It's the other way around, AWS/etc are more expensive. Linode is just a VPS provider, and it's been great for me for the past 6 years. There are cheaper alternatives, though.

Cloud providers like AWS are more expensive because what they provide is a completely different set of services and guarantees, so their value [and cost] is much higher.

There are actually much cheaper VPS providers than Linode. Check out lowendbox.com for deals. I've had a Linode for years and it's completely underwhelming for the cost. I'd try out multiple different cheaper VPS providers instead, maybe even use multiple for redundancy at the same cost as Linode.

Well their offering is much simpler than that of AWS, Azure or GCP. I've been using them for over 5 years now without any issues, it's often the case that you get what you pay for but Linode do a very good job for their price point (yes they've had their issues but so have Gandi, Digital Ocean, ... any other competitor).

Linode has a fixed price strategy and focused on being a VPS provider.