AWS EC2 vs Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU)
Default scenario: At 32 vCPUs, 128 GB RAM, 10 TB egress to internet / month, estimated bills are $7,561/yr for Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) and $24,864/yr for AWS EC2. That’s a $17,303 difference before accounting for different features or operating costs.
The services may differ in features, performance, support and the work you need to do yourself. Read the notes and test what matters to your setup.
Your selected usage
32 vCPUs, 128 GB RAM, 10 TB egress to internet / month
- AWS EC2: $24,864/yr estimated
- Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU): $7,561/yr estimated
Estimated costs at different usage levels
| Usage | AWS EC2 | Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) |
|---|---|---|
| Default scenario32 vCPUs, 128 GB RAM, 10 TB egress to internet / month | $24,864/yrm7i.8xlarge · 1 × $1,181 + $891 egress | $7,561/yrCCX53 · 1 × $630 + $0 egress |
| Side project2 vCPUs, 4 GB RAM, 0.5 TB egress to internet / month | $1,359/yrm7i.large · 1 × $77 + $36 egress | $613/yrCCX13 · 1 × $51 + $0 egress |
| Startup16 vCPUs, 64 GB RAM, 5 TB egress to internet / month | $12,400/yrm7i.4xlarge · 1 × $592 + $441 egress | $3,913/yrCCX43 · 1 × $326 + $0 egress |
| Scale-up128 vCPUs, 512 GB RAM, 50 TB egress to internet / month | $108,098/yrm7i.16xlarge · 2 × $2,358 + $4,292 egress | $30,244/yrCCX53 · 4 × $630 + $0 egress |
On-demand list prices, Linux, the vendor’s main US or EU region (see notes). Fleets are built from one instance type. A vCPU is one hardware thread; rows marked shared sell oversubscribed vCPUs. Disks, backups and committed-use discounts (often 30–60% on hyperscalers) aren’t included. Try your own numbers against all servers & vps providers.
Side by side
| AWS EC2 | Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Amazon's virtual machines. The market default, priced per second with every extra (disk, public IPv4, egress) metered separately. | German cloud with dedicated-vCPU CCX servers and 20–60 TB of traffic included. Prices more than doubled in 2026 but still undercut hyperscalers. |
| Headquarters | 🇺🇸 United States | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Parent jurisdiction | 🇺🇸 United States (Amazon) | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| EU self-serve plan | Available; check eligible plans and regions | Available; check eligible plans and regions |
| GDPR DPA | Yes | Yes |
| Provider type | Hyperscaler & enterprise | Budget & bare metal |
| Billing | payg | payg |
| Free tier | New accounts (since July 2025) get up to $200 in credits for 6 months, usable on small t3/t4g/flex instances. | — |
| Open source | No | No |
| Source last checked | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-06 |
| Pricing evidence | Published rates | Published rates |
Which should you choose?
Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) has the lower estimated bill at every usage level we tested, from 3 vCPUs, 13 GB RAM, 1 TB egress to internet / month to 3,200 vCPUs, 13,000 GB RAM, 1,000 TB egress to internet / month.
They’re different kinds of provider. AWS EC2 (Hyperscaler & enterprise): The broadest catalog of managed services, many regions, enterprise support contracts and compliance programs. Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) (Budget & bare metal): Servers with few managed services. You run more yourself: databases, backups, failover and monitoring.
Choose AWS EC2 if…
- you want to start free (New accounts (since July 2025) get up to $200 in credits for 6 months, usable on small t3/t4g/flex instances)
Choose Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) if…
- it has the lower estimated bill at Side project, Startup and Scale-up usage
- you want a provider whose parent company is outside the US (Germany)
Based on estimated list-price bills and the facts above. Features, performance and support aren’t scored.
AWS EC2 pricing
Calculated from the listed vendor rates; exclusions still apply.
| Plan | vCPUs / instance | RAM / instance (GB) | Instance / month | Internet egress / TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| m7i.large | 2 | 8 | $77.23 | $90, tiered |
| m7i.xlarge | 4 | 16 | $150.82 | $90, tiered |
| m7i.2xlarge | 8 | 32 | $297.99 | $90, tiered |
| m7i.4xlarge | 16 | 64 | $592.32 | $90, tiered |
| m7i.8xlarge | 32 | 128 | $1,180.99 | $90, tiered |
| m7i.16xlarge | 64 | 256 | $2,358.34 | $90, tiered |
us-east-1 (N. Virginia), Linux on-demand, m7i general purpose (Intel, 4 GB per vCPU; a vCPU is a hyperthread), 730 hours. Each instance price includes the public IPv4 address at $0.005/hour ($3.65/month). EBS disk is extra (gp3 $0.08/GB-month). Newer m8i costs ~5% more; Graviton m8g (Arm, full cores) ~11% less; burstable t4g starts at $3.07/month. Egress: 100 GB/month free per account, then $0.09/GB for the first 10 TB, $0.085 to 50 TB, $0.07 to 150 TB, $0.05 above. Savings Plans cut compute up to 66–72% for 1–3 year commitments. Prices from the AWS price-list API (Sept 2026).
AWS EC2 plan limits, full rates and cheaper alternatives · official pricing page
Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) pricing
Calculated from the listed vendor rates; exclusions still apply.
| Plan | vCPUs / instance | RAM / instance (GB) | Instance / month | Internet egress / TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCX13 | 2 | 8 | $51.09 | $1.2 |
| CCX23 | 4 | 16 | $102.09 | $1.2 |
| CCX33 | 8 | 32 | $163.59 | $1.2 |
| CCX43 | 16 | 64 | $326.09 | $1.2 |
| CCX53 | 32 | 128 | $630.09 | $1.2 |
| CCX63 | 48 | 192 | $1,007.59 | $1.2 |
CCX dedicated vCPU (AMD, 4 GB per vCPU) in Germany/Finland, Hetzner's own USD prices, hourly with a monthly cap. Each price includes the primary IPv4 ($0.60/month) and local NVMe (80–960 GB). Included traffic per server is 20–60 TB in the EU; overage $1.20/TB. Hetzner raised prices twice in 2026, citing memory costs: from 1 April for all customers, and again from 15 June for new orders and rescales, when CCX roughly doubled (CCX33 went from €62.49 to €138.49/month). US locations (Ashburn, Hillsboro) cost ~1–2% more but include only 1–8 TB of traffic. Hetzner Online GmbH, Gunzenhausen; privately owned. DPA (AVV) available.
Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) plan limits, full rates and cheaper alternatives · official pricing page
Frequently asked questions
Is AWS EC2 cheaper than Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU)?
Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) has the lower estimated bill at every usage level we tested, from 3 vCPUs, 13 GB RAM, 1 TB egress to internet / month to 3,200 vCPUs, 13,000 GB RAM, 1,000 TB egress to internet / month. At 32 vCPUs, 128 GB RAM, 10 TB egress to internet / month, the estimates are $24,864/yr for AWS EC2 and $7,561/yr for Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU). Estimates use list prices and leave out features, support and operating costs.
Do AWS EC2 and Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) offer EU data residency?
Both offer EU data residency on a self-serve plan. Check which plans and regions qualify.
Do AWS EC2 and Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) have a free tier or trial?
AWS EC2: New accounts (since July 2025) get up to $200 in credits for 6 months, usable on small t3/t4g/flex instances. Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) has no free tier or trial in our data.
Where are AWS EC2 and Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) based?
AWS EC2 is headquartered in the United States and owned by Amazon (the United States). Hetzner Cloud (dedicated vCPU) is headquartered in Germany.