linux VPS with one more line on the invoice: the Windows Server license. Providers rarely show that line. They publish a second price list and leave the subtraction to you.
We did the subtraction. Our comparison holds 56 Windows plans from five providers. For 39 of them, the same provider sells the identical machine with Linux: same cores, same memory, same disk. The gap between the two prices is what Windows costs.
Every figure below is a provider's own published price, read by our price sync on 13 October 2026, in US dollars, month to month. Prices move, and the current ones are on our Windows servers page.
The short version: Windows adds between $6.50 and $239 a month to the same server. On 16 of the 39 plans it costs more than the server does. The smaller the plan, the worse the ratio.
What Windows Adds, Provider by Provider
| Provider and line | Adds per month | How it is charged | Plans compared |
|---|---|---|---|
| InterServer VPS | $8 to $64 | $2 a slice: a Windows slice is $5, a Linux slice $3 | 7 |
| Contabo Cloud VPS and Storage VPS | $6.50 to $138 | Grows with the size of the plan | 16 |
| Contabo Cloud VDS | $61 | The same on every size | 5 |
| Contabo dedicated servers | $61 to $239 | Grows with the machine | 4 |
| IONOS VPS | $11 to $70 | About doubles the Linux price | 4 |
| UltaHost | $8 to $30 | Differs by line | 3 |
Three ways of charging show up in that table. InterServer adds a flat amount for each slice of server. IONOS prices its Windows plans at roughly twice the Linux ones, whatever the size. Contabo does both: a license that climbs with the plan on its Cloud VPS line, and one flat fee on its Cloud VDS line, from the smallest machine to the largest.
On a Small Plan, the License Is Most of the Bill
| Plan | Linux | Windows | Adds | Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contabo Cloud VPS 4 | $6.60 | $16.20 | $9.60 | 4 cores, 8 GB |
| Contabo Cloud VPS 6 | $9.00 | $29.40 | $20.40 | 6 cores, 12 GB |
| Contabo Cloud VPS 8 | $16.80 | $50.40 | $33.60 | 8 cores, 24 GB |
| InterServer 4 Slices | $12.00 | $20.00 | $8.00 | 2 cores, 8 GB |
| IONOS VPS M+ | $14.00 | $25.00 | $11.00 | 2 cores, 4 GB |
| Contabo Cloud VDS XXL | $209.00 | $270.00 | $61.00 | 24 cores, 96 GB |
Contabo's Cloud VPS 6 is the sharpest case in our data: a $9 server that costs $29.40 with Windows on it. More than two thirds of that bill is the license.
At the other end, the same provider's largest Cloud VDS pays the same $61 as its smallest. There Windows is 29% on top of the server, not 227%.
Across the plans we could compare, Windows adds 157% on average to a server that costs $10 or less with Linux, and 43% to one that costs $100 or more.
Why It Grows With the Plan
Microsoft licenses Windows Server to hosting companies by the processor core, and most providers pass the cost on in the same shape. In our data InterServer's surcharge works out at exactly $4 a core on every plan. Contabo's Cloud VPS license runs from $2.40 to $7.95 a core.
That makes cores the expensive thing to buy on Windows. Contabo's Cloud VPS 6 has two more cores than its Cloud VPS 4 and costs $13.20 more with Windows. With Linux the difference is $2.40.
The Cheapest Windows Servers in Our Comparison
| Per month | Plan | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| $10.00 | InterServer 2 Slices (Windows) | 1 core, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD |
| $13.10 | Contabo Storage VPS 10 (Windows) | 2 cores, 4 GB RAM, 300 GB NVMe |
| $16.20 | Contabo Cloud VPS 4 (Windows) | 4 cores, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB SSD |
| $20.00 | InterServer 4 Slices (Windows) | 2 cores, 8 GB RAM, 160 GB SSD |
| $20.29 | UltaHost Basic Windows VPS | 2 cores, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB NVMe |
| $25.00 | IONOS Windows M+ | 2 cores, 4 GB RAM, 120 GB NVMe |
Read the memory column before the price. Microsoft's stated minimum for Windows Server with the desktop installed is 2 GB of RAM, and a plan at that minimum runs Windows and not much else.
The same list, narrowed to one country: Windows servers in the USA, Germany and the UK.
Three Things the Price List Does Not Say
A one-time fee. On Contabo's Cloud VDS and dedicated servers the Windows license also carries a one-time charge equal to one month of it: $61 on a VDS, up to $239 on the largest dedicated server. Its Cloud VPS and Storage VPS lines charge none.
Which Windows. A license price belongs to one edition. The Contabo figures here are for Windows Server 2025 Datacenter on Cloud VPS and Storage VPS, and for Windows Server 2022 Standard on Cloud VDS and dedicated servers. Other editions on the same plan are priced differently.
That a longer term does not discount it. Contabo takes 20% off the server for a 24-month term and nothing off the license. Cloud VPS 4 falls from $6.60 to $5.28 a month with Linux and from $16.20 to $14.88 with Windows. The two stay $9.60 apart.
Managed Windows Is a Different Product
Hosting.com sells Windows only as a managed VPS, from $141.99 a month for 2 cores and 4 GB of RAM. Its Linux VPS of the same size is $19. The Windows plan is a managed service rather than a license added to the Linux one, so its four plans are not in the comparison above.
Providers Without a Windows Price
The other fifteen providers in our comparison are listed with Linux prices only. Some of them will install Windows on request or let you bring your own license. We show a Windows price only where the provider publishes one for each plan.
How to Pay Less for Windows
- Buy fewer cores. Where the license is charged by the core, memory and disk are cheap and cores are not.
- On a large machine, look for a flat license. Contabo's Cloud VDS charges $61 whether the server has 6 cores or 24.
- Add the one-time fee to the first month before you compare two providers.
- Compare the Windows prices, not the Linux ones. The order changes. Contabo's Cloud VPS 6 is $3 cheaper than InterServer's 4 Slices with Linux and $9.40 dearer with Windows.
Questions People Ask
How much does Windows add to the price of a VPS?
Between $6.50 and $239 a month, in our comparison of 39 plans from four providers. On a small plan that is often more than the server costs with Linux.
Why is a Windows VPS more expensive than a Linux one?
Because of the license. Linux distributions cost nothing to run. Windows Server is licensed by Microsoft to the hosting company, usually by the processor core, and the provider adds that cost to the plan.
What is the cheapest Windows VPS?
In our comparison on 13 October 2026 it was InterServer's 2 Slices (Windows) plan at $10 a month, with 1 core and 4 GB of RAM. The live list shows today's.
How These Figures Were Produced
Our price sync reads each provider's own price list every day. For this article we took every Windows plan shown in our comparison on 13 October 2026 and paired it with the same provider's Linux plan of the same type, cores, memory and disk. Thirty-nine plans from four providers have such a pair. Thirteen more have none and are left out of the sums.
Prices are month to month, in US dollars, before tax. We compared price lists. We did not run or benchmark these servers.