Can You Host a Live Website on a $5 VPS? My Real-World Test and Results

I'm saying, I didn't have high hopes from a $5 VPS. I thought it would die the moment I loaded images or installed WordPress. But I had to try and amazingly, it passed the test. Properly set up, this small server can do a whole lot more than you'd assume.

What Are You Really Paying For?​

Five bucks won't buy you bells and whistles. This is what most $5 VPS offerings give you:

• 1 CPU Core
• 512MB–1GB RAM
• 20–25GB SSD Storage
• 1TB or less of monthly bandwidth

Sounds barbaric, right? It is. But it's sufficient for a small site or beginner project.

I had a site where I listed free software for students—no video, just text and screen shots. And it performed well for months.

How I Set It Up to Survive (and Thrive)​

To get it to work, you have to get it lean. Avoid bloated page builders or resource-intensive themes.

This is what I did:

• Ran AlmaLinux for a rock-solid OS
• Installed OpenLiteSpeed (as fast as light and lightweight)
• Utilized LiteSpeed Cache for speed boost
• Enabled Cloudflare for DNS + caching

I even skipped WordPress and coded the site in Hugo, a static site generator. No database, no backend stress—pure speed.

But Can It Handle Traffic?​

The thing is: if your site receives fewer than 1,000 daily visits, you're likely fine. But video hosting, real-time capabilities, traffic surges? It'll buckle.

Best for:

• Landing pages
• Product catalogs
• STATIC business websites
• Dog photo collections (yeah, done it)

Why It Caught Me Off Guard:​

• Ridiculously inexpensive
• Takes you through the basics of servers
• Perfect for testing before scaling up

What to Be Aware Of​

• No space for resources-hungry plugins or big files
• No technical support—you're on your own
• Requires some knowledge of Linux (or Googling)

Would I Recommend It?​

Yes—if only for learning, testing, or hosting low-key sites. A $5 VPS isn't going to set speed records, but if you treat it nice, it'll do the job without complaint.

And for real? It is pleasant to build something from scratch that just works. Do it—you might be surprised.