Hetzner vs Fly.io
Verdict up front: Fly.io starts cheaper ($1.94/mo); Fly.io covers more ground (35 regions). The right pick depends on workload — details below.
| Hetzner | Fly.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $3.79/mo | $1.94/mo |
| Billing | monthly | usage |
| Regions | 6 | 35 |
| Free tier / trial | None | Limited free allowances (varies) |
| Category | iaas, baremetal | paas, edge |
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
Fly.io
Run apps close to users — microVMs on a global anycast network
- + True edge deployment model
- + Anycast + WireGuard private nets
- + GPU regions
- + SQLite/LiteFS story
- − Operational complexity vs typical PaaS
- − Pricing model takes a spreadsheet
- − Occasional platform incidents