Hetzner is dramatically cheaper on raw compute and bandwidth. DigitalOcean sells you more regions and managed services for the premium.
Pick Hetzner for the cheapest raw compute if EU/US-East latency works for you and you're comfortable self-managing more. Pick DigitalOcean if you need managed services, more regions, or a more polished ops experience.
| Provider | Plan (2 vCPU / 4GB) | Free egress |
|---|---|---|
| Hetzner CX22 | €4.50/mo (~$4.90) | 20TB/month |
| DigitalOcean Droplet | ~$24/mo | 2TB/month, then $0.01/GB |
Use the cloud VPS cost calculator to model your own compute and bandwidth usage against both providers.
Hetzner's CX22 costs about €4.50/month (~$4.90) for 2 vCPU and 4GB RAM, and that includes 20TB/month of free egress bandwidth. A comparable DigitalOcean droplet runs about $24/month — already 3-5x more expensive — and only includes 2TB of free bandwidth before $0.01/GB kicks in. At 10TB/month of usage, that adds roughly $80 in bandwidth charges on DigitalOcean that Hetzner simply wouldn't bill.
The price gap holds consistently across instance sizes: Hetzner is routinely 3-5x cheaper for equivalent raw compute. What you give up is breadth — DigitalOcean offers managed databases, managed Kubernetes, and App Platform, plus 15 global regions versus Hetzner's 6 (5 EU + 1 US location), so latency-sensitive global deployments may need DigitalOcean's footprint regardless of price.
EU or US-East latency works for your users, you're comfortable managing more yourself, and raw compute/bandwidth cost is the deciding factor.
You need managed databases, Kubernetes, or App Platform, want broader global region coverage, or prefer a more polished ops experience.
Hetzner is consistently 3-5x cheaper for raw compute — a CX22 costs about $4.90/month versus roughly $24/month for a comparable DigitalOcean droplet, and Hetzner includes far more free bandwidth.
Hetzner includes 20TB/month free; DigitalOcean includes 2TB free then $0.01/GB. At 10TB/month usage, DigitalOcean adds roughly $80 in extra charges Hetzner wouldn't apply.
Yes — broader managed services (databases, Kubernetes, App Platform) and 15 global regions versus Hetzner's 6, plus a more polished ops experience.