Hetzner vs Linode (Akamai Cloud)
A comparison of Hetzner and Linode (Akamai Cloud) built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
- 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.
9 sourced criteria separate them:
- 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.
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): $5.00/month (Nanode 1 GB shared CPU plan, North America pricing)
- 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.
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): Hybrid hourly billing, invoiced monthly, with hourly usage capped at each service's monthly rate
- 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.
- 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: 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
- Storage (entry plan)
- Hetzner: 40 GB NVMe on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line
- 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.)
- Memory (entry plan)
- Hetzner: 4 GB on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line
- 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.)
- 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.
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): 1 TB per month included with the entry-level Nanode 1 GB plan (larger shared CPU plans include more)
- File or inode limit
- Hetzner: Up to 16 Volumes per server
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): 250 Block Storage volumes per account across all regions (default global quota; increases can be requested)
- Containers
- Hetzner: Limited
- Linode (Akamai Cloud): Supported
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.
Hetzner 0
Linode (Akamai Cloud) 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Hetzner | Linode (Akamai Cloud) |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| 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 |
| Limits | ||
| 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) |
| Deployment | ||
| Containers | Limited | Supported |
| Infrastructure | ||
| 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.
- Linode (Akamai Cloud)
- $5.00/month (Nanode 1 GB shared CPU plan, North America pricing)
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- 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
- North America Cloud Computing Costs and Pricing | Akamai ↗
“Nanode 1 GB $5.00 $0.0075 1 GB 1 25 GB 1 TB 40/1 Gbps”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
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.
- Linode (Akamai Cloud)
- Hybrid hourly billing, invoiced monthly, with hourly usage capped at each service's monthly rate
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- 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
- Billing ↗
“Akamai uses a hybrid hourly billing model that's simple and flexible. You can continuously add, modify, and remove services throughout the month. Once the month ends, you receive an invoice for the hourly usage of each service up to the monthly cap.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
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.
- 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)
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- 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
- Network transfer usage and costs ↗
“Any transfer usage that exceeds the monthly allotment starts at $0.005/GB (or $5/TB) depending on the service's region (see the table below). If no transfer is included, all transfer is billed at the following rates.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
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
- 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
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- 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
- Network transfer usage and costs ↗
“Any transfer usage that exceeds the monthly allotment starts at $0.005/GB (or $5/TB) depending on the service’s region (see the table below). If no transfer is included, all transfer is billed at the following rates. Transfer usage is charged at the end of the billing period.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
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.)
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- 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
- North America Cloud Computing Costs and Pricing | Akamai ↗
“Plan | $/Mo | $/Hr | RAM | CPUs | Storage | Transfer | Network In/Out — Nanode 1 GB | $5.00 | $0.0075 | 1 GB | 1 | 25 GB | 1 TB | 40/1 Gbps”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
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.)
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- 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
- North America Cloud Computing Costs and Pricing | Akamai ↗
“Plan | $/Mo | $/Hr | RAM | CPUs | Storage | Transfer | Network In/Out — Nanode 1 GB | $5.00 | $0.0075 | 1 GB | 1 | 25 GB | 1 TB | 40/1 Gbps”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
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)
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- 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
- North America Cloud Computing Costs and Pricing | Akamai ↗
“Plan $/Mo $/Hr RAM CPUs Storage Transfer Network In/Out Nanode 1 GB $5.00 $0.0075 1 GB 1 25 GB 1 TB 40/1 Gbps”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
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)
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Overview - Hetzner Docs ↗
“Up to 16 Volumes per server”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Block Storage quotas ↗
“Quota: Total number of volumes per account across all regions | Account Quota Value: 250”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Containers
- Hetzner
- Limited
- Linode (Akamai Cloud)
- Supported
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- 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
- Linode Kubernetes Engine ↗
“Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) is Akamai's managed container orchestration engine built on top of Kubernetes. Through LKE, you can quickly deploy and manage your containerized applications without needing to build and maintain your own Kubernetes cluster.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Which should you choose?
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
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Hetzner: You want managed deployment from Git, or a managed database service — Hetzner Cloud documents neither.
- 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.
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.
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.