Hetzner Cloud vs Vultr: Bandwidth and Price Showdown

TL;DR

Hetzner Cloud offers better per-dollar value on compute with included bandwidth (20 TB/month on standard plans at €2.49–€9.99/month). Vultr charges separately for bandwidth overages ($0.01/GB after 40 GB monthly allowance) and has higher base prices ($2.50–$18/month for equivalent specs). For bandwidth-intensive workloads, Hetzner wins on cost; for predictable, lighter traffic, both are viable, but Vultr’s presence in more global datacenters (16 vs 10) may justify higher spend depending on latency requirements.

Entry-Level Plan Comparison

Hetzner Cloud CPX11

• Specs: 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD
• Price: €2.49/month (~$2.70 USD)
• Bandwidth: 20 TB/month included
• Datacenter locations: 10 (Nuremberg, Falkenstein, Helsinki, Ashburn, Virginia, Hillsboro, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul)

Vultr Cloud Compute (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM)

• Specs: 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 25 GB SSD
• Price: $2.50/month
• Bandwidth: 1 TB/month included; $0.01/GB overage
• Datacenter locations: 16 (Newark, New Jersey, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, Toronto, Mexico City, São Paulo)

Analysis: Hetzner’s CPX11 undercuts Vultr’s $2.50 plan on both CPU cores (1 vs 1, equivalent) and bandwidth allocation (20 TB vs 1 TB). Even accounting for EUR-to-USD conversion variance, Hetzner delivers 20× the monthly bandwidth for a comparable price point. However, Vultr’s 16 datacenter footprint provides more geographic redundancy options out of the box.

Mid-Tier Plan Comparison

Hetzner Cloud CPX21

• Specs: 2 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD
• Price: €4.99/month (~$5.40 USD)
• Bandwidth: 20 TB/month included
• NVMe storage: Standard SSD

Vultr Cloud Compute (2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM)

• Specs: 2 vCPUs, 2 GB RAM, 55 GB SSD
• Price: $6/month
• Bandwidth: 1 TB/month included; $0.01/GB overage
• Storage: High-performance SSD

Analysis: The gap widens at mid-tier. Hetzner provides double the RAM (4 GB vs 2 GB) and significantly more storage (80 GB vs 55 GB) for roughly the same monthly spend (~$5.40 vs $6). Bandwidth inclusion remains 20× better on Hetzner’s side. For a blog or light API service consuming 2–5 TB/month, both providers avoid overage fees, but Hetzner’s headroom is safer.

High-Performance Plan Comparison

Hetzner Cloud CPX41

• Specs: 4 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM, 160 GB SSD
• Price: €9.99/month (~$10.85 USD)
• Bandwidth: 20 TB/month included
• Processor: Dedicated cores (no CPU oversubscription)

Vultr Cloud Compute (4 vCPU, 4 GB RAM)

• Specs: 4 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM, 120 GB SSD
• Price: $18/month
• Bandwidth: 1 TB/month included; $0.01/GB overage
• Processor: Shared physical resources

Analysis: At higher tiers, Hetzner’s price advantage becomes substantial—nearly 2× cheaper ($10.85 vs $18) while offering double the RAM (8 GB vs 4 GB). Vultr’s per-GB overage ($0.01) means a typical 10 TB/month overrun would cost an additional $90, making the true monthly cost $108. Hetzner covers 20 TB at the stated price.

Bandwidth Cost Scenarios

5 TB Monthly Usage

20 TB Monthly Usage

50 TB Monthly Usage (Using CPX41)

Bandwidth Model Differences

Hetzner’s Approach

Hetzner bundles 20 TB monthly bandwidth on all standard cloud plans with no per-GB overage charges. Overage bandwidth is charged at approximately €0.20/TB after the 20 TB threshold (significantly cheaper than per-GB models). This structure favors variable, potentially high-volume workloads and removes the “surprise bill” risk for developers.

Vultr’s Approach

Vultr includes 40 GB monthly bandwidth on all instances but charges $0.01/GB for overages. This model suits low-traffic applications (personal projects, development environments, internal tools) where staying under 1–2 TB/month is guaranteed. For production applications serving user bases or APIs with regular traffic spikes, the overage model becomes cost-prohibitive.

