Hetzner Cloud

Overview

Hetzner Cloud provides a suite of cloud infrastructure services, primarily focused on virtual servers, managed Kubernetes, and storage solutions. Established in 1997, Hetzner Online GmbH expanded its offerings to include cloud services, positioning itself as a provider for developers and businesses seeking infrastructure with a strong emphasis on cost efficiency and European data center locations. The platform is designed to be accessible, offering a developer-friendly API and command-line interface (CLI) for managing resources programmatically.

The service is particularly suited for small to medium-sized applications, development environments, and projects where budget constraints are a primary consideration. Its core product, Cloud Servers, offers virtual machines with various CPU, RAM, and storage configurations. Managed Kubernetes simplifies container orchestration, allowing users to deploy and manage containerized applications without directly managing the underlying Kubernetes control plane. Additional services include Block Storage for persistent disk volumes, Load Balancers for distributing incoming network traffic, and Object Storage for scalable data storage.

Hetzner Cloud's infrastructure is hosted in data centers located within Europe, which can be a key factor for projects requiring compliance with regulations such as GDPR due to data residency requirements. The company's operational model focuses on providing transparent, pay-as-you-go pricing without complex tiering or hidden fees. This approach aims to provide predictability in billing, which can be beneficial for startups and projects with fluctuating resource demands. The platform supports common operating systems and offers a range of pre-configured images, facilitating rapid deployment of virtual instances.

For developers, Hetzner Cloud offers official SDKs for Go, Python, and Ruby, alongside a robust CLI tool. These tools enable automation of infrastructure provisioning, scaling, and management tasks. The API reference documentation provides detailed information for integrating Hetzner Cloud services into custom workflows and applications. The platform's direct approach to cloud services, combined with its pricing model and European presence, distinguishes it within the cloud infrastructure market, offering an alternative to larger hyperscale providers for specific use cases.

Key features

• Cloud Servers: Virtual private servers (VPS) with dedicated CPU cores, SSD storage, and flexible configurations, available in various data center locations.
• Managed Kubernetes: A managed service for deploying and scaling containerized applications using Kubernetes, abstracting away control plane management Hetzner Kubernetes overview.
• Block Storage: Persistent, scalable block storage volumes that can be attached to cloud servers, offering high I/O performance.
• Object Storage: S3-compatible object storage for storing unstructured data, suitable for backups, archives, and static content hosting.
• Load Balancers: Distribute incoming network traffic across multiple cloud servers to enhance application availability and performance.
• Private Networks: Create isolated network environments for cloud servers to enable secure internal communication.
• Snapshots and Backups: Create point-in-time copies of cloud servers and block storage volumes for data protection and recovery.
• Firewalls: Configure network access rules to secure cloud servers and control inbound and outbound traffic.
• Developer API & CLI: Programmatic access to manage all cloud resources, supported by official SDKs for Go, Python, and Ruby Hetzner Cloud API reference.
• IPv4 & IPv6 Support: Native support for both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses for network connectivity.

Pricing

Hetzner Cloud operates on a transparent, pay-as-you-go pricing model, where users are billed hourly for resources consumed, with a monthly cap. This means that if a resource is used for less than a full month, the hourly rate applies, but the cost will not exceed the stated monthly price. The pricing structure is designed to be straightforward, without complex egress fees or hidden charges. All prices are listed in Euros.

Below is a summary of typical starting prices for core services as of June 2026:

For detailed and up-to-date pricing information, including higher-tier configurations and specific regional costs, refer to the official Hetzner Cloud pricing page.

Common integrations

• Terraform: Automate infrastructure provisioning and management using the Hetzner Cloud Terraform provider Hetzner Cloud Terraform guide.
• Ansible: Manage server configurations and deployments with the Hetzner Cloud Ansible modules.
• Grafana: Monitor server performance and resource utilization by integrating with Prometheus and Grafana for visualization Grafana Prometheus integration.
• Docker: Deploy and manage containerized applications on Hetzner Cloud Servers or Managed Kubernetes clusters Docker Get Started guide.
• Kubernetes Tools: Utilize standard Kubernetes tools like kubectl to interact with Managed Kubernetes clusters.
• Cloudflare: Integrate with Cloudflare for DNS management, CDN, and DDoS protection for applications hosted on Hetzner Cloud Cloudflare DNS records.

Alternatives

• DigitalOcean: Offers similar VPS, managed Kubernetes, and storage solutions with a focus on developer experience and simplicity.
• Linode: Provides cloud computing services, including virtual machines, block storage, and managed databases, with a developer-centric approach.
• Vultr: Known for its global network of data centers and high-performance cloud compute instances.
• AWS EC2: Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud offers a wide range of virtual server configurations and integrates with a vast ecosystem of AWS services.
• Google Compute Engine: Google's infrastructure-as-a-service offering for running virtual machines on Google's infrastructure.

Getting started

This example demonstrates how to create a new cloud server using the hcloud-cli, Hetzner Cloud's command-line interface. First, ensure you have the CLI installed and configured with your API token.

# Install the hcloud CLI (if not already installed)
# For macOS:
# brew install hcloud

# For Linux (using snap):
# snap install hcloud

# Configure your API token (replace YOUR_API_TOKEN with your actual token)
# You can generate an API token in the Hetzner Cloud Console
# hcloud context create my-hetzner-cloud --token YOUR_API_TOKEN
# hcloud context use my-hetzner-cloud

# List available server types to choose from
hcloud server type list

# List available images (e.g., Ubuntu 22.04)
hcloud image list --selector type=system --selector name=ubuntu-22.04

# Create a new cloud server named 'my-first-server' in 'fsn1-dc14' (Falkenstein) datacenter
# using the 'cx11' server type and 'ubuntu-22.04' image.
# Replace 'YOUR_SSH_KEY_NAME' with the name of an SSH key you've uploaded to Hetzner Cloud.
hcloud server create \
  --name my-first-server \
  --type cx11 \
  --image ubuntu-22.04 \
  --location fsn1-dc14 \
  --ssh-key YOUR_SSH_KEY_NAME

# After creation, you can get details about your new server
hcloud server list
hcloud server describe my-first-server

# To delete the server when no longer needed
# hcloud server delete my-first-server

This sequence of commands will provision a basic Ubuntu server, which you can then access via SSH using the specified key.