DigitalOcean vs Hetzner
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of DigitalOcean and Hetzner built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
Adoption share
BuiltWith counts — how much more of the web runs Hetzner than DigitalOcean, among the sites BuiltWith actually detects. Measured . Source: BuiltWith.
The short answer
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.
Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: DigitalOcean alternatives
23 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
DigitalOcean 0
Hetzner 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | DigitalOcean | Hetzner |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Entry paid plan | $4.00 | €5.99/month for the CX23 (2 vCPU, 4 GB, 40 GB NVMe), including a primary IPv4 address, or €0.0096/hour. The ARM CAX11 with identical specs is €6.49. Converted for comparison at the ECB reference rate of 1 EUR = 1.1622 USD (2026-09-04, api.frankfurter.dev), which puts the CX23 at about $6.96/month. Hetzner publishes no USD price; the conversion is ours and moves with the rate. |
| 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); inbound transfer is free and allowances pool across the team. | €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 | ||
| Storage (entry plan) | 10 GiB SSD on the cheapest Basic Droplet (Regular CPU, 512 MiB / 1 vCPU, $4.00/mo). | 40 GB NVMe on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line |
| Memory (entry plan) | 512 MiB on the cheapest Basic Droplet (Regular CPU, 1 vCPU, $4.00/mo). | 4 GB on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line |
| 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 |
| Included bandwidth | 500 GiB of included outbound transfer on the cheapest Basic Droplet ($4.00/mo, 512 MiB / 1 vCPU). | At least 20 TB on servers in the EU, on every plan in the cost-optimized line. US and Singapore locations include less — the pricing data lists 1 TB for Singapore. |
| File, inode or volume 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 |
| Scales to zero | Not supported | Not supported |
| Regions | Thirteen regions holding 16 datacenters: New York City (NYC1, NYC2, NYC3), Amsterdam (AMS3), San Francisco (SFO2, SFO3), Singapore, London, Frankfurt, Toronto, Bangalore, Sydney, Atlanta, Richmond, Kansas City and Memphis. | DE Falkenstein (fsn1); DE Nuremberg (nbg1); FI Helsinki (hel1); US Ashburn, VA (ash); US Hillsboro, OR (hil); SG Singapore (sin) |
| Uptime SLA | 99.99% monthly uptime per individual Droplet, with a 100% service credit for any month below it. Instance-level, and the same for every customer. | 99.9% guaranteed uptime with defined credits for a malfunction, stated on the Cloud product page with no tier attached. |
| Support | ||
| Support on entry paid plan | Free ticket-based support for everyone, 24/7. Paid plans buy speed and channels rather than infrastructure: Developer $24/month, Standard $99/month with live chat, Premium $999/month with a dedicated Slack channel and video calls. | 24/7 support by email, with no tier to buy. |
| Compliance | ||
| SOC 2 | SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 Type II certifications issued by independent auditor Schellman & Company; reports via the Security Reports & Certifications Center. | No SOC 2; Hetzner states it focuses on ISO/IEC 27001:2022 instead, describing SOC 2 as a standard most well-known in the USA. |
| ISO 27001 | Listed only for DigitalOcean's colocated data center facilities, not as a DigitalOcean corporate certification; certificates via the Certifications Center. | Certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022; scope covers all hosting services and data centers, at the Nuremberg, Falkenstein/Vogtland and Helsinki sites. |
| GDPR / data residency | Customer selects the datacenter location at account creation; EU/UK residency available via the Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London datacenters. | Cloud data is stored at the product location you choose; non-cloud products stay in the EU, as does Hetzner's own customer master, contract and billing data. |
| PCI DSS | PCI-DSS SAQ-A validation under a Zero-Footprint data policy; DigitalOcean does not store, process or transmit cardholder data in its admin environment. | Hetzner stores no credit card data; processing is done by payment provider Computop and the customer account complies with PCI DSS 4.0 Revision 1.0. Scope is Hetzner's own payment handling, not customer workloads. |
| Encryption at rest | Volumes block storage is encrypted with LUKS; the storage cluster is fully encrypted at rest and snapshots inherit that encryption. | Under Hetzner's Data Processing Agreement the customer is responsible for the data stored on the server and for its encryption. |
