Hetzner Cloud vs Vultr
Both are alternatives to AWS (EC2 compute). Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Hetzner Cloud
TOP PICKTwo to four times the hardware per dollar, 20 TB of traffic included.
The price-performance king of European cloud: ~€4.50/mo for 2 vCPU / 4 GB with 20 TB of included EU traffic — a spec competitors price at $24 or more, plus bandwidth. Transparent flat pricing, EU and US locations, and the provider half the self-hosting community quietly runs on. It pays Macrostack nothing, which tells you why it's the pick.
Vultr
The widest region map — 32 data centres including Asia and South America.
When latency to Mumbai, Tokyo, Seoul, or São Paulo matters, Vultr's 32 regions are the draw. Pricing starts around $2.50–6/mo, billing is hourly, and GPU instances are available for AI workloads — a practical AWS exit that keeps global reach.
Side by side
| Hetzner Cloud | Vultr | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 70 | 52 |
| Open source | No | No |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| Local-first | No | No |
| License | Proprietary service | Proprietary service |
| Pricing | From ~€4.50/mo (2 vCPU / 4 GB, 20 TB EU traffic); US locations slightly higher | From ~$2.50–6/mo; hourly billing; GPU instances available |
Hetzner Cloud is Macrostack's recommended AWS (EC2 compute) alternative, so it's our pick here.
Hetzner Cloud
Strengths
- +Two to four times the compute per dollar of US-priced rivals
- +20 TB of included traffic — bandwidth-heavy apps save $50–100/mo
- +Transparent flat pricing with EU data-protection jurisdiction
Trade-offs
- −Smaller region map (EU, US, Singapore)
- −Fewer managed services than the big platforms
- −New-account vetting can be strict
Vultr
Strengths
- +32 regions — the widest map in this comparison
- +Hourly billing and GPU options
- +Competitive entry pricing
Trade-offs
- −Ticket-first support
- −Bandwidth caps vary by plan and region
Facts verified 2026-07-19. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.