Hetzner vs DigitalOcean: The Complete Cloud Hosting Comparison (2025)
Choosing between Hetzner and DigitalOcean for your cloud infrastructure? This in-depth comparison analyzes pricing, performance, locations, support, and real-world user experiences to help you make the right decision in 2025.
Quick Summary: Hetzner or DigitalOcean?
The Short Answer:
- Hetzner: Best value for money (50-70% cheaper), excellent performance, but Europe-focused with limited support
- DigitalOcean: Better global presence, superior documentation/UX, easier for beginners, but costs significantly more
Pricing Comparison: The Biggest Difference
This is where Hetzner truly shines. Hetzner offers dramatically better value for money - typically 50-70% cheaper than DigitalOcean for equivalent specs.
| Specs | Hetzner | DigitalOcean | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 vCPU, 2GB RAM, 40GB SSD | €4.15/mo ($4.50) | $18/mo | 75% cheaper |
| 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 80GB SSD | €7.59/mo ($8.20) | $24/mo | 66% cheaper |
| 4 vCPU, 8GB RAM, 160GB SSD | €13.88/mo ($15) | $48/mo | 69% cheaper |
| 8 vCPU, 16GB RAM, 320GB SSD | €26.35/mo ($28.50) | $96/mo | 70% cheaper |
| 16 vCPU, 32GB RAM, 640GB SSD | €51.19/mo ($55) | $192/mo | 71% cheaper |
Cost Example: If you run 10 medium-sized servers (4 vCPU, 8GB RAM) for production workloads:
- Hetzner: €138.80/month (~$150/month)
- DigitalOcean: $480/month
- Annual savings with Hetzner: $3,960
Performance Benchmarks
CPU Performance
Hetzner uses AMD EPYC processors (newer generations) and Intel Xeon, while DigitalOcean primarily uses Intel Xeon. In real-world benchmarks:
- Hetzner: Slightly better single-core performance (5-10% faster)
- DigitalOcean: Consistent performance, well-tuned for cloud workloads
Disk I/O
| Test | Hetzner | DigitalOcean |
|---|---|---|
| Read Speed | 550-650 MB/s | 500-600 MB/s |
| Write Speed | 200-300 MB/s | 200-280 MB/s |
| IOPS (4K random) | ~40,000 | ~35,000 |
Network Performance
- Hetzner: 20 Gbps network, excellent peering in Europe, 20TB+ traffic included
- DigitalOcean: Varies by droplet size, good global connectivity, generous bandwidth allowances
Winner: Hetzner edges out DigitalOcean slightly on raw performance, especially considering the price.
Data Center Locations
Hetzner Locations (5 total)
- 🇩🇪 Nuremberg, Germany (NBG1-DC3, NBG1-DC14)
- 🇩🇪 Falkenstein, Germany (FSN1-DC14, FSN1-DC18)
- 🇫🇮 Helsinki, Finland (HEL1-DC2)
- 🇺🇸 Ashburn, Virginia, USA (ASH-DC1) - Limited
- 🇸🇬 Singapore (Coming soon)
DigitalOcean Locations (15+ total)
- 🇺🇸 New York (NYC1, NYC2, NYC3)
- 🇺🇸 San Francisco (SFO2, SFO3)
- 🇨🇦 Toronto (TOR1)
- 🇬🇧 London (LON1)
- 🇩🇪 Frankfurt (FRA1)
- 🇳🇱 Amsterdam (AMS2, AMS3)
- 🇸🇬 Singapore (SGP1)
- 🇮🇳 Bangalore (BLR1)
- 🇦🇺 Sydney (SYD1)
- And more...
Winner: DigitalOcean for global presence. Hetzner is heavily Europe-focused (which is great if you're in Europe!).
User Experience & Dashboard
DigitalOcean Dashboard
- ✅ Modern, intuitive interface
- ✅ Excellent documentation and tutorials
- ✅ One-click apps (WordPress, Docker, etc.)
- ✅ Great monitoring and alerting built-in
- ✅ Easy team management
Hetzner Cloud Console
- ✅ Clean, fast interface
- ✅ Good API and CLI tools
- ⚠️ Documentation is good but less comprehensive
- ⚠️ Fewer one-click solutions
- ⚠️ More technical - assumes Linux knowledge
Winner: DigitalOcean for ease of use, especially for beginners. Hetzner assumes you know what you're doing.
