Linode vs Hetzner vs DigitalOcean 2026: The Big Three Compared

Linode vs Hetzner vs DigitalOcean 2026: The Big Three Compared

When developers choose a VPS provider, these three names come up most often: Linode, Hetzner, and DigitalOcean. Each has carved out its own position in the market.

Linode offers performance-focused cloud hosting, Hetzner delivers unbeatable value from Germany, and DigitalOcean provides the most polished developer experience.

Which one is right for you? Let’s compare them all.

Quick Summary

Aspect	Linode	Hetzner	DigitalOcean
Starting price	$5/month	€4.24 (~$4.58)/month	$6/month
Entry-level specs	1 vCPU, 1GB RAM	2 vCPU, 4GB RAM	1 vCPU, 1GB RAM
Value per USD	Good	Excellent (4x better)	Good (premium)
Data centers	11 locations	5 locations	12 locations
Performance	High (dedicated CPU options)	High (specs per dollar)	Consistent
Developer experience	Very good	Basic	Excellent
Billing	Hourly/monthly	Monthly only	Hourly/monthly
Best for	Performance	Budget	Experience

Bottom line: Hetzner wins on price, DigitalOcean wins on experience, Linode balances both.

Detailed Pricing Comparison

Linode Pricing

Plan	vCPU	RAM	Storage	Transfer	Price
Nanode 1GB	1	1GB	25GB SSD	1TB	$5/mo
Linode 2GB	1	2GB	50GB SSD	2TB	$20/mo
Linode 4GB	2	4GB	80GB SSD	4TB	$40/mo
Linode 8GB	4	8GB	160GB SSD	5TB	$80/mo
Dedicated 4GB	2	4GB	80GB SSD	4TB	$40/mo

Linode notes:

• Hourly billing after 90 days
• Dedicated CPU options available
• Shared and dedicated CPU tiers
• Pooled bandwidth

Hetzner Pricing

Plan	vCPU	RAM	Storage	Transfer	Price (USD est.)
CX11	2	4GB	20GB SSD	20TB	~$4.58/mo
CX21	3	8GB	40GB SSD	20TB	~$9.16/mo
CX31	4	16GB	80GB SSD	20TB	~$18.82/mo
CX41	8	32GB	160GB SSD	20TB	~$37.65/mo

Hetzner notes:

• Prices in EUR (converted to USD)
• Monthly only (no hourly)
• 20TB transfer on all plans
• Setup fee: €1 for new accounts

DigitalOcean Pricing

Plan	vCPU	RAM	Storage	Transfer	Price
Basic 1GB	1	1GB	25GB SSD	1TB	$6/mo
Basic 2GB	1	2GB	50GB SSD	2TB	$12/mo
Basic 4GB	2	4GB	80GB SSD	4TB	$24/mo
Premium 4GB	2	4GB	80GB NVMe	4TB	$48/mo

DigitalOcean notes:

• Hourly billing available
• Two tiers: Basic (SSD) and Premium (NVMe)
• Premium costs 2x

Value Comparison at ~$20/month

Linode Linode 2GB:

• 1 vCPU
• 2GB RAM
• 50GB SSD
• 2TB transfer
• $20/month

Hetzner CX21:

• 3 vCPU
• 8GB RAM
• 40GB SSD
• 20TB transfer
• ~$9.16/month

DigitalOcean Basic 2GB:

• 1 vCPU
• 2GB RAM
• 50GB SSD
• 2TB transfer
• $12/month

Hetzner gives you 3x the RAM and 3x the CPU for half the price of Linode!

Pricing winner: Hetzner (by far) → Linode ≈ DigitalOcean

Performance Comparison

Linode Performance

Strengths:

• Consistent performance
• Dedicated CPU options available
• Good single-core performance
• Premium network
• Multiple CPU tiers (shared/dedicated/GPU)

Best for:

• Performance-sensitive applications
• CPU-intensive workloads
• Production apps needing reliability

Hetzner Performance

Strengths:

• Massive specs per dollar
• More CPU cores and RAM
• Good multi-core performance
• Excellent for parallel workloads

Considerations:

• Shared resources (high density)
• Performance can vary by host load
• Less predictable than dedicated options

Best for:

• Databases (lots of RAM)
• Batch processing
• Applications that scale horizontally
• Budget-conscious projects

DigitalOcean Performance

Strengths:

• Consistent and predictable
• Premium tier with NVMe
• Good single-core performance
• Balanced for web workloads

Best for:

• Web hosting
• APIs
• Microservices
• General development

Performance winner:

• Raw power per dollar: Hetzner
• Consistency: Linode ≈ DigitalOcean
• CPU-intensive: Linode (dedicated options)
• RAM-intensive: Hetzner (clear winner)

Data Center Locations

Linode (11 locations)

North America: Newark, Dallas, Fremont, Atlanta, Toronto Europe: London, Frankfurt, Paris Asia: Tokyo, Singapore, Mumbai South America: São Paulo

Hetzner (5 locations)

Germany: Falkenstein, Nuremberg, Helsinki USA: Hillsboro (OR), Asheboro (NC) Singapore: Singapore

DigitalOcean (12 locations)

North America: NYC (3), San Francisco (2), Toronto Europe: Amsterdam (2), London, Frankfurt, Paris Asia: Singapore, Bangalore Australia: Sydney

Coverage winner: DigitalOcean (12) → Linode (11) → Hetzner (5)

Implications:

• DigitalOcean: Best for global coverage
• Linode: Excellent global presence
• Hetzner: Strong in Europe, limited elsewhere

Features and Developer Experience

Linode Features

Strengths:

• Comprehensive CLI
• Good API documentation
• 150+ one-click apps
• Object Storage
• Managed Databases
• Kubernetes
• NodeBalancers
• Advanced DNS

Unique:

• Dedicated CPU plans
• GPU plans
• Marketplace

Hetzner Features

Strengths:

• Very generous bandwidth (20TB)
• Fast deployment
• DDoS protection
• Rescue system
• Snapshot backups

Weaknesses:

• Basic interface
• Limited documentation
• Fewer one-click apps
• Smaller community

Unique:

• Server auction (cheaper surplus servers)
• Dedicated server options
• Colocation

DigitalOcean Features

Strengths:

• Best documentation (2000+ tutorials)
• Beautiful interface
• Official CLI (doctl)
• 100+ one-click apps
• App Platform (PaaS)
• Kubernetes
• Load Balancers
• Spaces storage

Weaknesses:

• Lower bandwidth (1-5TB)
• More expensive

Features winner: DigitalOcean (experience) → Linode (power) → Hetzner (basic)

Ease of Use

DigitalOcean

Perfect for beginners, most polished experience

Linode

Good balance of power and usability

Hetzner

Requires Linux comfort, more technical

Ease of use winner: DigitalOcean → Linode → Hetzner

Support Comparison

DigitalOcean

• Ticket support (1-3 hours)
• Extensive documentation
• Active community

Linode

• Ticket support (similar to DO)
• Good documentation
• Active community

Hetzner

• Ticket support (can be slower)
• Less documentation
• Smaller community
• German/English support

Support winner: Linode ≈ DigitalOcean → Hetzner

Billing Flexibility

Hourly Billing Available:

• ✅ DigitalOcean (all plans)
• ✅ Linode (after 90 days)
• ❌ Hetzner (monthly only)

Billing winner: DigitalOcean ≈ Linode → Hetzner

Use Case Recommendations

Choose Linode If:

• You want performance + value balance
• You need dedicated CPU options
• You want good documentation but better pricing than DO
• You need South American coverage (São Paulo)
• You like a technical but polished interface
• You want GPU options
• You need 11 global data centers

Ideal for:

• Performance-sensitive applications
• CPU-intensive workloads
• Production environments
• Developers wanting power + polish

Choose Hetzner If:

• Budget is your top priority
• You need lots of RAM (databases)
• You’re in Europe (better latency)
• You want massive bandwidth (20TB)
• You’re comfortable with Linux
• You don’t need hourly billing
• You might upgrade to dedicated servers

Ideal for:

• Databases and caching
• European deployments
• Budget-conscious projects
• High-memory applications
• Storage-heavy workloads
• Personal projects

Choose DigitalOcean If:

• You want the best developer experience
• You need global coverage (12 regions)
• You’re a beginner or want simplicity
• You value documentation above all
• You want App Platform (PaaS)
• You need hourly billing from day one
• You’re building microservices

Ideal for:

• Startups and MVPs
• Beginners learning cloud
• Teams wanting simplicity
• Global applications
• Cloud-native projects
• Applications needing App Platform

Performance by Use Case

Web Hosting (WordPress, sites)

Winner: DigitalOcean (slight edge)

• Better documentation for WordPress
• One-click apps make setup easy
• Good single-core performance

Linode: Good alternative, similar experience Hetzner: 4x the RAM helps, but less beginner-friendly

Databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB)

Winner: Hetzner (clear winner)

• Much more RAM for the price
• Generous bandwidth for replication
• Perfect for database servers

Application Servers (Node.js, Python, Ruby)

Winner: Tie (depends on needs)

• Hetzner: More cores for parallel processing
• Linode: Dedicated CPU options for consistency
• DigitalOcean: Balanced for general workloads

Microservices

Winner: DigitalOcean

• Hourly billing (spin up/down as needed)
• Kubernetes service
• Better orchestration tools
• More regions for global deployment

CPU-Intensive Applications

Winner: Linode

• Dedicated CPU plans available
• GPU options for ML/AI
• More predictable performance

Game Servers

Winner: Hetzner

• More CPU cores per dollar
• More RAM for game logic
• Higher bandwidth allowance

Regional Recommendations

Europe

Hetzner (best value, lowest latency from Germany)

North America

Linode or DigitalOcean (multiple locations, similar pricing)

Asia

DigitalOcean (Bangalore + Singapore) or Linode (Tokyo, Singapore, Mumbai)

South America

Linode (only one with São Paulo location)

Global/Audience Everywhere

DigitalOcean (12 locations) or Linode (11 locations)

Migration Between Providers

All three make migration relatively easy:

1. Create snapshot of current server
2. Download snapshot locally
3. Upload to new provider
4. Create server from snapshot
5. Update DNS to point to new IP
6. Cancel old service

The Hybrid Strategy

Smart users use all three:

Hetzner for:

• Databases (high RAM)
• Storage
• Batch processing
• European deployments

Linode for:

• CPU-intensive applications
• South American deployments
• Production apps needing dedicated CPU
• GPU workloads

DigitalOcean for:

• App Platform deployments
• Microservices (hourly billing)
• Development/staging
• Global applications

How to Compare Plans

Use our tools:

1. VPS Finder - Filter by budget and requirements
2. Performance page - Compare specs/value
3. Compare tool - Side-by-side comparison
4. Latency tiers - Check network performance

Example Comparison

Compare these ~$20/month plans:

• Linode 2GB - $20/mo, 1 vCPU, 2GB RAM, 50GB SSD
• Hetzner CAX21 - ~$7.61/mo, 4 vCPU, 8GB RAM, 80GB NVMe
• DigitalOcean basic s-2vcpu-4gb - $12/mo, 1 vCPU, 2GB RAM, 50GB SSD

Use our 3-way comparison to see detailed specs.

Conclusion

All three are excellent providers with different strengths:

Choose Linode for:

• Balanced performance and value
• Dedicated CPU options
• GPU availability
• South American coverage
• Technical users wanting polish

Choose Hetzner for:

• Maximum value per dollar
• High RAM requirements
• European deployments
• Budget-conscious projects
• Databases and memory-heavy apps

Choose DigitalOcean for:

• Best developer experience
• Global coverage
• Hourly billing from day one
• Beginners and simplicity
• App Platform and PaaS
• Best documentation

Final Verdict

For pure value: Hetzner wins hands down. 4x the resources for half the price.

For experience: DigitalOcean justifies its premium with polish and documentation.

For balance: Linode sits in the sweet spot between Hetzner’s value and DigitalOcean’s experience.

Bottom line: You can’t go wrong with any of them. The best choice depends on your:

• Budget (Hetzner if money matters)
• Technical comfort (DigitalOcean for beginners, Hetzner for experts)
• Geographic needs (all have different strengths)
• Specific requirements (CPU, RAM, features)

Ready to decide? Use our VPS Finder to compare Linode, Hetzner, and DigitalOcean plans based on your exact requirements.

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Data note: Hetzner prices in EUR, converted to USD. All prices are estimates and change. Check provider sites for current pricing.

Need more details? See our individual comparisons: Hetzner vs DigitalOcean, Linode vs DigitalOcean, Linode vs Hetzner