Hetzner vs Deno Deploy for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

By the Numbers (2026)

Voice is fine, but a comparison lives or dies on whether the numbers are current. Here is the real, checked data for both as of late May 2026.

Hetzner CX22 (the plan this post recommends). 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 40GB SSD, 20TB of included traffic, EUR 3.79/month (about $4.43), and you can shave EUR 0.50 off if you drop the IPv4 address. Locations span Germany, Finland, the US, and Singapore. Two caveats. The CX22 is now listed as a deprecated plan, so new projects may land on the CX23 instead (2 vCPU, 4GB, 40GB at EUR 3.99/month after the April 2026 adjustment). And Hetzner pushed a broad price increase that took effect April 1, 2026, which raised much of the lineup. The higher-performance CPX22, for example, went from EUR 5.99 to EUR 7.99/month. The headline takeaway holds: a full production server is still under EUR 8/month even at the top of the small-instance range.

Deno Deploy free tier. 1 million requests per month, 20GB of outbound data transfer, 1 GiB of KV storage, and up to 50 custom domains per organization. No credit card required.

Deno Deploy Pro. $20/month for 5 million requests and 200GB of egress, then $2 per additional million requests and $0.50 per additional GB of egress. KV storage starts at 5GB, then $0.75 per GiB.

The Deno runtime under it. Version 2.8.1, released May 27, 2026. It is written in Rust, carries more than 106,000 GitHub stars, and the deno npm package pulled roughly 56,000 downloads in the last week. This is a healthy, actively shipping open-source project, not an abandoned experiment.

The platform shift you need to know about. The Deno Deploy you sign up for today is the rebuilt platform, not the original "Deploy Classic." Classic shuts down on July 20, 2026, and existing Classic projects must migrate before then. The new platform runs in 2 managed regions plus optional self-hosted regions, and it now hosts full frameworks (Next.js, Astro, SvelteKit) rather than only edge functions.

Hetzner Overview

Hetzner is where you go when you want a real server at a price that makes managed platforms look like daylight robbery. Their CX22 VPS (2 vCPUs, 4GB RAM, 40GB SSD) costs EUR 3.79/month. You can run a full production stack on it: your web app, a database, Redis, background workers, the whole thing on one machine for less than the cost of a sandwich.

The platform is pure infrastructure. You get a server, an IP, and SSH access. No deployment pipelines, no managed databases, no edge network. You install what you need, configure it yourself, and maintain it yourself. Hetzner's data centers are primarily in Germany and Finland, with one US location.

For solo developers running traditional web applications with databases, queues, and background processing, Hetzner is hard to beat. The hardware is reliable, the pricing is transparent, and you have complete control over your stack.

Deno Deploy Overview

Deno Deploy is a serverless platform built for the Deno runtime. Deploy from GitHub with zero configuration. Push your code, Deno Deploy builds it (build pipelines are integrated now, with live-streamed logs in the dashboard), and it goes live in seconds. No servers to manage, no containers to build, no infrastructure to maintain.

One thing worth flagging up front, because it changed the platform underneath this comparison. The original Deno Deploy ("Deploy Classic") ran on V8 isolates across a wide edge network. Deno rebuilt the whole thing. The current Deno Deploy is a complete rework that runs on Deno 2 and is positioned as a platform for full applications, not just edge functions. It supports first-class deployment of Next.js, Astro, and SvelteKit, plus subprocesses and background work that Classic never allowed. The catch for the latency-obsessed is that the new platform currently runs in 2 managed regions rather than Classic's broad edge footprint, with the option to self-host additional regions on your own infrastructure. Deploy Classic shuts down on July 20, 2026, and existing Classic projects have to migrate to the new platform before then.

The runtime supports TypeScript and JavaScript natively. It includes built-in KV storage (Deno KV), which is a globally distributed key-value database that synchronizes across all edge locations. For simple data needs, you don't even need an external database.

The free tier gives you 1 million requests per month, 20GB of outbound data transfer, 1 GiB of KV storage, and up to 50 custom domains per organization, with no credit card required. The Pro plan at $20/month bumps that to 5 million requests and 200GB of egress, after which you pay $2 per additional million requests and $0.50 per additional GB. KV storage on Pro starts at 5GB and runs $0.75 per GiB beyond that. For solo-scale projects the limits are generous, and you only start paying overages once traffic is real.

Key Differences

Architecture philosophy. Hetzner gives you a persistent server that runs 24/7. Deno Deploy gives you serverless functions that run on demand at the edge. These are fundamentally different models. A Hetzner VPS is always there, always running, always costing the same. Deno Deploy spins up per request and scales to zero when idle.

Database options. Hetzner lets you run any database: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, SQLite, whatever fits in your server. Deno Deploy gives you Deno KV (a key-value store) built-in and lets you connect to external databases. If your app needs a relational database, you'll need a separate managed database service with Deno Deploy, which adds cost and complexity.

Geographic reach. Hetzner has data center locations in Germany, Finland, the US, and Singapore. The current Deno Deploy platform runs in 2 managed regions, with the option to self-host more regions on your own infrastructure. This is a real shift from Deploy Classic, which fanned out across a much wider edge network. If your users are concentrated in one region, either provider is fine. If you genuinely need points of presence on every continent today, neither of these is a turnkey global-edge answer the way a dedicated edge platform would be.

