For small and personal stuff I like running things locally at my own metal when I can.

For my day job, we use Amazon stuff but I don't like it and don't recommend it to anyone.

For my own small projects that need to reach out of my room, I use Digital Ocean. I've been using it since 2012 and I really like the simplicity and ease of use even though they keep adding junk to it to attract unhappy AWS users.

If you want to give it a try, here's my referral code (we both win a few credits): https://m.do.co/c/49f58e8c83ae