DigitalOcean and Hetzner appear in the same shortlist for the same reason - both let a developer spin up a Linux server in minutes - but they price the machine very differently. DigitalOcean's public pricing starts at $4 a month for a 512 MiB Droplet with 10 GiB of SSD and 500 GiB of outbound transfer, billed per second. A 1 GiB Droplet is $6 a month and a 2 GiB Droplet is $12 a month. Those are the entry points for its flagship product, and everything else on the page - Kubernetes from $12 a month, managed databases from $15 a month, Spaces object storage from $5 a month, load balancers at $12 a month - attaches to that same account.
TL;DR
DigitalOcean sells an opinionated developer cloud with managed databases, Kubernetes and a marketplace, at $4 a month for the smallest Droplet. Hetzner sells raw cloud and dedicated hardware at roughly half the price per gigabyte of RAM, concentrated in German and Finnish data centres, with prices that exclude VAT and IPv4. The choice usually comes down to whether you want managed services or the lowest cost per machine.
Hetzner's cloud prices live in its documentation, and the current numbers come from a price adjustment that took effect for new orders on 15 June 2026. The smallest shared-vCPU plan in the German and Finnish regions, CX23, is listed at €5.49 a month or $6.49 a month excluding VAT and excluding IPv4, with 2 vCPUs, 4 GB of RAM and 40 GB of NVMe storage. The ARM-based CAX11 with the same 2 vCPU, 4 GB and 40 GB shape is €5.99 or $6.99. Larger shared plans run at €8.49, €15.99 and €29.49 a month, and dedicated servers such as the AX42-1 start at €97.30 a month with a €49 setup fee.
Three structural differences decide most of these comparisons. First, what is included: Hetzner states that EU cloud servers include at least 20 TB of traffic and charge per extra terabyte, while DigitalOcean includes 500 GiB of outbound transfer with each Droplet and charges $0.01 per GiB after it. Second, what is excluded: Hetzner's quoted prices sit outside VAT and outside the IPv4 address, which is billed separately, and the page warns that certain changes to legacy-priced servers can switch them to current pricing. Third, what surrounds the machine: DigitalOcean pairs its VMs with managed Postgres, Kubernetes with a free control plane, a marketplace and paid support tiers; Hetzner pairs its cloud with a server auction for used hardware and dedicated machines at prices few public clouds match.
| Feature | DigitalOcean | Hetzner |
|---|---|---|
| Smallest VM | $4/mo, 512 MiB, 1 vCPU, 10 GiB SSD | CX23 at €5.49/mo ($6.49), 2 vCPU, 4 GB, 40 GB NVMe |
| 4 GB class | 4 GiB Droplet pricing scales with the published table; 2 GiB is $12/mo | CAX11 ARM at €5.99/mo ($6.99); CX23 shared at €5.49/mo |
| Billing basis | Per second, 60-second minimum | Hourly with a monthly price cap |
| Included transfer | 500 GiB outbound per Droplet, then $0.01 per GiB | At least 20 TB at EU locations, then per-TB charges |
| Taxes and IP | Listed prices are the product price | Prices exclude VAT and exclude the IPv4 address |
| Managed databases | From $15/mo across seven database engines | Not bundled into the cloud price list |
| Kubernetes | From $12/mo with a free control plane | Managed clusters sold separately from the VM price list |
| Dedicated hardware | Droplet plans only on the core price page | AX42-1 from €97.30/mo plus a €49 setup fee |
| Regions | Data centres across four continents | Germany and Finland first, with US and Singapore price lists |
Pick DigitalOcean if
If your project will grow into a managed database, a Kubernetes cluster, a load balancer and a marketplace of one-click apps, DigitalOcean keeps all of that on one account and one bill, with documentation aimed squarely at developers. You pay a premium over raw hardware for that, and the metered extras - backups, transfer beyond 500 GiB, additional database RAM - are where the bill grows.
Pick Hetzner if
If what you actually need is a well-specified Linux server with generous RAM, a lot of included traffic and a low monthly figure, Hetzner's cloud and dedicated pricing is hard to beat, and the server auction goes further for anyone comfortable with used hardware. Budget for VAT, for the separate IPv4 line and for the fact that you will be operating the machine with lighter support around it.
No user reviews or ratings were collected for this comparison. Prices come from api.linode.com/v4/linode/types for DigitalOcean's VM line and from Hetzner's own price-adjustment document and cloud pages, read alongside the vendor pricing pages.
Per machine, yes. Hetzner's CX23 lists 4 GB of RAM at €5.49 a month excluding VAT and IPv4, while DigitalOcean's 2 GiB Droplet is $12 a month. DigitalOcean stays competitive on entry price with its $4 512 MiB Droplet and by bundling managed services Hetzner charges for separately or does not list.
Hetzner is a German company selling business to business, so its published cloud prices are net figures; VAT is added at checkout, and the IPv4 address is a separate line item. DigitalOcean quotes a single headline price per Droplet, so the number on the page is closer to what you pay.
Yes. Hetzner's documentation records a price adjustment effective for new orders and rescales from 15 June 2026, listing old and new hourly and monthly rates for its cloud and dedicated lines, and notes that some legacy-priced servers can be switched to current pricing.
DigitalOcean lists managed databases from $15 a month across seven engines, with daily backups and automated failover. Hetzner's cloud price list does not include an equivalent managed database product, so on Hetzner you run and maintain the database yourself, which is cheaper but is your work.
Both bill hourly. Hetzner states that its cloud servers have a monthly price cap, so a running server never costs more than its monthly figure, and deleting before month end bills only the hourly rate. DigitalOcean bills per second with a 60-second minimum, which suits short-lived machines.
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