5 Hetzner Cloud Alternatives in 2026

For years, Hetzner Cloud was the default answer to "where do I put this thing cheaply?"

2026 complicated that answer. On April 1, Hetzner raised cloud server prices across the portfolio by roughly 30 to 37 percent. Then on June 15 it did it again, and that one was not a rounding error: CCX dedicated-vCPU instances went up around 2.1x to 2.7x in Germany and Finland, and CPX shared-AMD instances went up 2.4x to 2.75x, with US CPX pricing rising up to 3.1x. CX and CAX lines got off lighter at roughly 30 to 38 percent.

Hetzner pointed at hardware, specifically a DRAM price surge driven by AI accelerator demand. That is a real constraint and it is hitting the whole industry. Existing servers were grandfathered at their old rates, so nothing broke overnight, but the moment you rescale an instance or order a new one, you are on the new price list.

So it is a reasonable time to look around. Here are five Hetzner Cloud alternatives worth comparing in 2026.

Quick comparison

1. Sliplane: skip the server admin entirely

The honest version of the Hetzner value proposition is: cheap hardware, and you do everything else. You patch it, you configure the firewall, you set up the reverse proxy, you renew the certificates, you script the backups, you debug the deploy at 11pm.

Sliplane removes that half of the job while keeping the part people actually liked about Hetzner: predictable, fixed, per-server pricing.

Pricing starts at 9 EUR/month excluding VAT for the Starter server with 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, and 20 GB NVMe. The Base server is 17.80 EUR/month excluding VAT with 2 vCPU and 2 GB RAM. You deploy as many services onto a server as it can handle without the bill changing, which is a meaningfully different model from paying per instance.

Included at every tier: automatic SSL, free egress, automatic daily volume backups, GitHub and Docker Hub deploys, health checks, logs, API access, dedicated build servers, unlimited collaborators, and human support.

Use Sliplane if:

• You liked Hetzner's fixed pricing but not the server maintenance.
• You deploy Docker containers and want a dashboard, not a runbook.
• You want to run several services on one box without per-app fees.
• You want European infrastructure without building the platform layer yourself.

Skip it if:

• You want raw root access to tune the kernel.
• You need GPUs or very large dedicated instances.
• Running your own infrastructure is the point of the exercise.

2. netcup: the closest German like-for-like

netcup is the most direct Hetzner substitute if what you want is a German VPS at a low fixed price and you are happy to keep managing it yourself.

netcup did not escape 2026 either. Prices went up on May 1, citing the same memory shortage. After that increase, the VPS 500 G12 sits around 4.85 EUR/month and the VPS 1000 G12 around 8.41 EUR/month, with the RS 1000 G12 root server around 10.36 EUR/month. Prices are listed net, so add VAT.

The distinction worth knowing: netcup VPS plans use shared cores, while root servers give you dedicated cores and ECC RAM. Since Hetzner's June increase hit dedicated-vCPU CCX instances hardest, netcup root servers are the comparison a lot of people are actually running right now.

Use netcup if:

• You want a German provider with fixed monthly pricing.
• You need dedicated cores without CCX-level pricing.
• You are comfortable administering your own servers.

Skip it if:

• You want an API-first cloud with a large service catalog.
• You want hourly billing and instant teardown.
• You do not want to manage servers at all.

3. Contabo: most resources per euro

Contabo has always competed on raw specs rather than polish. Cloud VPS plans start around $4.95/month for 3 vCPU cores, 8 GB RAM, and 75 GB NVMe, and longer subscription terms cut the rate further. Monthly billing typically costs 15 to 20 percent more than annual.

For memory-hungry workloads that would be expensive on Hetzner's post-increase price list, the arithmetic is hard to argue with. The trade-offs are the usual ones: shared cores that can feel busier under load, slower provisioning, and support that is priced accordingly.

Use Contabo if:

• You need lots of RAM and disk cheaply.
• Your workload tolerates variable performance.
• You can commit to a longer term.

Skip it if:

• You need consistent, predictable CPU performance.
• You want fast provisioning and a modern API.
• You need responsive support.

4. DigitalOcean: more platform, more services

DigitalOcean is a step up in platform surface. Droplets start at $4/month for basic and $7/month for premium AMD, and as of January 1, 2026 Droplets bill per second with a 60-second minimum. App Platform is separate: free for static sites, $5/month for prototypes, and $12/month for production apps.

Where DigitalOcean pulls ahead of a bare VPS is everything around the compute: managed databases, load balancers, Spaces object storage, and a genuinely good API and CLI. Where it loses to Hetzner is price per unit of hardware, and that gap narrowed considerably in 2026.

Use DigitalOcean if:

• You want managed databases and load balancers from the same provider.
• You value the API, docs, and ecosystem.
• You want per-second billing for short-lived infrastructure.

Skip it if:

• Price per GB of RAM is your main metric.
• You specifically need EU-only data residency.
• You only need one small box.

5. Scaleway: European cloud with a bigger catalog

Scaleway is the option when you want European infrastructure but also want the surrounding services: object storage, managed databases, containers, serverless functions, and Kubernetes.

Pricing is usage-based across the catalog, which is more flexible than a fixed monthly plan and correspondingly harder to predict. Object Storage, for example, runs around 0.0105 EUR/GB/month on Standard with 75 GB of free egress per month, then 0.008 EUR/GB outside the EU.

If your reason for using Hetzner was "European provider, reasonable price," Scaleway covers that with more product depth. If your reason was "cheapest possible box," it does not.

Use Scaleway if:

• You want an EU cloud with a broad service catalog.
• You need object storage and managed services alongside compute.
• You prefer usage-based billing.

Skip it if:

• You want one fixed number on the invoice.
• You want the absolute lowest compute price.
• You do not want to model usage-based costs.

Which one should you pick?

Conclusion

Hetzner is still good hardware, and grandfathered instances are still a good deal. If your servers predate June 2026 and you are not rescaling them, there is no emergency here.

The decision point is the next server. At the new prices, "cheap box plus my own time" is a worse trade than it used to be, and it is worth pricing out what your own time is actually costing you in that equation. If you want to keep the fixed monthly bill but stop doing SSL renewals, backup scripts, and deploy plumbing, Sliplane runs your Docker containers on European servers for 9 EUR/month with all of that included.

If you want to stay hands-on, netcup and Contabo are the closest replacements for what Hetzner used to cost.