Linode is one of the pioneers of VPS hosting, launched in 2003. In 2022, the company was acquired by Akamai Technologies for $900 million, sparking a wave of discussions: would the corporate giant kill Linode’s spirit or give it new resources? Several years later, we can draw conclusions.
What Changed After Akamai
On one hand — scale. Linode gained access to Akamai’s infrastructure: hundreds of points of presence, one of the world’s best CDN networks, and resources for global expansion. On the other — prices went up. The basic droplet still starts at $5/month (unchanged), but mid-tier configurations increased by 10-15%.
The Cloud Manager interface has become more modern, with integrations for Akamai CDN and security products. But Linode’s key advantage — simplicity and predictability — remains intact.
Pricing
- Nanode 1 GB: $5/month (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 25 GB SSD)
- Shared CPU: from $12/month (1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB SSD)
- Dedicated CPU: from $36/month (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD)
- Premium CPU: from $48/month (AMD EPYC, guaranteed performance)
All plans include 1-4 TB of traffic. Extra bandwidth: $0.01/GB. Backups: +20% of instance cost.
Where the Servers Are
Linode operates in 14+ regions: US (Newark, Atlanta, Dallas, Fremont, Chicago), Canada (Toronto), UK (London), Germany (Frankfurt), Japan (Tokyo, Osaka), Australia (Sydney), India (Mumbai), Singapore.
Affiliate Program
Linode offers an affiliate program through Impact. The rate is $10 per referred customer who spends at least $10. Not the highest commission on the market, but the threshold is low — conversions are achieved more easily.
Cookie duration is 30 days. Payouts are through Impact, with a $50 minimum for withdrawal. Content affiliates with high volumes can negotiate custom terms.
Who Linode Is For
Linode suits a technical audience: developers, DevOps, startups. Great documentation, predictable pricing, stable performance. The downside is a less modern interface compared to Vercel/Railway and no serverless functions.
Official website: linode.com