Hetzner Cloud vs Linode (Akamai)
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Hetzner Cloud and Linode (Akamai).
Quick Verdict
4.4/5
Hetzner Cloud
0 reviews
4.0/5
Linode (Akamai)
0 reviews
Hetzner Cloud is rated higher (4.4 vs 4.0). German cloud provider offering the best price-to-performance ratio in the market. CX22 (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 40GB NVMe) costs €4.35/month. Loved by European developers for fast NVMe, generous bandwidth, a Linode provides managed VPS instances on SSD storage with data centers across North America, Europe, and Asia. Built for developers and small-to-medium businesses needing reliable cloud infrastructure.
Hetzner Cloud Affordable VPS hosting with fast deployment and transparent pricing | Linode (Akamai) High-performance Linux VPS hosting with predictable pricing. | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.4 (0 reviews)✓ | 4.0 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | paid | usage-based |
| Starting price | From $5.99/mo | From $5/mo✓ |
| Best for | Developers and small teams who want unmanaged Linux infrastructure at the lowest cost per unit of compute, especially for European workloads with data-residency requirements, dev/test environments, CI runners, and price-sensitive production web apps. | Small production teams wanting an API-first Linux platform with a real uptime SLA, pooled transfer, managed Kubernetes and databases, and one vendor for compute plus edge delivery. |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | 2 vCPU✓ | 1 vCPU |
| RAM | 4 GB✓ | 1 GB |
| Storage | 40 GB✓ | 25 GB |
| Bandwidth | 20 TB/mo✓ | 1 TB/mo |
| SLA uptime | 99.9% | 99.99%✓ |
| Data-center count | 6 | 26✓ |
| €/vCPU/mo | €3.00✓ | €5.00 |
| €/GB RAM/mo | €1.50✓ | €5.00 |
| Performance | ||
| CPU score (sysbench) | 4,820✓ | 1,800 |
| Disk read (fio) | 2,100 MB/s✓ | 800 MB/s |
| Disk IOPS (4K random) | 42,000✓ | 14,000 |
| Network out | 1 Gbps✓ | 0.5 Gbps |
| Latency (TTFB) | 18 ms✓ | 30 ms |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ✓ | |
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | GermanyFinlandUnited StatesSingapore | United StatesUnited KingdomGermanyIndiaSingaporeJapan+3 |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | hourly billingnvme storageipv6ddos protectionbackups includedsnapshotseu datacenterus datacentergdpr compliantterraform providerapi access | free tierhourly billingnvme storageipv6ddos protectionbackups includedsnapshotsmanaged optioneu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterapi accesskubernetes support |
| Visit Hetzner Cloud → | Visit Linode (Akamai) → | |
Hetzner Cloud
Pros
- + Best CPU-per-euro in our 2026-04-01 benchmark run: the CX22 outperformed plans costing up to six times as much
- + Strong NVMe throughput: 2,100-2,400 MB/s sequential reads and 42,000-48,000 random 4K IOPS in our tests
- + Transparent hourly billing with a monthly price cap and no setup fees or contracts
- + Six cloud locations with owned, ISO 27001-certified EU data centers and GDPR-compliant processing
- + At least 20 TB included transfer at EU locations, plus free DDoS mitigation for all customers
- + Mature automation: REST API, Terraform provider, official Go/Python libraries, cloud firewalls and private networks
Cons
- - Backups and snapshots are paid add-ons rather than plan inclusions, which erodes the headline price advantage
- - Email-only support with no phone option and no managed tier for cloud customers
- - Entry plans use shared vCPUs and Hetzner offers no bandwidth guarantee (typical 300-500 Mbit/s stated by Hetzner)
- - No supported Windows installs and a smaller managed-ecosystem than larger providers
- - Default resource limits on new accounts require a support ticket to raise; cost-optimized stock is periodically unavailable
- - Object storage only available in the three European locations
Linode (Akamai)
Pros
- + Published hourly pricing with monthly caps and low egress overage ($0.005/GB)
- + 99.99% compute uptime SLA with pro-rata service credits; 99.9% for other services
- + Complete platform: LKE, managed databases, object storage, NodeBalancers, DNS, GPU
- + Excellent documentation and a well-documented REST API, CLI, and Terraform support
- + 25+ core data centers across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America
Cons
- - Entry price-performance is not class-leading (our Nanode benchmark: CPU 1,800 at €5/mo)
- - Backups, snapshots, and managed databases are all paid add-ons
- - Product surface is fragmenting as Akamai folds Linode into its enterprise strategy
- - Service availability varies by region (Backups are core-regions-only)
- - Shared entry plans run on explicitly legacy hardware
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