Straight answers about ranking methodology, pricing and choosing the right plan.
Ubuntu LTS is the default on most clouds. Debian is slimmer. Both run the same KVM; pick what your Ansible/Docker files already assume.
Clouds give an API and a web console, not cPanel, unless you install one. Hostinger and some managed KVM hosts bundle a panel — that is a product choice, not an OS choice.
For a reverse proxy, a bot or a wireguard box, yes. For WordPress + MySQL on one VM, start at 2 GB and prefer 4 GB.
Shared is a panel and limits. A Linux VPS is root, your kernel modules, your firewall. Price overlap exists; the ops burden does not.