In this article we are going to look at Hetzner alternatives for 2025. Before that here is a quick refresher on the options and which one you should choose
One line verdicts
- DigitalOcean: Predictable pricing, easy to use and has managed Dev stacks (managed DB) with good developer experience
- Linode (Akamai): Best balance of price / performance with clear pricing with large global footprint.
- Vultr: Best world wide coverage and low latency options, also has high frequency compute
- OVHcloud: Best EU-first, also has affordable bare metal with DDoS protection built in
Digital Ocean
(Best for simplicity and managed dev stacks)
Digital Ocean is best for SMBs and startups, you get a clean control panel/API.
You get:
- Fully managed Kubernetes Control plane (DOKS)
- Managed databases: (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis/Managed Caching, MongoDB)
- Object storage that is S3 compatible
- Load balancers
Where Digital Ocean is better than Hetzner
- Managed Platform depth and User experience: Managed services like Kubernetes and managed databases with sensible defaults, autoscaling and backups
- SLA and Support tiers: product specific SLAs and paid support options with predefined support times
- Good documentation and tutorials and marketplace with apps like NGINX Ingress, cert-manager, Redis
- Team UX: projects, access controls and a frictionless billing model
- Digital Ocean has VMs in all the key regions. Hetzner has limited regions around the world
- There is a marketplace where you can purchase apps.
- Digital Ocean provides flexibility and customization in terms of VM sizes and ram and disk that a user might need.
- Hetzner on the other hand has limited variety of VMs to choose from.
Where Hetzner is a better.
- vCPU costs for Digital Ocean is higher than Hetzner
- Egress is cheap with Digital Ocean but it costs some money unlike Hetzner which is way cheaper with 20 TB free bandwidth
- Fewer ultra low cost bare metal options, Digital Ocean is VM first with add ons
Pricing snapshot
| Item | DigitalOcean (USD) | Hetzner (EUR → USD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 vCPU / 4 GiB VM | \$24.00/mo | €3.79 → \$4.44/mo (CX22) | Digital Ocean Basic Droplet includes 4,000 GiB transfer; CX22 shows 20 TB incl. (EU). |
| 4 vCPU / 8 GiB VM | \$48.00/mo | €6.80 → \$7.97/mo (CX32) | Same notes as above. |
| Block storage | \$0.10/GiB-mo | €0.044/GiB-mo → \$0.0517/GiB-mo | DO Volumes vs Hetzner Volumes. |
| Object storage | \$5/mo incl. 250 GiB + 1 TiB egress; +\$0.02/GiB storage, +\$0.01/GiB egress | €4.99/mo incl. 1 TiB + 1 TiB egress → \$5.85; +€1/TB egress | DO Spaces; Hetzner Object Storage (S3). |
| Load balancer | \$12.00/mo (regional) | €5.39/mo → \$6.31 (LB11) | Entry tier in each platform. |
| VM egress overage | \$0.01/GiB beyond pooled Droplet allowance | €1/TB (≈ \$1.17/TB) | Hetzner allowances differ by region; EU servers list 20 TB/server included. |
Linode
Linode which has been acquired by Akamai has straightforward pricing and credible managed options without the hyperscale sprawl.
- Linode also has a lot of things that Digital Ocean offers
- Managed Kubernetes (LKE)
- Managed Databases limited to (MySQL/PostgreSQL)
- S3 compatible object storage
You can see offerings are quite thin as compared to Digital Ocen. But where it beats Digital Ocean and Hetzner both is the regions provided.
Linode provides large number of regions as compared to both Digital Ocean and Hetzner.
