Netlify vs Hetzner for Solo Developers

Comparing Netlify and Hetzner for solo developers. Features, pricing, pros and cons, and which one to pick for your next project.

Quick Comparison

Feature	Netlify	Hetzner
Type	Static/JAMstack hosting (managed)	Budget cloud/VPS provider (bare infra)
Entry pricing	Free (300 credits/mo) / $9 Personal / $20 Pro	CX23 from EUR 3.99/mo, plus EUR 0.50/mo for a primary IPv4
Pricing model	Usage credits ($0.00667 each on the Pro pack)	Fixed monthly server price
Included bandwidth	Metered at 20 credits/GB (about $0.13/GB)	20 TB/month included on every cloud server
Entry-tier specs	Serverless only, no persistent VM	2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB disk (CX23)
Official CLI	netlify-cli v26.0.2, ~235k npm downloads/week	hcloud v1.65.0 (Go binary, not on npm)
CLI GitHub stars	1,875 (netlify/cli)	1,688 (hetznercloud/cli)
Learning Curve	Easy	Moderate-Hard
Best For	Static sites, frontend deploys	Affordable VPS with great specs
Solo Dev Rating	8/10	8/10

Netlify Overview

Netlify is the platform that made static site hosting feel effortless. Git push, automatic build, global CDN, preview URLs, SSL included. For frontends and static content, it's hard to find a more streamlined workflow. The free tier handles most solo projects without ever needing to upgrade. Forms, redirects, serverless functions, all included.

I genuinely enjoy deploying to Netlify. There's no server to configure, no SSL to manage, no CDN to set up. The platform handles all of it. When I'm building a blog or a landing page, Netlify is my default choice because it lets me focus entirely on the content and code.

The limitation is always the same. Netlify hosts static content and runs serverless functions. If your project needs a database, a persistent backend, or background processing, you need something else.

Hetzner Overview

Hetzner is a German cloud provider that's become the secret weapon of cost-conscious developers. Their VPS prices are absurdly competitive. You get a server with 2 vCPUs, 4GB RAM, and 40GB disk (the CX23 plan) for EUR 3.99/month, plus EUR 0.50/month if you keep a primary IPv4 address. That same spec on AWS or DigitalOcean costs several times more. The hardware is reliable, the network is fast (especially in Europe), and the bandwidth is generous with 20TB included on every cloud server.

I run production workloads on Hetzner and the value is exceptional. The servers are in Germany and Finland, so latency is great for European users and acceptable for US East Coast. The Cloud Console is no-frills but functional. You create a server, get an IP, SSH in, and you're running.

The catch is that Hetzner is bare infrastructure. There's no managed platform, no Git-based deploys, no dashboard that shows your application status. You get a Linux machine and it's on you to install everything, configure security, set up deploys, and handle maintenance. For developers comfortable with Linux administration, this is fine. For those who want a managed experience, it's a lot of work.

Key Differences

Managed vs bare metal. This is the core difference. Netlify is a fully managed platform. You never touch a server. Hetzner gives you a server and nothing else. Every piece of software, from the web server to the SSL certificate to the deployment pipeline, is your responsibility on Hetzner.

Cost at scale. Netlify's free tier is great for small projects, but its bandwidth is metered at 20 credits per GB (about $0.13/GB at the Pro credit-pack rate), so a traffic spike eats credits fast. Hetzner includes 20TB of bandwidth with even its cheapest CX23 server. If your project serves a lot of traffic, Hetzner is dramatically cheaper. A site that would burn through hundreds of dollars of Netlify bandwidth credits in a busy month runs flat on a sub-EUR-5 Hetzner VPS. See the worked numbers below.

Time investment. Deploying a site on Netlify takes minutes. Setting up a Hetzner VPS with Nginx, Let's Encrypt, a firewall, automated deploys, and monitoring takes a full day the first time. The ongoing maintenance adds more time. For solo developers, time is the scarcest resource.

What you can run. Netlify runs static sites and serverless functions. Hetzner runs anything. Docker containers, databases, Kubernetes clusters, game servers. A single Hetzner CX23 can host your frontend, backend, database, and Redis all on one machine for EUR 3.99/month plus the EUR 0.50 IPv4.

Performance baseline. Netlify's CDN serves static content fast from edges worldwide. A Hetzner VPS serves everything from one location. For static content, Netlify wins on global latency. For dynamic content like APIs, a well-configured Hetzner VPS in the right region can be faster since there's no serverless cold start.

Reliability. Netlify handles failover, CDN routing, and infrastructure redundancy automatically. On Hetzner, you're responsible for backups, redundancy, and recovery. If your Hetzner VPS goes down at 3 AM, it's on you to fix it.

By the Numbers (2026)

The two platforms price completely differently, so the raw figures matter more here than in most comparisons. Everything below was pulled from the vendors and public registries on 2026-05-29.

