How does Hetzner compare to Digitalocean?
I always hear great things about Hetzner. I don't know if those comments are just patriotic Europeans or if Hetzner is really that much better than the alternatives.
I always hear great things about Hetzner. I don't know if those comments are just patriotic Europeans or if Hetzner is really that much better than the alternatives.
They had a bit of a reputation for unreliability but that was decades ago, I expect them to have improved and it's definitely more than good enough for a hobby project.
My main concern with them would be the abuse policies - unless that changed in the past couple of years, they have a "shoot first ask questions later" approach (shutting down or firewalling your server, then asking you to explain/fix the issue before maybe turning it back on - e.g. if their automated systems detect what they think to be a port scan).
Pricing:
$6 on DigitalOcean gets you 1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 1 TB traffic, 25 GB SSD. Additional traffic is $10/TB.
€4.51 ($5) on Hetzner gets you 4 GB RAM, 2 vCPU, 20 TB traffic, 40 GB SSD. Additional traffic is likely around €1/TB.
$48 on DigitalOcean gets you a VM with 8 GB RAM, 4 vCPUs, 5 TB traffic, 160 GB SSD.
$48 (€43) on Hetzner gets you a physical machine with e.g. (the specs are a bit random since you're picking from a list of customized systems) an Intel XEON E-2176G (6 cores/12 threads), 64 GB of ECC RAM, 2 x 960 GB SSD, and a Gigabit link with "unlimited" traffic (there are reports https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/180504/hetzner-traffic-use... that they don't like it if you actually max out the line rate all the time, but you should consider the 20 TB/month they offer by default the minimum that they will have absolutely no issue with).
I use them a lot for backend data processing but anything public facing I host at AWS or Digital Ocean who have a more reasonable approach to the internet.
I'm not sure why anyone would be patriotic about a private company.
My bet is to reduce support calls. "Why can't I do X and Y on this server?"
I had one project which was part AWS, part Hetzner, for cost reasons. Both driven from terraform.
If you can do it with simple VMs, I’d go for Hetzner. Of late they’ve added more features like private networks.
The original offering is real servers, and the “server bidding” feature is brilliant for getting a bargain.
However, the DO docs are on a different level and high quality. But those are also accessible if you are not a customer.
This is nitpicky, but just want to mention that Europe is a continent made up of 44 diverse and distinct nations, and Hetzner originates from one of them.
Patriotism doesn't really work in that situation (nor in the context of a private company).
A more apt comparison would be how Americans feel towards their president. Most like them, others dislike them, but overall they're proud to have them. They're there in tough times and easy to blame when something doesn't go their way.
That doesn't really say anything in the parent context of persistent 100% CPU usage.
Did you have a particularly positive experience?