Hetzner vs DigitalOcean in 2026 -- After 6 Months on Each
We ran production customer-app workloads on both for 6 months. Hetzner won on raw price; DigitalOcean won on managed services. Here's the honest detailed breakdown.
Head-to-head spec table
| Dimension | Hetzner Cloud | DigitalOcean | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | EUR 4.51 (CX22, 2 vCPU/4GB) | $12 (Basic, 1 vCPU/2GB) | Hetzner |
| $/vCPU at entry tier | $2.43 | $9.00 | Hetzner (3.7x cheaper) |
| Included egress (entry tier) | 20 TB/mo | 2 TB/mo | Hetzner (10x more) |
| Egress overage | EUR 1.00 / TB ($1.08) | $0.01 / GB ($10 / TB) | Hetzner (10x cheaper) |
| US regions | 2 (Ashburn VA, Hillsboro OR) | 4 (NYC, SF, Toronto, AMS) | DigitalOcean (more variety) |
| Global regions | EU(4), US(2), SG(1) | 9 regions | DigitalOcean |
| Managed Postgres | No (DIY) | $15/mo+ (dev tier) | DigitalOcean (only one with it) |
| Managed Redis | No | $15/mo+ | DigitalOcean |
| Managed k8s (DOKS / equivalent) | No | $12/mo control plane + nodes | DigitalOcean |
| Object storage | Hetzner Storage Box from EUR 3.20/TB-mo | Spaces $5/250GB/mo | Hetzner ($/TB-mo) |
| Marketplace 1-click apps | ~50 | ~150 | DigitalOcean |
| Account approval time | 24-48 hours (manual review) | ~5 minutes | DigitalOcean |
| Support (cheapest tier) | Email only | Ticket system, business hours | DigitalOcean (faster response) |
| Status-page uptime (Apr 2026 mo) | 99.98% | 99.99% | ~Tie |
Real-world cost example: a small SaaS
Assume 4 web instances (2 vCPU / 4 GB each) + managed Postgres + managed Redis + 5 TB egress / month.
| Component | Hetzner | DigitalOcean |
|---|---|---|
| 4x web instances | 4 x EUR 4.51 = EUR 18.04 ($19.40) | 4 x $18 = $72 (2vCPU/2GB Premium) |
| Managed Postgres (dev tier) | n/a -- self-host: +EUR 4.51 ($4.86) | $15 |
| Managed Redis (dev tier) | n/a -- self-host: $0 (same VM) | $15 |
| 5 TB egress | $0 (within free 80 TB) | 3 TB included + 2 TB at $10/TB = $20 |
| Total monthly | $24.26 | $122 |
Hetzner is 5x cheaper for this small-SaaS workload -- IF you're willing to run your own database. If you'd rather not, DigitalOcean's $97 premium buys you managed Postgres, Redis, automated backups and a managed-service SLA.
Verdict by use case
You're cost-optimising and OK self-managing services
You'll save 3-5x. Run your own Postgres on a dedicated CX22, take pg_dump snapshots to Hetzner Storage Box (EUR 3.20/TB-mo), and you have a $24/mo stack instead of $122/mo. Worth it at any scale where engineering time isn't the bottleneck.
You want managed services and faster onboarding
You'll pay 3-5x more, but you get managed Postgres / Redis / k8s, a richer marketplace, faster account approval, and a stronger US footprint. For a 1-2 person startup where engineering time is expensive, this premium often pays for itself.
What about the genuinely free tier?
If your workload fits in 4 OCPU ARM / 24 GB RAM, OCI Always-Free is permanently $0 and beats both providers on cost. We run 50+ container workloads for our customer apps on a single OCI A1.Flex instance. The only reason we use Hetzner alongside is when we need an extra dedicated VM and OCI's free tier is full. Sign up free at OCI first; consider Hetzner/DO only if OCI's free ceiling doesn't fit.