Ubuntu VPS is Hostinger’s general-purpose server, plain Ubuntu with nothing else installed, or a launchpad for dozens of one-click application templates from the same ordering screen.
I tested the base experience directly, benchmarking the raw hardware and putting real infrastructure questions to Kodee AI support. The results turned out to be the strongest across everything I have tested on this VPS lineup. Here is the full breakdown.
To score Hostinger’s Ubuntu VPS hosting, I applied HostAdvice’s rating methodology, the same standardized approach used across every review on the site, so scores stay consistent and grounded in real testing rather than marketing claims. Here is how it scored across each parameter.
| Parameter | Score | Why This Score |
|---|---|---|
| Prices | 9.0/10 | Solid 30-day guarantee, though VPS refunds carry a 180-day cooldown and no dedicated free trial exists. |
| Features | 9.2/10 | Dozens of one-click templates sit alongside plain Ubuntu, backed by EPYC hardware and a public API. |
| Performance | 9.4/10 | Near-perfect CPU scaling, the strongest disk IOPS tested, and zero failures under sustained stress. |
| Ease of Use | 9.0/10 | Checkout clearly separates plain OS from application templates, and server management stays intuitive. |
| Support | 9.5/10 | Kodee checked the live server twice with a use-case-aware answer, and the knowledge base held up too. |
| Overall | 9.2/10 | The strongest all-around result across every Hostinger VPS product tested for this series. |
Hostinger sells Ubuntu hosting as one of four KVM VPS tiers, KVM 1 through KVM 8, each scaling CPU cores, RAM, NVMe disk space, and bandwidth together as you move up.
Ubuntu itself sits at the center of the ordering flow as a Plain OS choice, and the same screen doubles as an application marketplace holding dozens of one-click templates, control panels, development tools, CMS platforms, and deployment tools, all built on Ubuntu underneath.
That single screen covers both a developer who wants a blank server and someone who wants a specific stack running with less setup.
A few things to know before you order:
One practical note from testing. Since this product covers everything from a blank server to a pre-built application, size the plan around what you actually plan to run rather than the entry price.
A personal project or light development box does not need KVM 4’s four cores, while a database-heavy application benefits directly from the extra CPU and memory once traffic gets real.
Testing plain Ubuntu’s raw performance matters more here than on a single-application VPS, because this server is not running one predictable workload, it is the baseline underneath whatever you decide to put on it.
Every application template Hostinger offers, and anything you install by hand over SSH, sits on top of the same CPU, memory, disk, and network this section measures.
I ran a full benchmark suite, CPU, memory, disk, network, and a sustained stress pass, to see what this plan actually delivers, and to give some real guidance on which tier actually fits different kinds of projects.
The instance I tested was the KVM 4 plan:
Hostinger’s Ubuntu VPS lineup runs the same four tiers as every other VPS product here, KVM 1 through KVM 8, and KVM 4 sits second from the top.
Since a plain Ubuntu server can end up running anything, a personal blog, a database, a full application stack, a build server, matching the tier to the actual job matters more here than on a product where the workload is already decided for you.
Single-thread speed sets the ceiling for anything that runs on one core at a time, a single PHP-FPM worker, a single Node process, a compile job, a script running in a cron job. At 0.62ms average latency, that ceiling sits comfortably high for typical workloads.
The multi-thread result is the more telling number for this plan, going from one thread to four multiplied throughput by almost exactly four, essentially perfect scaling.
Combined with a thread fairness variance of roughly 0.1 percent, all four cores pulled equal weight rather than one doing more work than the others.
A single lightweight site or a small personal project will not touch what four cores offer here, and KVM 1 or KVM 2 would feel identical for that kind of use. Reach for KVM 4 or higher when your workload is actually multi-process, not just because more cores sounds safer.
Both numbers land in the range current EPYC hardware tends to deliver. On a general-purpose server, memory speed at this level means caching layers, database buffer pools, and in-memory application state all move fast enough that RAM speed itself is rarely what limits performance. Capacity is the more relevant constraint on a plain Ubuntu box.
With 15GB usable and no swap configured, there is no overflow cushion, so a database with a large working set, several concurrent services, or a memory leak in a long-running process will hit a hard ceiling rather than degrading gracefully.
Sequential read came in about 58 percent faster than sequential write, a real gap to plan around if the server does a lot of writing, log-heavy applications, frequent backups, large file uploads.
The random 4K result is the strongest number in this whole benchmark run, and it is the one that matters most for anything running a database. Roughly 14,000 IOPS in both directions, nearly identical between read and write, means small, scattered database operations, the kind MySQL, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB actually generate under real load, have plenty of headroom before disk becomes the bottleneck.
