I originally used SliceHost which was acquired and integrated into Rackspace for cloud hosting since 2010. The services is easy use and rock solid with many advanced features. But then again it is a premium service and cost prohibitive. In 2010 I switched to KVM based hosting using vServer Center and still use it today.

Recently, though I still have vServer Center because of the great cost factor, I have started using Microsoft Azure Cloud hosting.

Gen 3 Cloud

Currently (Dec 2016) evaluating cloud services and techniques,

• Microsoft Azure
• Amazon Cloud
• Google Cloud

The key advantage of the cloud services is infrastructure as code, but let's start with just the minimal hardware, bandwidth requirements. Note I've upped the memory requirements having switched to LXC and also now have a sense of bandwidth utilization (but noting that BonsaiFramework is not searchable yet).

Gen 2 Self-Serve Virtual Hosting

Log

Aug 2018

Lots of Low End Box, and there are more - I have not looked closely yet.

Note these often use OpenVZ ... which previously had trouble with Java now (Aug 2019) it's better and depends on the hosting provider setting limits on memory / not overselling too. Also restricted to Ubuntu supported by OpenVZ base image which is 16.x at the moment.

Container technology and Docker does not work due to older kernel.

Here are the offers: 

These are very inexpensive prices and there's further discount if you pay for the full year up front! However, keep in mind this is VPS hosting which can end up oversubscribing resulting in a very slow system.

Feb 2012

I spent some time to look for cheaper alternatives. This is still best bang for the buck despite Gen 3 Cloud services.

Main criteria,

• 1024GB of memory
• Allow Ubuntu OS Custom Install
• Decent bandwidth 2GB or higher / month
• Allow adding additional IPs
• Console access
• Hypervisor based
• Nice to have ability to do full image backups and restores

Selected Virtual Private Server

vServer Center

http://www.vservercenter.com/
web management: https://vcp.vservercenter.com

support email: support@cybercon.net 

KVM hosting $29.95/Month with life-time discount code WHTVDSKV20A (used Feb 2015) reduced to $9.95/Month,

• 2 GB of Memory
• Ubuntu OS
• UnMetered 20mbps bandwidth
• 50 GB Hard Disk
• One dedicated IPv4 IP Address 
• Web Terminal
• Allow Custom Installation of number of Linux OS including Ubuntu

Purchased additional IP for $1/Month.

To allow install of your own OS, during purchase select,

Pros,

• Allows full OS install from scratch!
• Console has bandwidth graph.

Some cons found so far,

• No self-serve image backup and restore ability. You must contact support and they will sell you cloud space and you have to call every time for manual backups. When I spoke to the support rep he said they would look into this in the future.
• No DNS Servers (not a big con, most domain registrars provide this).

Virtualization Technologies

In general, there are two main types,

Hypervisor, which is hardware-based virtualization - Xen, VMWare and KVM

Container (software) based virtualization where the host kernel is shared - OpenVZ, Virtuozzo (based on OpenVZ), Solaris Zones.

The following chart outlines the top level pros and cons,

 Java with Container Based Virtualization

At least with Virpus who uses OpenVZ they say Java does not work well.

Here is a good article that explains the challenges and offers a possible solution..
This looks like it has working solutions http://forum.openvz.org/index.php?t=msg&goto=7057.

Considered

Interserver

$8/month per KVM slice 25GB HD, 1GB RAM, 1TB Transfer

http://www.interserver.net/vps/

OS is a scripted install looks to be minimal install

RAM HOST

Experienced performance issues with server.

http://www.ramhost.us/?page=vps/kvm-los-angeles-west

$15.99/month for container OpenVZ with Mem = 1024, BW = 1000GB, Space = 25GB

BuyVM

http://buyvm.net/

$12.95/month for container OpenVZ with Mem = 1024/2048, BW = 3000GB, Space = 60GB
$20.00/month for Hypervisor KVM with 1024MB, 3000GB and 60GB, 2 Core

Only issue seems to be stock.

Positive reviews - http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1107446

Comparison reviews - http://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/1238/picking-a-vps...-hostigation-vs.-secure-dragon-vs.-buyvm

JaguarPC

JaguarPC is recommend by one of the review sites hostcult.

$29 for VPS hosting with,

• 50 GB Disk Space
• 3,000 GB Bandwidth
• 1024 MB RAM
• 2048 MBBurst RAM
• Equal CPU (1 core min.)

Rejected

YardVPS

This one also looks good with a fast connection speed. Normally $15.95 but with the discount code yardvps it drops down to $12.76. They have a 100Mbit connection,

http://www.yardvps.com/xen.html

$12.76/month for Xen with Mem = 1GB, BW = 20000 GB at 100Mbit, Space = 50GB

Just noticed another coupon, limited sale for today March 1, 2012, YARDLEAP which gave me a 40% discount dropping it to $9.57.

One con, they currently do not offer additional IPs.

Servers are located in Los Angeles, California.

March 4, 2012 - So far not impressed. After fiddling around I found that the system did not notify me it was ready. I booted the system, but so far it's not trivial to get going.

Virpus Networks - Rejected

Xen VPS Hosting - XVM1024 Priced at $24.00 US with a 20% discount for the life of the subscription which gives,

• 1024GB memory
• 1000GB bandwidth
• 40GB disk

There is a much cheaper shared resource hosting option called OpenVZ at $10.00 per month but it won't do Java. Read the comparison chart for more details.

Web chatted with a customer support rep who was quite knowledgeable. Here are the highlights of the conversation,

Very negative review - http://www.the-best-web-hosting-service.com/virpus-review.php - Virpus wiped their system no backups, downtime.
Another negative review - http://www.hostcult.com/2010/03/review-virpus-hosting.html - Downtime

Consolidated Reviews of Hosting Sites

http://www.web-hosting-top.com/ - reviews from people.

http://www.lowendbox.com/blog/best-low-end-providers-in-2011-q2-its-ram-host-quickweb-and-buyvm-again/ - best low end providers

http://www.similarsitesearch.com/alternative/vpsland.com - lists hosting companies like vpsland.com

http://www.webhostingstuff.com/category/Server-Hosting.html - reviews