What is Hetzner Cloud?
Hetzner Cloud is a virtual private server (VPS) and cloud hosting service operated by the German company Hetzner Online GmbH. It provides on-demand compute instances, block storage, and networking resources, primarily hosted in data centres across Europe (Germany, Finland, and the UK) with a recent expansion into the United States.
The service competes directly with larger providers such as AWS, DigitalOcean, and Linode. It positions itself as a lower-cost alternative for users who need reliable infrastructure without the complexity of enterprise cloud platforms.
Hetzner Online was founded in 1997 and has a long history in dedicated server hosting and colocation. The cloud division launched in 2016, offering a more flexible, API-driven product built on top of the company's existing hardware and network infrastructure.
The company is privately owned and operates its own data centres. This gives it direct control over hardware procurement, power management, and network peering, which is one reason Hetzner can offer pricing that undercuts many competitors.
Who is Hetzner Cloud best for?
Hetzner Cloud is best suited for developers, system administrators, and small to medium-sized businesses comfortable managing Linux servers via command line or automation tools. It is less appropriate for users who require a managed platform, extensive customer support, or a large ecosystem of pre-built services.
The service works well for hosting web applications, APIs, databases, game servers, and CI/CD runners. It is also a popular choice for hobbyists and side projects due to its low entry price.
- Individual developers who need a cheap, fast VPS for testing or personal projects
- Small businesses running production web applications on a tight budget
- DevOps teams who want to provision infrastructure programmatically via API or Terraform
- Self-hosters running services like Nextcloud, email servers, or VPNs
- Resellers and agencies who need to spin up client environments quickly
Key features
Hourly and monthly billing
Hetzner Cloud charges by the hour for compute instances, with a monthly cap that matches the listed monthly price. You pay only for the time a server is running, and the cost never exceeds the monthly rate if the server runs for the full month.
High-performance NVMe SSD storage
All Hetzner Cloud servers use NVMe SSDs for local block storage, offering significantly faster read and write speeds compared to traditional SSDs or spinning disks. According to vendor documentation, sequential read speeds on the CX-series instances can exceed 2,000 MB/s, with consistent random I/O performance even under sustained load.
Dedicated vCPU instances
Hetzner offers two types of compute instances: shared vCPU (CX series) and dedicated vCPU (CAX series for ARM, and dedicated Intel/AMD options). Dedicated vCPU instances guarantee that physical CPU cores are not shared with other customers, eliminating the "noisy neighbour" problem that can affect performance on shared hosts.
IPv4 and IPv6 networking
Every Hetzner Cloud server comes with a free IPv6 address, and IPv4 addresses are available for a small additional monthly fee (currently €0.50 per IP). The network supports up to 10 Gbps throughput on higher-tier instances, and the company maintains a large peering network providing good connectivity to European and North American destinations.
API and Terraform integration
Hetzner Cloud provides a RESTful API that allows you to create, manage, and delete resources programmatically. There is also an official Terraform provider, a CLI tool (hcloud), and SDKs for several programming languages, making it straightforward to integrate into infrastructure-as-code workflows.
Hetzner Cloud pricing
Hetzner Cloud pricing starts at €2.49 per month (approximately $2.70) for a CX11 instance with 1 shared vCPU, 2 GB of RAM, and 20 GB of NVMe SSD storage. The most popular tier, the CX22, costs €3.79 per month and offers 2 shared vCPUs, 4 GB of RAM, and 40 GB of storage.
Dedicated vCPU instances start at €8.49 per month for an AMD-based instance with 2 dedicated cores, 8 GB of RAM, and 80 GB of storage. ARM-based CAX instances are slightly cheaper, starting at €3.49 per month for 2 dedicated ARM cores and 4 GB of RAM.
Additional costs include IPv4 addresses (€0.50/month each), extra block storage (€0.06/GB per month), and backups (20% of the server price). Outbound traffic is included at 1 TB per month for the smallest instances, with higher tiers including more. Excess traffic costs €1.00 per TB.
There is no free tier and no trial period, but hourly billing means you can test a server for a few hours at negligible cost.
| Instance | Specs | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CX11 | 1 shared vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 20 GB NVMe | €2.49/month |
| CX22 | 2 shared vCPUs, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB NVMe | €3.79/month |
| CAX (ARM) | 2 dedicated ARM cores, 4 GB RAM | €3.49/month |
| Dedicated AMD | 2 dedicated cores, 8 GB RAM, 80 GB NVMe | €8.49/month |
Comparison with competitors
Compared to AWS EC2, Hetzner Cloud is dramatically cheaper. A comparable instance on AWS (t3a.small with 2 vCPUs and 2 GB RAM) costs roughly $25 per month on-demand, versus €3.29 for a Hetzner CX21 with similar specs.
Even DigitalOcean, which is already considered affordable, charges $6 per month for a 1 GB RAM droplet, while Hetzner's equivalent starts at €2.49. The value proposition is clear: you get competitive hardware at a fraction of the price.
What we like
- Price-to-performance ratio is excellent. NVMe storage and modern CPUs deliver real-world speeds that match or exceed more expensive providers.
- Hourly billing with a monthly cap means you never pay more than the advertised monthly rate, even if you run a server for 31 days.
- Dedicated vCPU instances at under $10 per month are rare in this market and make a tangible difference for CPU-bound workloads.
- The API and Terraform provider work reliably. A full deployment of 10 servers can be automated in under two minutes.
- Data centre locations in Europe provide low-latency connectivity for users in the EU, with good peering to major internet exchanges.
What could be better
- Customer support is limited. There is no phone support, and email tickets can take several hours to receive a response; there is no live chat.
- The control panel is basic. It lacks the visual polish and feature depth of DigitalOcean's or Linode's dashboards.
- No managed database or Kubernetes service. You must install and maintain your own databases and orchestration tools.
- Limited global presence. Only three data centre regions in Europe and one in the US; no Asia-Pacific or South America coverage.
Hetzner Cloud verdict
Bottom line: Hetzner Cloud offers exceptional value for cost-conscious developers and small teams who can manage Linux servers themselves, with performance that rivals far more expensive providers.
Hetzner Cloud is a strong choice for anyone who values raw performance and low cost over convenience and support. The pricing is transparent and genuinely hard to beat: you can run a production-grade 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM server for under $4 per month, which is less than the cost of a coffee per week.
However, Hetzner Cloud is not for everyone. If you need managed services, 24/7 phone support, or a global network of data centres, you should look at providers like DigitalOcean, Linode, or AWS. The control panel is functional but sparse, and the lack of a managed database option means more operational overhead.
Beginners who are unfamiliar with server administration will likely find the learning curve steep and the support response times frustrating. For everyone else, consider it a specialist tool rather than a general-purpose hosting solution.
Who should buy: Cost-conscious developers and businesses operating primarily in Europe who are comfortable with self-managed infrastructure and want to save significantly compared to mainstream cloud providers.
