IONOS vs Hetzner in 2026

Choose IONOS if you want a fixed-price VPS with unlimited traffic, or a German cloud that also sells managed Kubernetes and managed databases. Choose Hetzner if you want plain cloud servers billed by the hour with a monthly cap, a large traffic allowance and a short product list, and you'll run the software on them yourself. When all you're after is a live web app with no server of your own to look after, an app platform such as Eurobase fits better than either.

IONOS and Hetzner compared

Platform	Company	European locations	Entry server	Traffic	Managed Kubernetes	Managed databases
IONOS	IONOS SE, Montabaur, Germany	Cloud: Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, London, Worcester, Logroño	VPS S+: 1 vCore, 2 GB RAM, 60 GB NVMe, €2 a month for 3 months, then €5, incl. VAT, plus €10 setup	VPS: unlimited at up to 1 Gbit/s. Cloud: from $0.09 per GB out	Yes, free control plane	PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB
Hetzner	Hetzner Online GmbH, Gunzenhausen, Germany	Falkenstein, Nuremberg, Helsinki	CPX02: 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB NVMe, from €5.49 a month excl. VAT in Helsinki, €6.49 in Germany	At least 20 TB per EU server, then €1 per TB excl. VAT	Not documented	Not documented
Eurobase	Warsaw, Poland	European infrastructure run by Scaleway, a French provider	Free plan, then €10 a month + VAT	Not billed by the gigabyte	Not applicable, it's an app platform	SQLite for Workers only

Prices are from each provider's own page, checked on 9 and 10 November 2026. The IONOS VPS price comes from its German shop and includes VAT, while Hetzner quotes without VAT, so add your local VAT to Hetzner before comparing. On 10 November 2026 the CPX02 page marked the plan as unavailable to order, so Hetzner's €5.49 entry price may not be one you can buy.

What to compare before you sign up

• Which IONOS you mean. IONOS sells two separate things: a VPS range at a fixed monthly price, and IONOS Cloud, a pay-as-you-go infrastructure cloud with a Compute Engine, Managed Kubernetes and Database as a Service. Hetzner Cloud sits between the two: hourly billing, but capped at a monthly price per server.
• The real monthly bill. The IONOS VPS S+ starts at €2 a month for three months, then €5, with a €10 setup fee. IONOS also says its offers are partly tied to minimum contract terms, so read the term before you order. Hetzner bills by the hour and never above the server's monthly cap.
• Traffic. The IONOS VPS includes unlimited traffic at up to 1 Gbit/s. IONOS Cloud bills outgoing data from $0.09 per GB on its US price list. Hetzner includes at least 20 TB per EU server and charges €1 per extra TB excl. VAT. See egress fees explained for how other providers charge for it.
• Managed services. IONOS Cloud offers Managed Kubernetes and managed PostgreSQL, MySQL and MongoDB. Hetzner's cloud pages list servers, networks, firewalls, load balancers, volumes and object storage, but no managed database or Kubernetes.
• Certificates your customers ask for. IONOS states ISO 27001-certified data centres for its VPS, and IONOS Cloud received a BSI C5:2020 Type 1 attestation on 28 May 2026. Hetzner states ISO/IEC 27001 for its data centre parks in Germany and Finland. Read BSI C5 in Germany for what C5 covers.
• Sites outside Europe. IONOS runs cloud data centres in Las Vegas, Newark and Lenexa and offers VPS locations in the USA and the UK. Hetzner has cloud locations in Ashburn, Hillsboro and Singapore. Pick a European region on purpose.

1. IONOS

IONOS SE is registered in Montabaur, Germany. Its VPS range gives you a server with root access, NVMe storage, unlimited traffic up to 1 Gbit/s, DDoS protection and one-click app installs, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. The VPS M+ doubles the S+ to 2 vCores, 4 GB of RAM and 120 GB of NVMe for €4 a month for three months, then €12, incl. VAT. The German VPS page lets you pick a data centre in the EU, the USA or the UK, and offers a separate data processing contract under the German Federal Data Protection Act.

IONOS Cloud is the larger product. It's billed per resource with no minimum contract: vCPUs from $0.013 an hour and RAM from $0.0022 per GB an hour on its US Compute Engine page, and outgoing traffic from $0.09 per GB. On top you get Managed Kubernetes, where clusters and the control plane are free and you pay for the nodes, and managed PostgreSQL, MySQL and MongoDB. European data centres are in Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, London, Worcester and Logroño.

• Best for: a low-cost VPS with unlimited traffic, or teams that want servers, Kubernetes and databases from one German provider.
• Price: VPS S+ from €2 a month for three months, then €5, incl. VAT, plus €10 setup. IONOS Cloud is pay-as-you-go per resource.
• What it lacks: a single, simple product line. The VPS and IONOS Cloud are separate offers with separate pricing, and cloud egress is billed per GB. Deploy Now, its GitHub-based service, handles static sites, single-page apps and PHP projects, and its FAQ rules out Node.js server-side rendering.

