--- title: "Ample vs a VPS: should an AI-built app run on its own server?" description: "Ample compared with running your app on a VPS such as a DigitalOcean Droplet or Hetzner Cloud server: price, what you manage yourself, and when each makes sense." canonical_url: "https://ample.computer/compare/vps" last_updated: "2026-10-14" author: "Ample Computer" --- # Ample vs a VPS: should an AI-built app run on its own server? Ample compared with running your app on a VPS such as a DigitalOcean Droplet or Hetzner Cloud server: price, what you manage yourself, and when each makes sense. ## The short version A VPS is the better choice when you want root on a cheap Linux server and are happy to run it: a DigitalOcean Droplet starts at $4 a month. Ample is the better choice when nobody should have to patch, secure or wire up that server: your coding agent deploys, Ample runs the app, its database, TLS and logs. ## Who this is for On a VPS everything above the operating system is yours: the web server, TLS certificates, process supervision, databases, backups, firewall and monitoring. That is cheap in dollars and expensive in attention. ## Ample and a VPS side by side | | Ample | VPS (Droplet, Hetzner) | |---|---|---| | Free plan | $0 with no card. 2 apps running at once, 2 vCPU, 2 GB memory, 3 GB volumes, 1 GB bucket storage, 2 buckets. | No free plan. | | Paid plans | Custom plans priced on volume (number of apps, limits, spending caps). No public list price; see [pricing](https://ample.computer/pricing). | DigitalOcean Droplet from $4 a month (1 vCPU, 512 MiB); Hetzner CX23 from about EUR 5.49 a month plus IPv4. | | Spending limit | Free has a hard budget ($5 a month, $2 a day). At the cap, apps stop serving until the account is back under budget; nothing is deleted and nothing is billed. | A fixed monthly price per server; DigitalOcean spend alerts are not a cap. | | How apps run | Each app runs as a normal long-running process in its own microVM with its own kernel. | A whole virtual machine you administer. | | Long-running servers and workers | Yes. Web services and background workers (`--kind worker`) run as ordinary processes. | Anything you can run on Linux, supervised by you. | | Languages | Node, Python, Go, Ruby, PHP, Java, .NET, Elixir, Rust and static sites, detected from the repository. | Anything you install. | | Docker images | No. Ample builds from source; Dockerfile build steps are not run. | Yes, if you install Docker. | | Databases | Managed Postgres, MySQL, Redis and MongoDB, each in its own microVM, created automatically when the code needs one. | Install and back up your own, or buy a managed database separately. | | Object storage | S3-compatible buckets, optionally published through Ample's CDN. | Separate product (Spaces, or Hetzner Object Storage). | | Persistent disk | Persistent volumes attached to the app. | The server's disk, plus attachable block volumes. | | Custom domains and TLS | Custom domains with automatic TLS. | You configure DNS, a reverse proxy and certificates. | | Regions | No region choice. | Pick a data center. | | Scheduled jobs | Scheduled jobs: a command or HTTP request on a cron schedule (any time zone) or interval, with retries and run history (`ample job create`). | System cron. | | Agent access | CLI, remote MCP server (OAuth), A2A endpoint and agent skills. Deploys are synchronous and return JSON with an exit code: 0 live, 1 failed, 2 needs input. | SSH; DigitalOcean also has a Droplets MCP server. | | Agent signup without a person | Yes. `ample auth signup` creates an account with no browser, card or CAPTCHA; a person claims it by email within 48 hours. | No. Payment details are required. | Competitor facts come from that company's own pricing pages and documentation, checked on the date shown in the sources. Plans change; follow the source links for current numbers. ## Choose Ample when - Nobody on the team wants to patch, secure and monitor a server. - An agent should deploy, add a database and read failures without SSH. - You want each app isolated and a hard spending cap. ## Choose a VPS when - You want root access and full control of the machine. - You run many services on one box to keep costs down and are happy to operate it. - You need software Ample does not run, such as a custom kernel module or GPU. ## Move an app from a VPS to Ample 1. **Recover what the server does.** Find the start command (systemd unit or process manager), environment variables, cron entries (they become Ample jobs) and reverse proxy settings. 2. **Plan and deploy.** Ample detects the runtime from the repository; pass the start command if it is not obvious. ```sh ample deploy . --name --public --start "" --env-file .env.production ``` 3. **Move data.** Dump databases installed on the box (`pg_dump`, `mysqldump`) and restore them; copy uploaded files to a volume or an Ample bucket. 4. **Point your domain.** Add the domain to the app, update DNS to the target Ample prints, and keep the old app running until the new one answers on the domain. ```sh ample domain add www.example.com ``` ## Frequently asked questions ### Is a VPS cheaper than Ample? In list price, often yes: a $4 Droplet costs less than most platforms. The difference is time: on a VPS you install and update the OS, web server, certificates, database and backups yourself. Ample's Free plan costs nothing for two running apps. ### Can my coding agent manage a VPS? Over SSH it can, but every fix runs with root on a machine that also holds your data. On Ample the agent works through deploys, logs and managed resources, inside a spending cap. ## Sources - [Ample pricing and plan limits](https://ample.computer/pricing) (checked 2026-10-14) - [Ample agent instructions (AGENTS.md)](https://ample.computer/AGENTS.md) (checked 2026-10-14) - [Droplet pricing](https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing/droplets) (checked 2026-10-14) - [Droplets product page](https://www.digitalocean.com/products/droplets) (checked 2026-10-14) - [Droplets shared responsibility model](https://www.digitalocean.com/security/shared-responsibility-model-droplets) (checked 2026-10-14) - [Hetzner price adjustment](https://docs.hetzner.com/general/infrastructure-and-availability/price-adjustment/) (checked 2026-10-14) - [Hetzner IPv4 pricing](https://docs.hetzner.com/general/others/ipv4-pricing/) (checked 2026-10-14) - [DigitalOcean MCP servers](https://docs.digitalocean.com/reference/mcp/configure-mcp/) (checked 2026-10-14) ## Other comparisons - [Ample vs DigitalOcean App Platform: which is better for agent-built apps?](https://ample.computer/compare/digitalocean) - [Ample vs Fly.io: which microVM platform is better for agent-built apps?](https://ample.computer/compare/fly-io) - [Ample vs Heroku: where should a Heroku app move in 2026?](https://ample.computer/compare/heroku)