Hetzner vs OVHcloud: Europe’s Two Infrastructure Heavyweights

Hetzner and OVHcloud are the two European providers that genuinely operate at scale: they design their own servers, run their own data centres and own their network backbone. Neither is reselling someone else's capacity.

They arrived at that position with different philosophies, and those philosophies are what should decide between them.

The core difference

Hetzner optimises for simplicity and price. A deliberately narrow catalogue, excellent hardware, very low prices, minimal managed services.

OVHcloud optimises for breadth and reach. Public cloud on OpenStack, bare metal across several tiers, hosted private cloud on VMware and Nutanix, web hosting, more regions, more enterprise options.

If you know which of those two sentences describes what you want, you have already chosen.

Pricing in practice

Hetzner is cheaper, usually by a clear margin, for comparable virtual compute. Its Arm64 CAX line is the standout value in the European market, and its dedicated server auction can produce remarkable prices on slightly older hardware.

OVHcloud is not expensive; it simply is not trying to be the cheapest. What it offers instead is bandwidth policy. Many OVHcloud configurations include unmetered outbound traffic, which for data-heavy workloads is worth more than a lower hourly rate.

The practical test is straightforward: estimate your monthly egress. If it is modest, Hetzner's total cost will usually be lower. If it is large, model OVHcloud's unmetered configurations before assuming otherwise. The egress guide shows how to run that calculation properly.

API and portability

OVHcloud Public Cloud is OpenStack underneath. That means standard OpenStack CLI tooling, standard Terraform providers and a genuinely portable API. If leaving a provider without rewriting your automation matters to you, that is a real advantage.

Hetzner's cloud API is proprietary but small, well documented and well supported by Terraform. Portability is fine in practice because there is little platform-specific surface to depend on.

Regions and reach

OVHcloud has more locations, including Canada, which is frequently chosen for data-residency reasons distinct from the EU. Hetzner's footprint is concentrated in Germany and Finland, with smaller US and Singapore presences.

For a purely European audience, either works and Hetzner's German and Finnish sites have excellent connectivity. For a genuinely global audience, OVHcloud's spread is wider — though both will want a CDN in front for worldwide delivery, as the regions and latency guide explains.

Sovereignty

Both are European operators governed by EU law, which for many organisations is the substance of the requirement.

OVHcloud makes sovereignty an explicit programme with dedicated offerings and certifications aimed at public-sector and regulated buyers. Hetzner is simply a German company operating in Germany and Finland — the same legal position, without the programme wrapped around it.

If you need documentation to satisfy an auditor, OVHcloud has more of it. If you need the underlying legal position, both deliver it.

Managed services

OVHcloud offers managed Kubernetes, managed databases, object storage and load balancing. Hetzner offers load balancers, object storage and managed Kubernetes through partner tooling rather than a first-party control plane of comparable depth.

For teams that want to run their own stack, this difference is irrelevant. For teams that want a managed database, it is decisive.

Choosing

Choose Hetzner for maximum compute per euro, for CI and build farms, for self-managed stacks, for development and staging fleets, and where your team is comfortable administering Linux. A Hetzner account with an adequate server limit is one of the most cost-effective ways to run a fleet in Europe.

Choose OVHcloud for bandwidth-heavy workloads, for OpenStack portability, for a wider region list, for managed services, or where a formal sovereignty programme is required. An OVHcloud account suits that profile better.

Frequently asked questions

Is Hetzner's cheaper hardware lower quality? No. The price comes from vertical integration, narrow scope and low energy costs, not from cutting hardware corners.

Does OVHcloud really offer unmetered bandwidth? Many configurations do, subject to fair-use terms. Confirm the specific configuration rather than assuming it applies universally.

Which has better support? OVHcloud offers tiered paid support with faster response commitments. Hetzner's support is competent and efficient but not consultative. Neither replaces having your own operational capability.

Can I run both? Yes, and some teams do — Hetzner for compute-heavy batch work, OVHcloud for bandwidth-heavy delivery. That is a sensible split rather than sprawl.

Current configurations are on the Buy Hetzner Account and Buy OVHcloud Account listings.