2. Hetzner

Hetzner Online GmbH is a German data centre operator headquartered in Gunzenhausen, with its own data centre parks in Falkenstein, Nuremberg and Helsinki. Hetzner Cloud servers are billed hourly up to a monthly price cap, so a server you delete mid-month costs only the hours it ran. Around the servers you get private networks, firewalls, load balancers, volumes, S3-compatible object storage and one-click apps such as Docker CE and Coolify.

• Best for: developers who run their own stack and want a large traffic allowance included with every server.
• Price: the CPX02 is listed at €5.49 a month excl. VAT in Helsinki and €6.49 in Falkenstein or Nuremberg, but on 10 November 2026 it couldn't be ordered.
• What it lacks: managed databases and managed Kubernetes. You install and maintain Postgres, backups and any cluster yourself.

3. Eurobase, when you'd rather not run a server

Many people weighing IONOS against Hetzner only need somewhere for a Next.js site, an API or a small SaaS, and Eurobase covers that without a server to patch. Point it at a repository on GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg, Forgejo or Gitea and it builds and runs the code: Next.js, Nuxt, Astro and similar frameworks on V8 isolates, and Node.js, Python, Go, Java, Ruby, PHP or .NET servers as containers. Functions, file storage and logs come with the workspace, and coding agents can deploy through the MCP server and CLI. Eurobase is a business registered in Warsaw, and your apps are hosted on European infrastructure run by Scaleway, a French provider.

• Best for: web apps where server upkeep is work you'd rather not take on.
• Price: free to start, with paid plans at €10 and €20 a month + VAT per workspace. There are no usage charges today: work over a limit is refused, apps on V8 isolates and Functions stop until the monthly reset, and containers and static sites keep serving.
• What it lacks: managed Postgres, MySQL and Redis, builds from a Dockerfile, and preview deployments. Eurobase is working towards ISO 27001 and SOC 2 but holds neither yet. Linking GitHub or GitLab adds that company as a US subprocessor. If your app needs a database, you could pair it with a managed one such as IONOS Database as a Service.

How to choose

1. Cheapest server for a side project: the IONOS VPS S+ has more memory and storage at entry level, but count the setup fee and the price after three months. Hetzner's hourly billing suits servers you create and delete often.
2. High traffic on one box: both include generous traffic on their servers. Avoid IONOS Cloud's per-GB egress unless you've priced it.
3. Managed Postgres or Kubernetes: IONOS Cloud, because Hetzner's cloud pages list neither.
4. Servers in Germany: both qualify. For more German options, see hosting in Germany.
5. Push code, skip the server: an app platform such as Eurobase, or a managed layer on a server, compared in managed Coolify alternatives.

Frequently asked questions

Is IONOS cheaper than Hetzner?

At entry level, yes on list price. The IONOS VPS S+ costs €2 a month for three months and €5 after that, incl. VAT, with 2 GB of RAM, plus a €10 setup fee. Hetzner's CPX02 starts at €5.49 a month excl. VAT with 1 GB. Over the first year that's €61 incl. VAT for IONOS against €65.88 excl. VAT for Hetzner, if the CPX02 can be ordered at all.

Is IONOS or Hetzner better for Docker?

Both give you a Linux server where you can run Docker yourself, and both offer one-click installs. If you want containers run for you, IONOS Managed Kubernetes has a free control plane. Hetzner doesn't list a managed Kubernetes service. More hosted choices are in Docker hosting in Europe.

Are IONOS and Hetzner GDPR-compliant?

Both are German companies with data centres in the EU. IONOS offers a separate data processing contract for its VPS, and Hetzner's cloud page states that it follows the GDPR. Compliance still depends on the region you pick and how you use the service. Use our DPA checklist to review either contract.

Does Hetzner have managed databases like IONOS?

No managed database appears on Hetzner's cloud pages, so you run PostgreSQL or MySQL on your own server. IONOS Cloud sells managed PostgreSQL, MySQL and MongoDB. See managed Postgres in Europe for more providers.

How does Hetzner compare with other European hosts?

Read OVHcloud vs Hetzner and Hetzner vs Scaleway, or the wider list in European DigitalOcean alternatives.

Sources

• Eurobase pricing, Eurobase plans, Eurobase subprocessors, Workers docs, Containers docs and Agents docs
• IONOS VPS, IONOS Impressum, IONOS Cloud Compute Engine, IONOS Cloud data centers, IONOS Managed Kubernetes, IONOS Database as a Service, IONOS Deploy Now and IONOS Cloud
• Hetzner Cloud, Hetzner Regular Performance, Hetzner Cloud locations and Hetzner legal notice