DigitalOcean vs Hetzner
A comparison of DigitalOcean and Hetzner built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- Pick DigitalOcean if
- Teams that want plain Linux virtual machines with predictable per-second billing from $4 a month, and the option of managed databases beside them. App Platform adds Git and Docker deploys on top.
- Pick Hetzner if
- Self-managed Linux servers in European and US locations, billed hourly with a monthly cap so a deleted server is only charged for the hours it ran.
8 sourced criteria separate them:
- Pricing model
- DigitalOcean: billed per second with a minimum charge of 60 seconds or $0.01, whichever is higher
- Hetzner: Your server's bill will never exceed its monthly price cap. If you delete your cloud server before the end of the billing month, we will only bill you for the hourly rate.
- Egress over allowance
- DigitalOcean: $0.01 per GiB (Droplets); $0.02 per GiB (App Platform)
- Hetzner: €1.00 per TB over the included traffic in Europe and the US; €7.40 per TB in Singapore. Billed in blocks of 100 MB, rounded up.
- When you exceed a cap
- DigitalOcean: Billed automatically — outbound transfer beyond the pooled plan allowance is charged at $0.01 per GiB; inbound transfer is free
- Hetzner: Billed automatically — traffic beyond the amount included with the server is billed in blocks of 100MB, rounded up; Hetzner emails at 75% and 100% of the included traffic but explicitly does not cap or stop usage
- Sites or apps included
- DigitalOcean: No more than 10 Droplets can be created at the same time through the Control Panel or the API
- Hetzner: By default, up to 5 servers (and by default up to 8 dedicated resource servers); Hetzner states default limits can be increased on request
- File or inode limit
- DigitalOcean: Up to 5000 Block Storage volumes per account
- Hetzner: Up to 16 Volumes per server
- Docker deployment
- DigitalOcean: Supported
- Hetzner: Limited
- Containers
- DigitalOcean: Supported
- Hetzner: Limited
- Regions
- DigitalOcean: NYC1, NYC2, NYC3 (New York City, United States); AMS3 (Amsterdam, the Netherlands); SFO2, SFO3 (San Francisco, United States); SGP1 (Singapore); LON1 (London, United Kingdom); FRA1 (Frankfurt, Germany); TOR1 (Toronto, Canada); BLR1 (Bangalore, India); SYD1 (Sydney, Australia); ATL1 (Atlanta, United States); RIC1 (Richmond, United States); MKC1 (Kansas City, United States); MEM1 (Memphis, United States)
- Hetzner: DE Falkenstein (fsn1); DE Nuremberg (nbg1); FI Helsinki (hel1); US Ashburn, VA (ash); US Hillsboro, OR (hil); SG Singapore (sin)
At a glance.
| Criterion | DigitalOcean | Hetzner |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | billed per second with a minimum charge of 60 seconds or $0.01, whichever is higher | Your server's bill will never exceed its monthly price cap. If you delete your cloud server before the end of the billing month, we will only bill you for the hourly rate. |
| Egress over allowance | $0.01 per GiB (Droplets); $0.02 per GiB (App Platform) | €1.00 per TB over the included traffic in Europe and the US; €7.40 per TB in Singapore. Billed in blocks of 100 MB, rounded up. |
| When you exceed a cap | Billed automatically — outbound transfer beyond the pooled plan allowance is charged at $0.01 per GiB; inbound transfer is free | Billed automatically — traffic beyond the amount included with the server is billed in blocks of 100MB, rounded up; Hetzner emails at 75% and 100% of the included traffic but explicitly does not cap or stop usage |
| Limits | ||
| Sites or apps included | No more than 10 Droplets can be created at the same time through the Control Panel or the API | By default, up to 5 servers (and by default up to 8 dedicated resource servers); Hetzner states default limits can be increased on request |
| File or inode limit | Up to 5000 Block Storage volumes per account | Up to 16 Volumes per server |
| Deployment | ||
| Docker deployment | Supported | Limited |
| Containers | Supported | Limited |
| Infrastructure | ||
| Persistent processes | Supported | Supported |
| Persistent storage | Supported | Supported |
| Regions | NYC1, NYC2, NYC3 (New York City, United States); AMS3 (Amsterdam, the Netherlands); SFO2, SFO3 (San Francisco, United States); SGP1 (Singapore); LON1 (London, United Kingdom); FRA1 (Frankfurt, Germany); TOR1 (Toronto, Canada); BLR1 (Bangalore, India); SYD1 (Sydney, Australia); ATL1 (Atlanta, United States); RIC1 (Richmond, United States); MKC1 (Kansas City, United States); MEM1 (Memphis, United States) | DE Falkenstein (fsn1); DE Nuremberg (nbg1); FI Helsinki (hel1); US Ashburn, VA (ash); US Hillsboro, OR (hil); SG Singapore (sin) |
Where they differ.
