Head-to-head
Hetzner Cloud vs Linode (Akamai Cloud)
Two hosts, side by side. Pricing, features, and the trade-offs that actually matter.
Hetzner Cloud from $4.5/mo
European VPS with the best price/performance ratio, period.
HQ DE · founded 1997
Linode (Akamai Cloud) from $5/mo
Twenty years of unflashy, reliable Linux hosting — now part of Akamai.
HQ US · founded 2003
Quick verdict
Cheapest: Hetzner Cloud wins on entry price ($4.5/mo vs $5/mo).
More features: Linode (Akamai Cloud) ships more first-party platform features out of the box.
Region: Hetzner Cloud is HQ'd in DE; Linode (Akamai Cloud) in US.
Cheapest plans, side by side
| Hetzner Cloud | Linode (Akamai Cloud) | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | CX22 | Nanode 1 GB |
| Price | $4.5/mo | $5/mo |
| CPU | 2 vCPU (Intel) | 1 vCPU |
| RAM | 4 GB | 1 GB |
| Disk | 40 GB | 25 GB |
| Bandwidth | 20 TB | 1 TB |
Feature parity
| Hetzner Cloud | Linode (Akamai Cloud) | |
|---|---|---|
| Managed Postgres | × | ✓ |
| Managed Redis | × | × |
| Object storage | ✓ | ✓ |
| One-click apps | ✓ | ✓ |
| Private network | ✓ | ✓ |
| IPv6 | ✓ | ✓ |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | ✓ |
| Snapshots | ✓ | ✓ |
| Public API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Terraform | ✓ | ✓ |
Hetzner Cloud pros
- +Cheapest credible VPS in the market — €4.51/mo for 2 vCPU + 4 GB RAM
- +AMD EPYC and Intel Sapphire Rapids in newer generations
- +20 TB of bandwidth included on entry-level plans
Hetzner Cloud cons
- −Account verification can take days for non-EU signups
- −No managed Postgres or Redis — you run them yourself
- −No US-east region (closest is Hillsboro, OR or Ashburn, VA)
Linode (Akamai Cloud) pros
- +Akamai backbone means very stable peering globally
- +5 GB free DDoS protection on every plan
- +Excellent Linux-focused community guides (older than Stack Overflow)
Linode (Akamai Cloud) cons
- −Acquisition by Akamai in 2022 bolted on enterprise features that confuse the dashboard
- −Dedicated CPU plans cost noticeably more than Hetzner CCX
- −No managed Redis (only Postgres and MySQL)