Hetzner vs DigitalOcean

Why Switch from DigitalOcean to Hetzner?

DigitalOcean is the popular US-headquartered developer-friendly cloud, with strong managed services and an extensive documentation library. For European developers and businesses, the trade-offs are increasingly visible: DigitalOcean is US-jurisdiction, the pricing has scaled meaningfully at moderate-volume tiers, and the underlying infrastructure (despite EU regions) operates under US corporate control.

Hetzner is the German alternative. Gunzenhausen-headquartered, 27+ years of European cloud-infrastructure operation, with dramatically better price/performance than DigitalOcean and full German jurisdiction throughout. Multiple EU data centres (Nuremberg, Falkenstein, Helsinki). The structural choice for European workloads where data sovereignty and economics both matter.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Hetzner	DigitalOcean
Jurisdiction	Germany 🇩🇪	United States 🇺🇸
Data centres	Nuremberg, Falkenstein, Helsinki	US/EU/Asia regions
GDPR	✅ Native	⚠️ Provider claims
CLOUD Act exposure	❌ None	⚠️ Yes
Cloud VPS	✅	✅
Dedicated servers	✅	❌
Storage Box (object storage)	✅	✅ Spaces
Managed Kubernetes	❌ (use your own)	✅
Managed databases	❌ (use your own)	✅
One-click apps	Limited	✅ Marketplace
Price (2vCPU/4GB VPS)	€4.51/month	$24/month
Renewable energy	✅ Native	Partial

For raw infrastructure economics and EU sovereignty, Hetzner wins decisively. For managed services and developer-portal polish, DigitalOcean still has advantages.

Pricing

Hetzner pricing:

• Cloud VPS CX22 (2 vCPU, 4 GB): €4.51/month
• Cloud VPS CX42 (8 vCPU, 16 GB): €15.59/month
• Dedicated AX42 (Ryzen 7, 64 GB, NVMe): ~€55/month
• Dedicated EX130-S (Xeon, 128 GB, dual NVMe): ~€100/month
• Storage Box (1 TB): €3.20/month

DigitalOcean for comparison:

• Basic Droplet (2vCPU, 4GB): $24/month
• CPU-Optimized (8vCPU, 16GB): $168/month
• Spaces Object Storage: $5/month + transfer

For European workloads at equivalent specs, Hetzner is typically 3-10x cheaper than DigitalOcean. The price gap matters most at sustained moderate-to-heavy workloads.

Privacy & Data Sovereignty

Hetzner’s structural advantages:

• German corporate jurisdiction — Hetzner Online GmbH subject to German and EU law
• EU-only data centres — Nuremberg, Falkenstein, Helsinki
• GDPR-native with comprehensive Article 28 DPA
• No US legal exposure for any customer data
• Renewable-energy infrastructure with published CO2 metrics
• NIS2-aligned for digital infrastructure services
• 27 years of European cloud operation track record

For European developers and businesses, this is a structurally cleaner foundation than any US-headquartered cloud provider can match.

Migration Guide

Moving a typical DigitalOcean droplet workload to Hetzner:

1. Hetzner account setup with payment method (15 min)
2. Provision equivalent cloud server matching your droplet specs (10 min)
3. Configure SSH keys, security groups, networking (30 min)
4. Migrate data — rsync files, database dumps, configuration (1-4 hours)
5. Update DNS to Hetzner IP addresses (TTL-dependent, ~hours)
6. Verify application at new host (1 hour)
7. Decommission DigitalOcean droplet (administrative)

Estimated total time: 4-8 hours for moderate complexity; longer for complex multi-server deployments. Difficulty: Easy-moderate; if you’re comfortable with Linux server administration, the migration is straightforward.

Real-World Use Cases

A Berlin SaaS startup runs their entire production stack on Hetzner dedicated servers. Annual infrastructure cost dropped approximately 60% versus equivalent DigitalOcean deployment; performance improved (dedicated CPU vs shared); EU jurisdiction simplified GDPR conversations with enterprise customers.

A French e-commerce platform uses Hetzner cloud VPS for development and staging, with dedicated servers for production. The combination of price/performance and EU jurisdiction matched their growth-stage economics where DigitalOcean’s managed services would have over-invested at their stage.

A privacy-focused European SaaS runs entirely on Hetzner infrastructure for sovereignty reasons. The 27-year track record of German operation provides operational confidence that newer European clouds cannot match.

Company Background

Hetzner Online GmbH was founded in 1997 in Gunzenhausen, Bavaria, by Martin Hetzner. The company has remained privately held and German-owned throughout, with consistent profitability and infrastructure investment over nearly three decades. By 2026, Hetzner operates one of the largest dedicated and cloud infrastructure footprints in Europe with hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide.

