VPS and app hosting · head to head
DigitalOcean vs Hetzner Cloud
What each costs, whether there's a free plan, and what each is best for, from prices checked on their own sites.
| Fact |  DigitalOcean |  Hetzner Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| From | $4/mo | $6.49/mo |
| Free plan | Yes · $5 signup credit, applied automatically when you create your first team | No · No free tier or trial credit |
| Best for | Simple managed apps next to other DigitalOcean services | Lots of traffic for users in Europe |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
| Website | Visit | Visit |
The difference in short
- DigitalOcean costs less to start: $4/mo against $6.49/mo for Hetzner Cloud.
- Only DigitalOcean has a free plan, trial or credit.
- DigitalOcean is best for simple managed apps next to other DigitalOcean services; Hetzner Cloud for lots of traffic for users in Europe.
DigitalOcean pricing
All about DigitalOcean| Plan | Price | Specs / includes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Droplet 512 MiB | $4/mo | 1 vCPU · 0.5 GB RAM · 10 GiB SSD | hourly/per-second billing, capped at the monthly price ($0.00595/hr). Regular CPU option. |
| Basic Droplet 1 GiB | $6/mo | 1 vCPU · 1 GB RAM · 25 GiB SSD | hourly/per-second billing, capped at the monthly price ($0.00893/hr) |
| Basic Droplet 2 GiB (1 vCPU) | $12/mo | 1 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 50 GiB SSD | hourly/per-second billing, capped at the monthly price ($0.01786/hr) |
| Basic Droplet 2 GiB (2 vCPU) | $18/mo | 2 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 60 GiB SSD | hourly/per-second billing, capped at the monthly price ($0.02679/hr) |
| Basic Droplet 4 GiB | $24/mo | 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 80 GiB SSD | hourly/per-second billing, capped at the monthly price ($0.03571/hr) |
| Basic Droplet 8 GiB | $48/mo | 4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM · 160 GiB SSD | hourly/per-second billing, capped at the monthly price ($0.07143/hr). 16 GiB / 8 vCPU / 320 GiB is $96/mo ($0.14286/hr). |
Hetzner Cloud pricing
All about Hetzner Cloud| Plan | Price | Specs / includes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| CX23 (Cost-Optimized, Intel/AMD) | $6.49/mo | 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 40 GB NVMe | hourly billing, capped at the monthly price. USD $6.49 = excl. VAT and excl. IPv4 (docs page). EUR 5.99 = incl. IPv4 (product page; EUR 5.49 excl. IPv4). Hourly: $0.0104 (docs) / EUR 0.0096 incl. IPv4 (product page). Available in Germany (FSN/NBG) and Finland (HEL). |
| CX33 | $9.99/mo | 4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM · 80 GB NVMe | hourly billing, capped at monthly price. USD excl. VAT and IPv4; EUR incl. IPv4 (EUR 8.49 excl. IPv4). Hourly: $0.0160 (docs). |
| CX43 | $18.49/mo | 8 vCPU · 16 GB RAM · 160 GB NVMe | hourly billing, capped at monthly price. USD excl. VAT and IPv4; EUR incl. IPv4 (EUR 15.99 excl. IPv4). Hourly: $0.0296 (docs). |
| CAX11 (Cost-Optimized, Arm Ampere) | $6.99/mo | 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 40 GB NVMe | hourly billing, capped at monthly price. USD excl. VAT and IPv4; EUR incl. IPv4 (EUR 5.99 excl. IPv4). Arm64. Hourly: $0.0112 (docs). |
| CPX22 (Regular Performance, AMD) | $22.99/mo | 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 80 GB NVMe | hourly billing, capped at monthly price. USD excl. VAT and IPv4; EUR incl. IPv4 (EUR 19.49 excl. IPv4). Hourly: $0.0368 (docs). Singapore location: $30.99 (docs) / EUR 26.99 (product page). |
| CPX32 | $41.99/mo | 4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM · 160 GB NVMe | hourly billing, capped at monthly price. USD excl. VAT and IPv4; EUR incl. IPv4 (EUR 35.49 excl. IPv4). Hourly: $0.0673 (docs). |
What's good, and what to watch for
DigitalOcean
- Billed per second with a one-minute minimum; jobs bill only while running
- The transfer allowance is pooled across all apps in the team
- Development Postgres database for $7 a month
- Autoscaling works only on dedicated-CPU plans, from $29/month
- The $5 size can't scale; transfer beyond the allowance is $0.02/GiB
- Autoscaling works only on dedicated-CPU instances, not shared ones
Hetzner Cloud
- 20 TB of traffic included in EU locations; extra traffic is $1.20 per TB
- Hourly billing, never above the monthly cap
- IPv6 is free, and listed prices already include an IPv4 address
- Every Cost-Optimized plan (CX and CAX) showed as not available on October 18, 2026
- US servers start at $21.09/month with 1 TB of traffic; servers bill until deleted
Other VPS and app hosting options
Cheapest first where the prices compare.
Fly.io
Vultr
Hostinger
UpCloudFAQ
Which is cheaper, DigitalOcean or Hetzner Cloud?
DigitalOcean costs less to start: $4/mo against $6.49/mo for Hetzner Cloud. Prices checked Oct 18, 2026 on each company's own site.
Do DigitalOcean and Hetzner Cloud have a free plan?
DigitalOcean: Yes: $5 signup credit, applied automatically when you create your first team. Hetzner Cloud: No, we found no free plan or trial for Hetzner Cloud.
What else should I compare with DigitalOcean and Hetzner Cloud?
Other VPS and app hosting options we've checked: Fly.io ($2.19/mo), Vultr ($2.50/mo), Hostinger ($2.99/mo), UpCloud ($3.50/mo).
Keep comparing
Built from the prices and facts we checked on each company's own site. We haven't tested either hands-on.How we work