Runtime constraints. Hetzner runs anything you can install on Linux, so Python, Ruby, Go, Java, Rust, whatever. Deno Deploy runs JavaScript and TypeScript on the Deno runtime, currently Deno 2.8.1, and the new platform also supports Node applications. If your stack isn't JS/TS, Deno Deploy isn't an option. If it is, the developer experience is excellent, and Deno itself is a serious open-source project with more than 106,000 GitHub stars behind it.

Background processing. Hetzner servers handle long-running processes, cron jobs, background workers, and persistent connections naturally. Deno Deploy functions have execution time limits and aren't designed for long-running background tasks. If your app processes videos, runs ML models, or needs persistent WebSocket connections, Hetzner is the way to go.

Cost at different scales. For a single always-on application, the Hetzner CX22 at EUR 3.79/mo is cheaper than Deno Deploy Pro at $20/mo. For a small service that fits inside 1 million requests and 20GB of egress a month, Deno Deploy's free tier costs nothing at all and beats Hetzner outright. The crossover is about whether your workload fits the free tier and how much you value not running a server. The "Real Cost at Solo-Dev Scale" section below works the actual math.

Real Cost at Solo-Dev Scale

Pricing pages are abstract until you plug in a real workload. Here is the math for a typical solo project, using the published per-unit rates above.

The workload. Assume a small SaaS or side project: 1.5 million requests per month, 60GB of outbound data transfer, and a database plus a couple of background workers. Roughly 50 requests per second at peak, comfortably idle most of the day.

On Hetzner. One CX22 at EUR 3.79/month runs the app, the PostgreSQL database, Redis, and the workers on the same box. The 1.5 million requests and 60GB of egress disappear into the 20TB of included traffic without a second thought. Total: EUR 3.79/month (about $4.43), flat, no matter whether you serve 1.5 million requests or 15 million, as long as the single server can handle the load. The cost you actually pay is your own time on patching, backups, and monitoring.

On Deno Deploy. The 1.5 million requests exceed the free tier's 1 million, and you would want custom-domain and production headroom anyway, so you are on Pro at $20/month. Pro includes 5 million requests and 200GB of egress, so 1.5 million requests and 60GB of egress are fully covered with no overages. Total: $20/month. But the relational database is not included. Deno KV covers key-value needs, but a real Postgres means a separate managed database, which typically adds somewhere from $5 to $25/month depending on the provider, so budget realistically for $25 to $45/month all-in.

The verdict on cost. At this scale Hetzner is roughly five to ten times cheaper in raw dollars, and the gap widens as traffic grows because Hetzner's price is flat while Deno Deploy meters requests and egress past the Pro allotments. What the Deno Deploy premium buys you is zero server administration, integrated Git-to-deploy builds, and automatic scaling. If your time is worth more than the difference, which for many solo developers it genuinely is, the $20 to $45 is a fair trade. If you are bootstrapping and watching every euro, the CX22 wins on the spreadsheet every time. Run your own numbers against the current rates before committing, since both providers adjusted pricing in 2026.

When to Choose Hetzner

• You need a persistent server for databases, background jobs, or long-running processes
• You're running a full-stack application with PostgreSQL, Redis, and workers
• Your tech stack isn't JavaScript/TypeScript
• You want predictable monthly costs regardless of traffic
• You need full control over the runtime and infrastructure

When to Choose Deno Deploy

• You're building APIs or edge functions in TypeScript
• Your app doesn't need a relational database (Deno KV is sufficient)
• You want global edge deployment with zero infrastructure management
• Your traffic is spiky and you want to pay per use rather than per month
• You value instant deployments from Git with no build configuration

The Verdict

These two solve very different problems for very different architectures. Hetzner is the better choice for solo developers building full-stack applications with databases, background processing, and persistent state. It costs less, runs any tech stack, and gives you complete control.

Deno Deploy is the better choice when you're building lightweight APIs, serverless functions, or edge-first applications in TypeScript. The global distribution, instant deployments, and zero server management are genuinely compelling for the right use case.

For most solo developers building SaaS products or web applications, Hetzner wins because those apps need databases and background processing. But if you're building an API layer, a webhook handler, or a static site with dynamic edge logic, Deno Deploy is faster to set up and easier to maintain.

Pick based on what you're building, not on which one sounds cooler. A full-stack app on Deno Deploy will fight you. An edge API on a Hetzner VPS is overkill.

Sources

Pricing, versions, and limits in this post were checked on 2026-05-28.

• Hetzner Cloud April 2026 price adjustment (CPX and CX23 before/after figures): https://docs.hetzner.com/general/infrastructure-and-availability/price-adjustment/
• Hetzner CX22 specs and current EUR 3.79/mo price (2 vCPU, 4GB, 40GB, 20TB traffic): https://www.vpsbenchmarks.com/hosters/hetzner/plans/cx22
• Deno Deploy pricing (Free and Pro tiers, requests, egress, KV, overages): https://deno.com/deploy/pricing
• Deno Deploy platform overview, regions, supported frameworks, and Classic shutdown date: https://docs.deno.com/deploy/early-access/
• Deno Deploy Classic to new platform migration guide: https://docs.deno.com/deploy/migration_guide/
• Why Deno rebuilt Deploy (platform rework context): https://deno.com/blog/greatly-exaggerated
• Deno runtime version 2.8.1 and release date, plus GitHub stars: https://github.com/denoland/deno/releases/latest
• Deno npm package weekly downloads: https://api.npmjs.org/downloads/point/last-week/deno