Guides

I Want a Cheap VPS Where I Can Develop

2026-10-21 · OSIR Team

It comes up constantly in hosting forums, phrased almost the same way every time. Someone wants a cheap VPS they can develop on. The replies are usually a list of providers and a monthly price, which skips the only part that decides whether it works.

The real question is what you intend to run on it.

How much memory you actually need

If you want Claude Code on the server, the documentation asks for 4 GB of RAM or more, on x64 or ARM64, with Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 10+ or Alpine 3.19+.

We develop on 2 GB boxes and it works, with one thing worth knowing before you run into it. On 1 or 2 GB, Claude Code can occasionally push the machine past what it has and take the whole server down. It is almost always the same culprits: a parallel build, a test runner spawning a worker per core, or a dependency install that briefly wants more memory than exists.

The fix is not a bigger box. It is telling it. Mention the limit at the start of a session, or better, write it into a CLAUDE.md in the project so you never have to say it again:

This server has 2 GB of RAM. Keep memory use low: build and test one
thing at a time, do not run parallel jobs, and keep batch sizes small.

It plans around the constraint once it knows about it, and the crashes stop. With that one file in place, 2 GB is comfortable for writing code, running builds and letting it work through a test suite on its own. Adding a small swap file is sensible belt and braces, but the instruction is what actually fixes it.

Where 4 GB earns its keep is multiple runs. One Claude Code session on 2 GB is fine. Two of them, working on different projects in separate screens, start competing the moment both reach for a build at the same time, and no amount of telling them about the memory limit changes that, because neither knows what the other is doing. If you want a couple of runs going in parallel and would rather not think about it, that is what the extra five dollars buys. A 1 GB box runs a single session under the same rules, with less room to be wrong. At 512 MB, do not bother.

What each tier is for

Our current packages, in Nuremberg and Kansas City:

Prices are monthly, correct on 22 October 2026, and exclude payment processing added at checkout. Longer terms work out cheaper per month, and the current figures always live on the VPS page.

So, the short answer to the question in the title: OSIR-M at $3.99 a month. Two cores, 2 GB, 25 GB of disk. Start there, and move up only when something tells you to.

The cheaper tiers are not a trap, they are simply for something else. A 512 MB box running a single Node service, a Telegram bot or a scheduled scraper is genuinely good value, and that is a real use we wrote about in giving an agent its own home.

Getting one running

You can order a server from the panel, from the command line, or by asking Claude to do it for you.

In the panel, pick a package and a location, choose a Linux template, and add your SSH key during the build instead of relying on a password. The setup guide walks through it.

From the CLI, if you already have it, the whole thing is scriptable.

Or just ask Claude. With the OSIR connector configured, ordering is one sentence:

You: order me a 2 GB VPS in Germany, Ubuntu, with my SSH key

Claude: OSIR-M, 2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 25 GB SSD, Nuremberg. $3.99/month plus processing. Confirm and I'll place the order.

Once it is built you get an IP and your key is already on it.

Setting it up to develop

Log in and install Claude Code with one command:

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

Claude Code needs a paid Claude plan: Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise or Console.

Before you start it, open a named screen:

screen -S myproject
claude

A screen is a terminal session that belongs to the server rather than to your SSH connection. Close your laptop, lose wifi, walk out of the building, and whatever was running carries on. Without it, a dropped connection kills the session mid-task, which you will find out about at the worst possible moment.

Once Claude Code is running, spend two minutes telling it where it is. The same CLAUDE.md that carries the memory limit is the right place:

This is a 2 GB Ubuntu VPS and you are running on it directly.
You may install what the project needs: Node, PHP, Java, MariaDB.
This project lives in /opt/myproject and you may use sudo inside it.
A staging site for another project runs on this box. Do not touch
anything under /opt/othersite, and do not restart nginx or MariaDB
without asking.

That last part matters more than the rest. If the box is shared with anything live, say so plainly, because an agent that does not know a production site is sitting next to it has no way to avoid breaking it. Tell it once and it works around it.

Then run /remote-control and detach from the screen with Ctrl+A followed by D. Claude Code keeps running on the server, and the session appears in the Claude app on your phone and at claude.ai/code. To get back to it from a terminal:

$ screen -ls
There are screens on:
        3335497.myproject    (22/10/26 20:29:35)    (Detached)
1 Socket in /run/screen/S-root.

$ screen -r 3335497

screen -ls finds it, screen -r with the id or the name puts you back inside. Remote Control needs the same paid plan as Claude Code, and running /remote-control a second time disconnects it.

The result is a box you mostly stop thinking about. The environment matches production because it is the same sort of machine, and when you break it, which you will, a rebuild takes minutes and costs nothing. Most days you will not log into the server at all: you read what it did and send it the next thing from your phone.

If you want a domain pointing at it, that is one more sentence in the same conversation. We walked the whole chain in deploying an app, a VPS and a domain in one request.

Before you buy

A few things that are true of cheap VPS hosting everywhere, ours included.

Shared virtual cores are shared, so a long compile will feel slower than the same job on your laptop. Disk is tight at these prices, and 25 GB goes quickly once Docker images start arriving. And a server reachable from the internet is a server people are already scanning, so leave password authentication off and keep it patched.

None of that is an argument against it. It is the difference between a box you still use in a year and one you quietly abandon next month.

Cheap VPS for development FAQ

What is the minimum VPS for running Claude Code?

The documentation asks for 4 GB, but we develop on 2 GB. The catch on a small box is that a parallel build or a test runner can exhaust the memory and crash the server, so tell Claude Code what it has to work with, ideally in a CLAUDE.md in the project. It then stays inside the limit. Our OSIR-M package is 2 vCPU and 2 GB at $3.99 a month plus processing. Go to 4 GB when you want several runs going at once, since separate sessions cannot see each other's memory use.

Can I run Claude Code on a 1 GB VPS?

It runs, under the same rule as a 2 GB box: tell it the memory limit up front or a parallel build will take the server down. There is simply less room for error, so if you are choosing today, 2 GB is the better four dollars.

Do I need a paid Claude subscription as well as the server?

Yes. Claude Code requires a Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise or Console account, and the free claude.ai plan does not include it. The server and the subscription are separate costs.

Can an AI agent order the VPS for me?

Yes, through the OSIR MCP connector. Ordering and installing the OS are separate steps, each shown to you with the specs and the price before anything is charged or erased.

Germany or the United States?

Pick whichever is closer to you. Latency to your own terminal is the thing you will notice day to day.

Can I really develop from my phone?

Yes, with Remote Control. Start Claude Code inside a screen on the server, run /remote-control, then detach with Ctrl+A then D. The session stays alive on the VPS and shows up in the Claude app and at claude.ai/code, so you can read what it has done and send the next instruction from anywhere. It needs a Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plan; API keys are not supported.

What happens if I outgrow the package I picked?

Move up to a larger one. Scaling your VPS covers what changes and what carries over, which is why starting at 2 GB is a low-risk choice rather than a gamble.

Current packages, locations and prices are on the VPS page.

Image generated with AI (Higgsfield).