What it costs to run Claude Code or any coding agent 24/7 in 2026
At 2 vCPU and 4 GB, the memory Claude Code asks for, a month of running an agent around the clock costs $8 for an Upstash Box kept alive, €19.99 at Hetzner in the EU, $24 at DigitalOcean, $25 for a Prized box, about $25 on a Fly Machine and $48 on Northflank. A Prized box comes with Claude Code and Codex installed, your project synced from your laptop by one command, and only its disk billed while it sleeps. On a VPS, the server, the sign-in and the updates are yours. Either way, the agent also needs its own plan: Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month, or an API key.
A month, around the clock
| 2 vCPU, 2 GB | 2 vCPU, 4 GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Upstash Box | Not sold | $8, kept alive |
| Hetzner, EU | Not sold | €19.99 (CPX22) |
| DigitalOcean | $18 | $24 |
| Prized box | $10 (Nano) | $25 (Micro) |
| Fly Machine | $13.39, plus a volume | About $25.39, plus a volume |
| Northflank | Not sold | $48, plus disk |
| Hetzner, US | €17.99 (CPX11) | €32.49 (CPX21, 3 vCPU) |
List prices before tax. Hetzner’s exclude VAT; the CPX22 is €19.99 in Nuremberg and Helsinki, its US locations have no 2 vCPU, 4 GB plan (the CPX21 has 3 vCPU), and its CX23 (€5.99, EU) was marked not available (Hetzner, Cost-Optimized). DigitalOcean’s include 60 and 80 GiB of disk (DigitalOcean). Fly’s are for its cheapest regions, with volumes at $0.15 a GB-month (Fly.io). Northflank’s is its 2 vCPU, 4 GB plan before disk (Northflank). An Upstash Box is a container (Upstash) with a 10 GB disk (pricing). A Prized Nano has a 40 GB disk and a Micro 80 GB, both burstable (Pricing). The 2 GB column is below what Claude Code and Codex ask for, so it suits a lighter agent.
- Billed by use: Railway’s Hobby plan is $5 a month including $5 of usage, then about $10 per GB-month of memory and $20 per vCPU-month (Railway), so an agent holding 2 GB all month pays about $20 for memory alone.
- An agent that wakes for events: under a dollar a month on a Fly Sprite, by Fly’s own estimate (Fly.io).
- Free: Oracle Cloud’s Always Free Arm instances, 2 OCPUs and 12 GB in all, but Oracle may reclaim one that stays idle for 7 days (Oracle).
What you run yourself
| A VPS | A Prized box | |
|---|---|---|
| The machine | Create a server, add your SSH key, set a firewall | The sign-up tour starts one |
| The agent | Install Claude Code or Codex, keep them updated | Preinstalled, kept on the latest release |
| Sign-in | Run /login over SSH, paste the code back | Setup copies Claude Code’s, signs Codex in |
| Your code | git clone, then push and pull | The folder syncs both ways |
| Ports | An SSH tunnel per port | 3000 to 9999 on your localhost |
| Asleep | Bills the same | Bills only its disk |
On a box, after sign-up, the rest of that column is one command in your project folder:
cd ~/code/myprojectprized setup --sync --agent claude --attachCommon questions
What is the cheapest way to run Claude Code 24/7?
At 4 GB, an Upstash Box kept alive ($8 a month), whose built-in Claude Code runs on an API key billed per token (Upstash). Next come Hetzner’s CPX22 in the EU (€19.99 before VAT), DigitalOcean ($24) and a Prized Micro ($25, with Claude Code installed and your project synced). Oracle’s Always Free Arm instances cost nothing, if Oracle doesn’t reclaim yours.
How much memory does an agent need?
Claude Code asks for 4 GB or more (Anthropic), and Codex for 4 GB at least, 8 recommended (OpenAI). The OpenClaw Gateway alone takes 1 to 2 GB, so it needs a Prized Micro or larger (OpenClaw).
Does an agent waiting for work still cost money?
On a VPS, yes: the month costs the same. A Prized box with auto-pause on sleeps when idle and bills only its disk, $0.008 an hour for a Micro. A running OpenClaw or Hermes gateway counts as use, so a box answering messages stays awake and bills as awake.
Can I use my own Claude or ChatGPT plan?
On a server or a Prized box, yes: Claude Code and Codex sign in with your Claude or ChatGPT plan, or an API key. An Upstash Box’s built-in agents are set up with an API key (Upstash).
Try it on Prized
Sign up: new accounts get $30 of credit, with no card, enough to run a Micro around the clock for about five weeks. The tour starts the box (pick Micro there) and shows one command that installs the CLI and signs it in; the plain installer is curl -fsSL https://prized.dev/install.sh | sh (Quickstart). The steps, run live: How to run Claude Code (or Codex) 24/7 in the cloud.
Sources
Every page here was read on November 7, 2026.
- Hetzner: Regular Performance, Cost-Optimized.
- DigitalOcean: Droplet pricing.
- Fly.io: pricing, always-on agent hosting cost.
- Northflank: pricing.
- Upstash: Box pricing, built-in agents, quickstart.
- Railway: pricing.
- Oracle Cloud: Always Free resources.
- Anthropic: Claude Code system requirements, plans.
- OpenAI: Codex install guide, ChatGPT plans.
- Prized: Pricing, Billing, Machines.