DigitalOcean vs Hetzner 2026: Which VPS Costs Less?

DigitalOcean vs Hetzner at the same specs: Hetzner costs less from 4 GB up, and DigitalOcean costs less at 1 and 2 GB. At 2 vCPU and 4 GB, a DigitalOcean Basic Droplet is $24.00 a month and Hetzner's CPX22 is $23.59 with its IPv4 address. Hetzner vs DigitalOcean gives the same answer: the winner depends on server size and location. Prices were checked on each vendor's own pricing page on October 10, 2026.

Same vCPU and RAM, monthly list prices in USD. Hetzner's column adds its IPv4 address to a server in Germany or Finland.

Toolradar data: the VPS and cloud infrastructure statistics track 6 tools out of 11,051 published tools, as of October 10, 2026. Six tools is too small a set to read a market trend from, so the price table below does the work.

Which one costs less at each size?

Hetzner wins from 4 GB up, and DigitalOcean wins at 1 and 2 GB by $2.09 a month at each size. At 4 GB the gap is 41 cents, so price alone does not settle that choice. The lead grows with size: at 16 GB, Hetzner's CPX42 is $13.41 a month cheaper, which is $160.92 over a year. A monthly gap looks small until you multiply it, so the same comparison over 12 months is below. Each annual figure is the monthly list price times 12.

What the monthly price leaves out

The IPv4 address

Hetzner bills its primary IPv4 address at $0.60 a month, separate from the server. DigitalOcean's Basic Droplets include a public IPv4 at no extra cost. Without the address, Hetzner's 4 GB server costs $22.99. Use that figure only if the server does not need a public IPv4.

Outbound bandwidth

Bandwidth is the bigger gap. Every European CPX plan includes 20 TB of outbound traffic. DigitalOcean's 4 GB Droplet includes 4,000 GiB and then bills $0.01 per GiB. Hetzner bills $1.20 per extra TB in USD once a server passes its allowance.

Take a server that sends 6,000 GiB a month. The 2,000 GiB above DigitalOcean's allowance add $20.00, so that bill is $44.00. The Hetzner server keeps its monthly price, because 6,000 GiB sits well inside its 20 TB. Egress charges also drive object storage bills, which the object storage pricing comparison covers.

Storage

Storage is close at this size: 80 GiB on DigitalOcean and 80 GB of NVMe on Hetzner. The units differ, but the gap is too small to change a decision.

Where DigitalOcean wins: small servers and US servers

At 1 GB, DigitalOcean's $6.00 plan is cheaper than Hetzner's CPX02 at $8.09 with IPv4. At 2 GB, the $12.00 plan beats the CPX12 at $14.09. DigitalOcean's allowance at those sizes is 1,000 and 2,000 GiB, so a 1 GB server that moves more than 1,000 GiB a month starts paying overage, while Hetzner's 20 TB covers far more.

Hetzner's European prices do not carry over to the US. Its US servers run in Ashburn and Hillsboro. The 2 GB US plan, the CPX11 with 2 vCPUs, costs $21.09 with IPv4, against $18.00 for DigitalOcean's 2 vCPU, 2 GiB plan. Hetzner's closest US match to a 4 GB server is the CPX21, which has 3 vCPUs and costs $38.09 with IPv4, more than DigitalOcean's 2 vCPU plan.

If a region is fixed by your users, price that region's row, not the cheapest row on the page.

Where Hetzner wins: 4 GB and up in Europe

Hetzner's European plans take the lead from 4 GB, with IPv4 included: $23.59 against $24.00 at 4 GB, $42.59 against $48.00 at 8 GB, and $82.59 against $96.00 at 16 GB. Each of those plans includes 20 TB of traffic, while DigitalOcean's allowances at the larger sizes are 5,000 and 6,000 GiB. The Hetzner servers sit in Germany and Finland, so this comparison only holds if your users or services can live there.

Why the cheapest Hetzner rows are missing

Hetzner's cost-optimized line, CX and CAX, is flagged "not available" on its own page. That includes CX23 at $6.49 for 2 vCPU and 4 GB. This comparison uses the regular-performance plans only, which the page does not flag as unavailable. Older comparisons may still quote plans that are no longer on Hetzner's price list, so check the date on any number you read.

