Hetzner Cloud is the value leader in European VPS hosting. While DigitalOcean and Linode charge $5-6 for 1 GB RAM, Hetzner gives you 4 GB RAM and 2 vCPUs for €4.50. The value gap has only widened in 2026. If you are weighing the trade-off between raw value and ecosystem, our Hetzner vs DigitalOcean comparison breaks it down tier by tier.
Plans and pricing
| Plan | RAM | vCPU | Storage | Traffic | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CX22 | 4 GB | 2 | 40 GB | 20 TB | €4.50/mo |
| CX32 | 8 GB | 4 | 80 GB | 20 TB | €9.00/mo |
| CX42 | 16 GB | 8 | 160 GB | 20 TB | €18.00/mo |
| CX52 | 32 GB | 16 | 360 GB | 20 TB | €36.00/mo |
All plans include 20 TB of traffic. For comparison, DigitalOcean’s $6 droplet gives you 1 GB RAM and 1 TB traffic. The CX22 is roughly equivalent to DO’s $24/month droplet in terms of RAM.
Performance
On a CX22 (4 GB, 2 vCPU) running WordPress with Nginx + PHP-FPM + Redis:
- UnixBench score: ~2,100 (single-core ~1,050)
- Disk I/O (fio): ~1,800 MB/s read, ~900 MB/s write (NVMe)
- Network: ~2.5 Gbps within EU, ~800 Mbps to US East Coast
- WordPress uncached: ~40 ms TTFB with a standard theme and 10 plugins
- WordPress cached (FastCGI): ~8 ms TTFB
These numbers are excellent for a €4.50 server. The NVMe storage makes a noticeable difference in database performance.
What Hetzner Cloud is good for
- WordPress hosting: The CX22 handles a busy WordPress site comfortably. Add Redis and you are set.
- Development/staging servers: Hourly billing means you can spin up a clone, test, and destroy it for pennies.
- Docker hosts: Plenty of RAM for multiple containers.
- CI/CD runners: Fast CPU, fast disk, cheap — ideal for build agents.
- Small SaaS backends: The CX32 or CX42 comfortably runs Rails, Laravel, or Node.js apps.
What Hetzner Cloud is NOT good for
- Global audience with low latency requirements: Only 6 locations (3 in Germany, 1 in Finland, 2 in US). If your users are in Asia or South America, look elsewhere.
- Managed hosting: Hetzner provides infrastructure, not application management. You manage the server.
- Enterprise compliance: No SOC 2 or ISO 27001 on the cloud platform. Their dedicated hosting has more certifications.
Hetzner vs competitors
| Feature | Hetzner CX22 | DigitalOcean | Linode | Vultr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAM for €/$5 | 4 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| Traffic included | 20 TB | 1 TB | 1 TB | 1 TB |
| EU locations | Yes (DE, FI) | Yes (AMS, FRA, LON) | Yes (LON, FRA) | Yes (AMS, LON, FRA) |
| Managed DB | No | Yes ($15/mo) | Yes ($15/mo) | No |
| Kubernetes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
For raw compute, Hetzner is unmatched. For ecosystem (docs, tutorials, managed databases), DigitalOcean still leads.
Account setup experience
Hetzner’s signup can be strict. They may require ID verification, especially for non-EU customers or new accounts. This catches some people off guard — you cannot spin up a server in 30 seconds without verification.
Once verified, the Cloud Console is clean and fast. It is not as polished as DigitalOcean’s interface, but it is functional and gets out of your way.
Verdict
Rating: 4.5/5
Hetzner Cloud is the best value VPS in Europe and increasingly competitive in the US. If you are comfortable managing a server and your audience is primarily European, there is no better deal. The value gap over competitors is so large that you can run your server on Hetzner and use a CDN for global edge caching — still cheaper than an equivalent plan elsewhere.
Buy if: You want maximum compute per euro, your users are in Europe, and you are comfortable managing servers.
Skip if: You need managed services, global data centre coverage, or a polished developer ecosystem.