Cheaper Hetzner Cloud alternatives
Pricing data as of 2026-10-12 · refreshed weekly
Baseline: a Next.js app with startup-level traffic (~50,000 visits/month) costs $23.59/month on Hetzner Cloud (CPX22 (Regular Performance)). Every provider below can run the same workload — ranked by real list price. Cheaper is not always better: a vps platform and a raw VPS differ in how much ops work lands on you.
| Provider | Type | Plan | $/month | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orkestr | paas | Starter | $0 | Hetzner Cloud vs Orkestr → |
| DigitalOcean Droplets | vps | Basic 512MB | $4 | Hetzner Cloud vs DigitalOcean Droplets → |
| OVHcloud VPS | vps | VPS-1 | $4.54 | Hetzner Cloud vs OVHcloud VPS → |
| Vultr | vps | Cloud Compute 1GB | $5 | Hetzner Cloud vs Vultr → |
| Railway | paas | Hobby | $5 | Hetzner Cloud vs Railway → |
| Linode (Akamai) | vps | Nanode 1GB | $5 | Hetzner Cloud vs Linode (Akamai) → |
| AWS Lightsail | vps | $5 bundle | $5 | Hetzner Cloud vs AWS Lightsail → |
| Heroku | paas | Eco | $5 | Hetzner Cloud vs Heroku → |
| Fly.io | paas | shared-cpu-1x 512MB | $5.17 | Hetzner Cloud vs Fly.io → |
| DigitalOcean App Platform | paas | Shared 1 vCPU / 512MB | $5.48 | Hetzner Cloud vs DigitalOcean App Platform → |
| Hostinger VPS | vps | KVM 1 | $6.49 | Hetzner Cloud vs Hostinger VPS → |
| Scaleway | vps | DEV1-S | $7.1 | Hetzner Cloud vs Scaleway → |
| Netcup | vps | VPS 500 G12.5 | $7.79 | Hetzner Cloud vs Netcup → |
| Render | paas | 512 MB / 0.5 CPU | $17.35 | Hetzner Cloud vs Render → |
| Vercel | serverless | Pro | $20 | Hetzner Cloud vs Vercel → |
| Netlify | serverless | Pro | $20 | Hetzner Cloud vs Netlify → |
| Koyeb | paas | eco-micro | $29 | Hetzner Cloud vs Koyeb → |
FAQ
What is the cheapest alternative to Hetzner Cloud?
For a Next.js app at startup traffic: Orkestr (Starter) at free versus $23.59/month on Hetzner Cloud, $23.59 less per month. It is a PaaS, so check what you give up before switching.
Is there a cheaper VPS than Hetzner Cloud?
Yes, for this workload: DigitalOcean Droplets $4/month, OVHcloud VPS $4.54/month, Vultr $5/month, versus $23.59/month on Hetzner Cloud.
How is this comparison calculated?
Workload: Next.js needing ~512MB RAM for serving, ~50,000 visits and ~74GB of transfer a month. For each provider we take the cheapest plan that fits RAM, bandwidth and visit limits, plus metered egress where the provider charges it. Providers whose largest plan does not fit are left out.
How current are these prices?
They are official list prices as of 2026-10-12, re-checked against each provider's pricing page on a weekly cycle. Intro promos and coupons are not used in totals; taxes are not included unless a plan note says so.