A database-heavy workload benefits from a higher tier not because the disk gets faster, but because more CPU and memory let the server push closer to that same 14,000 IOPS ceiling under real concurrent traffic.
Both runs landed close to a full gigabit in both directions, with latency under half a millisecond and zero packet loss on either attempt. These two runs stayed close together rather than swinging widely, a clean, repeatable result rather than a one-off.
I ran CPU, memory, and disk stressors for 180 seconds each to see how the server holds up under sustained load rather than a quick burst:
Every stressor completed cleanly, zero failed workers and zero untrustworthy metrics across all three, run back to back for nine total minutes of combined pressure.
Anything expecting unpredictable load, a launch, a seasonal spike, a batch job running while users are active, should treat clean stress test results like this one as more meaningful than any single benchmark number above it.
This KVM 4 plan performs strongly across every test, near-perfect CPU scaling across four cores, the best random disk IOPS result in this testing, consistent near-gigabit network on repeat runs, and zero failures under sustained combined stress.
Since this is a general-purpose Ubuntu server rather than a single fixed application, the right buying advice depends entirely on what you plan to run. A personal project, a small static or lightly interactive site, or a low-traffic development box will not use what KVM 4 offers, and KVM 1 or KVM 2 will feel just as fast for that kind of workload while costing less.
KVM 4 earns its place once you are running something with real multi-process demands, a real application with a database attached, several services on one box, or anything expecting concurrent users rather than occasional visitors.
KVM 8 becomes the sensible move once memory capacity, not raw speed, becomes the constraint, several databases, heavy caching, or multiple full application stacks sharing one server. Match the plan to how many things are actually running at once, not to the biggest number on the pricing page.
Before getting into the walkthrough, let me be clear about what this product actually is, since it’s a different shape from a single-application VPS.
Ubuntu VPS is Hostinger’s general-purpose server built on Ubuntu as the base operating system, not one pre-built application.
From the same ordering screen, you can either run plain Ubuntu with nothing else installed, which is what I tested for this review, or pick one of dozens of one-click application templates that also happen to run on Ubuntu underneath.
The Ubuntu VPS plan page leads with three claims, free automatic weekly backups, an AI-managed VPS, and an automatic malware scanner, the same trio Hostinger uses across its VPS lineup.
I picked the KVM 4 plan and moved into the cart, which laid out the same three choices as every other Hostinger VPS product:
I went with 24 months, and the location step showed Germany as an option with a 232ms latency reading during cart configuration.
Germany came back with the best latency in the list, but I picked United States instead, since the review I had in mind for this VPS would serve a mostly North American audience, and the location picker groups regions by continent with a latency estimate next to each, letting me compare North America against Asia and Europe directly rather than defaulting to whichever number happened to be lowest.
Best latency to you while you are testing is not always the number that matters, it is latency to the people who will actually be using the server.
The “Choose what to install” step is where this product’s real shape shows up. Unlike an app-specific VPS, this section opens on a Plain OS tab by default, listing operating systems side by side, AlmaLinux, Debian, Rocky Linux, Ubuntu, Alpine Linux, Arch Linux, CentOS, CloudLinux, Fedora Cloud, Kali Linux, NixOS, and openSUSE. Nothing is pre-selected
Clicking Ubuntu opens a small modal with a short description and a Version dropdown, Ubuntu 26.04, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, with 24.04 LTS marked as the default. I confirmed that selection and moved on.
Right next to Plain OS sits an Applications tab, and this is easy to miss if you go straight for the OS you already know.
That tab holds dozens of one-click templates that install specific software on top of Ubuntu automatically, grouped roughly as follows:
That list is not exhaustive of what Hostinger offers, and the exact catalog varies slightly by which Ubuntu version you pick, 22.04 offers a smaller set built around TinyCP and aaPanel, 24.04 carries the bulk of the catalog above, and 26.04 is newer with a shorter list so far.
The point is that plain Ubuntu is the blank slate underneath all of it. If you want any one of those applications running with less manual setup, you order it from this same screen instead of Ubuntu, and it lands on the same underlying infrastructure this review benchmarks.
Past that step, registration followed one of two paths depending on where you are starting from. A new user fills out an email, password, and optional phone number, or signs up through Google or GitHub, and lands on a billing details form next.
An existing user logs in directly and skips straight to the payment step, with an Edit option next to the billing address already on file if anything needs updating.
I was logged into an existing account, so I went straight to payment, which offered the same spread as every other Hostinger checkout, card, PayPal, Google Pay, AliPay in two regional variants, and Coingate for crypto.
