phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud vs UpCloud: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud and UpCloud to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud
6.6/10
API-driven single-tenant bare metal servers that deploy in minutes, billed hourly or reserved, for developers and IT teams that need dedicated hardware with cloud-style automation.
UpCloud
7/10
A Finnish cloud infrastructure provider offering cloud servers, managed Kubernetes, managed databases, object storage, and networking to developers and businesses.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | P phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.6/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Cost | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Customization | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Reliability | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 4/10 | 5/10 |
| Scalability | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $39/mo General Purpose (from s0.d1.small) | €3/mo Starter |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $39/mo General Purpose (from s0.d1.small) | €3/mo Starter |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| Automatic Backups | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | Not listed | |
| Content Delivery Network | Not listed | |
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud vs UpCloud cost by team size
| Team size | phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud | UpCloud |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $39/moGeneral Purpose (from s0.d1.small) | €3/moStarter |
| 5 users | $39/moGeneral Purpose (from s0.d1.small) | €3/moStarter |
| 10 users | $39/moGeneral Purpose (from s0.d1.small) | €3/moStarter |
| 25 users | $39/moGeneral Purpose (from s0.d1.small) | €3/moStarter |
| 50 users | $39/moGeneral Purpose (from s0.d1.small) | €3/moStarter |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
PWhy choose phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud
- Higher Integration score (8/10 vs 7/10)
- Higher Customization score (8/10 vs 7/10)
Why choose UpCloud
- Higher Support score (8/10 vs 7/10)
- Higher Cost score (6/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for small business (6/10 vs 4/10)
Pros & Cons
PphoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud
Pros
- Servers can be deployed in minutes through the web portal, the REST API, the pnapctl CLI, or Terraform, according to vendor pages and ServeTheHome's hands-on test.
- Hourly billing lets you tear servers down at any time, and reservations cut costs by up to 30 percent.
- A broad catalog includes Xeon 6, ARM, GPU, and Pliops database instances.
- A first deployment includes 15 TB of bandwidth, which servers in the same location can share.
- The portal gives direct iKVM console access for recovering servers that stop responding.
Cons
- Servers are unmanaged by default, so you handle the OS, patches, and security.
- Only six locations are listed, fewer than at the large hyperscalers.
- Pricing is higher than at budget dedicated hosts, because you pay for the automation layer.
- There are few user reviews on G2 and similar sites, and one user reported that billing setup took several attempts.
- No SLA terms were found for Bare Metal Cloud. Third-party listings cite both a 100 percent and a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee.
UpCloud
Pros
- Independent benchmarks recorded very low p99 disk latency on its MaxIOPS storage
- Advertises a 100% uptime SLA with 50x credits for downtime
- Fixed plan prices include data transfer, which keeps bills predictable
- Official Terraform provider, REST API, and CLI support infrastructure as code
- Broad managed portfolio covering Kubernetes, four database engines, object storage, and a CDN
- EU headquarters, ISO 27001 certification, and GDPR focus suit European buyers
Cons
- Reviewers find it several times more expensive than Hetzner for similar specs
- Fewer locations than larger providers, concentrated in Europe
- Smaller community and fewer third-party reviews than DigitalOcean or Vultr
- One user reports outbound port 25 is blocked by default, which hinders mail servers
- Pricing is changing in November 2026, so older published prices may be out of date
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
UpCloud scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 7/10 against 6.6/10 for phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud. The largest gap is in Analytics: 4/10 for phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud and 5/10 for UpCloud.
No, neither phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud nor UpCloud lists a free plan.
UpCloud is the better fit for small business: we rate it 6/10 for them, against 4/10 for phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud.
