For teams that want European infrastructure, OVHcloud and Hetzner are the two most common candidates. They differentiate cleanly enough that the decision is usually quick.
Quick comparison
| OVHcloud | Hetzner | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per core | Competitive | Lower |
| Catalogue breadth | Wider | Narrow by design |
| Bare metal | Extensive range | Yes, including an auction |
| Regions | Europe-led, some global | Germany, Finland, limited others |
| Traffic | Unlimited on parts of the range | Generous allowance |
| Verification | Can trigger identity review | Strict, manual review common |
| Accounts here | 2 configurations from $30 | 3 configurations from $50 |
Where OVHcloud leads
- Breadth. A wider catalogue including managed Kubernetes, object storage, databases and a large bare metal range, plus AI-oriented offerings.
- Region coverage. More locations, including some outside Europe.
- Traffic terms. Unlimited traffic marketed on parts of the range, which matters for delivery-heavy workloads.
- Enterprise posture. More of the contractual and compliance apparatus larger organisations expect.
Where Hetzner leads
- Price. Consistently lower cost per core and per gigabyte of RAM.
- The server auction. Previously used dedicated hardware at prices that are difficult to match anywhere. See cloud vs dedicated.
- Simplicity. A small catalogue you can hold in your head.
Both are European, differently
OVHcloud is French, Hetzner is German. Both operate their own European facilities, so both address the jurisdictional argument. Neither makes you GDPR compliant, which depends on your own handling of personal data. See European data residency.
Onboarding friction
Both verify identity. Hetzner’s process is the stricter of the two and manual review is common, especially where documents do not exactly match account details. OVHcloud’s varies by region and payment profile.
This is the practical reason accounts with billing already active are useful when a project has started. Our OVHcloud listings cover 2 configurations from $30 including a 34 vCPU tier and an open port 25 option; Hetzner listings cover 3 configurations from $50.
Mail sending
Both restrict outbound port 25 and both have configurations with it opened. Hetzner ranges carry mixed sending reputation due to popularity, so authentication and IP warming matter more there. See port 25 across providers.
Which should you choose
- Lowest cost for steady compute? Hetzner.
- Need a wider service range or bare metal variety? OVHcloud.
- Delivery-heavy workload? OVHcloud, on traffic terms.
- Storage-bound workload? Consider UpCloud instead; see European providers compared.
Common questions
Which is more reliable?
Both run substantial European production. Design redundancy rather than relying on either.
Does either offer managed analytics?
Neither competes with the hyperscalers there. For analytics, look at Google Cloud.
Can I use both?
Yes, and splitting by workload is common. It costs operational overhead.