Linode Reviews

Reliable VPS Service with Strong Support and Future-Proof Security

Linode is a well-known VPS company that focuses on cloud hosting and serves over 800,000 customers across 196 countries. Below, we’ll explore the features that make them stand out (for better or for worse). 

99.9% Uptime Guarantee

Linode provides a 99.9% uptime guarantee — if your site is down for more than 0.1% in a month, you can request a prorated credit. The company is also very transparent regarding its system status. You can easily check any current issues, scheduled maintenance, and a full history of incidents. Most importantly, Linode reviews show that there are customers who report 99.99% and even 100% uptime. 

Solid Speed

The company promises top-notch speed with 40 Gbps for incoming traffic and 1,000 - 12,000 Mbps for outgoing which is pretty impressive. They also use native SSD and Intel E5 processors to ensure optimal performance. Spread across three continents, Linode server locations include Tokyo, Frankfurt, London, Singapore, Atlanta, Newark, Fremont, and Dallas. You can verify which location would work best for you with the help of Linode’s infrastructure speed tests so you get less latency and faster throughput. 

Linode Manager and cPanel

Linode Manager is a custom control panel with a user-friendly interface that enables you to manage your infrastructure, user accounts, payments, and more. The dashboard enables you to add backups, create Linode instances, manage domains, access the managed Kubernetes service, deploy one-click apps, create Object Storage buckets, and more. Though several Linode hosting reviews point to the outdated UI of the control panel, users are generally satisfied with its function. Beyond the custom control panel, Linode also provides you with access to the industry-standard cPanel and WHM via One-Click Apps. 

Is Linode Safe?

Linode is one of the most secure VPS providers. The company has 24/7 on-site security, high availability, and access control to their facilities. Additionally, they implement redundant routers and switches which means systems can fail without causing performance issues or downtime. The company also collaborates with HackerOne to uncover potential system vulnerabilities. Two-factor authentication, DDoS protection, constant scanning of the networks, and supporting systems are also provided.  

Linode Support - No Live Chat, but Great Efficiency

The Linode customer service is available 24/7 via phone or email. Their support is great, even though they don’t have a live chat option. Unlike other hosts that close support tickets within 24 hours, this company does it in five minutes. Many reviews on the web praise the support service team for their promptness, knowledge, and professionalism. Their knowledge base is also extensive — you can find guides and tutorials that explain everything from how to get started to more complex questions. 

Extra Services

Unless you choose the managed service, you’ll have to pay an extra fee if you want some or all of Linode’s additional services. Our Linode review focuses on the most notable among those.

Linode Backup 

The backup service is a subscription-based add-on that performs automated backups daily, once or twice a week, or as scheduled. The Linode Cloud Manager lets you handle your backups, restore files from up to 14 days ago, and there is a single on-demand backup that you can keep for as long as you want. The service is pretty easy to use and the restore function is quick. Prices are very reasonable too — from $2/month for 1GB. 

Block Storage

Almost any Linode review featured a complaint about the lack of block storage. So the long-expected service is finally here allowing you to easily add high-speed volumes and increase the storage capacity. Configured with 3X data replication and powered by HDDs and NVMe drives, the data is highly available and ensures top performance. The storage is managed independently which means you won’t have to reboot Linode when attaching or detaching volumes. Also, even if you delete the corresponding Linode, your data won’t disappear. Prices for this service start at $1 per 10 GiB. 

NodeBalancers

Coming in at $10/month, the NodeBalancers can ensure high availability of your most valuable apps and services. They monitor how the backend Linodes handle traffic and route requests, perform system maintenance/software updates without dropping traffic, and handle load distribution.  

Short Money-Back Guarantee

Linode has a very short money-back guarantee compared to the industry standard. You can get a prorated refund if you cancel within the first seven days. They will keep a $5 fee upon canceling. First-time users, however, get a Linode coupon with $100 credit to try their services for 60 days. 

How Much Does Linode Cost?

The vendor offers five hosting options: shared VPS, dedicated CPU, managed hosting, high-performing hosting, and GPU plans. Linode pricing ranges from as low as $5/month all the way to $4,000/month, depending on the type of hosting you’ll choose and its offering. Below is a complete breakdown of Linode plans.

Shared Instance

Starting with 1GB RAM and 1 vCPU and going all the way up to 192GB RAM and 32 vCPUs, Linode’s shared instances support virtually any workload.

