Hetzner vs AWS for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

Hetzner Overview

Hetzner is the European hosting provider that delivers the best price-to-performance ratio in the industry. For EUR 3.79 per month, you get a VPS with 2 vCPUs, 4GB RAM, 40GB NVMe storage, and 20TB bandwidth. Try finding that deal on any other cloud provider. You can't.

The appeal is pure economics. A Hetzner dedicated server with 64GB RAM and a Ryzen processor costs what a medium AWS EC2 instance costs. For solo developers who can manage their own servers, Hetzner stretches every dollar further than any alternative.

I run production workloads on Hetzner. The uptime has been excellent, the network is fast in Europe, and the simple pricing means I never worry about surprise bills. You provision a server, SSH in, and you own it. No hidden costs, no metered API calls, no bandwidth surcharges that appear three weeks later.

AWS Overview

AWS is the everything platform. 200+ services covering compute, storage, databases, AI, networking, IoT, and things you didn't know existed. It powers Netflix, Airbnb, and roughly a third of the internet. The capabilities are limitless.

For solo developers, that power comes with a cost: complexity. The AWS console is overwhelming. IAM policies feel like a second job. Pricing calculators exist because you genuinely cannot predict your bill. I've seen solo developers rack up unexpected charges from services they forgot to turn off or didn't realize had usage-based pricing.

That said, AWS does things no one else can. If you need managed Kubernetes, AI/ML infrastructure, global CDN, or specific compliance certifications, AWS has it. The 12-month free tier is generous enough to learn and prototype without spending anything.

Key Differences

Pricing transparency. Hetzner's pricing is flat and predictable. EUR 3.79/month gets you a known set of resources. No surprises, no usage-based billing that fluctuates. AWS pricing is notoriously complex. Compute, storage, bandwidth, API calls, and cross-region data transfer all add up in ways that are hard to predict. Solo developers have been burned by unexpected AWS bills more times than anyone can count.

Managed services vs. DIY. AWS offers managed versions of everything: RDS for databases, ElastiCache for Redis, SQS for queues, Lambda for serverless functions. Hetzner gives you a server and says "good luck." If you want PostgreSQL on Hetzner, you install it yourself. If you want backups, you configure them. The tradeoff is real: AWS saves ops time, Hetzner saves money.

Server performance per dollar. Hetzner wins this comparison decisively. A Hetzner CX22 (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM) costs EUR 3.79/month. The closest AWS equivalent, a t3.medium (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM), costs roughly $30/month on-demand. That's nearly 8x the cost for comparable specs. Even with reserved instances, AWS is significantly more expensive.

Global infrastructure. AWS has data centers in 30+ regions worldwide. Hetzner has data centers in Germany, Finland, and the US (Ashburn and Hillsboro). If you need servers in Asia, South America, or Australia, AWS is your only option here. Hetzner's geographic reach is limited.

Learning curve. Hetzner's learning curve is Linux system administration. You need to know how to set up firewalls, install software, configure SSL, and manage updates. AWS's learning curve is AWS itself. IAM, VPCs, security groups, and the sheer number of services create a different kind of complexity. Both require knowledge, just different kinds.

Scaling path. AWS scales infinitely. Add more instances, enable auto-scaling groups, use Lambda for serverless. Hetzner scales by upgrading your VPS or adding more servers and load balancing yourself. For solo developers, Hetzner's manual scaling is usually fine because you're not Netflix. But if your project explodes in traffic, AWS handles that growth more gracefully.

When to Choose Hetzner

• Budget is a primary concern and you want maximum performance per dollar
• You're comfortable with Linux server administration
• Your users are primarily in Europe or the US East Coast
• You want simple, predictable monthly billing
• You're running Docker, K3s, or Coolify for deployment

When to Choose AWS

• You need managed services (RDS, ElastiCache, SQS) to reduce ops work
• Your application requires global infrastructure across many regions
• Compliance certifications (HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP) are requirements
• You want the 12-month free tier to learn and prototype
• Your project might need to scale rapidly and unpredictably

The Verdict

For solo developers who can manage a Linux server, Hetzner is the obvious choice. The price-to-performance ratio is unmatched. You can run a full production stack (web server, database, Redis, monitoring) on a single Hetzner VPS for under EUR 10/month. Try doing that on AWS.

AWS makes sense when you need specific managed services, global regions, or compliance certifications that Hetzner can't provide. But for the vast majority of solo developer projects, those requirements don't exist. You're paying for enterprise infrastructure you don't need.

My recommendation: start with Hetzner. Learn to manage a VPS, deploy with Docker or Coolify, and keep your hosting costs under $10/month. If your project grows to the point where managed services and global distribution become necessary, migrate specific components to AWS. Until then, pocket the savings.