Cloudways vs Hetzner
Both ladders below were read from the vendors’ own pricing pages, in this market, on the dates shown. Nothing is converted: what you see is what each page showed a reader here.
What each one is
Cloudwayssite ↗pricing ↗
Managed cloud hosting that runs your site on infrastructure from providers like DigitalOcean or AWS without you administering the server. Paid plans start at $11/mo (Micro (Standard)); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 8 paid tiers, topping out at $99/mo (Large (Premium)).
Hetznersite ↗pricing ↗
A German hosting company selling dedicated and cloud servers, known for the amount of hardware per euro. Paid plans start at €5.99/mo (Cost-Optimized); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at €43.49/mo (General Purpose).
The two ladders
Cloudwayssite ↗pricing ↗
read 2026-08-27 · USD
| Plan | Price | What the page says |
|---|---|---|
| Micro (Standard) | $11/mo | Unlimited websites. Suitable for personal websites and simple blogs. |
| Small (Standard) | $24/mo | Unlimited websites. Growing businesses and moderate traffic. |
| Medium (Standard) | $46/mo | Unlimited websites. Marked 'Most Popular' on the page. More demanding sites with higher traffic. |
| Large (Standard) | $88/mo | Unlimited websites. E-commerce and resource-intensive applications. |
| Micro (Premium) | $14/mo | Unlimited websites |
| Small (Premium) | $28/mo | Unlimited websites |
| Medium (Premium) | $54/mo | Unlimited websites |
| Large (Premium) | $99/mo | Unlimited websites |
Hetznersite ↗pricing ↗
read 2026-09-07 · EUR
| Plan | Price | What the page says |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-Optimized | €5.99/mo | 'starting from € 5.99 max/mo.' Shared Arm64 entry tier — 'Extremely cost-effective, low CPU usage, medium traffic applications'. ⚠️ The card carries a 'Currently not available' badge (read 2026-09-07). The headline is server + primary IPv4: Hetzner prices this slot as product key CLOUD_132+CLOUD_21, and the site's own IP price is € 0.50/mo. |
| Regular Performance | €11.99/mo | 'starting from € 11.99 max/mo.' Shared x86 (CPX family) — 'inexpensive due to shared resources, low to medium CPU usage'. Product key CLOUD_122+CLOUD_21 = the CPX12 server (€ 11.49 at NBG1/FSN1 in Hetzner's own cloud_data.json) plus the € 0.50 IPv4. |
| General Purpose | €43.49/mo | 'starting from € 43.49 max/mo.' Dedicated vCPUs (CCX family) — 'constantly high CPU usage, high-traffic applications'. Product key CLOUD_115+CLOUD_21 = the CCX13 server (€ 42.99 at NBG1/HEL1) plus the € 0.50 IPv4. Ladder at NBG1, EUR/mo. net: CCX13 42.99 · CCX23 85.99 · CCX33 138.49 · CCX43 275.99 · CCX53 533.49 · CCX63 853.49. |
Where they differ
- Cheapest way in: Hetzner at €5.99/mo, against Cloudways at $11/mo. That is the entry price in this market on the dates shown, not a judgement about which suits you.
- Free plans: neither publishes one. Any free access here is a trial, which is a deadline.
- How far each ladder goes: Cloudways tops out at $99/mo, Hetzner at €43.49/mo. A deeper ladder is not a worse deal — it is a bill that keeps climbing if you keep growing.
How to choose in this category
- Match the tier to the sites and storage you actually use — the levels here divide on resources, not features.
- Introductory terms in this set run one to four years; a lower monthly figure often buys a longer lock-in.
- Every row links the host’s own pricing page. Open it and read the renewal line before you commit to a term.