As of 2026-08-30, CompareGeeks tracks 1354 server offers from 18 providers; the median value is 2.7 cg-index points per dollar per month.
Rankings are math, not media buys. No provider can pay for position. Some outbound links earn us a commission; it never affects any score or sort order, and providers with no affiliate program are listed and ranked identically.
Perf/$ = cg-index points ÷ monthly price in USD. Higher is better. Non-USD prices convert at ECB reference rates (currently dated 2026-08-28).
A transparent performance estimate computed only from public CPU specification facts — it copies no proprietary benchmark database:
score = cores × sustained_clock × generation_factor × SMT_bonus × CPU_count × 10
sustained_clock = base×0.6 + boost×0.4 (GHz, vendor spec sheets)generation_factor — our published per-architecture IPC-era table (Sandy Bridge 1.0 → Zen 5 2.1; full table below)SMT_bonus = 1.15 where the CPU has SMT/Hyper-Threadingscore = vCPU × family per-thread index × contention factor (0.7 shared / 1.0 dedicated vCPU) — shared-core honesty is priced inIt is an estimate, labeled and versioned on every table. Scores from different cg-index versions are never mixed (the same discipline applies to external benchmarks — e.g. Geekbench 7 scores are not comparable to Geekbench 6). If you prefer an external number, PassMark's public CPU list is one click away — we deliberately do not republish their data.
Perf/$ uses the recurring monthly price. One-time setup fees are displayed per offer but not included in the ratio.
| Architecture era | Factor |
|---|---|
| intel-sandy-ivy | 1 |
| intel-haswell-broadwell | 1.15 |
| intel-skylake | 1.3 |
| intel-coffee-comet | 1.35 |
| intel-rocket | 1.45 |
| intel-icelake-sp | 1.5 |
| intel-alder-raptor | 1.85 |
| intel-sapphire-rapids | 1.7 |
| intel-emerald-granite | 1.9 |
| amd-zen1 | 1.3 |
| amd-zen2 | 1.55 |
| amd-zen3 | 1.75 |
| amd-zen4 | 1.95 |
| amd-zen5 | 2.1 |
| arm-neoverse-n1 | 1.4 |
| arm-neoverse-v2 | 1.8 |
| intel-arrow-lunar | 1.95 |
| amd-zen-plus | 1.4 |
Prices and specs are facts collected from providers' own public pages or official APIs, each offer carrying its source URL and the exact timestamp it was last verified (shown as "verified Xh ago"). We never source from other comparison sites, never scrape behind logins, and honor robots directives. Stale offers get flagged, never silently served.
Spot a wrong spec or price? Email [email protected] — corrections ship with the next refresh and we credit reporters who want credit.