I submitted payment and was charged immediately. The confirmation email that followed included both the purchase receipt and the server’s own root password, so I had everything needed to log into the actual VPS before I had even finished reading the email.
From there I was redirected straight into hPanel with the new server already listed.
What I thought about registration: This is the clearest the ordering flow has been across every Hostinger VPS product I have tested, mainly because the Plain OS versus Applications split is upfront rather than hidden.
If you already know you want a specific app, you are not forced to wade through an operating system picker to find it. Getting the server password by email immediately, rather than having to dig for it inside hPanel, is a small touch that saves a real step. The location picker deserves a deliberate look rather than a default click, since the fastest region on paper is not always the right one for your actual audience.
hPanel opened on its home screen right after payment, and it helps to be upfront about what this panel actually is. It’s not a VPS-specific dashboard, it is the single account hub for everything Hostinger sells, domains, websites, email, the website builder, ecommerce tools, AI agents, and every server on the account, all living in the same interface regardless of which product brought you there.
That matters for understanding what is actually on the page.
The home screen greeted me by name with an AI prompt bar at the top, followed by a row of shortcut buttons:
Below that sit several promotional panels aimed at the account broadly rather than at VPS owners in particular, building a website with AI, setting up an online store, claiming a free business email, working with AI agents, joining Hostinger’s Discord community, launching an AI automation app, and claiming a free domain.
None of that is wrong to show, but a reader coming here purely to manage a VPS will scroll past a fair amount of unrelated cross-selling before reaching anything relevant.
Further down, a “Your to-dos” section flagged nine outstanding items on the account, including finishing a website migration, completing a Reach email marketing setup, and claiming a free email address, none of which had anything to do with the VPS I had just bought.
Below that, a “Your business” section listed every website and property tied to the account, and only at the very bottom of the page did the actual VPS table appear, showing every server on the account with its hostname, IP address, status, and expiration date.
Scrolling to that table, the new server sat already marked Running, with everything visible without opening anything. I clicked Manage to move into the server-specific panel.
What I thought about the dashboard. hPanel works fine as an account-wide hub, but it’s built for Hostinger’s entire customer base, not for someone who just bought a VPS in particular, and that shows in how far down the page you have to scroll to reach the one thing you actually came for.
The VPS table itself is clear and gives everything you need at a glance, hostname, IP, status, expiration, without requiring a click, which is the right amount of detail for a landing view. The rest of the page reads more like a cross-sell surface than a control panel, useful if you are exploring what else Hostinger offers, less useful if you already know exactly what you are here to manage.
Clicking Manage opened the VPS Overview page, and the first thing that stands out is what is missing compared to an application-based VPS.
There is no separate app card sitting above the server details, since there is no application here, the page opens directly on the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS card itself, marked Running, with reboot and terminal controls and root SSH details laid out the same way as every other VPS on this account.
One addition stood out in the left sidebar that I had not seen before, a Docker Manager entry, sitting between Overview and Settings. It is not installed by default, the page shows a single Install button and a short description of deploying and managing containers once it is added.
That is a meaningful convenience for anyone planning to run containerized workloads on a plain Ubuntu box without configuring Docker by hand over SSH.
Further down the Overview page:
The malware scanner was switched on without needing any setup, 18 files scanned, zero compromised, zero malicious, matching what the plan page promised.
Settings held the familiar set of server-level tools, a root password generator, one-click resets for firewall and SSH configuration, a hostname changer, and a log cleanup tool.
OS & Panel showed a Current OS card describing Ubuntu with a link out to the Ubuntu community forum, alongside the same full reinstall picker found on every Hostinger VPS product, the same twelve operating systems available if you ever want to wipe this server and start over on something else entirely.
The Docker Manager addition is a real point in this product’s favor for anyone building containerized infrastructure from scratch.
Checkout continues to work well across every Hostinger VPS product I have tested, and the “Choose what to install” step doing double duty as both an OS picker and an application marketplace is a smart piece of design, it means a plain Ubuntu server and a fully pre-built app template both start from the exact same screen.
The server management panel adapts sensibly to having no application installed, and the malware scanner being active without manual setup continues to be a consistent strength.
Kodee, Hostinger’s AI assistant, is the first line here, with a human escalation option sitting behind it for anything that outgrows what the AI can resolve.
I put Kodee through a two-part technical exchange about how this plain Ubuntu template actually handles security patching, then went through Hostinger’s knowledge base separately to see how well it covers Ubuntu on its own.
I opened with a real production question. Whether this VPS configures automatic security updates on a bare Ubuntu template out of the box, or leaves unattended-upgrades off by default, and whether enabling it would clash with anything Hostinger manages on its side.
