Hetzner is a German cloud provider founded in 1997 offering VPS and ARM instances at a shared entry price, plus dedicated NVIDIA Blackwell GPU servers for inference and training. Best for European developers who need the best compute-per-euro and generous included bandwidth; lacks managed databases, managed Kubernetes, and a CDN.
Hetzner Online GmbH is a German cloud and dedicated server provider headquartered in Gunzenhausen, Bavaria. Cloud VPS plans run across 5 locations in Germany, Finland, the US and Singapore, with NVMe SSD storage and hourly billing capped monthly. Dedicated GPU servers run NVIDIA's Blackwell generation for AI inference and training. ISO 27001 certified and GDPR-compliant.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Hetzner actually cost?
Hetzner bills hourly with a monthly cap, so you only pay for what you use. Cloud VPS starts at EUR 3.79/month for the entry CX22 and the ARM CAX11 at the same price, with dedicated AMD vCPU CCX plans from EUR 14.49/month. Dedicated AX root servers begin around EUR 38/month, GEX45 and GEX131 GPU servers are configured and priced per order at hetzner.com with a one-time setup fee, and object storage is EUR 6.49/month for 1 TB.
Does Hetzner have a free plan?
No. Hetzner does not offer a free tier on any product: every cloud VPS, dedicated server, and storage plan is billed from the first hour. New customers can still test the platform on the smallest cloud instance and cancel anytime, since billing is hourly with no long-term contract.
Which tools compete with Hetzner in 2026?
The closest alternatives are DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hostinger, and Contabo. Choose DigitalOcean for managed Kubernetes, managed databases, and a polished developer API; choose Vultr for more global locations or Windows Server instances; choose Contabo if raw RAM-to-price ratio matters more than NVMe performance. Hetzner wins when European data residency, generous inclusive bandwidth, or ARM price-performance is the priority.
What separates Hetzner from Hostinger?
Hetzner and Hostinger both sell budget VPS plans but solve different problems. Hostinger bundles a beginner-friendly control panel, one-click WordPress installs, and shared-hosting-style support aimed at website owners with little server experience. Hetzner skips the hand-holding and instead gives raw NVMe compute, generous included bandwidth on EU cloud plans, and dedicated GPU servers, aimed at developers who manage their own stack. Pick Hostinger for a first website; pick Hetzner for a production Linux server or a self-hosted AI workload.
How do you get started with Hetzner?
Sign up at hetzner.com and verify your account; Hetzner runs manual fraud checks on new signups, especially under the Limited Tier introduced in May 2026 for certain markets. From the Cloud console or API, pick a location, an image, and a plan like the CX22, and the server is typically ready within a minute. The same console lets you attach a Firewall, a Volume, or a Load Balancer, and the Hetzner Terraform provider and Cloud Controller Manager automate the same steps for infrastructure-as-code and Kubernetes workflows.
Top Alternatives
- Hostinger: Pick Hetzner if you need raw NVMe compute and generous included bandwidth; pick Hostinger if you want a beginner-friendly control panel and one-click WordPress.
HokAI guides covering Hetzner
- One Field in Common: Why HokAI Runs Six Page Types, Not One: HokAI files AI products under six page types, not one. Across six live records read on 21 August 2026, exactly one subject field is shared by all of them.