Hetzner DDoS Protection vs AWS WAF
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Hetzner DDoS Protection and AWS WAF.
Quick Verdict
4.0/5
Hetzner DDoS Protection
0 reviews
4.0/5
AWS WAF
0 reviews
Both Hetzner DDoS Protection and AWS WAF are equally rated at 4.0/5. Free automatic DDoS mitigation included with every Hetzner product. Arbor/Juniper scrubbing plus Nokia Deepfield Defender edge filtering (2026), with no per-gigabit charges and no configurable thresholds. AWS WAF is Amazon's web application firewall that can be attached to CloudFront, ALB, or API Gateway. Pay per rule ($1/rule/month) and per million requests ($0.60). Integrates with AWS Shield.
Hetzner DDoS Protection Hardware-backed DDoS mitigation for high-traffic infrastructure |  AWS WAF Amazon WAF integrated with CloudFront and ALB | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.0 (0 reviews) | 4.0 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | free | usage-based |
| Starting price | Free✓ | From $5/mo |
| Best for | Hetzner customers who want a credible zero-cost first line of volumetric defense and will layer external L7 filtering on top only where attack risk justifies paying for it. | AWS-invested applications that need a managed, OWASP-focused WAF tightly integrated with CloudFront or ALB, with rules deployed as code |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tierddos protectioneu datacenter | api accessus datacentereu datacenterapac datacenter |
| Visit Hetzner DDoS Protection → | Visit AWS WAF → | |
Hetzner DDoS Protection
Pros
- + Free and automatic for every Hetzner customer, with no scrubbing or per-gigabit charges during attacks
- + Nokia Deepfield Defender edge mitigation (since March 2026) filters most attack traffic before it enters the backbone
- + Distinguishes attack types (e.g. UDP flood vs SYN flood) instead of reacting to raw volume alone
- + Filtering stays inside Hetzner's own German/Finnish network, supporting GDPR data-sovereignty requirements
- + Covers all Hetzner products at once: cloud servers, dedicated root servers, web hosting, load balancers
Cons
- - Protects Hetzner infrastructure only; useless for non-Hetzner origins
- - Zero user control: no configurable thresholds, no dashboard, no WAF rules
- - No published mitigation capacity, detection SLA, or uptime credits tied to the service
- - Non-EU locations (Ashburn, Hillsboro, Singapore) not confirmed to run the same mitigation stack
- - Historic community reports of null-routing attacked dedicated servers could not be confirmed against current policy
AWS WAF
Pros
- + Edge-level blocking on CloudFront stops bad traffic before it reaches the origin
- + Transparent metered pricing with AWS's own worked cost examples published
- + AWS managed rule groups (OWASP CRS, SQLi, IP reputation) cost $1 each per month
- + Written SLA: 99.95% monthly uptime per region with defined service credits
- + Full API/CloudFormation coverage and deep CloudWatch and logging integration
Cons
- - Useless outside AWS — only protects CloudFront, ALB, API Gateway and AppSync resources
- - Web ACL Capacity Unit overages and Bot Control per-request fees can multiply the bill
- - Rule authoring is verbose JSON; serious use needs AWS and infrastructure-as-code skills
- - No free tier and no bundled DDoS cost protection without the separate Shield Advanced subscription
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