Hetzner has invested heavily in renewable-energy infrastructure — the Falkenstein and Helsinki data centres operate on renewable energy with detailed CO2 reporting. The German engineering and operations team has been a structural advantage in providing consistent European-language support for European customers.

The 27+ year operational track record matters: Hetzner predates the modern cloud era and brings dedicated-server expertise that pure-cloud-native operators cannot match.

Security & Compliance

• ISO 27001 certified across operations
• GDPR-native with comprehensive Article 28 DPA
• EU data centres only (Germany, Finland)
• TLS 1.3 for management API and web traffic
• TPM 2.0 support on modern hardware
• DDoS protection included on cloud servers
• NIS2-aligned for digital infrastructure
• Renewable energy with published CO2 metrics

Integration Ecosystem

• Cloud API: comprehensive REST API for automation
• Terraform provider: official, well-maintained
• Ansible modules: official integration
• Kubernetes: deploy your own (kubeadm, k3s, RKE2) — managed not offered
• Docker: full container support on cloud servers
• Snapshots and backups: native at API level
• Floating IPs and private networks: included
• Load balancers: native (Cloud Load Balancer)
• Object storage: Storage Box with S3-compatible API

Who Should Switch?

Hetzner is ideal for:

• European developers and SaaS startups with infrastructure-cost sensitivity
• EU-jurisdiction-conscious procurement at any organisation
• Workloads not requiring managed Kubernetes or DigitalOcean Marketplace one-clicks
• Dedicated-server requirements — best-in-class for raw performance/euro
• Privacy-sensitive applications wanting structural EU sovereignty at infrastructure layer

The Bottom Line

DigitalOcean remains the right choice for teams that depend on its managed Kubernetes, managed databases, App Platform, and Marketplace ecosystem — or where US data centres are required. For European workloads where data sovereignty matters and where you’re comfortable managing your own Kubernetes/databases, Hetzner is the better choice: 3-10x cheaper at equivalent specs, German jurisdiction, EU-only data centres, 27 years of operational track record, and renewable-energy infrastructure.

For European startups and SMBs, the cost difference alone often pays for the additional operational complexity many times over.

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Looking for more European cloud hosting alternatives? See also: Scalingo vs Heroku, Clever Cloud vs Heroku, and Infomaniak Web Hosting.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Hetzner pricing compare to DigitalOcean?

Hetzner is dramatically cheaper at equivalent specs. A Hetzner CX22 (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM) is €4.51/month. The DigitalOcean equivalent (s-2vcpu-4gb) is $24/month. For dedicated servers the price gap is even more pronounced — a Hetzner AX42 (Ryzen 7, 64 GB, NVMe) is ~€55/month; a DigitalOcean droplet at equivalent specs would be $200+/month. For European workloads where US-region latency doesn't matter, Hetzner economics are hard to argue with.

Is Hetzner suitable for production workloads?

Yes — extensively. Hetzner operates dedicated infrastructure for thousands of production workloads across European startups, mid-market businesses, and enterprises. The platform is mature (27+ years), ISO 27001 certified, and supports the standard DevOps tooling (Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes via your own deployment). For mission-critical workloads requiring managed Kubernetes or specialised managed databases, DigitalOcean or hyperscalers may still be preferred for the management layer.

Where are data centres located?

Hetzner operates multiple EU data centres: Nuremberg (Germany), Falkenstein (Germany), and Helsinki (Finland). All EU-jurisdiction, all renewable-energy powered. Hetzner Online GmbH is a German company subject to German and EU law. No US legal exposure.

How does Hetzner compare to OVHcloud and Scaleway?

All three are major European cloud/dedicated providers. Hetzner is German with strongest reputation for price/performance and dedicated infrastructure. OVHcloud is French, larger overall, with broader managed-services portfolio and SecNumCloud-qualified offerings. Scaleway is French (Iliad Group), more developer-experience focused with cleaner cloud-native services. Choice depends on workload profile — Hetzner for raw cloud/dedicated, OVH for managed/sovereign, Scaleway for developer-experience.

Can I migrate from DigitalOcean?

Yes. Standard process: 1) Provision equivalent Hetzner cloud servers or dedicated, 2) Configure networking, security groups, SSH keys, 3) Migrate data (database dumps, file storage), 4) Update DNS to Hetzner endpoints, 5) Decommission DigitalOcean droplets. For a moderate-complexity application, plan for a weekend; for substantial multi-droplet deployments, 1-2 weeks.