Hetzner vs Vultr
A comparison of Hetzner and Vultr 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 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.
10 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.
- Vultr: $2.50/mo (Regular Performance Cloud Compute, IPv6-only plan)
- 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.
- Vultr: Hourly billing; Cloud Compute is billed up to 672 hours per month, with a one-hour minimum billing unit
- 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.
- Vultr: $0.01 per GB
- 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
- Vultr: Billed automatically — bandwidth above the plan quota is charged at $0.01 per GB
- Storage (entry plan)
- Hetzner: 40 GB NVMe on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line
- Vultr: 10 GB on the cheapest paid Cloud Compute Regular Performance plan (1 vCPU / 0.5 GB, $2.50/mo, IPv6 Only)
- Memory (entry plan)
- Hetzner: 4 GB on CX23 and CAX11, the smallest plans in Hetzner's cost-optimized line
- Vultr: 0.5 GB on the cheapest paid Cloud Compute Regular Performance plan (1 vCPU, $2.50/mo, IPv6 Only)
- 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
- 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)
- 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.
- Vultr: 2 TB of free bandwidth per account per month, plus each running instance's own monthly cap allocated hourly
- File or inode limit
- Hetzner: Up to 16 Volumes per server
- Vultr: Up to 16 Vultr Block Storage volumes can be attached to the same Cloud Compute instance
- Containers
- Hetzner: Limited
- Vultr: 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
Vultr 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Hetzner | Vultr |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | $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 |
| Limits | ||
| 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 |
| 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.
- Vultr
- $2.50/mo (Regular Performance Cloud Compute, IPv6-only plan)
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
- High Performance, High Frequency, Bare Metal, Affordable Cloud Computing - Vultr.com ↗
“1 vCPU 0.5 GB 0.50 TB 10 GB $2.50 /mo $0.004 /hr IPv6 Only”
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.
- Vultr
- Hourly billing; Cloud Compute is billed up to 672 hours per month, with a one-hour minimum billing unit
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
- How Am I Billed for My Servers? | Vultr Docs ↗
“Vultr bills all servers on an hourly basis. The billing model varies slightly based on the product type: GPU Instances: Billed up to 730 hours per month, aligned with the industry-standard monthly cap. All Other Server Types (including Cloud Compute, Optimized Cloud Compute, Bare Metal): Billed up to 672 hours per month.”
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.
- Vultr
- $0.01 per GB
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
- What Is the Bandwidth Overage Rate? | Vultr Docs ↗
“Bandwidth usage exceeding your plan's allocated quota is billed at an overage rate of $0.01 per GB.”
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
- Vultr
- Billed automatically — bandwidth above the plan quota is charged at $0.01 per GB
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
- High Performance, High Frequency, Bare Metal, Affordable Cloud Computing - Vultr.com ↗
“We charge $0.01 per GB for bandwidth used in excess of your quota.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
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)
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
- High Performance, High Frequency, Bare Metal, Affordable Cloud Computing - Vultr.com ↗
“vCPUs | Memory | Bandwidth | Storage | Monthly Price | Hourly Price — 1 vCPU | 0.5 GB | 0.50 TB | 10 GB | $2.50 /mo | $0.004 /hr | IPv6 Only”
Read 2026-09-05 · official pricing
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)
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
- High Performance, High Frequency, Bare Metal, Affordable Cloud Computing - Vultr.com ↗
“vCPUs | Memory | Bandwidth | Storage | Monthly Price | Hourly Price — 1 vCPU | 0.5 GB | 0.50 TB | 10 GB | $2.50 /mo | $0.004 /hr | IPv6 Only”
Read 2026-09-05 · official 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
- 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)
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Overview - Hetzner Docs ↗
“By default, up to 5 servers”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- How to Manage Vultr Account Limits | Vultr Docs ↗
“The Vultr account limit defines the maximum instances and costs you can have in your account. These limits are necessary to control costs or excessive usage of your cloud account resource allocations.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
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.
- Vultr
- 2 TB of free bandwidth per account per month, plus each running instance's own monthly cap allocated hourly
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
- How Are Bandwidth Caps Calculated? | Vultr Docs ↗
“Free Bandwidth: Vultr provides 2 TB of free bandwidth per account, allocated monthly. This allocation resets at the beginning of each calendar month and does not carry over.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
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
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Overview - Hetzner Docs ↗
“Up to 16 Volumes per server”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Block Storage | Vultr Docs ↗
“Yes, you can attach up to 16 Vultr Block Storage volumes to the same Vultr Cloud Compute instance.”
Read 2026-09-05 · official docs
Containers
- Hetzner
- Limited
- Vultr
- 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
- Vultr Kubernetes Setup and Management | Vultr Docs ↗
“Manage Kubernetes clusters on Vultr to deploy, scale, and orchestrate containerized workloads with automated provisioning and high-availability configurations.”
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 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Hetzner: You want managed deployment from Git, or a managed database service — Hetzner Cloud documents neither.
- 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.
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 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.