AWS vs Hetzner for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

AWS Overview

AWS is the world's largest cloud platform with 200+ services covering compute, storage, databases, machine learning, analytics, IoT, and virtually every infrastructure need imaginable. EC2 instances, S3 storage, RDS databases, Lambda functions, CloudFront CDN, and SQS queues are just the surface.

The platform can scale from a single prototype to millions of concurrent users. Every Fortune 500 company uses AWS. That enterprise pedigree means rock-solid reliability, global data center coverage, and a service for every possible use case.

For solo developers, the trade-off is complexity. The AWS console has hundreds of services, each with their own pricing model, configuration options, and interconnections. Setting up a simple web server involves navigating security groups, VPCs, IAM policies, and elastic IPs. It works, but the learning curve is steep.

Hetzner Overview

Hetzner is a German hosting company known for exceptional price-to-performance ratios. A CX22 cloud server (2 vCPUs, 4GB RAM) costs EUR 3.79/month. Dedicated servers with serious hardware start under EUR 40/month. For raw compute power per dollar, Hetzner is nearly unmatched.

The product line includes cloud servers, dedicated servers, managed Kubernetes, object storage, load balancers, firewalls, and floating IPs. The cloud console is straightforward: create a server, pick a size, choose a location, launch. No VPC configurations or IAM roles to navigate.

I run production workloads on Hetzner. The servers are reliable, the network is fast, and the value is outstanding. A Hetzner dedicated server gives you performance that would cost 5-10x more on AWS.

Key Differences

Price-to-performance. Hetzner dominates here. A Hetzner CX22 (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM) costs EUR 3.79/month. A comparable AWS t3.medium (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM) costs roughly $30/month on-demand. That's nearly 8x the price for equivalent specs. Even with Reserved Instances, AWS is 3-4x more expensive. For solo developers watching every dollar, this gap is enormous.

Service ecosystem. AWS has 200+ managed services. Need Elasticsearch? OpenSearch Service. ML model hosting? SageMaker. Message queues? SQS and SNS. Graph databases? Neptune. Hetzner has cloud servers, dedicated servers, object storage, Kubernetes, and basic networking. If your project needs a specialized managed service, AWS probably has it. Hetzner expects you to self-host it.

Global reach. AWS has data centers in 33 regions across all continents. Hetzner has data centers in Germany, Finland, Singapore, and the US (Ashburn, Hillsboro). If you need infrastructure in South America, Africa, or most of Asia, AWS is the only option. For European or US-based projects, Hetzner's coverage is sufficient.

Pricing predictability. Hetzner's pricing is simple. A server costs X per month. Period. AWS pricing involves instance types, on-demand vs reserved vs spot pricing, data transfer charges (per GB out), storage IOPS, request counts, and dozens of line items that combine into unpredictable bills. I've seen developers shocked by AWS bills because they didn't account for data transfer costs.

Complexity. Setting up a server on Hetzner: choose a size, pick a location, add an SSH key, click create. Takes 2 minutes. Setting up an EC2 instance: choose an instance type, configure a VPC, set up a security group, create a key pair, assign an elastic IP, configure IAM roles. Takes 15-30 minutes the first time. AWS front-loads complexity for features most solo developers don't need.

Dedicated servers. Hetzner offers dedicated (bare metal) servers at prices no major cloud provider can match. Their server auction offers used hardware at steep discounts. For CPU-intensive workloads, AI model serving, or anything that needs consistent performance without noisy neighbors, Hetzner's dedicated servers are in a category of their own.

When to Choose AWS

• Your project needs specialized managed services (ML, analytics, IoT)
• You require data centers in regions Hetzner doesn't cover
• Enterprise compliance or certifications (HIPAA, SOC2) are required
• You're building for massive, unpredictable scale
• The 12-month free tier is valuable for experimentation

When to Choose Hetzner

• Budget is a primary concern and you want maximum compute per dollar
• Your users are primarily in Europe or North America
• You're comfortable self-hosting services instead of using managed offerings
• Dedicated servers with consistent performance are needed
• Simple, predictable pricing without surprise bills matters

The Verdict

For solo developers, Hetzner is almost always the better choice. The price-to-performance ratio is dramatically better, the interface is simpler, and the service lineup covers what web applications need. A single Hetzner VPS can run your entire stack for less than the cost of an AWS t3.micro.

AWS makes sense in specific scenarios: when you need services Hetzner doesn't offer, when you need global data center presence, or when enterprise compliance mandates it. For a typical SaaS, API, or web application, those situations are rare.

My recommendation: start with Hetzner. Invest the money you save into your product. If you eventually need a managed service only AWS offers (and can't self-host a viable alternative), add that specific AWS service while keeping your core infrastructure on Hetzner.