VPS and app hosting · head to head
Elestio 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 |  Elestio |  Hetzner Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| From | $11/mo | $6.49/mo |
| Free plan | Yes · 3-day trial with $20 credit | No · No free tier or trial credit |
| Best for | Fully managed hosting for open-source apps such as n8n, Ollama and Open WebUI. | Lots of traffic for users in Europe |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
| Website | Visit | Visit |
The difference in short
- Hetzner Cloud costs less to start: $6.49/mo against $11/mo for Elestio.
- Only Elestio has a free plan, trial or credit.
Elestio pricing
All about Elestio| Plan | Price | Specs / includes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linode 'Micro' (cheapest shown) | $11/mo | 1 vCPU · 1 GB RAM · 25 GB SSD | hourly billing ($0.015/hr); monthly figure assumes 730 hours. Matches the page headline 'Plans start at $11/month'. Region not captured. |
| Vultr 'Micro' (Frankfurt) | $12/mo | 1 vCPU · 1 GB RAM · 25 GB NVMe | hourly billing ($0.016/hr); monthly figure assumes 730 hours |
| DigitalOcean 'Micro' (Frankfurt) | $13/mo | 1 vCPU · 1 GB RAM · 25 GB NVMe | hourly billing ($0.018/hr); monthly figure assumes 730 hours |
| Netcup 'Medium' (Nuremberg) | $16/mo | 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 60 GB SSD | hourly billing ($0.022/hr); monthly figure assumes 730 hours. Page default selection. |
| Hetzner 'MediumARM' (Falkenstein) | $18/mo | 2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 40 GB NVMe | hourly billing ($0.025/hr); monthly figure assumes 730 hours. Arm. Hetzner Xlarge x86 (4 vCPU / 16 GB) is $223/mo. |
| AWS Lightsail 'Small' (Frankfurt) | $24/mo | 2 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 60 GB SSD | hourly billing ($0.033/hr); monthly figure assumes 730 hours. Scaleway 'Small' (2 vCPU / 2 GB / 20 GB) is $26/mo. |
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
Elestio
Fully managed hosting for open-source apps such as n8n, Ollama and Open WebUI.
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, Elestio or Hetzner Cloud?
Hetzner Cloud costs less to start: $6.49/mo against $11/mo for Elestio. Prices checked Oct 18, 2026 on each company's own site.
Do Elestio and Hetzner Cloud have a free plan?
Elestio: Yes. 3-day trial with $20 credit. Hetzner Cloud: No, we found no free plan or trial for Hetzner Cloud.
What else should I compare with Elestio 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