Where Linode beats Hetzner
- Global reach: Linode is a highly distributed cloud provider with many VMs in multiple regions around the world
- Network security is included: There is always on DDoS protection which is provided for free and is better than which Hetzner provides
- There are features like VPC lite and others that Hetzner does not provide
- Support: 24/7 support availability with actively maintained public status page
- Regions: North America, Europe and APAC
Note: In terms of VM reliability, in my personal opinion and experience Linode is middle of the pack in terms of reliability
Where Hetzner is better
- Linode pricing is higher than that of Hetzner, on a purely cost per vCPU bases Hetzner wins
- Hetzner has a big EU focus though Linode also has VMs in the E.U
- Region in E.U and fewer places in USA
- Pricing for Linode is higher but does not have a lot of features, so it might not justify the costs for some people
Pricing
| Item | Linode (USD) | Hetzner (EUR → USD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 vCPU / 4 GiB VM | \$24.00/mo (Shared CPU “Linode 4 GB”) | €3.79 → \$4.44/mo (CX22) | Linode includes 4 TB transfer (pooled). Hetzner EU locations include 20 TB/server. |
| 4 vCPU / 8 GiB VM | \$48.00/mo (Shared CPU “Linode 8 GB”) | €6.80 → \$7.97/mo (CX32) | Linode includes 5 TB transfer (pooled). Hetzner EU locations include 20 TB/server. |
| Block storage | \$0.10/GB-mo | €0.044/GB-mo → \$0.0515/GB-mo | Linode Block Storage vs. Hetzner Volumes. |
| Object storage | \$5.00/mo incl. 250 GB storage + 1 TB transfer; +\$0.02/GB storage overage; egress beyond pool from \$0.005/GB | €4.99/mo → \$5.85 incl. 1 TB storage + 1 TB egress; +€0.0067/TB-hour storage; +€1/TB egress | Linode Object Storage adds 1 TB to your pooled transfer. Hetzner’s base is billed hourly with monthly cap. |
| Load balancer | \$10.00/mo (NodeBalancer) | €5.39/mo → \$6.31 (LB11) | Entry tier on each platform. |
| VM egress overage | from \$0.005/GB (=\$5/TB) beyond pooled allowance (region-dependent) | €1/TB (≈ \$1.17/TB) in EU/US; €7.40/TB (≈ \$8.67/TB) in Singapore | Hetzner EU locations advertise 20 TB included per cloud server. |
Vultr
Latency sensitive apps for gaming/ real time APIs for teams that want flexible instance families along with High Frequency (HF) optimized server and bare metal
Vultr has large geographic reach and instance variety. It has 32 cloud regions with lots of regions in North America, APAC, Europe and Africa and Oceania
There are a lot of compute varieties as well like shared cpus, High frequency compute 3+ GHz, Optimized or Dedicated vCPUs and Bare metal servers as well.
Best For
- Latency sensitive apps and gaming
- Edge deployments
- Teams that need different Instance types
Where Vultr beats Hetzner
- Vultr has very large footprint worldwide 32 regions worldwide in almost all the regions like North America, EU and APAC
- Diverse instance types HF compute 3+ GHz for high single threaded workloads plus bare metal is also available
- Features like VPC 2.0 with segmented L3 networks, that is you can configure multiple private networks per instance and un-metered private traffic inside the same location
- DDoS protection with always on mitigation and documented limits
- Advanced networking: LB, VPC, DNS and Direct connect partners for private edge
- It also has managed databases but not as much variety as Digital Ocean but certainly better than Hetzner with PostgreSQL and MySQL and also S3 compatible object storage to keep your data
Where Hetzner beats Vultr
- Vultr is good but it is no hyperscaler
- Support model & tiers: Vultr is primarily ticket based, so if you need deep enterprise agreements and rich support, you want to go to hyperscaler.
