The useful result is not a winner. It is a reviewable baseline showing why a public server price is only one input to a Next.js hosting decision. Version 2026.1 records six observations without smoothing away missing resources or operational differences.
Observations at release
| Provider | Product observation | Published unit | 730-hour monthly value | Important boundary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hetzner | CX23, NBG1, IPv6 only | EUR 5.49/month | EUR 5.49 | VAT and public IPv4 excluded |
| DigitalOcean | Basic Droplet, 1 GiB | USD 6/month | USD 6 | Backups and add-ons excluded |
| AWS | Lightsail Linux Micro with IPv4 | USD 7/month | USD 7 | Regional transfer terms vary |
| Azure | Standard B1ms, East US | USD 0.0207/hour | USD 15.111 | Compute only; surrounding VM resources excluded |
| OVHcloud | Public Cloud b3-8 | USD 0.0605/hour | USD 44.165 | Selected location and billing mode matter |
| Vultr | 512 MB IPv6-only API plan | USD 2.50/month | USD 2.50 | Constrained reference only, not a recommendation |
Hourly normalization uses $monthly = hourly \times 730$. It does not imply that every provider bills exactly 730 hours, caps at that value, or includes the same resources.
What the observations reveal
The USD 2.50 Vultr record is the lowest numeric observation and the clearest example of why sorting this table would mislead: it has 512 MB and IPv6-only networking. The Hetzner observation is also IPv6-only. Azure’s compute meter excludes a public IP. A deployable architecture may therefore begin above the visible compute line.
DigitalOcean and Lightsail expose bundled storage and transfer in the selected records. Hetzner exposes a transfer allowance in the checked calculator configuration. Azure, OVHcloud, and Vultr need separate regional or account-level review for a comparable transfer model. Missing data remains null in JSON rather than being guessed.
How to reuse the dataset
Filter by currency before comparing numeric values. Preserve evidenceRole so constrained or compute-only records are not presented as full production offers. Join the source URL and checked date into any derived chart. Add your own dated columns for public IP, backup, storage, transfer, managed data services, monitoring, and support.
For a buying decision, use the calculator with a measured workload and the exact regional quote shown in the provider account. This report is a research baseline, not procurement approval.
Change policy
A material plan, price, included-resource, or product-boundary change creates a new dataset version. Corrections retain the original release record and follow the published corrections policy. No provider can purchase inclusion, position, or favorable wording.