Hetzner vs DigitalOcean vs AWS for Self-Hosting (2026)

I have provisioned ERPNext and other open-source workloads on all three of these providers for Indian SMBs, and I still reach for a different one depending on the client in front of me. There is no universal winner here. My honest take: most teams overrate raw price and underrate the cost of the operational work that a cheaper provider quietly hands back to you.

Which is best: Hetzner, DigitalOcean, or AWS for self-hosting?

Choosing among the three comes down to a single trade: how much operational work you want to keep versus how much you want the provider to absorb. Hetzner hands you a fast, cheap machine and little else. DigitalOcean adds a friendly layer of managed services. AWS absorbs almost everything at a premium and with real complexity.

Here is how they line up on the factors that actually matter for self-hosting.

The apps themselves are portable across all three. ERPNext, for instance, is free and open source under GPLv3, and its stack — Nginx, MariaDB, Redis, and the Frappe application server — runs happily on a modest VM anywhere. The provider decision is about the machine around the app, not the app.

Skimmable summary: all three run the same open-source stack; the choice is how much operational work you keep — Hetzner most, AWS least, DigitalOcean in the middle.

How do Hetzner, DigitalOcean, and AWS differ on value?

Value separates these three more sharply than any other factor. Hetzner offers the lowest cost per core on the open market, plus generous included monthly traffic, which makes bandwidth-heavy workloads dramatically cheaper to run. DigitalOcean sits at a moderate middle. AWS charges the most for equivalent raw compute and bills network egress by usage.

Raw price, though, is only half the value story. Hetzner's low sticker cost assumes you supply the backups, monitoring, patching, and scaling yourself — labour that has a real cost even when no invoice names it. AWS's higher bill buys managed services that quietly do that labour for you. So the honest comparison is total cost of ownership, not the monthly line item, and that total depends entirely on your team.

For a bandwidth-heavy self-hosted app — media, a busy API, a document store — Hetzner's included traffic allowance genuinely changes the economics, because on a metered provider that egress line can dominate the bill. I have moved exactly these workloads to Hetzner and watched a large recurring cost effectively disappear. Actual figures vary by edition and region, so check each vendor's official pricing page rather than trusting any number in a blog post.

Skimmable summary: Hetzner wins raw value and includes generous traffic; AWS costs most but absorbs operational labour; real value is total cost of ownership, which hinges on your team's skills.

Which is easiest to run day to day?

DigitalOcean is the easiest of the three to run day to day, by a clear margin. A clean control panel, one-click app images, straightforward managed databases, and a genuinely excellent library of tutorials mean a small team can stand up and maintain a self-hosted app without deep infrastructure expertise. The learning curve is gentle and the surface area is small.

Hetzner sits at the other end. The machines are fast and cheap, but the console is spartan and there is little hand-holding — you are expected to know your way around Linux, firewalls, and backups. AWS is complex for a different reason: the platform is vast, the pricing model has many moving parts, and IAM permissions, VPC networking, and service sprawl create a steep initial climb even for capable engineers.

For a self-hosting team without a dedicated infrastructure person, DigitalOcean removes the most friction. For a team that already lives in the terminal, Hetzner's sparseness is not a problem. AWS rewards the investment only once you are operating at a scale or compliance level that justifies the complexity.

Skimmable summary: DigitalOcean is easiest by a clear margin; Hetzner assumes Linux fluency; AWS is powerful but steep — ease depends on whether you have infrastructure skills on the team.

Whose ecosystem and managed services go furthest?

AWS goes furthest on ecosystem and managed services, and it is not close. With well over 200 services — managed databases, Kubernetes, queues, serverless functions, monitoring, and more — AWS can absorb almost any operational task you would otherwise do by hand. For teams that want to offload the running of infrastructure, that breadth is the entire point.

DigitalOcean covers the essentials that most self-hosting teams actually need: managed databases, managed Kubernetes, a container-based App Platform, serverless functions, and object storage. It deliberately stops short of hyperscaler sprawl, which keeps the platform comprehensible. Hetzner is the most bare-metal of the three — excellent load balancers, block and object storage, and networking, but no managed database or managed Kubernetes offering, so those responsibilities stay with you.

