Compare / Netlify vs Hetzner Cloud
Netlify vs Hetzner Cloud
Pre-calculated from hand-checked data — Netlify checked 2026-08-07, Hetzner Cloud checked 2026-08-06.
The short version
Netlify wins more of our comparison points, but Hetzner Cloud still fits if european projects that need serious compute or move a lot of traffic describes you.
Price Netlify
Netlify is cheaper at every stage we model — about $20/mo even for a growing project.
Ease Netlify
Netlify is easier to get running: connect the Git repo; pushes build and deploy automatically with previews for every pull request.
Control Hetzner Cloud
Hetzner Cloud gives you more control over the stack — the flip side of the convenience trade.
Free tier Netlify
Netlify has a free tier; Hetzner Cloud doesn't.
Features Netlify
Netlify comes out ahead on 8 of the 15 features we track, versus 3.
What developers say about this matchup
We couldn't find a substantive first-person discussion comparing this exact pair. We leave the section empty instead of filling it with vendor marketing or generic SEO comparisons.
At a glance
| Netlify | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Static sites and frontend apps that deploy from Git and want a generous, mature workflow. | European projects that need serious compute or move a lot of traffic. |
| How deploys work | Connect the Git repo; pushes build and deploy automatically with previews for every pull request. | You get root on a bare server: bring your own setup, or use one-click apps like Docker and WordPress. |
| The tradeoff | The credit system makes bills hard to predict — traffic, deploys, and compute all drain one pool. | Self-managed like any VPS, and the bandwidth advantage mostly applies to EU locations. |
| Free tier | Free: 300 credits per month with a hard stop. Commercial use is allowed; enough for a small site with modest traffic and few production deploys. | None |
What you'd realistically pay
| Project stage | Netlify | Hetzner Cloud | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just starting | Free Free — Watch the credit math: deploys cost 15 credits each out of 300. | ≈€5.99/mo CX23 (EU) — €5.49 + €0.50 IPv4. 2 shared vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD, 20 TB traffic. Germany and Finland only. | Netlify |
| Steady traffic | ≈$9/mo Personal — 1,000 credits/month; extra 500-credit packs cost $5. | ≈€8.99/mo CX33 (EU) — €8.49 + €0.50 IPv4. 4 shared vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD, 20 TB traffic. | Netlify |
| Growing | ≈$20/mo Pro — 3,000 credits/month; extra 1,500-credit packs cost $10. | ≈€43.49/mo CCX13 (EU) — €42.99 + €0.50 IPv4. 2 dedicated vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 80 GB NVMe — move to dedicated CPUs when shared bursting stops being enough. | Netlify |
Netlify pricing notes
- Credit rates: 10,000 requests = 2 credits, 1 GB bandwidth = 20 credits, production deploy = 15 credits, 1 GB-hour of function compute = 10 credits.
- Deploy previews and branch deploys are free; only production deploys cost credits.
Hetzner Cloud pricing notes
- Traffic overage costs €1/TB in the EU — most providers charge 10–100x that per GB.
- Billed hourly up to a monthly cap.
- The Arm-based CAX plans match CX specs at similar prices if the Intel CX line is out of stock.
Our ratings
Ease of use Netlify
Pricing clarity Hetzner Cloud
Free tier Netlify
Scaling Netlify
Control Hetzner Cloud
Feature by feature
Netlify wins 8, Hetzner Cloud wins 3, with 4 even.
Deploy workflow
| Netlify | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy from Git push | Yes Connect GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps; pushes deploy. | No No deploy pipeline — bring your own CI or scripts. |
| Preview deploys | Yes Deploy previews per pull request and branch deploys, free of credit cost. | No Nothing built in. |
| Official CLI | Yes The netlify CLI runs local dev, deploys, and manages functions. | Yes hcloud CLI manages servers, networks, and snapshots. |
| Instant rollbacks | Yes Every deploy is kept; publish any previous one instantly. | Partial Snapshots and paid backups restore machines; no deploy-level rollback. |
Platform
| Netlify | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domains + HTTPS | Yes Custom domains with automatic TLS on all plans, including Free. | Yes Point DNS at the server; TLS is yours via certbot or a proxy. |
| Built-in CDN / edge network | Yes Global edge CDN serves all sites by default. | No No CDN product — put Cloudflare in front if needed. |
| Serverless functions | Yes Netlify Functions (AWS Lambda under the hood) plus edge functions. | No Not a VPS feature. |
| Docker containers | No No container deploys — builds run in Netlify’s build image. | Yes Docker CE one-click app or install it yourself. |
| SSH / shell access | No No shell access; logs are the debugging surface. | Yes Full root SSH. |
| EU hosting region | Partial The CDN is global, but functions default to a US region; region choice needs higher tiers. | Yes Germany and Finland are the home turf — this is where the value is. |
Runtime & operations
| Netlify | Hetzner Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic scaling | Yes CDN and functions scale automatically with traffic. | No Manual resizing or manual fleet management. |
| Scale to zero | Yes Nothing runs (or bills) while the site has no traffic — apart from credits. | No Servers bill until deleted, even powered off. |
| Scheduled jobs | Yes Scheduled functions run on a cron expression. | Yes Classic cron on the box. |
| Managed database | Partial Netlify DB (Neon Postgres) is in early access; most projects bring an external database. | No No managed database product — self-host or go external. |
| Logs & metrics built in | Partial Function and deploy logs included; analytics is a paid add-on. | Partial Basic server graphs in the console; app-level monitoring is yours. |
Watch out for
Netlify
- Every production deploy costs 15 credits, so the 300-credit free tier covers only about 20 deploys a month even with zero traffic.
- The free tier has a hard stop: when credits run out, the site pauses until the next month.
- Bandwidth burns credits quickly — 1 GB costs 20 credits.
Hetzner Cloud
- Hetzner raised prices on 15 June 2026: dedicated CCX and shared CPX plans roughly tripled, while the budget CX line rose about 35%.
- The cheap CX plans are sold in Germany and Finland only, in limited capacity — Hetzner sometimes pauses sales when stock runs out.
- US locations include only 1–2 TB of traffic versus 20 TB in the EU — the famous value is a European value.
- A public IPv4 address costs €0.50/month extra; only IPv6 is free.
- Servers bill until deleted, even while powered off.
Read the full reviews: Netlify and Hetzner Cloud. Or answer four questions to see what fits your project.