- Vultr is expensive than Hetzner
- You are paying more than Hetzner but you are not getting features are not as large hyperscalers
| Item | Vultr (USD) | Hetzner (EUR → USD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 vCPU / 4 GiB VM | \$20.00/mo | €3.79 → \$4.44/mo (CX22) | Vultr plan typically includes 3 TB transfer; Hetzner EU locations include 20 TB/server, US/SG include 1 TB/server. ([Vultr][1], [Hetzner][2]) |
| 4 vCPU / 8 GiB VM | \$40.00/mo | €6.80 → \$7.97/mo (CX32) | Vultr plan typically includes 4 TB transfer; Hetzner transfer as above. ([Vultr][1], [Hetzner][2]) |
| Block storage (Volumes) | \$0.10/GB-mo | €0.044 → \$0.0515/GB-mo | NVMe volumes; Hetzner price from Cloud “Volumes”. ([Vultr][3], [Hetzner][2]) |
| Object storage | \$18/TB-mo (Standard) |
€4.99/mo → \$5.85 base incl. 1 TB storage + 1 TB egress; extra storage |
Vultr higher tiers: \$36/\$50/\$100 per TB (Premium/Performance/Accelerated). Hetzner includes 1 TB+1 TB in base. ([Vultr][4], [Hetzner][5]) |
| Load balancer (entry tier) | \$10.00/mo | €5.39 → \$6.31/mo (LB11) | Hetzner LB traffic allowance varies by region (EU higher than US/SG). ([Vultr][6], [Hetzner][7]) |
| VM egress overage | \$0.01/GB beyond pooled allowances | €1/TB (→ \$1.17/TB) EU/US; €7.40/TB (→ \$8.67/TB) SG | Vultr: 2 TB free egress/month per account (global pool) + per-instance quotas; then \$0.01/GB. Hetzner per-TB rates by region. (vultr, Hetzner |
[1]: "Deploy Windows Servers in Seconds Worldwide"
[2]: "Cheap hosted VPS by Hetzner: our cloud hosting services"
[3]: "Block Storage | High Performance and Cost-Effective"
[4]: "Object Storage | Scalable, Secure Cloud Storage for Any Data - Vultr"
[5]: "S3 storage solution: Object Storage by Hetzner"
[6]: "Vultr Load Balancers | Scalable & High Availability Traffic Distribution"
[7]: "Load Balancer"
[8]: "Vultr Announces Reduced Bandwidth Pricing, 2 TB of Free Monthly Egress, Free Ingress, and Global Pooling | Vultr Blogs"
OVHcloud
If you need EU first cloud that is bandwidth heavy with cost effect single tenant performance. OVHcloud is a good choice to have.
With Anti DDoS protection that is included by default, you can also get dedicated and bare metal CPU
One USP of OVHcloud is that it has unmetered bandwidth. While others charge some money for bandwidth even Hetzner charges money after first 20TB free tier, OVH cloud is completely free bandwidth on select machines and bare metal servers.
Best for:
- EU SaaS that needs EU-hosted and certified infrasture with cheap outbound egress costs
- Download heavy apps that need unmetered dedicated bandwidth and S3 object storage with predictable outbound egress costs
- Cost effective dedicated compute for databases, caches or specialized runtimes where single tenant performance matters
Where OVH cloud beats Hetzner
- Anti DDoS: Free always on mitigation is universal with OVHcloud, and not an add-on as with Hetzner. OVHcloud also has a documented infrastructure to handle multiple TBps attack
- Bandwidth economics on Bare Metal: Dedicated servers often included unmetered traffic with options for higher throughput that is attractive for media/egress heavy apps
- Portfolio breath for storage: Public cloud Object storage offers S3 compatible tiers with free API calls and internet traffic, there is some low cost egress pricing also there
- Compliance: OVHcloud has ISO/IEC 27001/27017/27018/27701, CSA STAR, SOC 1/2, and HDS (health data hosting) for their owned data centers, plus SecNumCloud for qualified services which are useful for public-sector and regulated workloads in France and the EU.
- Managed Kubernetes is also available now and has a guaranteed uptime of 99.99%
Trade off vs Hetzner
- Ux/Support variability: OVH cloud control panel ergonomics and support experience are uneven.
