~/compare
Hetzner vs DigitalOcean
Side by side — pricing, features, pros and cons.
Provider
H
Hetzner
Affordable European VPS and dedicated servers
⭐ Top Pick
D
DigitalOcean
Cloud infrastructure for developers
Metric
Hetzner
DigitalOcean
Rating
4.7
4.5
Starting price
€4.15/mo
$4.00/mo
Renewal hike
No
No
Regions
EU, US, APAC
Global
Verified
Hetzner
Exceptional price-to-performance ratio
Transparent renewal pricing — no surprise hikes
High-quality dedicated hardware
Multiple EU datacentre locations (Germany, Finland)
US locations available (Virginia, Oregon)
Fast NVMe SSD storage across all plans
Large active community and good documentation
Generous included traffic allowances
Support is slower compared to larger providers
US locations have fewer products than EU
No 24/7 phone support
No managed hosting options
Control panel (Hetzner Cloud Console) is functional but basic compared to AWS/GCP
Not ideal for beginners — more suited to developers
No Windows Server on Cloud plans (only dedicated)
DigitalOcean
Clean, beginner-friendly control panel
Transparent and predictable pricing
No renewal price hikes
Excellent documentation and tutorials
Large community and ecosystem
Managed databases, Kubernetes and app platform available
Global datacentre locations
Reliable uptime and performance
Free outbound bandwidth allowance included
Team collaboration features built in
More expensive than Hetzner for equivalent specs
Support can be slow on lower tier plans
No phone support
Object storage (Spaces) is basic compared to AWS S3
App Platform can get expensive at scale
No dedicated servers — cloud only
Backups cost extra (20% of droplet price)
Limited bare metal options
Verdict
Hetzner comes out ahead with a rating of 4.7. DigitalOcean wins on price starting at $4.00/mo. Watch out for renewal hikes — increases prices on renewal.