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A practical starting estimate is $20 per month for Vultr Cloud Compute: Vultr’s OBS-on-Ubuntu guide specifies at least 2 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB storage and 3 TB of bandwidth, and Vultr lists a plan matching the CPU, RAM and bandwidth at that monthly price. A continuous stream can use more than the included bandwidth, so the final bill depends on bitrate and Vultr’s current billing terms.
Vultr’s monthly starting point
Vultr’s OBS and Ubuntu streaming-server guide, updated April 1, 2025, calls for at least 2 virtual CPUs, 4 GB of RAM, 80 GB of storage and 3 TB of bandwidth for its example. Vultr’s Cloud Compute pricing page lists a 2-vCPU, 4-GB plan with 3 TB of bandwidth at $20 per month. That is the clearest documented baseline for the guide’s particular setup—not a guarantee that every streaming workload will run well on that size.
| Option or calculation | Amount | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Vultr Cloud Compute, 2 vCPUs and 2 GB RAM | $15/month; 3 TB bandwidth listed | A lower listed price, but below the 4 GB RAM minimum in Vultr’s streaming-server guide. |
| Vultr Cloud Compute, 2 vCPUs and 4 GB RAM | $20/month; 3 TB bandwidth listed | The better-supported starting point for the guide’s OBS/Ubuntu example. |
| 10 Mbps transmitted continuously for 30 days | About 3.24 decimal TB | Calculated from bitrate and time; not a provider quote or observed bill. |
| Illustrative overage on that 10-Mbps example | About 240 GB, or $2.40 at $0.01/GB | Approximation against a 3-TB allowance; actual charges depend on Vultr metering and allocation rules. |
These are figures listed on Vultr’s pricing and FAQ pages when retrieved in 2026, not a promise that prices or terms will remain unchanged. Check the current plan details before deploying. Vultr’s FAQ says hourly billing and plan-specific monthly caps apply, and that a stopped instance continues to incur charges until it is destroyed.
Why bandwidth can add to the bill
A server sending a live feed to YouTube produces continuous outbound traffic. At a constant 10 Mbps, the arithmetic is 10,000,000 bits per second × 2,592,000 seconds in 30 days ÷ 8 bits per byte, or about 3.24 decimal TB. That is slightly above a 3-TB allowance. Vultr’s FAQ says it measures charged bandwidth on outbound traffic, does not charge for inbound traffic, and lists $0.01 per GB for usage beyond quota. Applying that rate to the simple example gives about $2.40 above 3 TB; the actual invoice follows Vultr’s metering and billing rules.
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Do not multiply the server’s outbound usage by the number of viewers. YouTube says it transcodes an incoming live stream into multiple output formats for viewers, so the VPS-to-YouTube feed is distinct from YouTube’s viewer delivery.
Bitrate changes the bandwidth estimate
YouTube’s live encoder recommendations provide useful reference points for estimating feed traffic. For H.264, YouTube recommends 8 Mbps at 720p/30 fps, 14 Mbps at 1080p/30 fps and 17 Mbps at 1080p/60 fps. At a fixed bitrate, higher continuous bitrate means more outbound data over the same period; variable-bitrate content and real-world metering can change the total.
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- Use the actual configured output bitrate—not just the resolution—to estimate server egress.
- For a rough monthly estimate, multiply Mbps by 0.324 to get decimal TB over 30 days. For example, 10 Mbps Ă— 0.324 is about 3.24 TB.
- Compare that estimate with the plan’s included bandwidth, then verify how Vultr applies its quota and overage rate.
YouTube recommends RTMPS, constant bitrate (CBR), and a 2-second keyframe interval that does not exceed 4 seconds. These are YouTube ingest recommendations, not a guarantee that a particular VPS can encode a given resolution without performance problems.
Compute needs depend on what the server does
The $20 plan is a defensible starting estimate for the cited OBS/Ubuntu example, but compute needs are workload-specific. Vultr’s guide advises reducing output resolution or upgrading if CPU usage is high. A server encoding video or rendering complex OBS scenes can demand more compute than one relaying pre-encoded media. The guide does not establish a universal CPU requirement, so monitor the actual workload rather than assuming the baseline will suit every channel.
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Vultr also documents a separate Broadcaster Marketplace application with OBS and GPU integration and advertised benefits that include unlimited network bandwidth. Those statements apply to that named product; they are not included terms for ordinary Cloud Compute. See Vultr’s Broadcaster Marketplace documentation for its details.
What to check before deploying
- Confirm the current Cloud Compute price, included bandwidth, hourly billing and monthly cap on Vultr’s pricing page.
- Use the 4-GB RAM guide requirement as a starting point for that OBS/Ubuntu setup; choose based on the encoder and scene workload you actually plan to run.
- Estimate outbound traffic using the stream’s configured bitrate and intended uptime, then account for possible overage under Vultr’s current FAQ terms.
- Budget for the instance to continue costing money if it is stopped; Vultr says charges stop only when the instance is destroyed.
Or let it run in the cloud
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