Linode

Linode Linode

Founded in 2003 and acquired by cybersecurity titan Akamai in 2022, Linode has evolved from a scrappy startup to a global infrastructure heavyweight. With Akamai’s $900M investment fueling its backbone, Linode now powers over a million developers and businesses—but does it deserve a spot in your toolkit? Let’s find out.

What Does Linode Do?

Linode provides high-octane virtual private servers (VPS), Kubernetes clusters, and storage, with root access to Linux environments with SSD storage, DDoS protection, and an 11-globally-distributed-data-center network from Tokyo to Newark available to all developers. Need to deploy a Node.js app or spin up a GPU instance to perform machine learning? Come on in to the playground.

Pricing

Linode's menu includes:

Shared CPU Plans: Starts at $5/mo for 1GB RAM, 1 CPU, 25GB SSD

Dedicated CPU: Starting at $30/mo for 4GB RAM, 2 CPUs, 80GB SSD

GPU Instances: Industrial-strength Nvidia rigs from $1,000/mo

All plans include 1TB outbound data transfer. There is no free plan, but they will give back unused compute within 7 days—the cloud equivalent of a "no questions asked" return policy.

Product History

Christopher Aker started Linode in 2003 as a response to clunky, pricey hosting options. They launched hourly billing in 2015 and dropped all prices by 20% in 2020. The Akamai buyout turbocharged their network, adding 4,100+ edge servers to the Linode network. Newest additions? Kubernetes-as-a-Service (LKE), Cloud Firewall, and Object Storage that won't blink at petabytes.

Summary

They don't nickel-and-dime you on the core features, unlike the competition. Backups? $2.50/mo per server. Cloud firewall? Free. It's like having a sports car with free premium gas.Summary

Linode isn't for everyone—if you require cPanel and babysitting, elsewhere. But for developers and tech-forward businesses? It's a Swiss Army knife with cloud instances.

The Akamai muscle gives it enterprise-grade security, but price is still astonishingly human. Somewhere between CLI power and LKE simplicity, Linode falls in between raw control and new convenience.

Pros	Cons	Unique Features	Pricing	Social Media
✔️ The GoodBlazing-fast NVMe SSDs (even on entry tiers)Transparent pricing—no “gotcha” bandwidth fees ✔️ SSH access and API control that DevOps teams love ✔️ 99.99% uptime track record across data centers	❌ No phone support—tickets and docs onlyLearning curve if you’re new to CLI ❌ Limited managed services (this is DIY cloud)	👍🏻 NodeBalancers: Auto-scaling load balancers that cost $10/mo—1/3 the price of AWS’s ELB 👍🏻 Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE): One-click clusters with free control plane 👍🏻 Linode CLI: Servers up quicker than it takes to say "sudo apt-get"	5 ~