Pricing model
- DigitalOcean
- billed per second with a minimum charge of 60 seconds or $0.01, whichever is higher
- Hetzner
- Your server's bill will never exceed its monthly price cap. If you delete your cloud server before the end of the billing month, we will only bill you for the hourly rate.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Droplet Pricing | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“billed per second with a minimum charge of 60 seconds or $0.01, whichever is higher”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- FAQ - Hetzner Docs ↗
“Your server's bill will never exceed its monthly price cap. If you delete your cloud server before the end of the billing month, we will only bill you for the hourly rate.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Egress over allowance
- DigitalOcean
- $0.01 per GiB (Droplets); $0.02 per GiB (App Platform)
- Hetzner
- €1.00 per TB over the included traffic in Europe and the US; €7.40 per TB in Singapore. Billed in blocks of 100 MB, rounded up.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Bandwidth Billing | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“Droplets: Additional outbound transfer is billed at $0.01 per GiB. App Platform: Additional outbound transfer is billed at $0.02 per GiB.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
- Cloud pricing data — hetzner.com ↗
“"HEL1": { "EUR": { "price": "42.99", "hourPrice": "0.068900", "setupPrice": 0, "traffic": { "0": 0, "20": "1.000000" } } }, "SIN": { "EUR": { "price": "53.99", "traffic": { "0": 0, "1": "7.400000" } } }”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
When you exceed a cap
- DigitalOcean
- Billed automatically — outbound transfer beyond the pooled plan allowance is charged at $0.01 per GiB; inbound transfer is free
- Hetzner
- Billed automatically — traffic beyond the amount included with the server is billed in blocks of 100MB, rounded up; Hetzner emails at 75% and 100% of the included traffic but explicitly does not cap or stop usage
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Droplet Pricing | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“Each Droplet plan includes an amount of free outbound data transfer. Additional outbound transfer is billed at $0.01 per GiB. Inbound transfer to Droplets is free.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- FAQ - Hetzner Docs ↗
“If you exceed the traffic included in your package, we will bill you for the over-usage in blocks of 100MB. If you only consume a fraction of 100MB, we will round up to the next full 100MB.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Sites or apps included
No more than 10 Droplets can be created at the same time through the Control Panel or the API
By default, up to 5 servers (and by default up to 8 dedicated resource servers); Hetzner states default limits can be increased on request
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Droplet Limits | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“You can’t create more than 10 Droplets at the same time using the Control Panel or the API.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Overview - Hetzner Docs ↗
“By default, up to 5 servers”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
File or inode limit
Up to 5000 Block Storage volumes per account
Up to 16 Volumes per server
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Volume Limits | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“You can create up to 5000 volumes per account. If your workload requires more volumes, contact support.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Overview - Hetzner Docs ↗
“Up to 16 Volumes per server”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Docker deployment
- DigitalOcean
- Supported
- Hetzner
- Limited
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- How to Deploy from Container Images | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“App Platform currently supports deploying public and private images from DigitalOcean Container Registry, Docker Hub, and GitHub Container Registry.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Docker CE - Hetzner Docs ↗
“This app contains a ready to use Docker installation.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Containers
- DigitalOcean
- Supported
- Hetzner
- Limited
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- How to Deploy from Container Images | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“Web services, workers, and jobs run in containers from a repository or container image.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Docker CE - Hetzner Docs ↗
“This app contains a ready to use Docker installation. Docker is an open source project that uses OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called containers.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Regions
- DigitalOcean
- NYC1, NYC2, NYC3 (New York City, United States); AMS3 (Amsterdam, the Netherlands); SFO2, SFO3 (San Francisco, United States); SGP1 (Singapore); LON1 (London, United Kingdom); FRA1 (Frankfurt, Germany); TOR1 (Toronto, Canada); BLR1 (Bangalore, India); SYD1 (Sydney, Australia); ATL1 (Atlanta, United States); RIC1 (Richmond, United States); MKC1 (Kansas City, United States); MEM1 (Memphis, United States)
- Hetzner
- DE Falkenstein (fsn1); DE Nuremberg (nbg1); FI Helsinki (hel1); US Ashburn, VA (ash); US Hillsboro, OR (hil); SG Singapore (sin)
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Regional Availability | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“NYC1 New York City, United States nyc1 / NYC2 New York City, United States nyc2 / NYC3 New York City, United States nyc3 / AMS3 Amsterdam, the Netherlands ams3 / SFO2 San Francisco, United States sfo2 / SFO3 San Francisco, United States sfo3 / SGP1 Singapore sgp1 / LON1 London, United Kingdom lon1 / FRA1 Frankfurt, Germany fra1 / TOR1 Toronto, Canada tor1 / BLR1 Bangalore, India blr1 / SYD1 Sydney, Australia syd1 / ATL1 Atlanta, United States atl1 / RIC1 Richmond, United States ric1 / MKC1 Kansas City, United States mkc1 / MEM1 Memphis, United States mem1”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Locations - Hetzner Docs ↗
“DE Falkenstein fsn1 / US Ashburn, VA ash / US Hillsboro, OR hil / SG Singapore sin / DE Nuremberg nbg1 / FI Helsinki hel1”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Which should you choose?
Choose DigitalOcean if…
Teams that want plain Linux virtual machines with predictable per-second billing from $4 a month, and the option of managed databases beside them. App Platform adds Git and Docker deploys on top.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Hetzner if…
Self-managed Linux servers in European and US locations, billed hourly with a monthly cap so a deleted server is only charged for the hours it ran.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- DigitalOcean: You want a platform that manages the runtime for you rather than a server you administer.
- Hetzner: You want managed deployment from Git, or a managed database service — Hetzner Cloud documents neither.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.