Support & Documentation
DigitalOcean Support
- ✅ 24/7 ticket support (responds within 1-4 hours typically)
- ✅ Massive library of tutorials (5,000+ articles)
- ✅ Active community forums
- ✅ Phone support on higher tiers
- ⭐ Widely considered industry-leading documentation
Hetzner Support
- ⚠️ Email support only (no live chat/phone for cloud)
- ⚠️ Slower response times (4-24 hours)
- ⚠️ Support primarily in German and English
- ✅ Good documentation, but less extensive
- ✅ Helpful community forums
Winner: DigitalOcean by a mile. Support is one of DO's biggest strengths and Hetzner's biggest weakness.
Additional Features
| Feature | Hetzner | DigitalOcean |
|---|---|---|
| Managed Kubernetes | ✅ Free control plane | ✅ Free control plane |
| Load Balancers | ✅ €5.83/mo | ✅ $12/mo |
| Block Storage | ✅ €0.05/GB/mo | ✅ $0.10/GB/mo |
| Snapshots | ✅ €0.012/GB/mo | ✅ $0.05/GB/mo |
| Floating IPs | ✅ €1.19/mo | ✅ Free (when attached) |
| Firewalls | ✅ Free | ✅ Free |
| Private Networks | ✅ Free | ✅ Free (VPC) |
| Managed Databases | ❌ | ✅ From $15/mo |
| Managed Redis | ❌ | ✅ From $15/mo |
| Object Storage | ❌ | ✅ Spaces ($5/mo) |
| App Platform (PaaS) | ❌ | ✅ From $5/mo |
Winner: DigitalOcean offers more managed services. Hetzner is more bare-bones (which keeps costs low).
When to Choose Hetzner
- ✅ Budget is your primary concern - Save 50-70% vs DigitalOcean
- ✅ Your users are primarily in Europe - Excellent European network
- ✅ You're comfortable managing your own infrastructure - Less hand-holding
- ✅ You don't need 24/7 instant support - Email support is acceptable
- ✅ You want maximum value per dollar - Best raw compute for the price
- ✅ GDPR compliance is important - EU-based, GDPR-native provider
When to Choose DigitalOcean
- ✅ You need global presence - 15+ locations worldwide
- ✅ You're new to cloud infrastructure - Better docs, easier onboarding
- ✅ You want managed services - Databases, Redis, object storage, etc.
- ✅ Support quality matters - Industry-leading support and documentation
- ✅ You use one-click apps - WordPress, GitLab, Docker, etc.
- ✅ US/Asia presence is critical - Better coverage outside Europe
Real User Experiences
What Users Say About Hetzner
What Users Say About DigitalOcean
The Verdict: Which One Should You Choose?
For Most European Developers:
Hetzner is the clear winner if you're in Europe and care about cost. The 50-70% savings are massive, and performance is excellent. The trade-off is slower support and fewer managed services.
For Global Reach & Ease of Use:
DigitalOcean wins if you need presence outside Europe, want managed services, or value top-tier support and documentation. Worth paying extra for teams who want less operational overhead.
The Hybrid Approach:
Many developers use both: Hetzner for cost-effective European workloads and DigitalOcean for US/Asia presence and managed databases. Use the right tool for each job.
Get Started with DigitalOcean
Ready to try DigitalOcean? Get $200 in free credits (valid for 60 days) to test out their platform:
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hetzner as reliable as DigitalOcean?
Yes. Hetzner has been in business since 1997 and operates enterprise-grade data centers. Their uptime is comparable to DigitalOcean (99.9%+). The main difference is support response times, not infrastructure quality.
Can I migrate from DigitalOcean to Hetzner easily?
Yes, relatively easy. You can create snapshots/backups on DigitalOcean, download them, and upload to Hetzner. Most migrations can be completed in a few hours with minimal downtime using floating IPs.
Does Hetzner offer DDoS protection?
Yes, Hetzner includes basic DDoS protection free on all cloud servers. For advanced protection, they offer additional services. DigitalOcean also includes DDoS protection on all droplets.
Which provider has better uptime?
Both offer 99.9%+ uptime SLAs. In practice, uptime is comparable. DigitalOcean publishes a public status page with historical data, while Hetzner's transparency is slightly less public.
Can I use Terraform with both providers?
Yes! Both Hetzner and DigitalOcean have excellent Terraform providers, making infrastructure-as-code easy. Hetzner's Terraform provider is well-maintained and fully featured.
What about bandwidth costs?
Hetzner: Includes 20TB+ of traffic per month (varies by plan), then €1.19/TB
DigitalOcean: Generous included bandwidth (1-12TB depending on droplet), then $0.01/GB ($10/TB)
Both are very generous with bandwidth. Hetzner includes more traffic for free.
Last Updated: November 2025 | Prices converted from EUR to USD at approximate exchange rates. Check official websites for current pricing.