Compare / DigitalOcean Droplet vs Hetzner Cloud
DigitalOcean Droplet vs Hetzner Cloud
Pre-calculated from hand-checked data — DigitalOcean checked 2026-08-01, Hetzner Cloud checked 2026-08-01.
The short version
DigitalOcean Droplet wins more of our comparison points, but Hetzner Cloud still fits if european projects that need serious compute or move a lot of traffic describes you.
Price DigitalOcean Droplet
DigitalOcean Droplet is cheaper at every stage we model — about $24/mo even for a growing project.
Ease Tie
Both take similar effort to get a first deploy live.
Features DigitalOcean Droplet
DigitalOcean Droplet comes out ahead on 1 of the 15 features we track, versus 0.
What developers say about this matchup
First-person discussions from the past three years that compare these products directly. Summaries are paraphrased; follow the source for the full context.
Users of both compare uptime, networks, support, capacity, managed services, and price; opinions split between DigitalOcean polish and Hetzner value.
Hetzner vs DigitalOcean in 2026A first-person migration compares real costs, performance, and the practical move from DigitalOcean to Hetzner.
Great experience migrating from DigitalOceanThe linked first-person case study reports a large monthly saving and zero-downtime migration while discussing operational trade-offs.
Migrating from DigitalOcean to Hetzner: $1,432 to $233 per monthThe same application was deployed on both providers to compare performance, price, and developer experience.
I deployed the same app on DigitalOcean and HetznerShow 1 more comparison sources
Users directly compare the shortlisted providers on price, performance, support, locations, and production reliability.
DigitalOcean vs Hetzner vs Netcup vs VultrAt a glance
| DigitalOcean Droplet | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Developers comfortable with a Linux server who want predictable pricing and full control. | European projects that need serious compute or move a lot of traffic. |
| How deploys work | You get root on an Ubuntu server: install your runtime, or start from a 1-click image. | You get root on a bare server: bring your own setup, or use one-click apps like Docker and WordPress. |
| The tradeoff | You are the ops team — security updates, backups, and monitoring are on you. | Self-managed like any VPS, and the bandwidth advantage mostly applies to EU locations. |
| Free tier | None | None |
What you'd realistically pay
| Project stage | DigitalOcean Droplet | Hetzner Cloud | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just starting | ≈$6/mo s-1vcpu-1gb | ≈€43.49/mo CCX13 (EU) | DigitalOcean Droplet |
| Steady traffic | ≈$6/mo s-1vcpu-1gb | ≈€43.49/mo CCX13 (EU) | DigitalOcean Droplet |
| Growing | ≈$24/mo s-2vcpu-4gb | ≈€86.49/mo CCX23 (EU) | DigitalOcean Droplet |
Our ratings
Ease of use
Pricing clarity
Free tier
Scaling
Control
Feature by feature
DigitalOcean Droplet wins 1, Hetzner Cloud wins 0, with 14 even.
Deploy workflow
| DigitalOcean Droplet | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy from Git push | No No built-in deploy pipeline — you script your own or use CI. | No No deploy pipeline — bring your own CI or scripts. |
| Preview deploys | No Nothing built in. | No Nothing built in. |
| Official CLI | Yes doctl creates, resizes, and snapshots Droplets. | Yes hcloud CLI manages servers, networks, and snapshots. |
| Instant rollbacks | Partial Snapshots and backups can restore a machine; not per-deploy rollbacks. | Partial Snapshots and paid backups restore machines; no deploy-level rollback. |
Platform
| DigitalOcean Droplet | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domains + HTTPS | Yes Point DNS at the Droplet; you run certbot or a proxy for TLS. | Yes Point DNS at the server; TLS is yours via certbot or a proxy. |
| Built-in CDN / edge network | No No CDN — add Cloudflare in front if you need one. | No No CDN product — put Cloudflare in front if needed. |
| Serverless functions | No Not on a Droplet. | No Not a VPS feature. |
| Docker containers | Yes Install Docker or start from the Docker 1-click image. | Yes Docker CE one-click app or install it yourself. |
| SSH / shell access | Yes Full root SSH — it is your server. | Yes Full root SSH. |
| EU hosting region | Yes Amsterdam and Frankfurt at identical US prices. | Yes Germany and Finland are the home turf — this is where the value is. |
Runtime & operations
| DigitalOcean Droplet | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic scaling | No Manual resizing or manual horizontal scaling. | No Manual resizing or manual fleet management. |
| Scale to zero | No The server bills whether busy, idle, or powered off. | No Servers bill until deleted, even powered off. |
| Scheduled jobs | Yes Classic cron on the box. | Yes Classic cron on the box. |
| Managed database | Yes DO Managed Databases run separately and connect over the private network. | No No managed database product — self-host or go external. |
| Logs & metrics built in | Partial Basic CPU/bandwidth graphs and optional metrics agent; app logs are yours to manage. | Partial Basic server graphs in the console; app-level monitoring is yours. |
Watch out for
DigitalOcean
- App Platform containers are small for the money — $12/month buys 1 GiB of RAM, while a $24 Droplet has 4 GiB.
- Managed databases bill separately from both products.
- Bandwidth allowances pool at the team level; overage is $0.02/GiB on App Platform and $0.01/GiB on Droplets.
Hetzner Cloud
- US locations include only 1–2 TB of traffic versus 20 TB in the EU — the famous value is a European value.
- A public IPv4 address costs €0.50/month extra; only IPv6 is free.
- Servers bill until deleted, even while powered off.
- Cheaper shared-CPU (CX) plans exist but are not yet in our checked dataset.
Read the full reviews: DigitalOcean and Hetzner Cloud. Or answer four questions to see what fits your project.