Hetzner Cloud

Cloud provider offering virtual servers, storage and networking at low hourly/monthly prices across European, US and Asian regions.

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Hetzner Cloud is the virtual-server product of Hetzner, a German hosting company that runs its own data centers. You rent Linux VMs by the hour, plus the infrastructure around them: block-storage volumes, private networks, firewalls, load balancers, floating IPs and S3-compatible object storage.

The model is plain infrastructure, not a platform: you get a server with root access and install your stack yourself. Plans come either with shared vCPUs, which can burst above a baseline, or with dedicated vCPUs for steady heavy load, on x86 or Arm. Everything in the console is also available through a REST API and the hcloud CLI, with integrations for Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes, Python and Go. Servers accept cloud-init at creation, and one-click images include Docker and Coolify.

What matters to a small team: locations in Nuremberg, Falkenstein and Helsinki (Hetzner's own parks), plus Ashburn, Hillsboro and Singapore; automatic daily backups (seven rolling slots) and manual snapshots; firewalls at no extra cost; and a 99.9% uptime SLA with 24/7 email support.

The limits are the flip side of a bare server: databases, deploys, OS updates and monitoring are your job. Some details catch people out: backups and snapshots skip attached volumes, a server can't be rescaled to a plan with a smaller disk, and powered-off servers keep billing until you delete them.

Where it fits

Who uses it

100 makers' products, each linked to the source that shows it.

The maker says so 13Subprocessor list 16Seen on the website 73How evidence is collected →
Indifferent BroccoliRent a dedicated game server you and your friends can log in to 24/7. Indifferent Brocco…

“"mb-3">· Brooce I procure servers from: · Servers.com · SoYouStart · Gorilla Servers · Hetzner What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources? If you want to l…”

HostingMaker says so · source ↗
PixelUnion.euA Google Photos alternative in Europe, based on Immich

“By harnessing the flexibility of Hetzner Cloud and the robust performance of their dedicated servers, we are able to maintain highly competitive pricing for our services. Hetzner Cloud's scalable infrastructure allows us to efficiently allocate resources based on demand, ensuring optimal performance without unnecessary costs. Meanwhile, their dedicated servers provide the power and reliability needed to handle intensive workloads, further enhancing our operational efficiency. This combination of flexibility and power enables us to offer cost-effective solutions to our customers, ensuring they receive the best value for their investment.”

HostingMaker says so · source ↗
JukeboxFree alternative to Spotify collaborative playlists

“Shout out for being cheap and reliable! My classic setup with a Caddy reverse proxy and Docker worked perfectly.”

HostingMaker says so · source ↗

What makers say

4 makers on why they use Hetzner Cloud, in their own words on Product Hunt.

"mb-3">· Brooce I procure servers from: · Servers.com · SoYouStart · Gorilla Servers · Hetzner What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources? If you want to l…
Indifferent BroccoliAug 2021 ↗
Tech Stack - Bunny, Hertzner , TinyBird , Vercel , SupaBase , Business messaging platform - Crisp Affiliate
Beam AnalyticsFeb 2023 ↗
By harnessing the flexibility of Hetzner Cloud and the robust performance of their dedicated servers, we are able to maintain highly competitive pricing for our services. Hetzner Cloud's scalable infrastructure allows us to efficiently allocate resources based on demand, ensuring optimal performance without unnecessary costs. Meanwhile, their dedicated servers provide the power and reliability needed to handle intensive workloads, further enhancing our operational efficiency. This combination of flexibility and power enables us to offer cost-effective solutions to our customers, ensuring they receive the best value for their investment.
PixelUnion.euSep 2026 ↗
Shout out for being cheap and reliable! My classic setup with a Caddy reverse proxy and Docker worked perfectly.
JukeboxSep 2026 ↗

Loved and watch-outs

Themes that recur in makers' words and Hacker News comments, each linked to what it summarises, with how Product Hunt tags its reviews.

Most loved
  • Servers cost a fraction of hyperscaler prices for strong price-to-performance. HNHN 2PH
  • Storage Boxes are a cheap offsite target for backups. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4
  • As an EU company, it appeals to teams avoiding US hosting. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4
  • Dedicated servers deliver very high performance for heavy databases and workloads. HNPH
Watch-outs
On Product Hunt 5.0★ · 11 reviews
affordable pricing 2
Read the reviews on Product Hunt ↗

Who switches

Public pull requests on GitHub since Oct 2024 whose title says "X to Y" — real code changes moving a project from one tool to another, by developers in general. Open a row to see the pull requests.

Vercel → Hetzner Cloud11 PRs
Amazon Web Services → Hetzner Cloud8 PRs
Hetzner Cloud → Amazon Web Services8 PRs

Alternatives to Hetzner Cloud

All alternatives by situation →

Questions makers ask about Hetzner Cloud

Where are Hetzner's data centers?

Cloud servers are available in Nuremberg and Falkenstein (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Ashburn and Hillsboro (USA), and Singapore. Hetzner owns the European parks and uses colocation space in the US and Singapore. source ↗

Is it GDPR-compliant?

Hetzner is headquartered in Germany and describes its cloud hosting as GDPR-compliant, with data protection information published for each location. source ↗

Do I still pay for a server that is switched off?

Yes. Every server that has finished being created is billed, including powered-off ones. To stop paying you have to delete it. source ↗

How do backups work?

Backups are automatic daily copies of the server's disk, with seven slots that rotate out the oldest. Snapshots are taken manually and kept until you delete them. Neither includes attached volumes. source ↗

Can I downsize a server later?

Only if the disk stays the same size. You can't rescale to a plan with a smaller disk, but when scaling up you can choose to keep the current disk so you can move back down later. source ↗

What's the difference between shared and dedicated vCPU plans?

Shared plans split CPU among instances on the same host, with a baseline and short bursts above it. Dedicated plans give each vCPU its own physical thread for steady, predictable performance under production load. source ↗

Can I automate it with Terraform or an API?

Yes. Everything is available through a REST API and a CLI, with integrations for Terraform, Ansible, Kubernetes and languages such as Python and Go. source ↗

Is there an uptime guarantee?

Hetzner offers an SLA of 99.9% uptime with defined credits if it's missed, plus 24/7 support by email. source ↗

Is Hetzner Cloud free?

No permanent free tier. source ↗

Is Hetzner Cloud open source or self-hostable?

Not open source, and hosted only.

Can AI coding agents work with Hetzner Cloud?

No llms.txt, official MCP server or CLI found yet.

Who uses Hetzner Cloud?

100 makers' products we track, each with a source. source ↗