| Customer-managed keys | Spaces object storage supports SSE-C (server-side encryption with customer-provided keys); bucket-level encryption settings are not supported. Spaces object storage only; read from the Spaces S3-compatible API reference. | Object Storage (S3) supports SSE-C: you supply the encryption key on upload and must supply the same key to read the data; the S3 service does not store it. Object Storage only; documented for the MinIO client and AWS CLI. Not documented for Cloud servers or Volumes. |
| Role-based access control | Teams have six predefined roles, plus custom roles containing only the permissions you choose. | Project members hold one of four roles - Owner, Admin, Member or Restricted - determining what they may do; Admins manage members, API tokens and S3 credentials. |
| Private networking / VPC | VPC networks are private interfaces inaccessible from the public internet; traffic within a VPC or between peered VPCs in the same datacenter is free. | Cloud Networks give each server a private IP not on the internet with private layer 3 links between servers; Networks are not charged for. |
| Dedicated infrastructure | Four of the five bundled Droplet plans use dedicated CPUs with guaranteed full hyper-thread access; only the Basic plan shares hyper-threads. | CCX cloud plans have dedicated CPU resources, one vCPU equalling one thread of a physical CPU core; all Hetzner Cloud features are available on them. |
Where they differ.
Entry paid plan
- DigitalOcean
- $4.00
- Hetzner
- €5.99/month for the CX23 (2 vCPU, 4 GB, 40 GB NVMe), including a primary IPv4 address, or €0.0096/hour. The ARM CAX11 with identical specs is €6.49. Converted for comparison at the ECB reference rate of 1 EUR = 1.1622 USD (2026-09-04, api.frankfurter.dev), which puts the CX23 at about $6.96/month. Hetzner publishes no USD price; the conversion is ours and moves with the rate.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Droplet Pricing — DigitalOcean ↗
“Memory vCPU Transfer SSD $/hr $/mo 512 MiB 1 vCPU 500 GiB 10 GiB $0.00595 $ 4.00 1 GiB 1 vCPU 1,000 GiB 25 GiB $0.00893 $ 6.00”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Cost-optimized cloud servers — Hetzner ↗
“CX23 [...] 2 Intel®/AMD 4 GB 40 GB NVMe [...] € 5.99 [...] € 0.0096 [...] Price incl. IPv4”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing · Report a correction
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 · Report a correction
- 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 · Report a correction
Egress over allowance
- DigitalOcean
- $0.01 per GiB (Droplets); inbound transfer is free and allowances pool across the team.
- 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 Docs ↗
“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. Transfer allowance and usage is pooled cumulatively across all Droplets at the team level, not individually per Droplet.”
Read 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction
- 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 · Report a correction
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 · Report a correction
- 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 · Report a correction
Storage (entry plan)
10 GiB SSD on the cheapest Basic Droplet (Regular CPU, 512 MiB / 1 vCPU, $4.00/mo).
40 GB NVMe on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Droplet Pricing — DigitalOcean ↗
“Memory vCPU Transfer SSD $/hr $/mo 512 MiB 1 vCPU 500 GiB 10 GiB $0.00595 $ 4.00”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Cost-optimized cloud servers — Hetzner ↗
“CX23 [...] 2 Intel®/AMD 4 GB 40 GB NVMe [...] CAX11 [...] 2 Ampere® 4 GB 40 GB NVMe”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing · Report a correction
Memory (entry plan)
512 MiB on the cheapest Basic Droplet (Regular CPU, 1 vCPU, $4.00/mo).
4 GB on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Droplet Pricing — DigitalOcean ↗
“Memory vCPU Transfer SSD $/hr $/mo 512 MiB 1 vCPU 500 GiB 10 GiB $0.00595 $ 4.00”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Cost-optimized cloud servers — Hetzner ↗
“CX23 [...] 2 Intel®/AMD 4 GB 40 GB NVMe [...] CAX11 [...] 2 Ampere® 4 GB 40 GB NVMe”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing · Report a correction
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
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 · Report a correction
- Overview - Hetzner Docs ↗
“By default, up to 5 servers”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs · Report a correction
