Hetzner vs DigitalOcean

At a glance

Account structure and identity

Hetzner runs two control planes under one customer account. Hetzner Cloud, managed through the Cloud Console, organises servers, volumes, networks, firewalls, load balancers, and snapshots into projects. Each project has its own members, API tokens, and SSH keys, so a project is the natural boundary between environments or clients. Dedicated root servers, storage boxes, and colocation are managed in Robot, an older interface with its own ordering flow. Two-factor authentication applies to the account login for both consoles.

DigitalOcean puts teams at the top. Each team has its own billing, members, and resources, and projects inside a team group Droplets, databases, domains, and Spaces buckets for organisation without affecting permissions. Roles (owner, member, biller) are assigned per team, and API access uses personal access tokens with read or write scopes.

Both models are lightweight and suit small groups. The difference is that a Hetzner Cloud project carries its own API tokens and access list, so it behaves like a permission boundary, while a DigitalOcean project is purely organisational and the team is the permission boundary. After taking over an account on either provider, verify the login email, rotate tokens, and enable two-factor authentication.

Compute and storage

Hetzner Cloud servers come in shared vCPU lines on both x86 and Arm processors and in dedicated vCPU lines for workloads that need consistent CPU time. What sets Hetzner apart is the dedicated server business next door: root servers ordered from the standard catalog or from the server auction, where returned machines are offered at reduced prices. Teams commonly place a database or a build farm on a dedicated server and keep stateless services on cloud servers, connected through a private network. Cloud volumes provide block storage, snapshots and backups are available, and Object Storage provides an S3-compatible bucket service. Storage Boxes offer bulk storage with SMB, NFS, and rsync access.

DigitalOcean's Droplets are grouped by purpose, from shared-CPU Basic Droplets to dedicated-CPU General Purpose, CPU-Optimized, Memory-Optimized, and Storage-Optimized plans, plus GPU Droplets. Block Storage volumes and Spaces cover storage. App Platform builds and deploys from a repository, Functions runs serverless code, and Managed Databases removes the operational work for common engines. DigitalOcean also offers managed Kubernetes, which Hetzner does not.

The practical difference is who runs the stateful services. On Hetzner you install and operate PostgreSQL, Redis, or Kubernetes yourself, or use a third-party operator; on DigitalOcean you can hand those to the provider. Teams with strong operations skills often prefer Hetzner's control and cost, while teams without them prefer DigitalOcean's managed layer.

Networking and regions

Hetzner Cloud networks are private networks that span locations within the same network zone, with subnets, routes, and the ability to attach cloud servers and, through vSwitch, dedicated servers. Cloud Firewalls apply stateful rules to servers, Load Balancers distribute traffic and terminate TLS, and Floating IPs move between servers. Primary IPs can be detached and reassigned. Each server includes a monthly traffic allowance, with overage billed per terabyte beyond it.

DigitalOcean provides a VPC per region, Cloud Firewalls, Reserved IPs, a managed Load Balancer, DNS hosting, and Spaces CDN. The concepts map closely; the main practical difference is that DigitalOcean's VPC is regional, while Hetzner's network zones can join several nearby locations.

Region coverage favours DigitalOcean for global reach. Hetzner's data centres are in Germany and Finland, with cloud locations in the United States and Singapore, and its European sites are where most of its capacity and its dedicated servers live. DigitalOcean spans North America, Europe, India, Singapore, and Australia. Both restrict outbound mail on new accounts; follow each provider's documented request process and keep sending compliant with anti-spam law.

Pricing model

Both bill by the hour with a monthly cap per resource, and both publish fixed prices rather than negotiated or committed rates. Hetzner's prices are in euros and its cost per vCPU and per gigabyte of memory is generally regarded as among the lowest in the market, which is the main reason people choose it. Dedicated servers are billed monthly and may carry a one-time setup fee depending on the model. DigitalOcean's prices are in US dollars and are higher per unit of compute, with the difference paying for the managed services, the wider region list, and the control panel.

Traffic is handled differently. Hetzner includes a per-server allowance with overage per terabyte; DigitalOcean pools transfer across Droplets in an account. Both charge separately for volumes, snapshots, backups, load balancers, and object storage. Neither offers reserved-instance discounts, so forecasting is straightforward on both.

Best fit for developers, startups and businesses

Developers who enjoy running their own stack, from k3s to self-hosted databases, get more hardware for their money on Hetzner. Developers who want a database, a Kubernetes cluster, and an app deployment in one afternoon without operating them will be faster on DigitalOcean.

Startups based in Europe, or serving European users, often start on Hetzner for cost and data location and add a managed provider only where needed. Startups that expect to need managed Kubernetes, managed databases, and GPU Droplets from one vendor tend to choose DigitalOcean.

Businesses that run steady, predictable workloads on dedicated hardware, such as game servers, backup targets, or large storage, have long favoured Hetzner. Businesses that want a wider set of regions, a managed service catalog, and a US-based vendor generally pick DigitalOcean.

Listings on CloudAccountHub

The Buy Hetzner Accounts page lists server limit options labeled Hetzner 5 Server Account ($50) and Hetzner 10 Server Account ($90), and an Open 25 Port option labeled Hetzner Open 25 Port Account ($250). The number in each label refers to the server limit stated on the listing, and the Open 25 Port label states only that outbound port 25 is open as labeled. Use of any account remains subject to Hetzner's terms and acceptable use policy.

The Buy DigitalOcean Accounts page lists Droplet limit options labeled DO 3 Droplet ($25) and DO 10 Droplet ($30), and Open 25 Port options labeled 10 Droplet Open 25 Port ($550), 25 Droplet Open 25 Port (two listings, each $1,050), and 100 Droplet Open 25 Port ($2,500). Each label states a Droplet limit and, where present, an open port 25 status, and nothing beyond that.

Server limits are a provider quota concept, so the article on cloud service quotas and limits is useful background before choosing between the tiers. More pairs are on the Compare hub. CloudAccountHub is an independent marketplace and uses provider names for identification only.