Compare / Hetzner Cloud vs Vultr Cloud Compute

Hetzner Cloud vs Vultr Cloud Compute

Pre-calculated from hand-checked data — Hetzner Cloud checked 2026-08-01, Vultr checked 2026-08-01.

The short version

Vultr Cloud Compute 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 Vultr Cloud Compute

Vultr Cloud Compute is cheaper at every stage we model — about $20/mo even for a growing project.

Ease Tie

Both take similar effort to get a first deploy live.

Features Vultr Cloud Compute

Vultr Cloud Compute comes out ahead on 2 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.

At a glance

Hetzner Cloud Vultr Cloud Compute
Best for European projects that need serious compute or move a lot of traffic. Developers who want a cheap server near their users, wherever those users are.
How deploys work You get root on a bare server: bring your own setup, or use one-click apps like Docker and WordPress. You get root on a fresh Linux server; setup and deploys are yours to script.
The tradeoff Self-managed like any VPS, and the bandwidth advantage mostly applies to EU locations. Fully self-managed, and the hour-based billing model is less forgiving than per-second rivals.
Free tier None None

What you'd realistically pay

€43.49 $5 €43.49 $5 €86.49 $20 Just starting Steady traffic Growing
Hetzner Cloud Vultr Cloud Compute
Estimated monthly cost at each project stage. Estimates use each provider's real plans; euro prices are compared at a rough exchange rate.
Project stage Hetzner Cloud Vultr Cloud Compute Cheaper
Just starting ≈€43.49/mo CCX13 (EU) ≈$5/mo vc2-1c-1gb Vultr Cloud Compute
Steady traffic ≈€43.49/mo CCX13 (EU) ≈$5/mo vc2-1c-1gb Vultr Cloud Compute
Growing ≈€86.49/mo CCX23 (EU) ≈$20/mo vc2-2c-4gb Vultr Cloud Compute

Our ratings

Ease of use

Hetzner Cloud 2/5
Vultr Cloud Compute 2/5

Pricing clarity Hetzner Cloud

Hetzner Cloud 5/5
Vultr Cloud Compute 4/5

Free tier

Hetzner Cloud 1/5
Vultr Cloud Compute 1/5

Scaling

Hetzner Cloud 2/5
Vultr Cloud Compute 2/5

Control

Hetzner Cloud 5/5
Vultr Cloud Compute 5/5

Feature by feature

Hetzner Cloud wins 0, Vultr Cloud Compute wins 2, with 13 even.

Deploy workflow

Hetzner Cloud Vultr Cloud Compute
Deploy from Git push No No deploy pipeline — bring your own CI or scripts. No No deploy pipeline — script your own.
Preview deploys No Nothing built in. No Nothing built in.
Official CLI Yes hcloud CLI manages servers, networks, and snapshots. Yes vultr-cli manages instances, snapshots, and DNS.
Instant rollbacks Partial Snapshots and paid backups restore machines; no deploy-level rollback. Partial Snapshots restore a machine; no deploy-level rollback.

Platform

Hetzner Cloud Vultr Cloud Compute
Custom domains + HTTPS Yes Point DNS at the server; TLS is yours via certbot or a proxy. Yes Point DNS at the server; TLS via certbot or a proxy is on you.
Built-in CDN / edge network No No CDN product — put Cloudflare in front if needed. Partial Vultr sells a separate CDN product; nothing is bundled with the server.
Serverless functions No Not a VPS feature. No Not a VPS feature.
Docker containers Yes Docker CE one-click app or install it yourself. Yes Docker marketplace image or install it yourself.
SSH / shell access Yes Full root SSH. Yes Full root SSH.
EU hosting region Yes Germany and Finland are the home turf — this is where the value is. Yes Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Paris, and more at the same USD prices.

Runtime & operations

Hetzner Cloud Vultr Cloud Compute
Automatic scaling No Manual resizing or manual fleet management. No Manual resizing only.
Scale to zero No Servers bill until deleted, even powered off. No Powered-off servers still bill; destroy to stop charges.
Scheduled jobs Yes Classic cron on the box. Yes Classic cron on the box.
Managed database No No managed database product — self-host or go external. Yes Vultr Managed Databases (Postgres, MySQL, Kafka) sold separately.
Logs & metrics built in Partial Basic server graphs in the console; app-level monitoring is yours. Partial Basic usage graphs; application monitoring is yours to set up.

Watch out for

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.

Vultr

  • Billing is in one-hour units and continues while a server is powered off — only destroying it stops charges.
  • Some regions (like São Paulo) carry documented higher prices.

Read the full reviews: Hetzner Cloud and Vultr. Or answer four questions to see what fits your project.