# Hetzner vs Vultr

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

Every value below is read from Hetzner's and Vultr's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Hetzner | Vultr |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. | $2.50/mo (Regular Performance Cloud Compute, IPv6-only plan) |
| 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. | Hourly billing; Cloud Compute is billed up to 672 hours per month, with a one-hour minimum billing unit |
| 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. | $0.01 per GB |
| 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 — bandwidth above the plan quota is charged at $0.01 per GB |
| Storage (entry plan) | 40 GB NVMe on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line | 10 GB on the cheapest paid Cloud Compute Regular Performance plan (1 vCPU / 0.5 GB, $2.50/mo, IPv6 Only) |
| Memory (entry plan) | 4 GB on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line | 0.5 GB on the cheapest paid Cloud Compute Regular Performance plan (1 vCPU, $2.50/mo, IPv6 Only) |
| Sites or apps included | By default, up to 5 servers (and by default up to 8 dedicated resource servers); Hetzner states default limits can be increased on request | An account-wide maximum-instances limit applies; the number is shown only in the Vultr Console under Billing > Limits and is not published (increases can be requested) |
| 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. | 2 TB of free bandwidth per account per month, plus each running instance's own monthly cap allocated hourly |
| File or inode limit | Up to 16 Volumes per server | Up to 16 Vultr Block Storage volumes can be attached to the same Cloud Compute instance |
| 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/))
- Vultr: $2.50/mo (Regular Performance Cloud Compute, IPv6-only plan) ([source](https://www.vultr.com/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. ([source](https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/billing/faq/))
- Vultr: Hourly billing; Cloud Compute is billed up to 672 hours per month, with a one-hour minimum billing unit ([source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/how-am-i-billed-for-my-servers))

### 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))
- Vultr: $0.01 per GB ([source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/what-is-the-bandwidth-overage-rate))

### 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/))
- Vultr: Billed automatically — bandwidth above the plan quota is charged at $0.01 per GB ([source](https://www.vultr.com/pricing/))

### 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/))
- Vultr: 10 GB on the cheapest paid Cloud Compute Regular Performance plan (1 vCPU / 0.5 GB, $2.50/mo, IPv6 Only) ([source](https://www.vultr.com/pricing/))

### 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/))
- Vultr: 0.5 GB on the cheapest paid Cloud Compute Regular Performance plan (1 vCPU, $2.50/mo, IPv6 Only) ([source](https://www.vultr.com/pricing/))

### 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 ([source](https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/servers/overview/))
- Vultr: An account-wide maximum-instances limit applies; the number is shown only in the Vultr Console under Billing > Limits and is not published (increases can be requested) ([source](https://docs.vultr.com/platform/billing/manage-account-limits))

### 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/))
- Vultr: 2 TB of free bandwidth per account per month, plus each running instance's own monthly cap allocated hourly ([source](https://docs.vultr.com/support/platform/billing/how-are-bandwidth-caps-calculated))

### File or inode limit

- Hetzner: Up to 16 Volumes per server ([source](https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/servers/overview/))
- Vultr: Up to 16 Vultr Block Storage volumes can be attached to the same Cloud Compute instance ([source](https://docs.vultr.com/products/storage/block-storage/faq))

### Containers

- Hetzner: Limited ([source](https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/apps/list/docker-ce/))
- Vultr: Supported ([source](https://docs.vultr.com/products/kubernetes))

## 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 Vultr if Teams that want cheap virtual machines with generous included transfer — 2 TB a month per account — and overage at a cent per gigabyte. Block storage and managed databases sit alongside.

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

Consider something else: Vultr — The $2.50 entry plan is IPv6-only; the equivalent machine with IPv4 starts at $3.50, and stopped instances are still billed.

## Documented by only one

- Managed connection pooling: Vultr: Supported
- Docker deployment: Hetzner: Limited
- Persistent processes: Hetzner: Supported
- Managed databases: Vultr: Supported
- Edge network: Vultr: Supported
- Autoscaling: Vultr: 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 Vultr?**

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.
Vultr: $2.50/mo (Regular Performance Cloud Compute, IPv6-only plan)

**Egress over allowance: Hetzner or Vultr?**

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.
Vultr: $0.01 per GB

**When you exceed a cap: Hetzner or Vultr?**

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
Vultr: Billed automatically — bandwidth above the plan quota is charged at $0.01 per GB

**Should I choose Hetzner or Vultr?**

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 Vultr if Teams that want cheap virtual machines with generous included transfer — 2 TB a month per account — and overage at a cent per gigabyte. Block storage and managed databases sit alongside.