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DigitalOcean vs Hetzner Cloud pricing

What each charges for the same traffic, and what happens when a post goes viral.

Verdict at 100,000 pageviews a month: DigitalOcean comes to $4 and Hetzner Cloud to unverified a month at 100,000 pageviews with our default traffic profile. At least one total leaves out unverified prices, so we don't call a winner. Viral day: DigitalOcean bills ≥ $4; Hetzner Cloud's prices are unverified.
DigitalOcean vs Hetzner Cloud
DigitalOceanHetzner Cloud
TypeVPSVPS
Free tierUnverifiedSource · Oct 16UnverifiedSource · Oct 16
Free bandwidth——
Free requests——
Paid planBasic Droplet 512MiB/1vCPU/10GiBSource · Oct 16UnverifiedSource · Oct 16
Price$4/monthSource · Oct 16UnverifiedSource · Oct 16
Included500 GiB transferSource · Oct 16—
Bandwidth overageUnverifiedSource · Oct 16UnverifiedSource · Oct 16
Requests overage——
Over the free limitNo free tierNo free tier

Try your own traffic

Scenario
Traffic details2 MB pages · 20 requests · 10% dynamic · 30 deploys
Pages
Functions
Deploys
Always-on server

The always-on server is used for Railway, which bills a service that runs all month. Fly.io uses one small machine.

One month at your traffic. Totals use verified prices only; “≥” means some items are unverified and left out.

  1. DigitalOcean
    Basic Droplet 512MiB/1vCPU/10GiB
    $4/mo
    Cheapest verifiedKeeps billingNo free tier.
    How this is calculated
    Cost breakdown
    Droplet (flat monthly price)$4.00Source, Oct 16, 2026

    A flat-price server has fixed CPU and RAM; whether it can serve this much traffic depends on your app.

  2. Hetzner Cloud
    Prices not verified yet
    Unverified
    No free tier.

FAQ

Is DigitalOcean or Hetzner Cloud cheaper for 100,000 pageviews a month?

DigitalOcean comes to $4 and Hetzner Cloud to unverified a month at 100,000 pageviews with our default traffic profile. At least one total leaves out unverified prices, so we don't call a winner.

What happens to DigitalOcean and Hetzner Cloud on a viral day?

On a month with one day at 50× normal traffic: DigitalOcean bills ≥ $4; Hetzner Cloud's prices are unverified.

Does DigitalOcean or Hetzner Cloud have a hard cap on the free tier?

DigitalOcean has no free tier. Hetzner Cloud has no free tier.

Full details: DigitalOcean pricing · Hetzner Cloud pricing