Vendor prices change without much notice. Devshot's daily brief flags the changes developers need to act on: get it at devshot.co.

Before you order

Five checks change the answer more than the headline table does:

• Location first. The European and US rows are different products. Pick the region your users sit in, then read only that column.
• Count the IPv4 address. Add $0.60 to every Hetzner row if the server needs a public address. DigitalOcean's Basic Droplets already include one.
• Estimate outbound traffic. Compare your monthly figure with the allowance on each plan: 4,000 GiB on the DigitalOcean 4 GB Droplet, 20 TB on the European Hetzner plans, 1 TB on the CPX11 and 2 TB on the CPX21 in the US.
• Check the vCPU count. The 4 GB US plan from Hetzner has 3 vCPUs, so it is not a like-for-like match for DigitalOcean's 2 vCPU plan.
• Check the date. Every figure here was read on October 10, 2026. If you read it later, open the vendor page again before you commit.

Which one to pick

• 1 or 2 GB in Europe: DigitalOcean, by $2.09 a month, as long as your traffic stays inside its allowance.
• 4 GB in Europe: Hetzner, by 41 cents. In practice that is a tie, so decide on region and features.
• 8 GB and up in Europe, or any European server with heavy outbound traffic: Hetzner.
• US servers: DigitalOcean. Hetzner's 2 GB and 4 GB US plans both cost more than DigitalOcean's, and the 4 GB one has 3 vCPUs.
• Managed databases or App Platform on the same bill: read the DigitalOcean review first. If you want a platform rather than a server, the cheaper Vercel alternatives page prices App Platform, and Fly.io is a usage-billed option to compare.

For a wider field, see the best VPS hosting for developers and the cheapest VPS list. The Hetzner review covers the platform beyond price, and the DigitalOcean review does the same for DigitalOcean. If you want the free tiers before you pay for either, the cloud free tiers comparison lists what AWS, Google Cloud, Azure and Oracle give away.

The vendors also have their own tool pages on Toolradar: DigitalOcean and Hetzner.

FAQ

Is DigitalOcean or Hetzner cheaper in 2026?

It depends on size. DigitalOcean is cheaper at 1 and 2 GB, Hetzner is cheaper at 4 GB by 41 cents, and Hetzner's lead grows to $13.41 a month at 16 GB. In the US, DigitalOcean is cheaper at both sizes we compared, although the 4 GB Hetzner plan has an extra vCPU.

Is Hetzner cheaper than DigitalOcean for a 4 GB server?

In Europe, yes, by 41 cents a month: $23.59 with IPv4 against $24.00. In the US, Hetzner's 4 GB plan has 3 vCPUs and costs $38.09 with IPv4, more than DigitalOcean's 2 vCPU plan.

Does Hetzner charge extra for an IPv4 address?

Yes, $0.60 a month for the primary IPv4 address, on top of the server price. Without it, the 4 GB Hetzner server is $22.99. DigitalOcean's Basic Droplets already have one in their price.

Which has more bandwidth, DigitalOcean or Hetzner?

Hetzner, on its European plans: 20 TB a month on each one. DigitalOcean's 4 GB Droplet includes 4,000 GiB and then charges $0.01 per GiB. At 6,000 GiB a month, that overage takes the DigitalOcean bill to $44.00.

Is Hetzner's US pricing the same as in Europe?

No. Hetzner's US plans cost more than European ones with similar specs. The CPX11, with 2 vCPUs and 2 GB, costs $20.49 before IPv4, and the 4 GB CPX21, with 3 vCPUs, costs $37.49 before IPv4.

Cite this: Devshot, "DigitalOcean vs Hetzner 2026: Which VPS Costs Less?", October 2026.

How we priced this

We read DigitalOcean's Droplet pricing and its main pricing page for the $0.01 per GiB overage on October 10, 2026. We read Hetzner's Regular Performance and Cost-Optimized pages the same day, using the USD prices those pages display, before VAT. Each row is one always-on server billed monthly, with backups and snapshots excluded. We do not convert currencies. Hetzner's euro list prices are on the same page: its 4 GB plan is €19.49 before IPv4.

Published under Louis Corneloup, founder of Devshot, Dupple and Toolradar. Editorial rules are on the Devshot about page.

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