- Provisioning times on some SKUs: Many dedicated servers are available to use within minutes, but the delivery time is always an estimate with legal terms allowing upto 15 days and longer.
- Take in to consideration lead times when ordering specific machines
- OVH is more expensive than Hetzner cloud
Pricing OVH vs Hetzner
| Item | OVHcloud (USD) | Hetzner (EUR → USD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 vCPU / 4 GiB VM | \$33.07/mo (C3-4) | €3.79 → \$4.44/mo (CX22) | OVH: 50 GB NVMe; Hetzner: 40 GB NVMe. |
| 4 vCPU / 8 GiB VM | \$66.21/mo (C3-8) | €6.80 → \$7.97/mo (CX32) | OVH: 100 GB NVMe; Hetzner: 80 GB NVMe. |
| Block storage | \$0.048/GB-month (Classic); \$0.096/GB-month (High-speed) | €0.044/GB-month → \$0.0516/GB-month | OVH Block Storage is triple-replicated. |
| Object storage | \$0.00811/GB-month storage; \$0.011/GB egress | €4.99 → \$5.85/mo incl. 1 TB storage + 1 TB egress; +€1/TB extra | Both S3-compatible. |
| Load balancer | \$6.94/mo (LB-S; \$0.0095/hr) | €5.39 → \$6.31/mo (LB11) | Entry tier on each platform. |
| Included VM transfer | FREE (unmetered) outbound + inbound for instances | EU: 20 TB/server; US & SG: 1 TB/server | OVH private-network traffic also free. |
| VM egress overage | n/a (free for instances) | EU/US: €1/TB (≈ \$1.17/TB); SG: €7.40/TB (≈ \$8.67/TB) | Applies after included amounts. |
Decision Guide(✓ best fit · △ workable/partial · ✕ weak/no fit)
- Scan the matrix then shortlist 1–2 providers that meet your needs
- Go over the bullet points to check you made the right choicd
- If there is a tie between providers, see what features and edge cases are best for the use-case
| Need \ Provider | DigitalOcean | Linode (Akamai) | Vultr | OVHcloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Managed K8s depth | ✓ | ✓ | △ | △ |
| Managed DBs breadth | ✓ | ✓ | △ | △ |
| Regions / metros (user proximity) | △ | ✓ | ✓ | △ |
| Egress-heavy cost profile | △ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bare-metal / single-tenant | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in DDoS posture | ✓ | ✓ | △ | ✓ |
| EU compliance / sovereignty | △ | △ | △ | ✓ |
| SLA / support clarity | ✓ | ✓ | △ | △ |
| Developer UX & docs | ✓ | ✓ | △ | △ |
| Raw price-per-vCPU | △ | △ | △–✓ (varies) | ✓ (dedicated) |
| Object storage maturity | ✓ | ✓ | △ | ✓ |
| IPv6 & private networking | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Terraform / IaC ecosystem | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Helpful tips on picking the right choice
Digital Ocean:
- Need turnkey Kubernetes and managed databases plus developer first UX
- What's good: With cohesive control panel, DOKS plus managed databases and Object storage with clean defaults
- Caveat: raw performance per dollar is not the cheapest
Linode (Akamai):
- Need Global reach and predictable pricing
- What's good: Broad regional coverage, pooled transfer and low overage, steady pricing philosophy
- Caveat: less managed services than Digital Ocean but VM pricing is similar. If you are looking for managed services or databases are likely to go into them in the future than Digital Ocean is the better choice for same amount of money
Vultr:
- Many locations and High frequency cloud
- What's good: large global footprint, High Frequency optimized instances and bare metal
- Caveat: managed services are good but thinner than hyperscaler, support model is much more self serve
OVH cloud:
A sovereign Cloud for E.U regions that costs less and has all the compliance done
What's Good: Strong EU presence with built in Anti DDoS unmetered/ large bandwidth on dedicated
Caveat: UX/supprt quality can vary, some dedicated SKUs have long delivery timelines.
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