Cloud pricing term
What is Shared vCPU?
A shared vCPU is a virtual CPU whose underlying processor time is shared with other tenants and is not guaranteed to be continuously available to one workload.
The expensive mistake
Comparing plans by vCPU count alone. A shared vCPU can be excellent for low-duty-cycle work, but two shared vCPUs are not evidence of the same sustained throughput as two dedicated vCPUs. Price per vCPU is therefore not a performance benchmark.
Where it appears on your bill
Usually it is embedded in the instance or Droplet plan line rather than itemized as CPU time.
Worked example
The dated example uses an Akamai Nanode at $5/month for 1 shared vCPU, or $5 per advertised vCPU. It uses DigitalOcean c-2 at $42 for 2 dedicated vCPUs, or $21 each. The 4.2x unit-price gap is real, but it cannot be converted into a 4.2x performance claim.
Example prices checked: