# Hetzner Cloud — Web Hosting

Hetzner Cloud by Hetzner Online GmbH holds a panel rating of 2.5/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 3/5), as of 2026-11-02. Provenance: EU-Made; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Hetzner Online GmbH (https://www.hetzner.com/de/cloud/)
- Category: [Web Hosting](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-hosting.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): EU-Made
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/web-hosting/hetzner-cloud
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/web-hosting/hetzner-cloud/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-hosting/hetzner-cloud/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-06 · evaluated 2026-11-02 · oldest source captured 2026-11-01

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Hetzner Online GmbH
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026

## The panel's verdict

No written verdict: the summary did not survive our own contradiction check, twice. The scores and sources below are unaffected.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The Agency Lead | The Small-Business Owner | The Shop Operator | The Freelance App Developer | The Data Protection Officer | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Performance, uptime & infrastructure | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Control panel, WordPress & developer tooling | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Security, backups & recovery | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 |
| Scaling, migration & exit | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Support, domains & email | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| European sovereignty | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Pricing transparency | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **3/5** | **2.5/5** |

### The judges

- **The Agency Lead** (v1.0): Runs a fifteen-person web agency that hosts sixty client sites, most on WordPress, some on TYPO3 and two WooCommerce shops. Every site is one more login, one more update window and one more call when it breaks. Wants one panel with client projects, staging and push to live, backups they can restore without opening a ticket, roles for freelancers, a way to hand a project and its invoice to the client, and a price per site that does not double after the first year.
- **The Small-Business Owner** (v1.0): Owns a heating and plumbing firm with twelve staff, a WordPress site a nephew built and twelve mailboxes on the same contract. Does not know what PHP is and does not want to learn it. When the site shows a warning or the mail stops, they need someone on the phone in German the same day, backups that the support can restore, and an invoice that matches the price on the website, year after year.
- **The Shop Operator** (v1.0): Runs a Shopware shop for coffee equipment with 4,000 orders a month and a Black Friday that brings ten times the usual traffic in one weekend. Every minute offline is lost revenue and a lost ad budget. Reads the resources per tariff, the caching and the SLA before the price, wants to scale for one weekend without moving the shop, and wants yesterday's database back within the hour if an update goes wrong.
- **The Freelance App Developer** (v1.0): Freelance developer who builds Laravel and Node apps for small clients and runs them for years afterwards. Deploys from Git, needs SSH, Composer, cron, queues and a current PHP version, and sets servers up from scripts rather than by clicking. Wants an API and a CLI that cover servers, snapshots, firewalls and DNS, resource limits stated in numbers, and a stack that runs anywhere else if the client ever moves.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): External data protection officer for a group of medical practices and two law firms whose sites take appointment requests and contact forms. Reads the DPA, the subprocessor list and the certifications before anything else: where the servers and the backups are, which group company outside the EU can reach them, how customers are isolated from each other, and when data is deleted after the contract ends.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen "unlimited" storage end at an inode limit in the small print, "99.9 % uptime" with no credit when it was missed, "free daily backups" that only the support could restore for a fee, and a tariff from 1 € that cost eight times as much in the second year. Asks what the limits are in numbers, what the SLA pays, who can reach the data, and what it costs to take everything and leave.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting location | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Authority requests de: deutsche Behörden/Gerichte mit gültigem Gerichtsbeschluss · Falkenstein · Nürnberg [S13]
- Authority requests fi: finnische Behörden/Gerichte mit gültigem Gerichtsbeschluss · Helsinki [S13]
- Authority requests third country: no [S13]
- Complaint right: yes [S11]
- Data residency: yes · no [S11]
- DPA art28: Auftragsverarbeiter · Art. 28 DSGVO [S13]
- DPA conclusion: https://accounts.hetzner.com/account/dpa · customer account [S13]
- DPA max concurrent: 6 [S13]
- DPA no custom: no [S13]
- DPA signature required: no [S13]
- DPA template urls: https://www.hetzner.com/AV/DPA_de.pdf · https://www.hetzner.com/AV/DPA_en.pdf · yes [S13]
- GDPR user rights: Recht auf Auskunft [S11]
- GDPR user rights: Recht auf Berichtigung [S11]
- GDPR user rights: Recht auf Löschung (Recht auf Vergessenwerden) [S11]
- GDPR user rights: Recht auf Einschränkung der Verarbeitung [S11]
- GDPR user rights: Recht auf Datenübertragbarkeit [S11]
- GDPR user rights: Recht auf Widerspruch [S11]
- GDPR user rights: Recht auf keine automatisierte Entscheidung [S11]
- Ip anonymization: yes [S13]
- Ip anonymization method: last octet replaced with random value 1-254 · last 88 bits anonymized [S13]
- Subprocessors list URL: https://www.hetzner.com/AV/subunternehmer.pdf · yes [S13]
- Toms audit annual: TÜV Rheinland (i-sec GmbH) · yes [S13]
- Toms audit report access: https://accounts.hetzner.com/account/dpa · yes · AV-Vertrag abgeschlossen [S13]
- Toms available: https://docs.hetzner.com/de/general/security-and-identify/technical-and-organizational-measures/ · yes [S13]

**Data**
- Backup retention: 14 · yes [S13]
- Logfile retention mail: 7 · Mailserver-Logs [S13]
- Logfile retention web: 7 · Apache-Logs · yes [S13]

**Hosting**
- Backups managed: customer [S13]
- Backups residency: yes [S13]
- Customer master data residency: EU only [S13]
- EU locations: Falkenstein · Nürnberg · Helsinki [S13]
- Locations documented: Standorte (Locations) · yes [S3]
- Non cloud data residency: EU only [S13]
- Own datacenters outside EU: USA · Singapur · no [S13]
- Singapore contracting entity: Hetzner Singapore Pte. Ltd. · Hetzner Online GmbH [S13]
- Third country transfer: only data customer stores on server in third country · USA · Singapur [S13]
- US contracting entity: Hetzner US LLC · Hetzner Online GmbH [S13]
- US data shared: yes · no [S13]
- US locations: Ashburn (Virginia) · Hillsboro (Oregon) [S13]

**Integrations**
- API: yes · API mit Token-Authentifizierung [S3]
- API docs URL: https://docs.hetzner.cloud [S16]
- Cli hcloud: yes · yes · yes [S5]
- Cloud API: wordpress · https://api.hetzner.cloud/v1/servers · yes [S17]
- Cloud API coverage: Servers · Load Balancers · Volumes · Firewalls · Floating IPs · Placement Groups · DNS · api.hetzner.cloud [S5]
- Docs scope: api.hetzner.cloud · api.hetzner.com [S5]
- Robot API: Dedicated Server · vSwitches · robot-ws.your-server.de [S5]
- Storage box API: Storage Boxes · api.hetzner.com [S5]

**Legal**
- Controller: Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Deutschland · Hetzner Online GmbH [S11]
- Copyright entity: 2026 · Hetzner Online GmbH [S9]
- Entity: 2026 · Hetzner Online GmbH [S3]
- Entity: Hetzner Online GmbH [S15]
- Entity: Hetzner Online GmbH [S19]
- Entity: Hetzner Online GmbH [S13]
- Footer links: Legal notice · Data privacy · System policies · Terms and conditions [S9]
- Privacy policy URL: https://www.hetzner.com/de/legal/privacy-policy/ [S13]
- Privacy policy version: 14. September 2026 [S11]

**Pricing**
- Reference page: Pricing info is in the info box on hetzner.com/cloud; no prices stated on this page [S4]

**Product**
- Apps: Apps: Coolify, Docker CE, GitLab CE, Jitsi Meet, LAMP Stack [S3]
- Architecture match required: yes [S18]
- Av contract not transferred: no [S20]
- Backup limits: 7 [S4]
- Backup move via server: yes [S18]
- Backup oldest deleted: yes [S4]
- Backup slots: 7 [S4]
- Backup slots: 7 · yes [S18]
- Backup storage location: yes [S18]
- Backup time not selectable: no [S18]
- Backups: Backups · yes [S3]
- Backups daily: daily · yes [S4]
- Backups daily copies: yes [S18]
- Backups snapshots definition: Backups und Snapshots sind Kopien der Festplatte eines Servers. [S4]
- Billing run notice: 2026-10-28 22:59 UTC+0 · October billing run · 2026-09-24 06:50 UTC+0 · One-time billing of outstanding amounts below EUR 10 [S9]
- Cloud firewalls: Hetzner Cloud documentation includes a Firewalls section [S19]
- Cloud incident scope: API failure for metrics (Resolved) · Load Balancer · Networks · Cloud Server · Object Storage [S9]
- Cloud instance availability notice: Limited availability of cloud instances · 2026-06-26 06:00 UTC+0 · Cloud Server [S9]
- Cloud scope: Dokumentation zu Hetzner Cloud-Produkten, Hetzner Console, Funktionalität, Abrechnung, Roadmap und API [S3]
- Cloud server transfer: yes · yes [S20]
- Consistency recommendation: yes [S18]
- Create server from backup: A new server (duplicate) can be created from a backup/snapshot [S4]
- Data processing categories: Bewerbungen · Feedback · Forum · Gewinnspiele · KI · Kundenaccount · Newsletter · Hetzner Status · Social Media · Veranstaltungen · Videoüberwachung · Website [S11]
- Domain transfer method: token transfer in Robot by previous contract partner [S20]
- Domain transfer token validity: 7 [S20]
- Excludes volumes: no [S4]
- Excludes volumes: no [S18]
- Firewalls: Firewalls · yes [S3]
- Floating ips: Floating IPs · yes [S3]
- Hcnet: hcnet (Technische Details) [S3]
- Image archive migration: Migration of Image Archive Compression Format to zstd · 2026-06-12 12:00 UTC+0 · system images [S9]
- Letsencrypt support: Certbot with Apache plugin (certbot --apache) · yes · yes [S17]
- Mailbox copy original kept: yes [S23]
- Mailbox copy to addresses: Forward copies of incoming emails to additional internal or external addresses [S23]
- Mailbox custom filters: Per-mailbox custom filter settings override global spam filters, blacklists, whitelists [S23]
- Mailbox deletion permanent: Deleting a mailbox is permanent and loses all emails [S23]
- Mailbox email count limit: Mailbox email limit: maximum number of stored emails [S23]
- Mailbox enable disable: yes [S23]
- Mailbox expiration date: Optional expiration date after which mailbox is automatically deactivated [S23]
- Mailbox full address as username: Full email address serves as username for webmail or email programs [S23]
- Mailbox individual email size limit: Email storage limit: maximum size of individual emails [S23]
- Mailbox management: Mailbox management in konsoleH: create, edit, delete mailboxes [S23]
- Mailbox password reset: Mailbox passwords can be reset via konsoleH [S23]
- Mailbox retention settings: Retention period in days for spam folder and trash; can be set to never [S23]
- Mailbox storage limit: Mailbox storage limit; exceeded limit causes rejection of additional emails [S23]
- Managed domains transfer: domain registration only, data must be moved by customer · yes [S20]
- Network filter notice: Filters dropping fragmented ICMPv4 packets and ICMPv4 errors larger than 768 bytes · General [S9]
- Not location bound: yes [S18]
- Ongoing incident: Urgent maintenance on all core routers · 2026-10-15 10:00 UTC+0 · In progress · Network (Datacenter, vSwitch, Uplinks, Backbone [S9]
- Permissions: yes [S18]
- Phishing warning: Phishing emails stealing logins and credit card data · 2024-07-05 06:00 UTC+0 [S9]
- Placement groups: Platzierungsgruppen · yes [S3]
- Planned maintenance selector: Maintenance UPS systems in FSN1-DC22 · 2026-11-02 08:00 UTC+0 · FSN1-DC22 [S9]
- Primary ip: Primäre IP · yes [S3]
- Private networking: Private IPs / privates Netzwerk · yes [S3]
- Project member invitation: Security · Members [S20]
- Rackspot transfer: 2 · yes [S20]
- Resolved incidents oct26 28: Urgent maintenance on vSwitch CloudNetwork connector · Object Storage in location nbg1 partially degraded (Affected: Object Storage) [S9]
- Resolved incidents oct27 28 systems: mirror.hetzner.de · download.hetzner.com · packages.hetzner.com [S9]
- Resolved incidents oct28: 2026-10-28 · DHCP degraded in FSN1 and NBG1 (Resolved, Affected: DHCP) [S9]
- Resolved incidents oct29: 2026-10-29 · UPS function tests in FSN1-DC8 (Resolved) [S9]
- Resolved incidents oct30 31: 2026-10-30 · Maintenance emergency power system in HEL1-DC1 · Resolved · HEL1-DC1 · 2026-11-01 · 2026-10-31 [S9]
- Restore options: yes · yes [S18]
- Restore overwrite server: Restore by overwriting the current disk with a backup/snapshot [S4]
- Snapshot limit: 30 [S18]
- Snapshot protection: yes [S18]
- Snapshot storage location: yes [S18]
- Snapshot survives server deletion: yes [S18]
- Snapshots manual: no · no [S18]
- Snapshots moveable between projects: no · yes [S18]
- Snapshots never auto deleted: one-time disk copy · no [S4]
- Statistics tools: AWStats und Report Magic [S13]
- Status page purpose: Site provides status reports about Hetzner Online's products and services [S9]
- Storage box transfer: yes · yes [S20]
- Storage boxes: Storage Boxen als Backup-Ziel [S13]
- Volumes: Volumes · yes [S3]
- Vswitch transfer: no [S20]
- Wordpress app description: Ready-to-use WordPress installation including MySQL and Apache2, installable via Hetzner Console or Hetzner Cloud API [S17]
- Wordpress setup: SSH key or root password login to server · yes [S17]

**Support**
- Community forum: yes [S5]
- Opening hours doc available: Support Team opening hours · yes [S15]
- Status page: yes [S5]

## Questions

### Is Hetzner Cloud European?

Yes. whats-best.ai classifies Hetzner Cloud as EU-Made.

### Where does Hetzner Cloud store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

### Does Hetzner Cloud have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 1 Nov 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to Hetzner Cloud?

As of 2 Nov 2026, the panel rates [Kinsta (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-hosting/kinsta), [Raidboxes (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-hosting/raidboxes) and [Infomaniak Web Hosting (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-hosting/infomaniak-hosting) highest among the other 14 Web Hosting products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Raidboxes](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-hosting/raidboxes) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Hetzner Cloud alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/web-hosting/hetzner-cloud/alternatives).

## Head-to-head

- [Hetzner Cloud vs netcup VPS](https://whats-best.ai/compare/hetzner-cloud-vs-netcup-vps.md)
- [Hetzner Cloud vs DigitalOcean Droplets](https://whats-best.ai/compare/digitalocean-vs-hetzner-cloud.md)

## What this page leaves out

- 75 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 27 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 19 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 15 support facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 12 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 8 hosting facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 8 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 data fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 4 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.
- The panel’s written verdict is withheld: our own re-read found claims in it that the evidence does not carry, and a second synthesis did not fix them. The scores and the material below are unaffected.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage (cloud servers, with pricing): https://www.hetzner.com/de/cloud/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S2] Features page (European cloud): https://www.hetzner.com/de/european-cloud/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S3] Documentation (cloud): https://docs.hetzner.com/de/cloud/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S4] Documentation (backups and snapshots): https://docs.hetzner.com/de/cloud/servers/backups-snapshots/overview/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S5] API documentation: https://docs.hetzner.cloud/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S6] Company page (data centres): https://www.hetzner.com/de/unternehmen/rechenzentrum/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S7] Security / trust page (certification): https://www.hetzner.com/de/unternehmen/zertifizierung/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S8] Support page: https://www.hetzner.com/de/support/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S9] Status page: https://status.hetzner.com/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S10] Legal notice: https://www.hetzner.com/de/legal/legal-notice/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S11] Privacy policy: https://www.hetzner.com/de/legal/privacy-policy/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S12] Terms of service: https://www.hetzner.com/de/legal/terms-and-conditions/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S13] Documentation (data protection and DPA): https://docs.hetzner.com/de/general/company-and-policy/data-protection-at-hetzner/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S14] Performance, uptime & infrastructure — found from sitemap: https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S15] Performance, uptime & infrastructure — found from sitemap: https://docs.hetzner.com/general/infrastructure-and-availability/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S16] Control panel, WordPress & developer tooling — found from sitemap: https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/api/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S17] Control panel, WordPress & developer tooling — found from sitemap: https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/apps/list/wordpress/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S18] Security, backups & recovery — found from sitemap: https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/servers/backups-snapshots/faq/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S19] Security, backups & recovery — found from sitemap: https://docs.hetzner.com/cloud/firewalls/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S20] Scaling, migration & exit — found from sitemap: https://docs.hetzner.com/general/billing-and-account-management/product-migration/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S21] Scaling, migration & exit — found from sitemap: https://docs.hetzner.com/general/billing-and-account-management/cancellation/cancellations-overview/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S22] Support, domains & email — found from sitemap: https://docs.hetzner.com/managed/domain-and-dns/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S23] Support, domains & email — found from sitemap: https://docs.hetzner.com/managed/email/mailbox-features/mailbox-management/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S24] Self-hosting / on-premises installation docs — found from the homepage: https://www.hetzner.com/de/self-hosting/ (checked 2026-11-01)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Hetzner Cloud — Web Hosting", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-06. https://whats-best.ai/software/web-hosting/hetzner-cloud

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1284?target=page