Included bandwidth
500 GiB of included outbound transfer on the cheapest Basic Droplet ($4.00/mo, 512 MiB / 1 vCPU).
At least 20 TB on servers in the EU, on every plan in the cost-optimized line. US and Singapore locations include less — the pricing data lists 1 TB for Singapore.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Droplet Pricing — DigitalOcean ↗
“Memory vCPU Transfer SSD $/hr $/mo 512 MiB 1 vCPU 500 GiB 10 GiB $0.00595 $ 4.00”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Cost-optimized cloud servers — Hetzner ↗
“Traffic inclusive 20 TB [...] Cloud servers located in the EU include at least 20 TB of included traffic.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing · Report a correction
File, inode or volume 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 · Report a correction
- Overview - Hetzner Docs ↗
“Up to 16 Volumes per server”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs · Report a correction
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 · Report a correction
- Docker CE - Hetzner Docs ↗
“This app contains a ready to use Docker installation.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs · Report a correction
Containers
- DigitalOcean
- Supported
- Hetzner
- Limited
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Deploy from Container Images — DigitalOcean Docs ↗
“You can deploy containerized apps to App Platform from supported container registries. App Platform currently supports deploying public and private images from DigitalOcean Container Registry, Docker Hub, and GitHub Container Registry.”
Read 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction
- Docker CE - Hetzner Docs ↗
“This app contains a ready to use Docker installation. You can install it via the Hetzner Console or the Hetzner Cloud API. Docker is an open source project that uses OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called containers.”
Read 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction
Regions
Thirteen regions holding 16 datacenters: New York City (NYC1, NYC2, NYC3), Amsterdam (AMS3), San Francisco (SFO2, SFO3), Singapore, London, Frankfurt, Toronto, Bangalore, Sydney, Atlanta, Richmond, Kansas City and Memphis.
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 Docs ↗
“DigitalOcean has 16 datacenters across 13 regions. [...] Datacenter Region Slug 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 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction
- Locations - Hetzner Docs ↗
“There are currently four network zones and six locations: eu-central us-east us-west ap-southeast DE Falkenstein fsn1 US Ashburn, VA ash US Hillsboro, OR hil SG Singapore sin DE Nuremberg nbg1 FI Helsinki hel1”
Read 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction
Uptime SLA
99.99% monthly uptime per individual Droplet, with a 100% service credit for any month below it. Instance-level, and the same for every customer.
99.9% guaranteed uptime with defined credits for a malfunction, stated on the Cloud product page with no tier attached.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- CPU Droplets SLA — DigitalOcean ↗
“DigitalOcean commits to a monthly uptime percentage of 99.99% for each individual Droplet instance. This is an instance-level SLA, meaning the uptime percentage applies to the availability of each Droplet you provision, considered independently.”
Read 2026-09-14 · official site · Report a correction
- Hetzner Cloud ↗
“our performance promise: 99.9% uptime and 24/7 support our performance promises for professional requirements: an SLA with 99.9% guaranteed uptime and clearly defined credits in the event of a malfunction offers you predictable operational reliability.”
Read 2026-09-14 · official site · Report a correction
Support on entry paid plan
- DigitalOcean
- Free ticket-based support for everyone, 24/7. Paid plans buy speed and channels rather than infrastructure: Developer $24/month, Standard $99/month with live chat, Premium $999/month with a dedicated Slack channel and video calls.
- Hetzner
- 24/7 support by email, with no tier to buy.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Support Plans — DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“DigitalOcean provides free ticket-based support to all customers, accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We also offer paid support plans with quicker response times, live chat, access to Solution Architects, and more. [...] Support Plan Starter Developer Standard Premium Price Free $24.00 per month $99.00 per month $999.00 per month”
Read 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction
- Hetzner Cloud ↗
“The new 24/7 support by email ensures that you receive rapid assistance at any time in exceptional cases.”
