# Hetzner vs Linode (Akamai Cloud)

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/hetzner-vs-linode/

Every value below is read from Hetzner's and Linode (Akamai Cloud)'s own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Hetzner | Linode (Akamai Cloud) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Entry paid plan | €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. | $5.00/month (Nanode 1 GB shared CPU plan, North America pricing) |
| Pricing model | 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. | Hybrid hourly billing, invoiced monthly, with hourly usage capped at each service's monthly rate |
| Egress over allowance | €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. | $0.005/GB in most core data centers ($0.015/GB Jakarta, $0.007/GB Sao Paulo, $0.01/GB distributed data centers) |
| When you exceed a cap | 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 | Billed automatically — transfer above the monthly pool starts at $0.005/GB ($5/TB) and varies by region ($0.015/GB Jakarta, $0.007/GB São Paulo, $0.01/GB all distributed data centers), charged at the end of the billing period |
| Storage (entry plan) | 40 GB NVMe on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line | 25 GB on the Nanode 1 GB plan, the cheapest Linode at $5.00/mo in North America regions (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Fremont, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, Seattle, Toronto, Washington D.C.) |
| Memory (entry plan) | 4 GB on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line | 1 GB on the Nanode 1 GB plan, the cheapest Linode at $5.00/mo in North America regions (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Fremont, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, Seattle, Toronto, Washington D.C.) |
| Included bandwidth | 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. | 1 TB per month included with the entry-level Nanode 1 GB plan (larger shared CPU plans include more) |
| File or inode limit | Up to 16 Volumes per server | 250 Block Storage volumes per account across all regions (default global quota; increases can be requested) |
| Containers | Limited | Supported |
| Persistent storage | Supported | Supported |
| Scales to zero | Not supported | Not supported |

## Where they differ

### Entry paid plan

- 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. ([source](https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/cost-optimized/))
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): $5.00/month (Nanode 1 GB shared CPU plan, North America pricing) ([source](https://www.akamai.com/cloud/pricing/north-america))

### Pricing model

- 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. ([source](https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/billing/faq/))
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): Hybrid hourly billing, invoiced monthly, with hourly usage capped at each service's monthly rate ([source](https://techdocs.akamai.com/cloud-computing/docs/understanding-how-billing-works))

### Egress over allowance

- 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. ([source](https://www.hetzner.com/_resources/app/data/bench/cloud_data.json))
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): $0.005/GB in most core data centers ($0.015/GB Jakarta, $0.007/GB Sao Paulo, $0.01/GB distributed data centers) ([source](https://techdocs.akamai.com/cloud-computing/docs/network-transfer-usage-and-costs))

### When you exceed a cap

- 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 ([source](https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/billing/faq/))
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): Billed automatically — transfer above the monthly pool starts at $0.005/GB ($5/TB) and varies by region ($0.015/GB Jakarta, $0.007/GB São Paulo, $0.01/GB all distributed data centers), charged at the end of the billing period ([source](https://techdocs.akamai.com/cloud-computing/docs/network-transfer-usage-and-costs))

### Storage (entry plan)

- Hetzner: 40 GB NVMe on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line ([source](https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/cost-optimized/))
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): 25 GB on the Nanode 1 GB plan, the cheapest Linode at $5.00/mo in North America regions (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Fremont, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, Seattle, Toronto, Washington D.C.) ([source](https://www.akamai.com/cloud/pricing/north-america))

### Memory (entry plan)

- Hetzner: 4 GB on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line ([source](https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/cost-optimized/))
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): 1 GB on the Nanode 1 GB plan, the cheapest Linode at $5.00/mo in North America regions (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Fremont, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, Seattle, Toronto, Washington D.C.) ([source](https://www.akamai.com/cloud/pricing/north-america))

### Included bandwidth

- Hetzner: 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. ([source](https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/cost-optimized/))
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): 1 TB per month included with the entry-level Nanode 1 GB plan (larger shared CPU plans include more) ([source](https://www.akamai.com/cloud/pricing/north-america))

### File or inode limit

- Hetzner: Up to 16 Volumes per server ([source](https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/servers/overview/))
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): 250 Block Storage volumes per account across all regions (default global quota; increases can be requested) ([source](https://techdocs.akamai.com/cloud-computing/docs/block-storage-quotas))

### Containers

- Hetzner: Limited ([source](https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/apps/list/docker-ce/))
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): Supported ([source](https://techdocs.akamai.com/cloud-computing/docs/linode-kubernetes-engine))

## Which should you choose?

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.

Pick Linode (Akamai Cloud) if Akamai Cloud virtual machines from $5 a month in North America, with 1 TB of transfer included and egress at half a cent per gigabyte in core data centres.

Consider something else: Hetzner — You want managed deployment from Git, or a managed database service — Hetzner Cloud documents neither.

Consider something else: Linode (Akamai Cloud) — Pricing varies by region, so the North American rate is not what you will pay everywhere, and stopped instances continue to bill.

## Documented by only one

- Sites or apps included: 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
- Managed connection pooling: Linode (Akamai Cloud): Supported
- Docker deployment: Hetzner: Limited
- Persistent processes: Hetzner: Supported
- Managed databases: Linode (Akamai Cloud): Supported
- Autoscaling: Linode (Akamai Cloud): Limited
- Regions: Hetzner: DE Falkenstein (fsn1); DE Nuremberg (nbg1); FI Helsinki (hel1); US Ashburn, VA (ash); US Hillsboro, OR (hil); SG Singapore (sin)
- Backup retention: Hetzner: Daily automatic backups with seven slots per server; the oldest is deleted when a new one is taken. Billed at 20% of the server's monthly price.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Hetzner or Linode (Akamai Cloud)?**

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.
Linode (Akamai Cloud): $5.00/month (Nanode 1 GB shared CPU plan, North America pricing)

**Egress over allowance: Hetzner or Linode (Akamai Cloud)?**

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.
Linode (Akamai Cloud): $0.005/GB in most core data centers ($0.015/GB Jakarta, $0.007/GB Sao Paulo, $0.01/GB distributed data centers)

**When you exceed a cap: Hetzner or Linode (Akamai Cloud)?**

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
Linode (Akamai Cloud): Billed automatically — transfer above the monthly pool starts at $0.005/GB ($5/TB) and varies by region ($0.015/GB Jakarta, $0.007/GB São Paulo, $0.01/GB all distributed data centers), charged at the end of the billing period

**Should I choose Hetzner or Linode (Akamai Cloud)?**

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.
Pick Linode (Akamai Cloud) if Akamai Cloud virtual machines from $5 a month in North America, with 1 TB of transfer included and egress at half a cent per gigabyte in core data centres.