• 1GB RAM, 1 core, 25GB SSD storage, 1TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 1,000 Mbps network out — $5/month
• 2GB RAM, 1 core, 50GB SSD storage, 2TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 2,000 Mbps network out — $10/month
• 4GB RAM, 2 cores, 80GB SSD storage, 4TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 4,000 Mbps network out — $20/month
• 8GB RAM, 4 cores, 160GB SSD storage, 5TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 5,000 Mbps network out — $40/month
• 16GB RAM, 6 cores, 320GB SSD storage, 8TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 6,000 Mbps network out — $80/month
• 32GB RAM, 8 cores, 640GB SSD storage, 16TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 7,000 Mbps network out — $160/month
• 64GB RAM, 16 cores, 1,280GB SSD storage, 20TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 9,000 Mbps network out — $320/month
• 96GB RAM, 20 cores, 1,920GB SSD storage, 20TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 10,000 Mbps network out —$480/month.
• 128GB RAM, 24 cores, 2,560GB SSD storage, 20TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 11,000 Mbps network out — $640/month
• 192GB RAM, 32 cores, 3,840GB SSD storage, 20TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 12,000 Mbps network out — $960/month

Dedicate CPU Instances

Our Linode hosting review revealed that the dedicated plans are a great solution for CPU-intensive application servers like video encoding, data mining, game servers, and databases. These instances run on their CPU cores ensuring that the workloads perform at top levels. 

• 4GB RAM, 2 cores, 80GB SSD storage, 4TB transfer, 40 Gbps network out, 4,000 Mbps — $30/month
• 8GB RAM, 4 cores, 160GB SSD storage, 5TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 5,000 Mbps network out — $60/month
• 16GB RAM, 8 cores, 320GB SSD storage, 6TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 6,000 Mbps network out — $120/month
• 32GB RAM, 16 cores, 640GB SSD storage, 7TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 7,000 Mbps network out — $240/month
• 64GB RAM, 32 cores, 1,280GB SSD storage, 8TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 8,000 Mbps, network out — $480/month
• 96 GB RAM, 48 cores, 1,920 GB SSD storage, 9 TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 9,000 Mbps network out — $720/month
• 128GB RAM, 50 cores, 2,500GB SSD storage, 10TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 10,000 Mbps network out — $960/month
• 256GB RAM, 56 cores, 5,000GB SSD storage, 11TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 11,000 Mbps network out — $1,920/month
• 512GB RAM, 64 cores, 7,200GB SSD storage, 12TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 12,000 Mbps network out — $3,840/month

High-Memory Instances

Linode hosting has the perfect solution for memory-intensive applications — a high memory plan. You can tune it and only pay for what you need.

• 24GB RAM, 1 core, 20GB SSD storage, 5TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 5,000 Mbps network out — $60/month
• 48GB RAM, 2 cores, 40GB SSD storage, 6TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 6,000 Mbps — $120/month
• 90GB RAM, 4 cores, 90GB SSD storage, 7TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 7,000 Mbps network out — $240/month
• 150GB RAM, 8 cores, 200GB SSD storage, 8TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 8,000 Mbps network out — $480/month
• 300GB RAM, 16 cores, 340GB SSD storage, 9TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 9,000 Mbps network out — $960/month

GPU Plans

Coming with twice the stats of the Linode VPS plans, the GPU-optimized virtual machines powered by NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000, CUDA, Tensor, and RT. Linode reviews suggest that these plans ensure smooth execution of complex processing, ray tracing workloads, and deep learning. 

• 32GB RAM, 8 cores, 640GB SSD storage, 1 GPU card, 16TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 10,000 Mbps network out — $1,000/month
• 64GB RAM, 16 cores, 1,280GB SSD storage, 2 CPU cards, 20TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 10,000 Mbps network out — $2,000/month
• 96GB RAM, 20 cores, 1,920GB SSD storage, 3 CPU cards, 20TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 10,000 Mbps network out — $3,000/month
• 128GB RAM, 24 cores, 2,560GB SSD storage, 4 CPU cards, 20TB transfer, 40 Gbps network in, 10,000 Mbps network out — $4,000/month

Managed Service

If you don’t want to manage your VPS, you can have the Linode pros to do that for you. The managed hosting add-on includes emergency incident response, automatic backups, free migration service of up to two sites or blogs (if you sign up for at least three months), cloud server monitoring, dashboard metrics, free cPanel and WHM, dashboard metrics, and access to the Longview Pro analytics system.

Linode’s managed service is available for $100/month with no obligation or contract.

The Verdict

Linode reviews are generally positive and for a good reason — the platform has great uptime, solid speed, and predictable pricing. Also, their security service and customer support are among the best in the industry. Still, since the learning curve is a bit steep, we would recommend it to users with some development experience and knowledge in Linux. If you want a hosting provider with extra features included for free and a more generous money-back guarantee, you might want to consider some of the top Linode competitors.