Read 2026-09-14 · official site · Report a correction
SOC 2
- DigitalOcean
- SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 Type II certifications issued by independent auditor Schellman & Company; reports via the Security Reports & Certifications Center.
- Hetzner
- No SOC 2; Hetzner states it focuses on ISO/IEC 27001:2022 instead, describing SOC 2 as a standard most well-known in the USA.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Trust Platform Certification Reports and Resources | DigitalOcean ↗
“DigitalOcean maintains a SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 Type II certification, issued by our independent auditor, Schellman & Company.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- Information security at Hetzner - Hetzner Docs ↗
“The SOC 2 is an information security standard that is most well-known in the USA, and plays a big role there. As an international web hosting company, we at Hetzner place our focus on the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification because it is more applicable to an international market.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
ISO 27001
- DigitalOcean
- Listed only for DigitalOcean's colocated data center facilities, not as a DigitalOcean corporate certification; certificates via the Certifications Center.
- Hetzner
- Certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022; scope covers all hosting services and data centers, at the Nuremberg, Falkenstein/Vogtland and Helsinki sites.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Trust Platform Certification Reports and Resources | DigitalOcean ↗
“Please visit our Security Reports & Certifications Center for access to our SOC 2 Type II Report, PCI-DSS SAQ-A, CIS Benchmarks, and colocated data center certifications (e.g., ISO 27001, SOC Reports, PCI-DSS, etc). [...] Each of these colocated facilities maintains a unique certification suite that can be accessed through our Security Reports & Certifications Center”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- Data Protection Certificates ↗
“Hetzner Online GmbH operates an information security management system (ISMS) certified in accordance with ISO/IEC 27001:2022. The certified scope covers all hosting services and data centers of Hetzner Online GmbH. The certification applies to the sites in Nuremberg, Falkenstein/Vogtland, and Helsinki, Finland.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
GDPR / data residency
- DigitalOcean
- Customer selects the datacenter location at account creation; EU/UK residency available via the Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London datacenters.
- Hetzner
- Cloud data is stored at the product location you choose; non-cloud products stay in the EU, as does Hetzner's own customer master, contract and billing data.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- GDPR at DO | DigitalOcean Trust Platform ↗
“We support customers' data sovereignty rights by offering data centers in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and London. [...] Customers are responsible for selecting the data center location that best meets their compliance needs when they open their accounts.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- Data Protection at Hetzner - Hetzner Docs ↗
“The data is processed and stored exclusively within the EU. [...] For our cloud products, the storage location depends on the product location you have chosen. [...] Hetzner processes its own data (e.g. customer master data, contract data, and billing data) exclusively within the EU.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
PCI DSS
- DigitalOcean
- PCI-DSS SAQ-A validation under a Zero-Footprint data policy; DigitalOcean does not store, process or transmit cardholder data in its admin environment.
- Hetzner
- Hetzner stores no credit card data; processing is done by payment provider Computop and the customer account complies with PCI DSS 4.0 Revision 1.0. Scope is Hetzner's own payment handling, not customer workloads.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Trust Platform Certification Reports and Resources | DigitalOcean ↗
“DigitalOcean maintains a Zero-Footprint data policy by way of our PCI-DSS SAQ-A validation. Through our attestation, DigitalOcean commits to not storing, processing, or transmitting cardholder data within our administrative environment.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- Information security at Hetzner - Hetzner Docs ↗
“Hetzner itself does not store any credit card information. Processing is carried out exclusively by our certified German payment service provider Computop. Credit card details are entered directly into your customer account, which fully complies with the requirements of PCI DSS in its current version 4.0, Revision 1.0.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Encryption at rest
- DigitalOcean
- Volumes block storage is encrypted with LUKS; the storage cluster is fully encrypted at rest and snapshots inherit that encryption.
- Hetzner
- Under Hetzner's Data Processing Agreement the customer is responsible for the data stored on the server and for its encryption.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Volumes Block Storage Features | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“All DigitalOcean Volumes are encrypted with LUKS (Linux Unified Key Setup). The storage cluster is fully encrypted at rest, and any snapshots you create inherit this encryption.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Data Protection at Hetzner - Hetzner Docs ↗
“Please note that, in accordance with our Data Processing Agreement (DPA), you are responsible for both the data stored on the server and its encryption.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Customer-managed keys
- DigitalOcean
- Spaces object storage supports SSE-C (server-side encryption with customer-provided keys); bucket-level encryption settings are not supported. Spaces object storage only; read from the Spaces S3-compatible API reference.
