Hetzner wins on cost and traffic limits. A Hetzner CX22 gives you 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, and 20 TB traffic for $4.35/mo. Vultr's nearest match (High Frequency, $6/mo) gives 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, and 1 TB traffic. Hetzner crushes it on raw value, but Vultr's 32 global regions beat Hetzner's 6 if you need geographic diversity.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Hetzner | Vultr |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | No free tier | Free available |
| Paid price | $4.35 USD/mo | $5.00 USD/mo |
| Regions | 6 global regions | 32 global locations |
| Bare Metal Option | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | ||
| Managed Databases | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| Load Balancers | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| Private Networking | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Firewalls | ||
| Monitoring | ||
| Score | 9/10 | 8/10 |
Hetzner
9
Vultr
8
Runner-up
Hetzner is the better choice if you want the cheapest credible cloud provider. Vultr is the better choice if you need more regions and don't mind paying a bit more for it.
Pricing
Hetzner's entry-level CX22 (2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 40 GB SSD) costs $4.35/mo and includes 20 TB traffic. This is roughly 3 to 4 times cheaper than equivalent specs elsewhere.
Vultr's entry-level Cloud Compute (1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 25 GB SSD) runs $5/mo with 1 TB traffic. The High Frequency tier at $6/mo bumps you to NVMe storage and faster CPUs but keeps the same 1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM split.
If you want more power on either platform, Hetzner's CCX13 (2 dedicated vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 80 GB NVMe) is $14.39/mo, while Vultr's comparable dedicated option requires stepping up to a more expensive tier. Hetzner's edge here is massive: $14.39 for dedicated vCPU with Vultr needing to spend significantly more for the same performance.
Vultr offers a $250 free trial for 30 days, which is a solid incentive if you want to test it out. Hetzner doesn't advertise a free tier, though both platforms use hourly billing so you can try small deployments affordably.
Features and Regions
Hetzner has 6 regions (Germany, Finland, Singapore, US). Most are in Europe, which works fine for EU-based projects but leaves gaps if you need Asia or US coverage.
Vultr has 32 locations worldwide, giving you far more options for low-latency deployments. If your users span multiple continents or you need a specific region (like Tokyo or Mumbai), Vultr is more likely to have you covered.
Both platforms offer Kubernetes, object storage, snapshots, firewalls, and load balancers. Hetzner's managed services (Kubernetes, databases) are newer and less battle-tested than Vultr's, but they're functional. Vultr's documentation is weaker than what you'd find at DigitalOcean or AWS, but it's adequate for standard setups.
Who Each Product Suits
Choose Hetzner if your workload fits within one of its 6 regions and cost is your top priority. It's ideal for startups, hobby projects, or cost-conscious teams running Europe-first applications. The 20 TB included traffic also makes it excellent for high-bandwidth use cases like CDN origins or large file distribution.
Choose Vultr if you need to deploy globally or prefer more regional flexibility. Its 32 locations and High Frequency tier (NVMe at $6/mo) make it a good fit for applications that need low latency across multiple regions or where CPU performance consistency matters.