Netlify (usage-credit model).

Free: $0/month, capped at 300 credits/month.
Personal: $9/month, 1,000 credits.
Pro: $20/month for unlimited members, 3,000 credits.
Enterprise: custom pricing, unlimited credits.
Credit value: $0.00667 per credit on the Pro pack ($10 buys 1,500 credits).
Bandwidth: 20 credits per GB (about $0.13/GB).
Compute: 10 credits per GB-hour.
Production deploys: 15 credits each (about $0.10).
Web requests: 2 credits per 10,000 requests.
Official CLI: netlify-cli v26.0.2 (published 2026-05-15), about 235,000 npm downloads in the last week, 1,875 GitHub stars on netlify/cli.

Hetzner (fixed monthly server price, EUR, ex VAT).

CX23 (x86): 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB disk, 20 TB traffic, EUR 3.99/month.
CAX11 (Ampere ARM): 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB disk, 20 TB traffic, EUR 4.49/month.
CPX22 (AMD): 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB disk, 20 TB traffic, EUR 7.99/month.
Primary IPv4: EUR 0.50/month per server (skip it and run IPv6-only to save the charge).
These prices reflect Hetzner's adjustment effective 2026-04-01 (the entry plan formerly known as CX22 was about EUR 3.29 before).
Official CLI: hcloud v1.65.0 (released 2026-05-21), 1,688 GitHub stars on hetznercloud/cli. It ships as a Go binary through GitHub releases and Homebrew, not npm.

The detail that reframes the whole decision: Netlify no longer quotes a flat included-bandwidth allowance on its public pricing, it meters bandwidth as credits. Hetzner gives you 20 TB on the EUR 3.99 box and never meters below that.

Real Cost at Solo-Dev Scale

Let me run one realistic month for a solo project and use only the per-unit rates verified above. No invented usage curve, just stated assumptions you can swap for your own.

Assumed workload. A modestly successful side project: 500 GB of bandwidth served in the month, 60 production deploys (about two a day), and 5 million web requests. Light enough to feel achievable, heavy enough to expose the pricing models.

Netlify, priced in credits:

Bandwidth: 500 GB times 20 credits = 10,000 credits.
Deploys: 60 times 15 credits = 900 credits.
Web requests: 5,000,000 / 10,000 times 2 credits = 1,000 credits.
Total: 11,900 credits for the month.

The Pro plan includes 3,000 credits for $20, leaving 8,900 credits to buy. At the Pro pack rate of $10 per 1,500 credits, that is about 5.93 packs, roughly $59.33. Month total lands near $79 ($20 plan plus about $59 in credit packs). Compute (10 credits/GB-hour for any serverless functions) is on top of that and I have left it at zero here to keep the example conservative.

Hetzner, priced as a fixed server:

CX23 server: EUR 3.99.
Primary IPv4: EUR 0.50.
The 500 GB of bandwidth is inside the 20 TB allowance, so it costs nothing extra.
Month total: EUR 4.49, roughly $5 at recent exchange rates.

So the same hypothetical month is about $79 on Netlify Pro versus about $5 on a Hetzner CX23. The catch is the part no invoice shows: the Hetzner box arrives empty. You install the web server, terminate SSL, wire up deploys, and own the 3 AM pager. The Netlify number buys you a managed CDN, instant rollbacks, and zero server maintenance. The price gap is real, and so is the labor gap it pays for. Pick the side whose scarcest resource (cash or hours) you are trying to protect.

When to Choose Netlify

You want zero infrastructure management
Your project is a static site or JAMstack frontend
Deploy speed and simplicity matter most
You don't want to deal with servers, security updates, or SSL configuration
Free hosting for low-traffic projects is important

When to Choose Hetzner

You need a full server for your application stack at the lowest possible price
You're comfortable managing Linux servers and enjoy the control
Your project has multiple services (backend, database, workers) that you want on one machine
Bandwidth costs on managed platforms concern you
You want to learn infrastructure and DevOps as part of your skill set

The Verdict

Netlify and Hetzner couldn't be more different. Netlify abstracts everything away so you never think about infrastructure. Hetzner gives you raw infrastructure at unbeatable prices and lets you build whatever you want.

For static sites and frontends, use Netlify. Paying for Hetzner and spending hours configuring Nginx to serve static files makes zero sense when Netlify does it free with better performance.

For full-stack applications where you want maximum value per dollar, Hetzner is hard to beat. A sub-EUR-5/month VPS can run your entire stack. Pair it with a tool like Coolify or Kamal if you want a nicer deployment experience, and you've got a production environment that costs a fraction of managed platforms.

The common solo developer pattern is Netlify for the frontend and Hetzner for the backend. You get the best of both worlds: zero-friction frontend deploys and an affordable, powerful server for everything else.