AWS vs Hetzner
Detailed comparison to help you choose the right tool for your needs
Quick Comparison
Rating
4.5
vs4.6
Starting Price
Free
vs$4
Pricing Model
paid
vspaid
Feature
AWS
Hetzner
Compute EC2 Lambda
Storage S3 EBS
Databases RDS DynamoDB
AI/ML SageMaker
CDN CloudFront
200+ services
Cloud VPS
Dedicated servers
Block storage
Load balancers
Firewalls
Server auction
AWS Pros
- Most comprehensive service catalog with 200+
- Largest global infrastructure with 30+ regions
- Mature and battle-tested at massive scale
- Extensive free tier for 12 months
- Deep partner and training ecosystem
- Dominant market share means broad talent pool
AWS Cons
- Pricing is complex and hard to predict
- Console UI is overwhelming and dated
- Easy to accidentally run up large bills
- Support requires paid plans
- Vendor lock-in is very real
- Learning curve is enormous
Hetzner Pros
- Unbeatable price-to-performance ratio
- Excellent European data center locations
- Dedicated servers at cloud prices
- Server auction for incredible deals
- GDPR-compliant European hosting
- 20TB included transfer is extremely generous
Hetzner Cons
- Limited managed services
- No equivalent to Lambda or managed databases
- US region only recently added
- Less polished control panel than DigitalOcean
- No PaaS layer with bare infrastructure only
- Support is email-only on basic plans