Kodee said it would check the server directly, and it did:
That answer alone was strong, live server state, not a generic Ubuntu explainer, and a clear yes on the compatibility question I actually asked.
I pushed further with the detail Kodee itself had surfaced. If a reboot is sometimes required, is that reboot automatic, or does a patched kernel just sit there unapplied until someone logs in and restarts manually. Kodee checked again:
What I thought about this exchange. This is the most useful support conversation across this testing, because it did not stop at confirming a setting exists, it walked all the way through to the actual consequence, a patched kernel that is not protecting you until the server restarts, and then gave two different, sensible recommendations depending on what the server is actually for.
That is closer to how a competent systems administrator would answer than a support script. Checking the live server twice, rather than repeating documentation from memory, is what made both answers trustworthy rather than just plausible.
Hostinger’s knowledge base opens on the same category layout across every product, large tiles with article counts so you can judge coverage before clicking in.
Categories here span everything from Getting Started and hPanel through VPS, Domains, Email, and a large AI Builder section, organized clearly enough that finding the right starting category does not take guesswork.
Searching “ubuntu” directly returned 83 results across nine pages, and unlike some of the more niche stacks tested on this VPS lineup, the top results here were solidly on target rather than noise:
I opened the first result, the VNC desktop guide, to check quality rather than just count. It is well built. It opens with a plain explanation of what VNC access actually gives you, walks through applying the desktop template from OS & Panel with a screenshot of the exact interface, and includes a clear red warning that changing the OS wipes existing data, a real safety note rather than boilerplate.
From there it breaks into VNC password setup, user management with the exact adduser and passwd commands, and separate, complete connection instructions for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
What I thought about the knowledge base. This is a genuine strength for this specific product. The search actually returns relevant, specific articles for the term you typed, and the one I opened in full was accurate, safety-conscious, and detailed enough to follow without gaps.
Ubuntu being Hostinger’s most established and widely used template shows in how much better documented it is compared to newer or more specialized stacks, and it means a reader leaning on written guides rather than AI chat is not left stranded here the way they would be on a less common template.
Both channels performed well here, and together they cover different needs cleanly. Kodee handled a real, layered technical question by checking the live server twice and giving an answer that changed depending on the use case described, not a single generic script.
The knowledge base backed that up with a search that returned actual matches and an article that held up under close reading, structured, accurate, and complete.
A human agent remains available if either channel falls short, but nothing in this testing came close to needing it.
Yes, without much hesitation. This is the strongest result across everything tested on Hostinger’s VPS lineup, near-perfect CPU scaling, the best disk IOPS numbers recorded, consistent network performance across repeat runs, and zero failures under sustained stress.
Kodee backed that up with a real, useful, two-part technical exchange that checked the live server both times, and the knowledge base returned accurate, well-written articles for Ubuntu rather than generic filler.
The only real gaps are small ones. No swap ships configured by default, and sequential write speed trails read by a wide margin, details to know rather than reasons to avoid this product.
For a developer who wants a truly flexible starting point, plain Ubuntu for full control, or any of dozens of application templates from the same screen, this is an easy recommendation, backed by infrastructure that held up under every test thrown at it.
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | OS | Panel | Number of Sites | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | MYR 0.00 | Details | ||
| Premium | 20 GB | Unlimited | 3 | MYR 10.27 | Details | ||
| Business | 50 GB | Unlimited | 50 | MYR 13.01 | Details | ||
| Cloud Startup | 100 GB | Unlimited | 100 | MYR 27.44 | Details |
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Yes. The underlying hardware benchmarked strongly across CPU, memory, disk, and network, the malware scanner runs active by default, and Hostinger’s Kodee AI assistant gave accurate, server-aware answers to real configuration questions. The knowledge base also covers Ubuntu well, with relevant search results and detailed articles.
Not by default. Choosing Ubuntu as a Plain OS installs nothing beyond the operating system itself. Dozens of one-click application templates, control panels, development tools, CMS platforms, and more, are available from the same ordering screen if you want specific software pre-installed instead.
No dedicated free trial exists for Ubuntu VPS plans. Hostinger backs every VPS tier with a 30-day money-back guarantee instead, though a second VPS refund within 180 days of the first will not be approved.
Yes, within 30 days of purchase, as long as a different VPS plan has not already been refunded in the past 180 days. Upgrades to an existing VPS plan and payments made through cryptocurrency are excluded from refunds entirely.
Hostinger offers Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS, and 26.04 at checkout, with 24.04 LTS set as the default. 24.04 also carries the largest application template catalog, so it is the safer pick unless a specific project requires an older or newer release.
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