You can run efficient VM-like distro containers inside VMs (eg. LXD), and if necessary VMs inside VMs. So you only need one rented VM at the top, if your perfo

You can run efficient VM-like distro containers inside VMs (eg. LXD), and if necessary VMs inside VMs. So you only need one rented VM at the top, if your performance needs are low. It probably doesn't make sense economically, due to the cost of managing the infra vs the cost of more top-level VMs from a provider, but you can certainly segregate prod, staging, and independent spaces for multiple developers (or yourself on different projects) on a single rented VM if you want to.