Datacenter Footprint and Latency Implications

Hetzner’s 10 locations:

• Europe: Nuremberg, Falkenstein, Helsinki
• North America: Ashburn (Virginia), Hillsboro (Oregon)
• Asia-Pacific: Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul

Vultr’s 16 locations:

• Europe: London, Paris, Amsterdam
• North America: Newark, New Jersey, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Toronto
• South America: São Paulo
• Mexico City
• Asia-Pacific: Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney

Developer implications: Vultr’s 16-region deployment strategy reduces latency variability for global audiences and provides more geographic failover options in a single control plane. Hetzner covers major continents but with fewer regional options. For a SaaS serving North American customers, Vultr’s multiple US regions (5 vs Hetzner’s 2) provide better locality. For European-focused applications, Hetzner’s 3 EU regions and lower base pricing may offset fewer options.

Real-World Workload Examples

Static Blog with CDN

Traffic profile: 1–2 TB/month, predictable

• Hetzner CPX11: €2.49/month ($2.70), includes 20 TB
• Vultr 1 GB RAM: $2.50/month, includes 40 GB
• Winner: Either provider works; Hetzner’s buffer is safer

API Server (SaaS Backend)

Traffic profile: 10–15 TB/month, variable

• Hetzner CPX21: €4.99/month ($5.40), includes 20 TB
• Vultr 2 GB RAM: $6/month, includes 1 TB; overages = $90–140/month
• Winner: Hetzner saves ~$100/month

Video Streaming or File Distribution

Traffic profile: 50–100 TB/month

• Hetzner CPX41 (base): €9.99 (~$10.85); 20 TB included; ~€0.20/TB overage for 30–80 TB = ~€6–16 additional
• Vultr 4 GB RAM: $18/month; includes 1 TB; overages = $490–$990/month
• Winner: Hetzner by 30–50×

For streaming or download-heavy workloads, Hetzner’s pricing is fundamentally incompatible with Vultr’s overage model. Developers should expect Vultr bills in the $500–1000+ range for high-bandwidth production environments.

Contractual Terms and Billing

• Hetzner: Monthly billing in EUR, 7-day trial (minimal commitment)
• Vultr: Monthly or hourly billing in USD, auto-renewal required

Both offer straightforward cancellation without penalties. Hetzner’s EUR pricing introduces FX variance (~2–5% depending on conversion rates), while Vultr’s fixed USD pricing removes that uncertainty for US-based developers.

Storage and Additional Costs

Block Storage

Hetzner Volumes:

• €0.0119/GB/month (~$0.013/GB)
• 100 GB/month = ~€1.19

Vultr Block Storage:

• $0.10/GB/month
• 100 GB/month = $10

Hetzner’s block storage is 7–8× cheaper, relevant for database-heavy applications.

Snapshots

Hetzner: €0.0119/GB/month per snapshot Vultr: $0.05/GB/month per snapshot

Again, Hetzner provides better value for backup-heavy architectures.

Network Architecture

Hetzner:

• 1 Gbps guaranteed (standard tier)
• DDoS protection included on public IPs
• IPv4 and IPv6 native

Vultr:

• 1 Gbps guaranteed
• Optional DDoS protection (extra cost)
• IPv4 and IPv6 native

For developers in high-risk sectors (gaming, cryptocurrency), Hetzner’s bundled DDoS mitigation is a tangible advantage.

Bottom Line

Choose Hetzner Cloud if:

• You anticipate bandwidth usage above 5 TB/month
• Cost per compute resource is your primary metric
• You operate primarily in Europe or have global-but-balanced traffic
• You need predictable invoices without overage surprises

Choose Vultr if:

• You serve primarily North American audiences and need regional proximity (5 US datacenters)
• Your workloads stay under 2 TB/month consistently
• You value a larger global datacenter selection (16 vs 10)
• You require the hourly billing model for short-lived instances

For most developers deploying production systems with non-trivial traffic, Hetzner’s included bandwidth model delivers 5–50× better economic efficiency than Vultr’s overage structure. The choice hinges on geographic locality requirements—if US regional proximity is critical, Vultr’s spread justifies the cost differential; otherwise, Hetzner is substantially cheaper for equivalent or better hardware.

Disclosure: This article contains no affiliate links; pricing and specifications reflect public information as of January 2025.