Linode was one of the original cloud computing pioneers, predating AWS by three years. Founded in 2003 by Christopher Aker in Philadelphia, the company provided Linux-based virtual private servers at a time when most hosting was either shared or dedicated. The name itself is a portmanteau of “Linux” and “node.”
For nearly two decades, Linode built a devoted following among developers who appreciated its straightforward approach: solid Linux VPS hosting with transparent pricing, excellent documentation, and no unnecessary complexity. The company was known for consistently lowering prices and increasing resources, often matching or beating competitors without fanfare.
In February 2022, Akamai Technologies acquired Linode for $900 million, marking a major shift for both companies. Akamai, already a leader in content delivery and edge computing, gained a full cloud computing platform to compete more directly with AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. Linode’s products have been rebranded under the Akamai Connected Cloud umbrella, though the Linode brand and dashboard continue to operate.
Linode’s product lineup includes standard and high-memory compute instances, dedicated CPU plans, GPU instances, managed Kubernetes, object storage, block storage, NodeBalancers (load balancers), and a managed database service. Data centers span the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
The developer community has watched the Akamai integration closely, hoping that Linode’s culture of simplicity and developer-friendliness won’t be lost in the larger corporate structure. So far, the core products remain largely the same, with Akamai adding edge computing capabilities and expanding the global footprint.
