DigitalOcean vs Hetzner
Verdict up front: Hetzner starts cheaper ($3.79/mo); DigitalOcean covers more ground (15 regions). The right pick depends on workload — details below.
| DigitalOcean | Hetzner | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $4/mo | $3.79/mo |
| Billing | hourly | monthly |
| Regions | 15 | 6 |
| Free tier / trial | $200 credit / 60 days (promo) | None |
| Category | iaas, paas | iaas, baremetal |
DigitalOcean
Developer-first droplets with managed DB/K8s/App Platform
- + Best-in-class docs + tutorials
- + Managed DB/K8s/App Platform
- + Predictable pricing
- + Big ecosystem
- − Premium managed services price steeply
- − Fewer exotic instance types than hyperscalers
Hetzner
German engineering — best price-per-vCPU in the business
- + Cheapest compute per spec anywhere
- + Generous bandwidth (20TB+)
- + Dedicated servers excellent value
- + Auction servers even cheaper
- − EU-centric (US regions newer/smaller)
- − Strict account verification
- − No managed K8s on auction/dedicated