Linode has $25 free credit and I was able to stack the "LINODE10" coupon on top of that for another $10. So $40 total with the $5 minimum payment.
That's 4 months to mess around with a good unmanaged VPS if you've never done it before.
https://www.linode.com/?r=0cb178ffb5...fa88f5765991b9
(shameless affiliate link to get my MKUltra implant removed)