DigitalOcean vs Hetzner ARM (Ampere)
A detailed comparison to help you choose between DigitalOcean and Hetzner ARM (Ampere).
Quick Verdict
3.7/5
DigitalOcean
0 reviews
4.3/5
Hetzner ARM (Ampere)
0 reviews
Hetzner ARM (Ampere) is rated higher (4.3 vs 3.7). Cloud VPS and managed services platform offering droplets, databases, and app hosting. Built for developers who want straightforward pricing and documentation without enterprise complexity. CAX plans start at 2 vCPU / 4GB RAM / 40GB NVMe; launch pricing was €3.79/month incl. IPv4 (April 2023), currently listed from €6.49/month incl. IPv4
DigitalOcean Simple, predictable cloud infrastructure for developers | Hetzner ARM (Ampere) Arm64 cloud servers on Ampere Altra cores in Hetzner Cloud's cost-optimized line | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.7 (0 reviews) | 4.3 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | paid | paid |
| Starting price | From $4/mo✓ | From $6.49/mo |
| Best for | Developer teams and small SaaS companies that value documentation, API quality, and managed add-ons over raw compute value, especially for NA/EU/APAC audiences. | Containerised, open-source, scale-out workloads in Europe — web farms, CI runners, build machines, dev environments — where price per core beats single-thread speed |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | 1 vCPU | 2 vCPU✓ |
| RAM | 1 GB | 4 GB✓ |
| Storage | 25 GB | 40 GB✓ |
| Bandwidth | 1 TB/mo | 20 TB/mo✓ |
| SLA uptime | 99.99%✓ | 99.9% |
| Data-center count | 16✓ | 3 |
| €/vCPU/mo | €4.00 | €3.25✓ |
| €/GB RAM/mo | €4.00 | €1.62✓ |
| Performance | ||
| CPU score (sysbench) | 2,200 | — |
| Disk read (fio) | 560 MB/s | — |
| Disk IOPS (4K random) | 8,400 | — |
| Network out | 0.5 Gbps | — |
| Latency (TTFB) | 32 ms | — |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ✓ | |
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | United StatesNetherlandsSingaporeUnited KingdomGermanyCanada+2 | NurembergFalkensteinHelsinki |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tierhourly billingnvme storageipv6ddos protectionbackups includedsnapshotsmanaged options3 compatibleeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterterraform providerkubernetes supportprivate networkingapi access | hourly billingnvme storageipv6ddos protectionbackups includedsnapshotseu datacentergdpr compliantapi accessarm processors |
| Visit DigitalOcean → | Visit Hetzner ARM (Ampere) → | |
DigitalOcean
Pros
- + Transparent bundled pricing from $4/month with per-second billing and monthly caps
- + Documentation and community tutorials are the strongest we have seen in mid-market cloud
- + Real 99.99% SLA with publicly posted service-credit tiers
- + Managed add-ons (databases, Kubernetes with free control plane, S3-compatible Spaces) on one bill and one API
- + GPU Droplets (H100/H200/MI300X) with per-second billing and no commitment
- + Free monitoring, Cloud Firewalls, and generous bundled outbound transfer
Cons
- - Weak compute-per-euro versus Hetzner/UpCloud/Vultr — our benchmarks show ~3.4x price for less CPU at the 4GB tier
- - Backups cost 20% of Droplet price; snapshots billed separately; no permanent free tier
- - No coverage in South America, Africa, the Middle East, or Japan
- - SMTP ports blocked by default on new Droplets; low initial Droplet caps for new accounts
- - Support responsiveness on standard plans is ticket-based and often slow for small accounts
- - SLA uptime is measured by DigitalOcean itself, in its own discretion
Hetzner ARM (Ampere)
Pros
- + Cheapest way to buy Hetzner compute per core
- + Real server silicon — Ampere Altra (Neoverse-N1), ECC RAM, NVMe
- + Hourly billing with monthly cap, 20TB included traffic, free IPv6
- + Free automated DDoS protection and the full Hetzner Cloud API/platform
- + Mature arm64 software ecosystem covers most open-source stacks
Cons
- - x86 and Arm are separate worlds — no rescale, backup or snapshot crossover
- - Cost-Optimized placement means limited stock and EU-only locations for CAX
- - Launch-era pricing is gone; entry cost has risen
- - Shared vCPUs and modest single-core speed
- - Backups and snapshots cost extra; unmanaged servers
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