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Cloud · head to head

Vagrant vs Vultr

Vagrant logo

Vagrant

Cloud

Development environments made easy

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Vultr logo

Vultr

Cloud

High performance cloud compute

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Vagrant vagrant 2.4.3 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence; Vultr vultr Cloud Compute pricing as captured 31 December 2022 started at $5/month (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, 25GB storage, 1TB transfer), scaling to $10/month and $20/month with more vCPU/RAM/storage; bandwidth overage billed at $0.01 to $0.05 per GB depending on plan
  • They diverge on capability: Vagrant covers Box management, Vultr covers Cloud servers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Vagrant and Vultr actually diverge.

Attributes where Vagrant and Vultr differ
AttributeVagrantVultr
Pricing modelopen-sourceusage-based
PlatformsLinux, Windows, MacWeb, Api, Cli
Founded20102014

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Vagrant

  • Box management
  • Provider support
  • Multi-machine setups
  • Provisioners
  • Networking
  • Synced folders
  • Snapshots
  • Plugins

Only in Vultr

  • Cloud servers
  • Bare metal servers
  • Block storage
  • Object storage
  • Load balancers
  • Kubernetes
  • Firewalls
  • Private networks

Both cover

  • Ansible
  • Cloud deployment

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Vagrant

  • Reproducible local development environments defined in a Vagrantfilenot Vultr
  • Provisioning identical VMs across VirtualBox, VMware and Hyper-V for a teamnot Vultr
  • Sandboxing multi-machine setups on a developer laptopnot Vultr

Vultr

  • High performance computingnot Vagrant
  • Game serversnot Vagrant
  • Streamingnot Vagrant
  • Database hostingnot Vagrant
  • Application serversnot Vagrant

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Vagrant

  • Vagrant 2.4.3 and later is licensed under the Business Source License 1.1 with IBM Corporation as licensor, not an OSI open source licence
  • The Additional Use Grant forbids offering Vagrant to third parties on a hosted or embedded basis in a paid product that competes with IBM's paid versions of Vagrant
  • Each version converts to the MPL 2.0 Change License only four years after that version is first published
  • Uses that fall outside the Additional Use Grant require a separately negotiated licence from the licensor

Vultr

  • Vultr Cloud Compute pricing as captured 31 December 2022 started at $5/month (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, 25GB storage, 1TB transfer), scaling to $10/month and $20/month with more vCPU/RAM/storage; bandwidth overage billed at $0.01 to $0.05 per GB depending on plan

Pricing, plan by plan

Vagrant

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Development environment provisioning
    • Multiple providers
    • Provisioner support

Vultr

Free
  • Cloud Compute$2.5/month
    • 512MB RAM
    • 10GB SSD
    • 500GB bandwidth
  • Bare Metal$32/month
    • Dedicated hardware
    • High performance
    • Full root access

Which should you pick?

Choose Vagrant if

  • You need box management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac.
  • You also want provider support.
Vagrant review

Choose Vultr if

  • You need cloud servers.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api, Cli.
  • You also want bare metal servers.
Vultr review

Questions people ask

Is Vagrant or Vultr better?
Neither clearly leads. Vagrant starts at Free and Vultr at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Vagrant or Vultr?
Vagrant starts at Free and Vultr at Free.
Does Vagrant or Vultr run on more platforms?
Vagrant runs on Linux, Windows, Mac. Vultr runs on Web, Api, Cli.
Can I use Vagrant for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Vagrant best used for?
Vagrant is most often used for reproducible local development environments defined in a vagrantfile, provisioning identical vms across virtualbox, vmware and hyper-v for a team, sandboxing multi-machine setups on a developer laptop. Of those, reproducible local development environments defined in a vagrantfile and provisioning identical vms across virtualbox, vmware and hyper-v for a team are not what Vultr is typically brought in for.
What can Vagrant do that Vultr cannot?
Vagrant covers Box management, Provider support, Multi-machine setups, Provisioners. Vultr covers Cloud servers, Bare metal servers, Block storage, Object storage. Both handle Ansible, Cloud deployment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Vagrant: Is Vagrant free to use?

Vagrant is a free, open-source command-line utility for managing virtual machine lifecycles.

Source
Vagrant: Does Vagrant offer a paid tier?

Vagrant itself is free. HashiCorp offers a HCP Vagrant Registry with a free tier for use with Vagrant.

Source
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