Hetzner vs DigitalOcean
Compare monthly cost, included bandwidth, and EU sovereignty for the same vCPU/RAM workload.
Prices & hardware specs verified 2026-09-02
Editorial Verdict
Hetzner dominates on raw price-per-vCPU/RAM (€5.99/mo Hetzner CX23 — $6.98 vs DigitalOcean's $24 for 2vCPU/4GB) and includes 20TB bandwidth. DigitalOcean wins on global PoPs, managed ecosystem (App Platform, Spaces, Managed DBs), and US enterprise invoicing.
⚠ Class context: both vendors are compared on fair-share (shared vCPU) plans here — specs are burst ceilings (“up to”), not guaranteed minimums. For measurable, guaranteed capacity, compare dedicated-class plans on the main comparison.
Cost Benchmark Across Typical Workloads
Starter (1 vCPU / 2GB / 1TB)
Hetzner Cloud $6.98/mo
vs
DigitalOcean $12.00/mo
Hetzner Cloud is $5.02/mo cheaper
Web App (2 vCPU / 4GB / 5TB)
Hetzner Cloud $6.98/mo
vs
DigitalOcean $34.00/mo
Hetzner Cloud is $27.02/mo cheaper
High Traffic (4 vCPU / 8GB / 20TB)
Hetzner Cloud $10.48/mo
vs
DigitalOcean $198.00/mo
Hetzner Cloud is $187.52/mo cheaper
Strengths & Trade-offs
Hetzner Cloud
Visit Hetzner Cloud →Strengths
- €5.99/mo for CX23 (2vCPU/4GB/40GB NVMe + 20TB; $6.98 equivalent)
- EU GDPR sovereign (Germany/Finland, no CLOUD Act)
- No bandwidth overage surprise with generous included transfer
Gotchas
- Datacenters in EU/US only — no Asia-Pacific region
- No native managed Kubernetes autoscale at same level as DO
DigitalOcean
Visit DigitalOcean →Strengths
- 14+ global regions plus CDN
- Rich managed services and 1-click marketplace
- Transparent $24/mo Basic 4 GB droplet (2 vCPU/4 GB) with predictable USD billing
Gotchas
- ~3x higher monthly cost for same vCPU/RAM
- Only 3–5TB included bandwidth on equivalent plan
Configure your exact vCPU/RAM/bandwidth
Test your custom workload in the interactive calculator.