- Hetzner
- Object Storage (S3) supports SSE-C: you supply the encryption key on upload and must supply the same key to read the data; the S3 service does not store it. Object Storage only; documented for the MinIO client and AWS CLI. Not documented for Cloud servers or Volumes.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Spaces S3 Compatibility | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“Object Encryption [...] Supported with SSE-C (server-side encryption with customer-provided keys). Bucket-level encryption settings are not supported.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Encrypting data with SSE-C - Hetzner Docs ↗
“when you upload new data, and tell the S3 service to encrypt the data with a key that you provide. To decrypt and view the file after it was uploaded, you have to provide the same key again. [...] Note that the S3 service does not save the key. After the data was encrypted, the S3 service discards the key.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Role-based access control
- DigitalOcean
- Teams have six predefined roles, plus custom roles containing only the permissions you choose.
- Hetzner
- Project members hold one of four roles - Owner, Admin, Member or Restricted - determining what they may do; Admins manage members, API tokens and S3 credentials.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Team Roles | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“Teams come with six predefined roles which cover common use cases for levels of access. [...] For more granular control, you can create custom roles with only the permissions you choose.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Cloud General FAQ - Hetzner Docs ↗
“Each member's role in a project determines what they are allowed to do [...] Highest access level. Can do everything an admin can do. [...] Can also manage project members (add/remove/change role), API tokens and S3 credentials.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Private networking / VPC
- DigitalOcean
- VPC networks are private interfaces inaccessible from the public internet; traffic within a VPC or between peered VPCs in the same datacenter is free.
- Hetzner
- Cloud Networks give each server a private IP not on the internet with private layer 3 links between servers; Networks are not charged for.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- VPC Pricing | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“VPC networks are inaccessible from the public internet and other VPC networks [...] Network traffic is free within a VPC network or between peered VPC networks in the same datacenter.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Networks Overview - Hetzner Docs (Network & Security) ↗
“Networks provide private environments for servers to communicate directly. Every server receives a private IP address that is not on the internet. [...] We do not charge for our Cloud Networks.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Dedicated infrastructure
- DigitalOcean
- Four of the five bundled Droplet plans use dedicated CPUs with guaranteed full hyper-thread access; only the Basic plan shares hyper-threads.
- Hetzner
- CCX cloud plans have dedicated CPU resources, one vCPU equalling one thread of a physical CPU core; all Hetzner Cloud features are available on them.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Choosing the Right CPU Droplet Plan | DigitalOcean Documentation ↗
“There are five bundled Droplet plans: one shared CPU plan and four dedicated CPU plans. [...] Dedicated CPU Droplets have guaranteed access to the full hyper-thread at all times.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Cloud Servers FAQ - Hetzner Docs ↗
“Plans (CCX) with dedicated resources have their CPU resources exclusively. Here one vCPU equals one thread of a physical CPU core. [...] All Hetzner Cloud features are available for dedicated resource instances.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
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 — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.
Questions this comparison answers.
Entry paid plan: DigitalOcean or Hetzner?
DigitalOcean: $4.00
Hetzner: €5.99/month for the CX23 (2 vCPU, 4 GB, 40 GB NVMe), including a primary IPv4 address, or €0.0096/hour. The ARM CAX11 with identical specs is €6.49. Converted for comparison at the ECB reference rate of 1 EUR = 1.1622 USD (2026-09-04, api.frankfurter.dev), which puts the CX23 at about $6.96/month. Hetzner publishes no USD price; the conversion is ours and moves with the rate.
Egress over allowance: DigitalOcean or Hetzner?
DigitalOcean: $0.01 per GiB (Droplets); inbound transfer is free and allowances pool across the team.
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 or Hetzner?
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
Should I choose DigitalOcean or Hetzner?
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.
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