If you want a managed database so you never touch replication or backups yourself, AWS or DigitalOcean will give it to you and Hetzner will not. If you would rather run your own MariaDB on a cheap box and keep control, Hetzner is built for exactly that. The managed layer you need is often a better decision anchor than the provider brand — a point that also applies when you compare self-hosting against a fully managed PaaS layer.

Skimmable summary: AWS's managed ecosystem is unmatched; DigitalOcean covers the essentials cleanly; Hetzner is deliberately bare-metal with no managed database or Kubernetes — pick by the managed layer you need.

What support and data residency does each provider give you?

Support and residency diverge as much as pricing does. AWS offers tiered, paid enterprise support with SLAs and, crucially for Indian businesses, two in-country regions — Mumbai and Hyderabad — plus edge locations across India, so data residency is available by default. That combination matters when a client contract, a regulator, or your legal team names in-country storage as a requirement.

DigitalOcean provides responsive ticket support and a Bangalore data center, giving you an India-hosted option with far less platform complexity than AWS — a strong middle ground for SMBs that want low latency for Indian users without the hyperscaler learning curve. Hetzner keeps support lean and community-leaning, and it has no India data center at all; its nearest regions are in Europe, with a Singapore zone as its closest Asian presence.

For a purely India-based user base, that residency and latency gap is a genuine decision factor. I dig into the residency-and-latency trade in more depth in my AWS vs Hetzner hosting comparison, and the practical cost side in the managed hosting cost guide. Confirm current region availability on each vendor's official page before committing, since footprints change.

Skimmable summary: AWS gives paid enterprise support and two India regions; DigitalOcean offers solid support plus a Bangalore option; Hetzner is lean on support with no India presence — residency and latency favour the first two for India-only users.

Which provider suits which kind of team?

Team profile predicts the right provider more reliably than any feature list. A skilled, cost-sensitive team that is comfortable owning backups and monitoring will save the most on Hetzner. A small team that wants to ship without becoming infrastructure specialists is happiest on DigitalOcean. A team facing scale, strict compliance, or hard data-residency rules belongs on AWS.

Here is the decision path I actually walk clients through.

Skimmable summary: fix residency first, then rate your ops maturity and workload — skilled and cost-sensitive teams pick Hetzner, simplicity-first teams pick DigitalOcean, compliance-or-scale teams pick AWS.

Frequently asked questions

Is Hetzner cheaper than DigitalOcean and AWS?

Hetzner offers the best raw value of the three, with the lowest cost per core on the open market and generous included traffic. That advantage is real for self-hosting, but it assumes your team supplies the operational work — backups, monitoring, patching — that DigitalOcean and AWS can absorb through managed services. Compare total cost of ownership, not just the monthly bill, and check each vendor's official page for current figures.

Which of the three is easiest for a small team?

DigitalOcean is the easiest for a small team, by a clear margin. A clean control panel, one-click images, managed databases, and an outstanding tutorial library let non-specialists stand up and maintain self-hosted apps. Hetzner assumes solid Linux skills, and AWS assumes patience with a large, complex platform, so both suit teams with dedicated infrastructure capability more than a lean, generalist team.

Does any of them host data inside India?

Yes — AWS runs two full India regions, Mumbai and Hyderabad, and DigitalOcean has a Bangalore data center, so both give you in-country hosting. Hetzner has no India data center; its nearest regions are in Europe, with Singapore as its closest Asian zone. If a contract, regulator, or legal team requires India residency, that requirement effectively rules Hetzner out.

Which provider is best for latency to Indian users?

For an India-only user base, AWS Mumbai or a DigitalOcean Bangalore droplet delivers measurably lower latency than a European Hetzner region, because the physical distance and network hops are shorter. The gap is real but often imperceptible for standard back-office apps; it matters more for latency-sensitive workflows like point-of-sale terminals or real-time dashboards.

Can I run the same open-source app on all three?

Yes. Open-source apps like ERPNext are portable across all three providers because the underlying stack — a web server, a database, a cache, and the application runtime — is standard Linux software. ERPNext itself is free and open source under GPLv3, so nothing about the app locks you to a provider. Your choice is about the machine and services around the app, not the app.

Should I self-host or use a managed platform instead?

Self-host when you have the operational skills or a partner to run the infrastructure and want maximum control and value; choose a managed platform when you would rather not run servers at all. The three providers here are for self-hosting. If you would prefer someone else to own uptime, a managed PaaS layer removes that burden at a different price point.